The books that changed my life are... not what you'd expect.

But I read the novel very early on in my reading journey and it cemented a love for what science fiction can do, the impact it can have on the human brain and the human heart.

Bending Adversity. Oh my god. one of the most fascinating books on Japanese culture and modern history that I've ever read.

I only read this book like a year ago, but it is one of the most captivating, inspiring, and influential things I have ever read.

I just want to make sure that as many people as possible read humankind because this book rewired my brain. It had me realizing so many obvious truths about humanity, both in terms of our biology and our lived culture and experiences.

And In Ascension by Martin McKinnis is easily one of the most beautiful science fiction novels I have ever read. I cherish this copy.

Northern Lights was the first novel that I ever read and truly fell in love with. It was the first novel that I ever read for pleasure, not in school.

The most famous of which is probably Steven Pinker's The Better Angels of Our Nature, which I read and it's a bummer.

Oh my god, there is nothing in the world like this book. I love this thing so much. I cherish Wild Swans for what it taught me, for what it gave me, for what it did to me.

When I read it, I fully understood what it was doing. And in that way, it felt like it kind of rewired my understanding of fiction as a whole.

This collection, You Better Be Lightning, has inspired so much of my own poetry. They are incredible.