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Hey everyone,
Hope you've had a good March.
I deleted all social media apps on my phone this month. I asked someone to change my passwords so I couldn’t bust in, either. Fun experiment. I missed some of the social connection – especially while travelling – but felt my fracturing attention, uh, un-fracturing, and I do notice I’m more content with how I’ve spent my time. Which is usually writing, reading, walking, birding, or, you know, watching the wheels with my kids.
Btw: I have to say a huge congrats to Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert for their epic Oscar sweep. What a win for creativity. We put together an Oscar Encore Edit of my 3 Books chat with them right here.
Okay, now let’s hit the books,
Neil
1. Console Wars: Sega, Nintendo, and the Battle That Defined a Generationby Blake J. Harris. A torridly-paced high-flying business book that reads like an action movie – all told from a fascinating fly-on-the-wall perspective taking you deep into the trenches during the epic battle between the Sega Genesis and the Super Nintendo. But that’s just the battle. The book zooms out into the long-term war between these two relatively ancient companies and covers ground like Nintendo’s culture of consistency over 100 years, the story of video games taking off with Atari and then flaming out, fascinating risky strategies like Sega opening their first and only Sega store – complete with huge billboards all over town -- right outside the Bentonville, Arkansas Walmart Home Office after Walmart said they wouldn’t carry the Genesis, and the history of the ‘Sega Scream’ at the end of those “Welcome To The Next Level” commercials. We follow along into Nintendo’s monopolistic >90% market share position with the NES (and hear the fascinating Mario Brothers history) and then track Sega’s emergence through edgy marketing, communication, and business strategies Nintendo would never touch. Over the course of the book, Sega goes from less than 5% market share to over 55% when Mortal Kombat came out. Blake did over 200 interviews and the results are obvious – an unmissable case study on business, strategy, and life. Highly recommended.
2. Ducks: Two Years In The Oil Sandsby Kate Beaton. I’ve been on a lot of flights between Edmonton and Toronto full of men (almost always men) working in the oil sands and heading home to the Maritimes. There’s been a national story in Canada for a long time of societies with high unemployment heading westwards to make money in the lucrative but challenging work offered by the oil sands industry. The picture in this 430-page (!) graphic memoir is different – telling the story of a young woman from Cape Breton leaving her small town behind to work largely behind equipment-supplying desks in the oil sands of northern Alberta for two years. A penetrating tunnel of loneliness offers up a portrait of deep cultural sexism and misogyny – so many truly shocking lines throughout – yet, somehow, all told from an empathetic lens. Brave, unflinching, shocking, not-shocking, with little moments of tenderness in between. You will feel like you’re there. Kudos to Kate for the years and years of work that went into creating this artistic masterpiece.
3. Dear Black Boyby Martellus Bennett. What happens after you finish off a 10-year NFL career as a Super Bowl winning tight end? Well, if you’re Martellus Bennett, you start The Imagination Agency, a ‘multi-platform storytelling studio’ that creates books, apps, toys, and clothes. One of the first books is this 32-page picture book written as a commencement-speech style rallying cry for young black boys to emerge as leaders. “The low-hanging fruit is what the world prefers you to reach for, but we must climb the tree”, “You deserve to dream the wildest dreams and to chase those dreams the same way you chase a loose ball in the fourth quarter, a running back breaking free down the sideline, or a fly ball in the outfield.” A wonderful expectation-busting dose of inspiration for little ones. (For inspiration for college age folks, try this.)
4. The Legacy of Luna: The Story of a Tree, A Woman, And The Struggle to Save the Redwoodsby Julia Butterfly Hill. A first-person true story of a woman who climbed into a thousand year old tree in the late 90s slated for logging … and lived there for two years until the logging company agreed not to chop it down. Despite the trumpet flourish at the end this isn’t an inspiring story – it’s a devastating one. A portrait of a century-old trust-based organization getting bought out by a stealthy junk bondsman who discovered it’s much more profitable to endlessly break laws – such as those against clear-cutting and replacing old growth forests – and just pay the fines which add up to pennies on the dollar of profits. Limp laws, toothless politicians, and corporate intimidation add up to a crucible of growth for Julia – but at an enormous price. Her descriptions of climbing up and living in the tree are so vivid you’ll feel like you’re in Ewok Village with her. A deep connection to nature – flying squirrels, black bears, lightning strikes and more. For me the book gave a nice escape from “today” and a connection to the larger energy I think many of us need to tap into right now. Highly recommended.
5. Chip Kidd: Book Two by Chip Kidd with Introductions by Haruki Murakami, Neil Gaiman, and Orhan Pamuk. The most famous book jacket designer in the world is probably Chip Kidd. He did the famous Jurassic Park cover (which turned into the movie poster) as well as lots for authors like David Sedaris, Cormac McCarthy, and Donna Tartt. I didn’t realize this book was a sequel when I bought it and, you know, I don’t like all the covers in here. But I love and respect the thoughtfulness, confidence, and sheer idea-execution that the book walks us through. He shows ideas that flopped, how things were changed, why things were changed. A feast for book nerds. To get a feel for Chip you can check out his TED Talk “Designing books is no laughing matter. OK, it is” or this interview with the always-on-point Debbie Millman.
6. Loving What Is: Four questions that can change your lifeby Bryon Katie. An easy-to-read book describing a four-question process to help you see what’s bothering you and (hopefully) let it go. The four questions are: 1) Is it true?, 2) Can you absolutely know that it’s true?, 3) How do you react when you believe that thought?, and 4) Who would you be without the thought? It sounds lite – almost trivial – but the questions are brought to life with on-stage dialogues and, I think, when asked of yourself, slowly, with the guidance in the book, it really can be helpful and perspective-creating to separate what’s happening from your interpretation of what’s happening and then seeing your interpretation as something you can own and release. Will it always work? Does it apply in every situation? No. But the model is still useful. Some people call this book a method of "doing CBT on yourself" and if you're interested in exploring more therapy-related work check out my interview with Kate the Therapist here.
7. Sacred Hoops: Spiritual Lessons of a Hardwood Warriorby Phil Jackson and Hugh Delehanty. Do you feel like there’s always been something different about Phil Jackson? I mean, first off, he won 11 NBA championships. More than anyone else! Perhaps that’s why his journey towards a unique practice of leadership is all the more remarkable. In this book he shares how he grew up under deeply religious preachers (“dad preached in the mornings, mom preached at nights”) and then how, as an NBA player, he began his own seeking quest. This is a graceful, peaceful, open-hearted book sharing how he discovered and developed principles from zen philosophy, the Lakota Sioux, and his own unique stirring-together-of-other-things which helped him to create deep egalitarianism and connection within his teams. “More than anything else, what allowed the Bulls to sustain a high level of excellence was the players’ compassion for each other,” he writes. He tells the story of how he had the team circle around Scottie Pippen after he came back after his father died and shower him with love, how he taught players to meditate to quiet their judging minds, and how he created practices to avoid media following the team so they could create their own bubble. All was in service of creating an unbeatable team mind. A unique lens on leadership.
8. Rodney was a Tortoiseby Nan Forler, illustrated by Yong Ling Kang. And now it’s time for this month’s Leslie’s Pick, a book personally chosen and reviewed by Leslie. “This is the perfect book to begin gentle conversations with children about loss, death and grief. As Bernadette processes the death of her pet tortoise the emotive illustrations and subtle lessons about how grief never goes away but lessens with time, is easier experienced with others than alone, and is a universal part of the human experience, present themselves in a perfect tone. As much as we sometimes wish we never had to explore these themes with our children, we inevitably will and this book will soothe the parent’s aching heart while it comforts the child.”
