Caste – The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson

Mental models.

Everyone one has one–even if we are clueless about their existence. It allows us to think as we make our way through the world. When we are young, we take ownership of mental model used by our parents simply because we haven’t been exposed to anything else. It’s what we do with this initial model implanted in us that will dictate how we live our life in the future. Even how our kids live their lives.

Therefore, a simple goal in the life of an active reader should be introduce new ingredients into one’s mental blender. The resulting smoothie is a constantly-evolving mental model, until you find even fresher and newer ingredients—either through conversations with others or through important readings (goes for both fiction and non-fiction, of course).

To nurture healthy mental models, it appears the key sign that you are heading in the correct direction are icky feelings of discomfort. Isabel Wilkerson’s “Caste“ comes packed with such feelings. For some these feelings might be more acute than others, of course. The book will make you question your most basic perspectives. It will also give you plenty of new ingredients to help shake things up in regards to how you view your immediate world. And best of all, it is like all great pieces of work, also a rabbit-hole-of-a-book since it will give you plenty of other material to read once you finish.

Grab your (used) copy today.