Smart Thinking Books

Interview with Rae Nudson, author of All Made Up: The Power and Pitfalls of Beauty Culture, from Cleopatra to Kim Kardashian

Interview with Rae Nudson, author of All Made Up: The Power and Pitfalls of Beauty Culture, from Cleopatra to Kim Kardashian


Rae Nudson, author of All Made Up: The Power and Pitfalls of Beauty Culture, from Cleopatra to Kim Kardashian recommends a brilliant set of books! Before jumping into the interview, please check out Rae's book:

All Made Up: The Power and Pitfalls of Beauty Culture, from Cleopatra to Kim Kardashian

All Made Up: The Power and Pitfalls of Beauty Culture, from Cleopatra to Kim Kardashian

Rae Nudson

Review from Book Depository: A fascinating journey through history and culture, examining how makeup affects self-empowerment, how people have used it to define (and defy) their roles in society, and why we all need to care

There is a history and a cultural significance that comes with wearing cat-eye-inspired liner or a bold red lip, one that many women feel to this day, even if we don't realize exactly why. Increasingly, people of all genders are wrestling with what it means to be a woman living in a patriarchy, and part of that is how looking like a woman--whatever that means--affects people's real lives.

Through the stories of famous women like Cleopatra, Empress Wu, Madam C. J. Walker, Elizabeth Taylor, and Marsha P. Johnson, Rae Nudson unpacks makeup's cultural impact--including how it can be used to shape a personal or cultural narrative, how often beauty standards align with whiteness, how and when it can be used for safety, and its function in the workplace, to name a few examples.

Every woman has had to make a very personal choice about her relationship with makeup, and consciously or unconsciously, every woman knows that the choice is never entirely hers to make. This book also holds space for complicating factors, especially the ways that beauty standards differ across race, class, and culture. Engaging and informative, All Made Up will expand the discussion around what it means to participate in creating your own self-image.

Buy On:

Book Depository €18.27 Waterstones £20.00

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Q. Do you have a favourite smart thinking book (and why that book)?

I read Thick by Tressie McMillan Cottom for research for All Made Up and can't get it out of my head. She's one of our best thinkers, and she explains machinations in society that seem so clear once she points them out but that I may not have seen before.

 Thick: And Other Essays

Thick: And Other Essays

Tressie McMillan Cottom

Review from Book Depository: In eight highly praised treatises on beauty, media, money, and more, Tressie McMillan Cottom - award-winning professor and acclaimed author of Lower Ed - is unapologetically 'thick': deemed 'thick where I should have been thin, more where I should have been less,' McMillan Cottom refuses to shy away from blending the personal with the political, from bringing her full self and voice to the fore of her analytical work. Collected in an indispensable volume that speaks to the everywoman and the erudite alike, these unforgettable essays never fail to be 'painfully honest'.

Buy On:

Book Depository €13.35 Waterstones £12.99

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Q. What's the most recent smart thinking book you've read (and how would you rate it)?

I've recently had my first child and while I was pregnant I read Expecting Better by Emily Oster. It was a great way to help me think through issues and research around pregnancy, and I would definitely recommend it.

Expecting Better: Why the Conventional Pregnancy Wisdom is Wrong and What You Really Need to Know

Expecting Better: Why the Conventional Pregnancy Wisdom is Wrong and What You Really Need to Know

Emily Oster

Review From Book Depository: A groundbreaking guide to pregnancy: empowers women with the facts and allows them to make their own decisions. FREAKANOMICS meets WHAT TO EXPECT WHEN YOU'RE EXPECTING.
Award-winning Emily Oster debunks myths about pregnancy to empower women while they're expecting.

Pregnant women are often treated as if they were children, given long lists of items to avoid - alcohol, caffeine, sushi - without any real explanation from their doctors about why. They hear frightening and contradictory myths about everything from weight gain to sleeping on your back to bed rest from friends and pregnancy books. In EXPECTING BETTER, Oster shows that the information given to pregnant women is sometimes wrong and almost always oversimplified.

EXPECTING BETTER overturns standard recommendations for alcohol, caffeine, sushi, bed rest and induction, while putting in context the blanket guidelines for fetal testing, weight gain, risks of pregnancy over the age of 35, and nausea, among others. Oster offers the real-world advice one would never get at the doctor's office. Knowing that the health of your baby is paramount, readers can know more and worry less. Having the numbers is a tremendous relief - and so is the occasional glass of wine.

Buy On:

Book Depository €7.64 Waterstones £8.99

(All links earn commission from purchases. Prices accurate at time of writing)

Q. Do you have a favourite childhood book?

Probably too many to name, but Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark by Alvin Schwartz with illustrations by Stephen Gammell started my love of horror. Luckily my parents didn't think it was too scary for me to read.

 Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark

Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark

Alvin Schwartz, Illustrated by Stephen Gammell

Review From Book Depository: The iconic anthology series of horror tales that's now a feature film!

This is a new edition of the complete original book. Stephen Gammell's artwork from the original Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark appears in all its spooky glory. Read if you dare! Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark is a timeless collection of chillingly scary tales and legends, in which folklorist Alvin Schwartz offers up some of the most alarming tales of horror, dark revenge, and supernatural events of all time.

Buy On:

Book Depository €14.28 Waterstones £5.99

(All links earn commission from purchases that help fund this site. Prices accurate at time of writing)

Q. Do you prefer reading on paper, Kindle or listening to an audiobook?

For research, I prefer reading on paper. I use post it notes to mark passages that I want to return to, and by the end of the book it has a million flags poking out of the pages. But for fun, I usually like to read ebooks. I can read on my phone or on my Kindle, and I'm able to sneak in a few pages whenever I have a minute—my adult version of always carrying a book in my backpack when I was younger. I also lived in small studio apartments that made storing ebooks much easier than keeping tons of hardbacks around.

Q. Do you have a favourite bookshop (and why that shop)?

When I lived in Brooklyn, I visited Word Bookstore often, and they had a book club that I went to when I could. It helped introduce me to some new-to-me authors and was a wonderfully nerdy place to hang out. In Chicago, where I live now, I love spending time at Book Cellar. They have a lovely little cafe where I can work, and I love the neighborhood it's in.

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Many thanks to Rae for recommending a brilliant set of books! Please don't forget to check out Rae's book All Made Up: The Power and Pitfalls of Beauty Culture, from Cleopatra to Kim Kardashian.
Daryl


Image Copyrights: Beacon Press (All Made Up), The New Press (Thick), Orion Publishing Co (Expecting Better), Harper Collins (Scary Stories).


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