
After
El nazi y el psiquiatra
Jack El-Hai2013
- pace
- prose
- structure
- bleakness
6 of 6 directions open
More like it
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Hidden Valley Road
Robert Kolker2020
The true story of the Galvin family, who had six of twelve children diagnosed with schizophrenia. It tracks their lives and medical research.
Same clinical register, still biography
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Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI
David Grann
An investigation into the systematic murders of wealthy Osage Nation members in 1920s Oklahoma and the subsequent federal inquiry.
Same clinical register, still history
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- pace0prose+1bleak0
The Good Spy
Kai Bird2014
A biography of CIA operative Robert Ames, focusing on his efforts in the Middle East leading up to the 1983 Beirut embassy bombing.
Same clinical register, still biography
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Manson
Jeff Guinn2013
A biography of Charles Manson that places his cult and the 1969 murders within the context of the California music scene.
Same clinical register, still biography
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1 more ↓ ↑
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Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed
Jared Diamond
The author examines why past civilizations, like Easter Island and the Maya, collapsed due to environmental mismanagement.
Same clinical register, still history
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Denser prose
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Either/Or
Søren Kierkegaard1992
A collection of papers presents two life philosophies: the aesthetic pursuit of pleasure and the ethical commitment to duty.
clinical → meditative
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- pace-1prose+2bleak-2
Gödel, Escher, Bach
Douglas R. Hofstadter1979
An exploration of how cognition emerges from hidden neurological patterns. It uses math, art, and music to explain self-referential systems.
clinical → playful
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3 more ↓ ↑
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Doktor Faustus
Thomas Mann1948
A composer trades his soul for musical genius as his life and the rise of Nazi Germany are chronicled by a concerned friend.
clinical → elegiac
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Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison
Michel Foucault
A philosophical history examines the shift from public torture to modern prison surveillance. It analyzes how power controls the body.
Same clinical register, still history
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- pace0prose+2bleak+1
The Gulag Archipeligo 1918-1956: An Experiment In Literary Investigation I - Ii.
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
A history of the Soviet forced labor camp system based on survivor reports and the author's own imprisonment. It documents state-run repression.
clinical → bleak, still history
pace0·prose+2·bleak+1
To recover
clinical → playful
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On a Pale Horse
Piers Anthony1983
After accidentally killing the personification of Death, a man must take over the office. He navigates the bureaucracy of the afterlife.
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Apprentice to the Villain
Hannah Nicole Maehrer2024
Evie Sage assists an evil overlord while a magical threat endangers their kingdom. The story follows their workplace dynamic and a looming siege.
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-2
3 more ↓ ↑
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Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything
Steven D. Levitt
An economist uses data to investigate the incentives behind real-world phenomena like cheating teachers and falling crime rates.
clinical → wry
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The Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible
A.J. Jacobs
A journalist spends one year attempting to follow every rule and commandment in the Bible as literally as possible.
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Skinny Bitch: A No-Nonsense, Tough-Love Guide for Savvy Girls Who Want to Stop Eating Crap and Start Looking Fabulous!
Rory Freedman
The authors use aggressive language to argue for a vegan diet and the elimination of processed sugar and caffeine.
clinical → sardonic
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Faster
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Catch Me If You Can: The True Story of a Real Fake
Frank W. Abagnale
A teenager poses as a pilot, doctor, and lawyer to cash millions in fraudulent checks. He evades the FBI across several countries.
clinical → playful, still true crime
pace+2·prose-1·bleak-2
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Killing Lincoln: The Shocking Assassination that Changed America Forever
Bill O'Reilly
A minute-by-minute narrative of John Wilkes Booth's plot to kill Abraham Lincoln and the subsequent manhunt for the conspirators.
clinical → propulsive, still true crime
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3 more ↓ ↑
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The Sun and Her Flowers
Rupi Kaur2017
A collection of short, illustrated poems organized into five stages of growth. It covers themes of loss, trauma, and self-healing.
clinical → earnest
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Pillow Thoughts
Courtney Peppernell2016
A collection of short poems and prose pieces organized by emotional state. It focuses on themes of heartbreak, healing, and loneliness.
clinical → tender
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Astrophysics for People in a Hurry
Neil deGrasse Tyson2017
A summary of the origin of the universe, the laws of physics, and the nature of space and time.
clinical → playful
pace+2·prose-1·bleak-2

Slower
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Gödel, Escher, Bach
Douglas R. Hofstadter1979
An exploration of how cognition emerges from hidden neurological patterns. It uses math, art, and music to explain self-referential systems.
clinical → playful
pace-1·prose+2·bleak-2

- pace-1prose+2bleak-1
Either/Or
Søren Kierkegaard1992
A collection of papers presents two life philosophies: the aesthetic pursuit of pleasure and the ethical commitment to duty.
clinical → meditative
pace-1·prose+2·bleak-1

3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-1prose+2bleak-2
Confessions
Augustine of Hippo
A 4th-century bishop writes a spiritual autobiography addressed to God. He recounts his sinful youth and his eventual conversion to Christianity.
clinical → meditative
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- pace-1prose+2bleak-1
How to Read a Book
Mortimer J. Adler1940
This is a guide to active reading techniques for different genres. It outlines levels of reading from basic literacy to syntopical analysis.
clinical → mysterious
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The Red Book: Liber Novus
C.G. Jung2009
A psychologist records his visions and internal dialogues in an illuminated manuscript created during a period of intense self-exploration.
clinical → dreamlike
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Heavier
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Adolf Hitler
John Toland1976
A detailed chronological account of Hitler's life based on interviews with his associates and previously private documents.
Same clinical register, still biography
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- pace+1prose0bleak+1
The Road to Jonestown
Jeff Guinn2017
A biography of Jim Jones tracing his rise from an integrationist minister to the leader of a mass suicide in Guyana. It uses new archival research.
Same clinical register, still history
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3 more ↓ ↑
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King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa
Adam Hochschild
This history details the colonization of the Congo by King Leopold II. It documents the systematic forced labor and mass killings of the era.
clinical → bleak, still history
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A Thousand Lives
Julia Scheeres2011
This history follows the members of the Peoples Temple from their beginnings in Indiana to the mass murder-suicide in Jonestown, Guyana.
clinical → bleak, still history
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The Blood of Emmett Till
Timothy B. Tyson2017
A historical account of the 1955 lynching of a Black teenager in Mississippi. It uses new interviews and recently found trial transcripts.
clinical → elegiac, still history
pace0·prose0·bleak+1
