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PaperclipPerfector  6mo ago (text post)   2697 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for October 29, 2023

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

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How do I find non-fiction books free of excessive progressive influence?

I am pretty wary of the progressive entrenchment of anglosaxon academia and book publishing. At the same time, I love to read new books who goes out about particular topics I care about.

I am Italian, so I have access to the massive Italian catalogue of non-fiction, but how can I filter anglosaxon books without extensive research on every author?

At the same time another question; usually, how do you search for new books? Especially, do you use any app/software to do so?

How do I find non-fiction books free of excessive progressive influence?

Find reviewers you trust to focus on the actual content and listen to them. That's what reviewers are literally for, you shop around based on your tastes.

Just…read books, I’d say. If you encounter a hot-button topic or a slogan, apply your skepticism. Don’t touch race relations or pop psychology (though you probably knew that).

If you’re worried about financially supporting people you disagree with, trawl used bookstores. Even new releases will show up there surprisingly fast.

I’m not exactly sure what you mean by “anglosaxon” publishing, though.

I’m not exactly sure what you mean by “anglosaxon” publishing, though.

The UK and its former colonies.

Perhaps I'm biased being progressive myself, I think 'progressive influence' is really only obvious in culture-war adjacent topics; if you pick up a recent or semi-recent academic publication on history, even something charged like, say, civil rights/race/black history, the bias would be considerably less than it seems you imagine. If you avoid pop history/economics/whatever you'll be fine; I don't think they are broadly that partisan either, most of the time, but they're often bad anyway, and trendy culture war topics, you'd be fine. Who knows though, maybe I'm just so deep in progressive ideology I can't notice when it's there.

Read old books. Read great literature. Us moderns don't know as much as we think.

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