2019, Book 37: What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Blacker by Damon Young

Book 33: CBD Oil: Everyday Secrets by Gretchen Lidicker. Very useful information for anyone looking into CBD oil.  They don't teach the cannabinoid system in high school health.

Book 34: The Music Lesson by Victor Wooten.  Possibly fictionalized account of how the greatest bass player of all time learned to play.  Fictionalized or not, excellent practical lessons with very helpful context.

Book 35: John Okada edited by Abe, Robinson and Cheung. A little dry and academic, but a good reference for the author of my favorite fiction book.

Book 36: The Lesson by Cadwell Turnbull. A little too neat and tidy at the end for my taste, but one of the better sci-fi books out.

Book 37: What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Blacker by Damon Young

In a similar vein as Luvvi Ajayi's I'm Judging You and Samantha Irby's We Are Never Meeting In Real Life, Damon Young's What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Blacker is a humorous collection of essays.  And like those books, I laughed throughout.  There are times when Young makes the seemingly mundane and boring into moments I wish I was there for.  If the name Damon Young rings a bell, he is one of the two original founders of Very Smart Brothas, so, of course, humorous writing is his business.

What I didn't know was that Young is as adept when he steps outside of humorous writing.  He talks about how he made a giant mistake that forced him to acknowledge and confront his unconscious misogyny.  He talks about how much harder it is to be black and avoid smoking and drinking.  He also talks about how this affected his family.  This is the part where my heart goes out to him personally, but in doing so, goes out to millions of folks who grew up in a world they didn't create and would never have wished for themselves.

Admitting being wrong, especially about misogyny, is never easy and Young goes beyond simply saying "it was a mistake."  There's no preaching and lecturing about the conditions around smoking and drinking in black communities, just laying out bare facts that force the reader into understanding the statistics.  And his discussion of his family points out just how deeply he has wrestled with the thoughts and emotions of living through all of these experiences.  His ability to synthesize all of this into something relevant for others is a gift Young gives to his readers with every word.