A baker’s dozen of great gift books – for rest, reflection, and renewal

In his new book Let Us Dream, Pope Francis notes how countries with women as presidents or prime ministers have handled the pandemic better.

If you’re looking for a thoughtful Christmas gift, this expensive hardcover is an ideal choice. The Pope’s vision for a post-COVID world is truly inspiring and spiritually elevating.

It would also be perfect gifting to pair the Pope’s book with a copy of Doughnut Economics: Seven Ways to Think Like a 21st-Century Economist, by the University of Oxford’s Kate Raworth.

Francis cites Raworth as a prime example of a thinker illustrating “the perspective women bring is what the world needs at this time.”

If you haven’t seen Raworth’s 2018 TED Talk video, “A healthy economy should be designed to thrive, not grow,” then watch it to see why Francis is excited by her vision of a regenerative and distributive economics.

Raworth also spoke at the 2020 international online event, “The Economy of Francesco – Young People, a Commitment, the Future,” which was hosted from the real-world base of the Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi, from Nov. 19 to 21.

The Pope himself delivered a video address to the young people at this conference who are leading the way in working for a better world.

But Raworth delivered an exceptional presentation, sharing her brilliant ideas for a post-COVID world that cohere perfectly with Catholic social teaching.

If “Catholic social teaching” is something that doesn’t get you passionate, then watch her presentation (it starts at 1:16 after the video event begins). It will improve the way you think about our planetary future.

Over the course of 2020, I have suggested a number of books and movies on various themes. They all make great Christmas gifts, or wonderful ways to intellectually recharge yourself over the Christmas season.

In October, I recommended Cynthia Haven’s edited collection of interviews, Conversations with René Girard: Prophet of Envy, because Girard shows how we engage in destructive behaviour first and foremost out of mindless imitation of others. Christian conversion involves becoming aware of this unflattering truth about our mimetic fascinations.

I also mentioned Jason Hickel’s book, Less is More: How Degrowth Will Save the World, both in September and in August, because it addresses our collective societal delusion that we need unending economic growth in order to be happy. Raworth’s “doughnut economics” also shows us how to be happier with less.

I also recommended Charles Camosy’s book Resisting Throwaway Culture: How a Consistent Life Ethic Can Unite a Fractured People, both in August and in September, because it articulates a “consistent life ethic” in harmony with Pope Francis’s teaching.

I noted that Sir Roger Scruton observes in his final book, Wagner’s Parsifal: The Music of Redemption, how “our stance towards animals” is “a test of our moral sincerity: to offer kindness where there is no reward, not even the reward of gratitude.” Camosy’s discussion of our duty to care for non-human animals in Chapter 7 of his book is likewise eye-opening.

Scruton died in January. I wrote about a number of his best books in columns from March and February (all available online). When I wrote about an injured cat in my neighborhood, I even quoted a poem that Scruton discusses in his book The Soul of the World.

Fans of the best music know drummer Neil Peart of Rush also died in 2020. In this year of COVID, Picture My Face, the documentary about rock band Teenage Head, makes death and suffering its central theme.

If you’re looking to relax with streaming video that also stimulates the mind, read my reviews of: Active Measures; Operation InfeKtion; Wanderlust (Season 1, Episode 1: Roger Scruton with Alicja Gescinska); J.E.S.U.S.A.; Home Before Dark; Infinite Potential; and, the best movie of the year, Mr. Jones, written by Andrea Chalupa.

If you cannot decide what is worth watching over the holidays, or if you have no good gift ideas for anyone your Christmas list, I am confident that my online columns can help you.

In 2020, I discussed two classic philosophy books by Dietrich von Hildebrand, The Heart and Ethics.

If you know someone interested in physics, I have suggestions for all ages and abilities: A Kid’s Introduction to Physics (and Beyond); Physics for Realists; and Lost in Math.

If you are wondering why what Pope Francis said about women and the pandemic is true, check out Jason Stanley’s preface to the paperback edition of his How Fascism Works: The Politics of Us and Them, which came out early in the year.

That 2020 preface correctly predicted the pandemic would be worse in countries with leaders who cultivate a macho authoritarian cult of personality that “conflicts in principle with expertise, science, and truth.”

Choose your own adventure, but three of my favourite gift books for the season will be Stanley’s How Fascism Works, Francis’s Let Us Dream, and Kate Raworth’s Doughnut Economics.