Years ago I read a book called Confederates in the Attic by Tony Horwitz, and I was immediately hooked on the story of what I perceived to be insane, crazy, delusional Americans dressing up in Confederate garb in the middle of that brutal Southern summer humidity to reenact Civil War battles that had taken place decades prior. It was a mystifying, hilarious book, written with a keen eye and delicate prose so as not to pass judgement on any of the main characters, so when I found Spying on the South at the bookstore a few weeks ago, I knew…
Yeah, Michael Lewis does it again. Reading his books is a total breeze as he is one of the best storytellers in the world, and in this one he turns the almost incomprehensible COVID-19 pandemic into a simplistic narrative about how it all went down, the people and players behind-the-scenes, how everything went badly wrong — and how the worst case scenario’s could have and should have been prevented. Lewis digs deep in The Premonition with the stories of a group of wonderful, talented, smart, sharp, and prescient group of doctors, scientists, public health officials, and government workers who spent…
“The history of racist ideas is the history of powerful policy makers erecting racist policies out of self-interest, then producing racist ideas to defend and nationalize the inequitable effects of their policies, while everyday people consume those racist ideas, which in turn sparks ignorance and hate.”
A stunning conclusion to a stunning book, and Kendi notes that it took him years of painstaking research, reading, comprehending, conversation with friends, family, and mentors, inner turmoil, self-reflection, self-doubt, and even overcoming his own ignorance and bias to arrive at that point. For whatever reason I put off reading this book until recently…
An excellent book by one of my favorite athletes, past or present — and one whose career was tragically cut short by life-threatening blood clots in 2015. Bosh was a multiple time all-star with the Toronto Raptors before joining up with LeBron James and Dwayne Wade to form the “Big 3” in Miami from 2011–2014, and this book details some of his best and brightest moments as an NBA professional, but also some of his toughest ones, such as being regarded as the “third wheel” on those championship Miami teams and how he had to overcome his own self-doubt and…
I can’t say that I found this book to be earth shattering, but I did enjoy the stories of individuals, cities, and corporations and how they transformed themselves to “solve problems before they happen”, as Heath puts it on his cover. Health describes his theory of “Upstream” or “Upstreaming”, by espousing the belief that efforts to prevent problems — any problems — from happening in the first place is a far better option than “downstream action”, where we react to problems after they have already occurred. He makes a compelling case, and of course, he is absolutely right. Reaction is…
A sweeping, painstaking journey into the heart of the opioid epidemic — where it started, how it got to this point, the people, places, and communities that are being torn apart at the seams — and everything in between. This is one of my favorite styles of non-fiction books because it weaves in and out between the stories of those that are personally impacted and also offers a host of facts, data, science, and opinion on how we can potentially turn the tide. As always, this is a complex, multi-layered issue that involves politics, doctors, community advocates, average, everyday Americans…
I had a difficult time getting into this book, and not because I disliked it in any way, but more so because it’s written in a “philosophical” style, which has always been hard for me to follow. However, because I went back and typed up my notes and was able to summarize them in short form, I think I was able to make sense of Odell’s thoughts and really came to appreciate her way of thinking. This is certainly not a self-help book in any way, nor is it a “guide” with bullet points for reading or discussion groups, but…
Adam Grant is one of my favorite authors, writers, thinkers, and podcasters. It’s probably not right to call him a wunderkind or something along those lines, but he has this astonishing ability to crank out research, blog posts, New York Times articles, and social media posts at a ridiculously fast rate, so I tend to gobble up basically everything he puts into the public sphere. His current book, Think Again, challenges the reader to leave the echo chamber of social media, embrace the joy of being wrong, admit that there is a multitude of layered context, nuance, and complexity in…
What a sweeping, incredible book. I know that Larson is a big-time writer, very well known and famous with millions of his books sold around the world, but this is the first of his that I’ve read — and man, what a read. It’s not so much a history book or Churchill biography, but rather a story about the year of “The Blitz” in England, where Germany spent most of 1940 and into 1941 mercilessly bombing the country indiscriminately and without much rhyme or reason for their attacks. The timeline is framed by notes, diaries, and other first-hand accounts of…
This book has been all over a few of the podcasts I listen to, mainly with the Freakonomics (Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner) boys as they are a bit obsessed — and rightfully so, in my opinion — with how bias affects the decision making process, and how that bias can alter our behaviors in real-world settings. Konnikova is a very accomplished psychologist and writer for The New Yorker, but she spent the better part of 2018 and 2019 working with one of the best poker players in the world and basically taught herself how to become a world champion…
Adam Marks
I love books, I have a ton of them, and I take notes on all of them. I wanted to share all that I have learned and will continue to learn. I hope you enjoy.
