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Hey everyone,
Hope you’re hanging in there. My reading slowed down this month. Is everything slowing down? Is time slowing down? Is time real? If you’re wading through mental molasses right now, I’m right there with you. Forgive yourself and aim to slowly steer yourself back on track. I know that’s what I’m trying to do.
Stay safe and hang in there,
Neil
1. When More Is Not Better: Overcoming America’s Obsession with Economic Efficiencyby Roger L. Martin. Do you feel like the whole system is rigged? Like there’s nothing you can do to really get ahead or help affect true change? This is the book to read. It masterfully zooms up into the stratosphere of the entire democratic capitalist system we live in and pulls back the curtain on all the junky, rusted-out parts inside. Roger Martin was Dean of the Rotman School of Management for a good decade and a half and named the world’s #1 management thinker by Thinkers50. I’ve followed his strategy books over the years (Playing To Win, The Opposable Mind) but I think this is his absolute best work. A clear call-to-arms calling shenanigans on, well, nearly everything, and then outlining remarkably refreshing approaches on how to fix it, all filtered into ideas for business execs, political leaders, educators, and citizens. His suggestions feel so ridiculously obvious but (of course) none of them are really happening right now. For example, for educators: Temper the inclination to teach certainty, stop teaching reductionism as if it’s a good thing (his epic takedown of MBAs here is worth the price of admission alone), help students appreciate the power of directly observable data, and elevate the appreciation of qualities (over quantities). Each point is backed by numbers and tightly screwed into lean and logical prose. Incredible.
2.Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on love and life from Dear Sugarby Cheryl Strayed. Cheryl Strayed was the victim of severe abuse as a child, lost her mother in her early 20s, became addicted to heroin, and then walked alone up the Pacific Crest Trail for three months over more than a thousand miles. Somewhere along the way she developed the incredible superpower to see inside people’s souls and conjure up potions to heal their rawest wounds. She wielded this superpower in the form of writing a pro bono column called “Dear Sugar” for an online literary magazine called The Rumpusabout a decade ago. This book is a collection of those columns and they will completely shatter you as she somehow manages to solve the question people didn’t ask her every single time. Here’s an example to give you a taste.
3. Is This Anything?by Jerry Seinfeld. No, sadly, it’s not. I feel awful saying that. I wish so badly this book was something. But it is missing a soul. Like a lot of people, I grew up with Jerry Seinfeld, watched the show religiously, quote it from memory with my friends. Even still to this day, after every speech someone comes up to me and says, “Anyone ever mention you sound a lot like Jerry Seinfeld?” What I’m saying is that Jerry lives somewhere in my bloodstream. I know I’ll own this book forever. I’ve been waiting for it for twenty-five years since his last one. And it does serve as the ultimate brick-like compendium of every single bit from one of the world’s most successful standup comedians of all time. But, that’s it. No memoir, no photos, no how the jokes were written, no lessons learned along the way, no introduction from Steve Martin or Larry David. Nothing! It’s literally just all the bits stapled together like some gigantic pile of bedside post-it notes. All climax, no foreplay, and a lingering sense of what could have been. For those who love Seinfeld so deeply, we may have to keep waiting for more.
4. The Common Goodby Robert B. Reich. Are you reaching for little ways to ground and center yourself as the pandemic wears on? I know I’m eating foods I loved as a kid, starting old TV series again from the beginning (Six Feet Under), and rereading books that give a certain fine-tuned and predictable emotional reaction. Like this one. I read it a couple of years ago and loved its calm and clear voice in the middle of all the screeching talking heads. Robert Reich lays out exactly how we went from “we” to “me” over the past fifty years and how we can get back the common good that connects us all. I can’t recommend it enough.
6. Possessing the Secret of Joyby Alice Walker. This 1992 novel is related to Alice Walker’s earlier book The Color Purplein the sense that it features a few overlapping characters. But it’s really the story of an African woman named Tashi and her inner turmoil following the ritual female genital mutilation (FGM) she undergoes as a teen. The novel is told in a poetic though at times confusing cacophony of voices that alternate every chapter like a Babysitters Club Super Special. Over 200 million women across 30 countries have undergone FGM and if you know nothing about it (like me) this heartwarming and heartbreaking novel is an accessible way in. Highly recommended.
7.HUMANSby Brandon Stanton. Are you one of the millions of people who reads Humans of New York? I was very lucky to get a digital copy of Brandon Stanton's latest masterpiece before we recorded a chapter of 3 Books. The book is his usual textured mini-life portraits offering a much needed dose of empathy and human connection. It's beautiful and I know I'll be buying a stack for Christmas presents next month.
