The Borfski Press

We hope everyone’s enjoying their copy of The Borfski Press Magazine: Issue III! We’re getting excited to open submissions for Issue IV in April, but for now we’re trying to get caught up on some reading of our own. Whether you’re sticking to New Year’s Resolutions, or starting to put together your spring reading list, we wanted to offer some suggestions for further reading. These are books we’ve either read recently or heard fantastic things about – let us know what you think, and leave your own book suggestions in the comments!

Jordan Peterson’s 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos

Get it on Amazon: “What does everyone in the modern world need to know? Renowned psychologist Jordan B. Peterson’s answer to this most difficult of questions uniquely combines the hard-won truths of ancient tradition with the stunning revelations of cutting-edge scientific research.

Humorous, surprising and informative, Dr. Peterson tells us why skateboarding boys and girls must be left alone, what terrible fate awaits those who criticize too easily, and why you should always pet a cat when you meet one on the street.

What does the nervous system of the lowly lobster have to tell us about standing up straight (with our shoulders back) and about success in life? Why did ancient Egyptians worship the capacity to pay careful attention as the highest of gods? What dreadful paths do people tread when they become resentful, arrogant and vengeful? Dr. Peterson journeys broadly, discussing discipline, freedom, adventure and responsibility, distilling the world’s wisdom into 12 practical and profound rules for life. 12 Rules for Life shatters the modern commonplaces of science, faith and human nature, while transforming and ennobling the mind and spirit of its readers.”

You can also watch the book trailer here, and listen to the author’s talk on the 12 rules here. 

Johann Hari’s Chasing the Scream: The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs

Get it on Amazon: “It is now one hundred years since drugs were first banned in the United States. On the eve of this centenary, journalist Johann Hari set off on an epic three-year, thirty-thousand-mile journey into the war on drugs. What he found is that more and more people all over the world have begun to recognize three startling truths: Drugs are not what we think they are. Addiction is not what we think it is. And the drug war has very different motives to the ones we have seen on our TV screens for so long.

In Chasing the Scream, Hari reveals his discoveries entirely through the stories of people across the world whose lives have been transformed by this war. They range from a transsexual crack dealer in Brooklyn searching for her mother, to a teenage hit-man in Mexico searching for a way out. It begins with Hari’s discovery that at the birth of the drug war, Billie Holiday was stalked and killed by the man who launched this crusade–and it ends with the story of a brave doctor who has led his country to decriminalize every drug, from cannabis to crack, with remarkable results.

Chasing the Scream lays bare what we really have been chasing in our century of drug war–in our hunger for drugs, and in our attempt to destroy them. This book will challenge and change how you think about one of the most controversial–and consequential–questions of our time.”

You can also find recordings of the interviews, ways to get involved, and more resources at chasingthescream.com.

Chuck Palahniuk’s Survivor

Get it on Amazon: “From the author of the cult sensation Fight Club (now a major motion picture starring Brad Pitt, Edward Norton, and Helena Bonham Carter) comes Survivor.

“A turbo-charged, deliciously manic satire of contemporary American life.” —Newsday

“The only difference between suicide and martyrdom is press coverage,” according to the “been there, done that” wisdom of Tender Branson, last surviving member of the Creedish Death Cult. At the opening of Chuck Palahniuk’s hilariously unnerving second novel, Tender is cruising on autopilot, 39,000 feet up, dictating the whole of his life story into Flight 2039’s “black box” in the final moments before crashing into the vast Australian outback.

Not since Kurt Vonnegut’s Mother Night has there been as dark and telling a satire on the wages of fame and the bedrock lunacy of the modern world. Wickedly incisive and mesmerizing, Survivoris Chuck Palahniuk at his deadpan peak.”

Check out Chuck Palahniuk talking about his writing method here, and his advice for beginning writers here.