wow, you're laser focused in your reading right now : )
thanks so much for sharing these, Ruth. I've got to look up more about the "Rehearsals for Living" -- I've really appreciated Leanne Betasamosake Simpson's writing and thinking.
And we all know to turn to you if we need recommendations for abolition-themed books.
1. I just finished Anand Giridharadas's The Persuaders. It's an interesting read, trying to speak to activists who've moved beyond "callout culture" to "call-in culture." (You should definitely read his Winners Take All, about what dark not-so-secrets the philanthropy of the ultra-rich hides.) I wish he's spent more time understanding "callout culture" and what in society drives it, but the active and deep listening approach followed by the activists he interviews is worth considering. Indeed, I've found myself using it already.
2. Strategic Management and Organisational [Canadian spelling] Dynamics by Ralph D. Stacey is a useful addition to reading about systems thinking, as it adds a profoundly humanist element to that discipline.
3. I quickly read two books on climate collapse: An Inconvenient Apocalypse by Wes Jackson and Robert Jensen, and Nomad Century: How Climate Migration Will Reshape Our World by Gaia Vince. They take very different approaches to what life is going to be like/have to change into.
Bonus: I'm currently reading Thomas Piketty's Capital in the 21st Century, in Kindle on my phone so it should take a few months, assuming I don't get something from the library to read during the meantime on my commutes.
Robert, thanks for sharing! The Giridharadas book especially sounds good -- I'm a fan of anything that helps us gravitate away from the current divisiveness and stubbornness in our overall social/political culture. And I'm not surprised you've been reading stuff on management and organizational culture ; )
Hi Mike, partner and spouse! I'll share three books and a podcast I have been enjoying this week as you and our son have been recovering from COVID. (What a week!)
1. "Confessions of an Unlikely Runner" by Dana Ayers - a Christmas gift from given to me by you (Mike), that's a fun and quick read about some running adventures by someone who doesn't run for speed. I started running last year and enjoyed reading about the charity runs especially - and I liked that the book doubled as a travel log about a few different oddball races or runs up and down the east coast.
2. and 3. "Faithful Place" and "Broken Harbor," both by Tana French, which are books 4 and 5 in her Dublin Murder Squad series.
A friend recommended Tana French's book the Witch Elm to me over the summer. I read it on a vacation and have been obsessing with her books all fall and into winter. All of her books are mysteries novels centering on imperfect protagonists, and all explore different facets of Dublin over the past couple decades. They also have a richly descriptive gothic quality that keeps me coming back.
I enjoyed how different the two "Dublins" were in these two in the series. "Faithful Place" is about an urban working class cop and his family. "Broken Harbor" is about a housing development on the outskirts of Dublin - and was as an allegory of sorts on the 2010s global recession. Each time I read one of these books I learn a little bit more about class and culture in Dublin in a new way.
As for recent Podcasts - I just discovered Sam Sanders's new podcast INTO IT this week. It was a perfect antidote to the isolation from my family during this COVID quarantine week. It's fun and great for anyone who likes to enjoys engaging with pop culture issues - especially from a queer perspective.
The more you talk about the Tana French books, the more likely I am to pick one up and dive in. As you know, I don't read much fiction -- but I have to change that and give more fiction novels a try.
Gratitude to Sam Sanders for providing you with relief and distraction during our family's COVID quarantine week. And SO much gratitude to you for everything you've done this week while I've been isolated with COVID.
1. Rest is Resistance: A Manifesto by Tricia Hersey
2. Gifts by Ursula K. Le Guin
3. Outline by Rachel Cusk
Enjoying a focus on literary fiction in these gray winter days. All three of the above have helped me identify personal and professional priorities as I continue to navigate changes in my career.
Truth be told, we're all on a journey (pretty much all the time). Thanks for sharing these. The Brianna West book is on my list -- I'm curious to hear what resonated most with you about her writing?
I always love reading anything that helps us connect with ourself in new and deeper ways. Getting to know ourselves and feel a true sense of self-belonging seems to me like one of the main goals in life. All part of the journey.
1. Entangled Life by Merlin Sheldrake (subtitle: How fungi make our worlds, change our minds & shape our futures). His first chapter title What is it like to be a fungus? sets the stage for new perspectives on the concepts of individuality, the wood wide web, even intelligence. This transformed my understanding of how life works and spotlighted how the natural world is more fantastic than any fantasy. "Fungi roll us toward the edge of many questions" - about a world that was never made to be catalogued and systemized.
2. Interpretive Design and The Dance of Experience (IDTDE) by Steve Van Matre . Sounds academic, however, the attention to visual design details and the refreshing rainbow - infused publishing style keeps you alert. "Dance of experience" should also raise your interest. His refreshing spin encourages the preparation of "dance cards" to keep the visitors' dance alive as the role of the heritage interpreter. Always a go to for me especially when answering visitor experience planning questions on seminars and when preparing blog posts on our coaching site www.eidcoaching.com
IDTDE is a convention- challenging book and could easily have had a similar review as did The Anarchists Guide to Historic House Museums book, where it was stated that, “If you are a traditionalist you might think that (authors) Vagnone and Ryan are heretics, blasphemers or at the very least bomb throwers. Many of the ideas go against the standard rules of museum practice.” IDTDE throws bombs and will ignite your mind with mini-explosions of experiential heretical wisdom. The author challenges interpreters, on behalf of the visitor, to be better catalysts and matchmakers, to convey purposeful anticipation, to choreograph a dance of discovery, and to disappear.
3. Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer Another affirmation that this book is required reading for this point in time when our earth relationship is broken and needs healing. For me, and I am only half way through this reflective book, it is about respect and reciprocity. A life-changing quote for me and there are so many : "just about everything we use is the result of another's life but that simple reality is rarely acknowledged in our society... a sheet of paper is a tree's life ...what would it be like to live with that heightened sensitivity to the lives given for ours?"
Wow Bill, I so appreciate you sharing all of this. From what you've written, it sounds like you're quite the voracious learner.
I've read some of Sheldrake's book (it's very good), and of course very familiar with Kimmerer, but I'll need to check out the IDTDE book. I love this idea of the "dance of experience" and "choreography of discovery" (maybe it's my past career in performing arts and my studies in dance pedagogy). Once I get past my hiatus from museum books, I'll get a copy.
I was long overdue to read Radical Dharma. One of those books that sat on my shelf much longer than I'd care to admit. My meditation teacher has infused much dharma/Buddhism/zen into my yoga practice so the time seemed right. I got a lot out of the re-read of Daring Greatly a number of years later and in my current life circumstances (and the current state of affairs of the world). It was a totally personal-life, self-inquiry, self-focused, as if for therapy read... and that was refreshing.
Socrates Express looks after a variety of philosophers--ancient to modern thinkers. He goes to where they practiced to share what it's like there and each one chapter challenges the reader to, for example "How to Pay Attention like Simone Weil" or "How to Wonder like Socrates." I'm enjoying it.
If you're looking in this same vein, I highly recommend How to Be Perfect: The Correct Answer for Every Moral Question, by Michael Schur. He is the creator of the TV show The Good Place so if you enjoyed that show, this book will really tickle your fancy :-)
1. The Socrates Express: In Search of Life Lessons from Dead Philosophers by Eric Weiner (currently reading)
2. Rachel Maddow's Ultra (Podcast)
3. Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach (just saw her in person and love her curiosity for and storytelling of serious, sometimes taboo subjects, but with a humorous bent)
There are some things in Stiff I will never forget--the images of what she describes! It was cool to hear her in person talk about how she investigates her topics. I've only read the one book, but can't wait to read her others! Hope you enjoy!
Thanks for sharing, Laura! It's fun to see what people are reading and listening to -- we're always learning something and becoming our better selves.
You'll have to share more about Socrates Express once you've finished it. I'd be curious to learn more.
Humor and science?! Love it. Mary Roach sounds like the perfect way to get outside our typical lane of reading and into some strange but curious topics.
Yeah for Braiding Sweetgrass -- I just saw that she came out with a co-authored YA version! I'm picking up my copy from the library today. Really curious to see how it's different!
a YA version of Braiding Sweetgrass! Awesome! You'll have to share what that's like. Sounds like such a good idea, so that students can engage with her writing at younger ages.
What did you think of Misfits? Anything specific resonate with you in Coel's writing? I'm just curious, since it's been floating around on my reading list.
And as I said to Becky, it's been so good to see people picking up Kimmerer's book this past year. So good!
Sending you restful energies as we make our way through this winter season.
If you're a fan of her other work, you will most certainly enjoy Misfits. Listening to Coel read Misfits for 2-hours, felt like an opportunity to listen to a friend explain their journey and thought process. While it is a short read, she plants good food for thought on moving with purpose.
I love this question, Mike. (And I always love talking about the books I'm reading/listening to.)
1. Sabaa Tahir, All My Rage
2. Sandra (podcast)
3. Rereading Robin Wall Kimmer, Braiding Sweetgrass
1. I have read several of Sabaa Tahir's YA fantasy novels, but this new one (she just won the National Book award for All My Rage) is heartbreaking and all too real -- a fictionalized story of two Pakistani-American families over two generations, told from the teens pov. It felt important to read a story told from these perspectives so different from my own, and an ever important reminder of "you never know what someone else is going through." And it's just beautiful storytelling!
2. A friend just introduced me to this podcast over the weekend, so I have just started the series. Staring Alia Shawkat and Kristen Wigg, it's a story of artificial intelligence that's not so artificial. (Think: if Alexa was actually being voiced by a real person in a cubical somewhere.) A fun concept to make you think about our changing landscape of AI and relationship to technology.
3. I love this book. It's own of my favorites to listen to whenever I need to feel re-inspired. Kimmer reads her own book, and its so nice to listen to her telling me about connecting with the natural world, showing gratitude and respect, and generally being better humans. :)
Becky, I'm glad you enjoyed this little prompt! Thanks for sharing.
It's always cool to see adults reading YA fiction -- and this one sounds good. Our son's been reading the Heartstopper series, but I did watch the Netflix series based on these YA books (and it was very good!).
Sandra? Sounds fun -- can't go wrong with a take on AI (unless it gets too close to home).
And Kimmerer's book is such a classic! It's been good to see more people reading or re-reading her works after she won the MacArthur Fellowship this year (much deserved). She's such a powerful teacher.
1. Writing is Designing
2. A Hunter Gatherer's Guide to the 21st Century
3. Beyond Words: What Animals Think and Feel
Thanks for sharing -- love these! Especially "Beyond Words"
wow, you're laser focused in your reading right now : )
thanks so much for sharing these, Ruth. I've got to look up more about the "Rehearsals for Living" -- I've really appreciated Leanne Betasamosake Simpson's writing and thinking.
And we all know to turn to you if we need recommendations for abolition-themed books.
In reverse order, the last three books I read were:
Brick By Brick: How We Build A World Without Prisons by Cradle Community
Abolition Revolution by Shanice Octavia McBean and Aviah Sarah Day
Race to the Bottom: Reclaiming Anti-Racism by Azfar Shafi and Ilyas Nagdee
Currently reading Rehearsals For Living by Leanne Betasamosake Simpson and Robyn Maynard.
I think the next half a dozen books I read are going to be abolition-themed too...I got seven for Christmas! :-)
Hi all!
1. I just finished Anand Giridharadas's The Persuaders. It's an interesting read, trying to speak to activists who've moved beyond "callout culture" to "call-in culture." (You should definitely read his Winners Take All, about what dark not-so-secrets the philanthropy of the ultra-rich hides.) I wish he's spent more time understanding "callout culture" and what in society drives it, but the active and deep listening approach followed by the activists he interviews is worth considering. Indeed, I've found myself using it already.
2. Strategic Management and Organisational [Canadian spelling] Dynamics by Ralph D. Stacey is a useful addition to reading about systems thinking, as it adds a profoundly humanist element to that discipline.
3. I quickly read two books on climate collapse: An Inconvenient Apocalypse by Wes Jackson and Robert Jensen, and Nomad Century: How Climate Migration Will Reshape Our World by Gaia Vince. They take very different approaches to what life is going to be like/have to change into.
Bonus: I'm currently reading Thomas Piketty's Capital in the 21st Century, in Kindle on my phone so it should take a few months, assuming I don't get something from the library to read during the meantime on my commutes.
Robert, thanks for sharing! The Giridharadas book especially sounds good -- I'm a fan of anything that helps us gravitate away from the current divisiveness and stubbornness in our overall social/political culture. And I'm not surprised you've been reading stuff on management and organizational culture ; )
Hi Mike, partner and spouse! I'll share three books and a podcast I have been enjoying this week as you and our son have been recovering from COVID. (What a week!)
1. "Confessions of an Unlikely Runner" by Dana Ayers - a Christmas gift from given to me by you (Mike), that's a fun and quick read about some running adventures by someone who doesn't run for speed. I started running last year and enjoyed reading about the charity runs especially - and I liked that the book doubled as a travel log about a few different oddball races or runs up and down the east coast.
2. and 3. "Faithful Place" and "Broken Harbor," both by Tana French, which are books 4 and 5 in her Dublin Murder Squad series.
A friend recommended Tana French's book the Witch Elm to me over the summer. I read it on a vacation and have been obsessing with her books all fall and into winter. All of her books are mysteries novels centering on imperfect protagonists, and all explore different facets of Dublin over the past couple decades. They also have a richly descriptive gothic quality that keeps me coming back.
I enjoyed how different the two "Dublins" were in these two in the series. "Faithful Place" is about an urban working class cop and his family. "Broken Harbor" is about a housing development on the outskirts of Dublin - and was as an allegory of sorts on the 2010s global recession. Each time I read one of these books I learn a little bit more about class and culture in Dublin in a new way.
As for recent Podcasts - I just discovered Sam Sanders's new podcast INTO IT this week. It was a perfect antidote to the isolation from my family during this COVID quarantine week. It's fun and great for anyone who likes to enjoys engaging with pop culture issues - especially from a queer perspective.
Thanks for chiming in, Bryna (spouse/partner) : )
The more you talk about the Tana French books, the more likely I am to pick one up and dive in. As you know, I don't read much fiction -- but I have to change that and give more fiction novels a try.
Gratitude to Sam Sanders for providing you with relief and distraction during our family's COVID quarantine week. And SO much gratitude to you for everything you've done this week while I've been isolated with COVID.
1. Rest is Resistance: A Manifesto by Tricia Hersey
2. Gifts by Ursula K. Le Guin
3. Outline by Rachel Cusk
Enjoying a focus on literary fiction in these gray winter days. All three of the above have helped me identify personal and professional priorities as I continue to navigate changes in my career.
Love these 3! Thanks for sharing, Susan.
Hersey, LeGuin, and Cusk make for some pretty good teachers to guide us through a process of change.
I think with my list, one could tell I'm on a bit of a journey right now ;)
1. The Untethered Soul by Michael Singer
2. The Mountain is You by Brianna West
3. Emotional Agility: Get Unstuck, Embrace Change, and Thrive in Work and Life by Susan David
Release, let yourself flow, forgive yourself, believe in yourself, move, and play.
Truth be told, we're all on a journey (pretty much all the time). Thanks for sharing these. The Brianna West book is on my list -- I'm curious to hear what resonated most with you about her writing?
I always love reading anything that helps us connect with ourself in new and deeper ways. Getting to know ourselves and feel a true sense of self-belonging seems to me like one of the main goals in life. All part of the journey.
1. Entangled Life by Merlin Sheldrake (subtitle: How fungi make our worlds, change our minds & shape our futures). His first chapter title What is it like to be a fungus? sets the stage for new perspectives on the concepts of individuality, the wood wide web, even intelligence. This transformed my understanding of how life works and spotlighted how the natural world is more fantastic than any fantasy. "Fungi roll us toward the edge of many questions" - about a world that was never made to be catalogued and systemized.
2. Interpretive Design and The Dance of Experience (IDTDE) by Steve Van Matre . Sounds academic, however, the attention to visual design details and the refreshing rainbow - infused publishing style keeps you alert. "Dance of experience" should also raise your interest. His refreshing spin encourages the preparation of "dance cards" to keep the visitors' dance alive as the role of the heritage interpreter. Always a go to for me especially when answering visitor experience planning questions on seminars and when preparing blog posts on our coaching site www.eidcoaching.com
IDTDE is a convention- challenging book and could easily have had a similar review as did The Anarchists Guide to Historic House Museums book, where it was stated that, “If you are a traditionalist you might think that (authors) Vagnone and Ryan are heretics, blasphemers or at the very least bomb throwers. Many of the ideas go against the standard rules of museum practice.” IDTDE throws bombs and will ignite your mind with mini-explosions of experiential heretical wisdom. The author challenges interpreters, on behalf of the visitor, to be better catalysts and matchmakers, to convey purposeful anticipation, to choreograph a dance of discovery, and to disappear.
3. Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer Another affirmation that this book is required reading for this point in time when our earth relationship is broken and needs healing. For me, and I am only half way through this reflective book, it is about respect and reciprocity. A life-changing quote for me and there are so many : "just about everything we use is the result of another's life but that simple reality is rarely acknowledged in our society... a sheet of paper is a tree's life ...what would it be like to live with that heightened sensitivity to the lives given for ours?"
Wow Bill, I so appreciate you sharing all of this. From what you've written, it sounds like you're quite the voracious learner.
I've read some of Sheldrake's book (it's very good), and of course very familiar with Kimmerer, but I'll need to check out the IDTDE book. I love this idea of the "dance of experience" and "choreography of discovery" (maybe it's my past career in performing arts and my studies in dance pedagogy). Once I get past my hiatus from museum books, I'll get a copy.
Powerful quote from Kimmerer (there are SO many).
I was long overdue to read Radical Dharma. One of those books that sat on my shelf much longer than I'd care to admit. My meditation teacher has infused much dharma/Buddhism/zen into my yoga practice so the time seemed right. I got a lot out of the re-read of Daring Greatly a number of years later and in my current life circumstances (and the current state of affairs of the world). It was a totally personal-life, self-inquiry, self-focused, as if for therapy read... and that was refreshing.
1. Radical Dharma
2. Daring Greatly
3. The Invisible Live of Addie LaRue
Appreciate that you shared these, Rachel.
Love Radical Dharma! And I'm probably overdue to re-read Daring Greatly (Brene Brown has had a big influence on me these past 10 years).
Socrates Express looks after a variety of philosophers--ancient to modern thinkers. He goes to where they practiced to share what it's like there and each one chapter challenges the reader to, for example "How to Pay Attention like Simone Weil" or "How to Wonder like Socrates." I'm enjoying it.
If you're looking in this same vein, I highly recommend How to Be Perfect: The Correct Answer for Every Moral Question, by Michael Schur. He is the creator of the TV show The Good Place so if you enjoyed that show, this book will really tickle your fancy :-)
What a fun share!
1. The Socrates Express: In Search of Life Lessons from Dead Philosophers by Eric Weiner (currently reading)
2. Rachel Maddow's Ultra (Podcast)
3. Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach (just saw her in person and love her curiosity for and storytelling of serious, sometimes taboo subjects, but with a humorous bent)
Adding the Mary Roach book to my queue -- sounds fun, or at least really interesting!
There are some things in Stiff I will never forget--the images of what she describes! It was cool to hear her in person talk about how she investigates her topics. I've only read the one book, but can't wait to read her others! Hope you enjoy!
Thanks for sharing, Laura! It's fun to see what people are reading and listening to -- we're always learning something and becoming our better selves.
You'll have to share more about Socrates Express once you've finished it. I'd be curious to learn more.
Humor and science?! Love it. Mary Roach sounds like the perfect way to get outside our typical lane of reading and into some strange but curious topics.
1. Misfits by Michaela Coel
2. I'm Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy
3. Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer
Yeah for Braiding Sweetgrass -- I just saw that she came out with a co-authored YA version! I'm picking up my copy from the library today. Really curious to see how it's different!
a YA version of Braiding Sweetgrass! Awesome! You'll have to share what that's like. Sounds like such a good idea, so that students can engage with her writing at younger ages.
Sarah, thanks for sharing!
What did you think of Misfits? Anything specific resonate with you in Coel's writing? I'm just curious, since it's been floating around on my reading list.
And as I said to Becky, it's been so good to see people picking up Kimmerer's book this past year. So good!
Sending you restful energies as we make our way through this winter season.
If you're a fan of her other work, you will most certainly enjoy Misfits. Listening to Coel read Misfits for 2-hours, felt like an opportunity to listen to a friend explain their journey and thought process. While it is a short read, she plants good food for thought on moving with purpose.
Sounds like a good audiobook to add to my queue. Thanks!
I love this question, Mike. (And I always love talking about the books I'm reading/listening to.)
1. Sabaa Tahir, All My Rage
2. Sandra (podcast)
3. Rereading Robin Wall Kimmer, Braiding Sweetgrass
1. I have read several of Sabaa Tahir's YA fantasy novels, but this new one (she just won the National Book award for All My Rage) is heartbreaking and all too real -- a fictionalized story of two Pakistani-American families over two generations, told from the teens pov. It felt important to read a story told from these perspectives so different from my own, and an ever important reminder of "you never know what someone else is going through." And it's just beautiful storytelling!
2. A friend just introduced me to this podcast over the weekend, so I have just started the series. Staring Alia Shawkat and Kristen Wigg, it's a story of artificial intelligence that's not so artificial. (Think: if Alexa was actually being voiced by a real person in a cubical somewhere.) A fun concept to make you think about our changing landscape of AI and relationship to technology.
3. I love this book. It's own of my favorites to listen to whenever I need to feel re-inspired. Kimmer reads her own book, and its so nice to listen to her telling me about connecting with the natural world, showing gratitude and respect, and generally being better humans. :)
Becky, I'm glad you enjoyed this little prompt! Thanks for sharing.
It's always cool to see adults reading YA fiction -- and this one sounds good. Our son's been reading the Heartstopper series, but I did watch the Netflix series based on these YA books (and it was very good!).
Sandra? Sounds fun -- can't go wrong with a take on AI (unless it gets too close to home).
And Kimmerer's book is such a classic! It's been good to see more people reading or re-reading her works after she won the MacArthur Fellowship this year (much deserved). She's such a powerful teacher.
Apparently there's a YA version of Braiding Sweetgrass.
(Does posting links work here?)
https://lernerbooks.com/braidingsweetgrass?gclid=Cj0KCQiA8aOeBhCWARIsANRFrQH3eHFE1e19ZnXSItkAg6WtlJPFNnV1TVKxdFqR3yfXsktWMAH5HRwaAuNoEALw_wcB