In his memoir The Color of Everything, Cory Richards (b. 1981) lays bare his history with mental illness and substance abuse, his childhood traumas anIn his memoir The Color of Everything, Cory Richards (b. 1981) lays bare his history with mental illness and substance abuse, his childhood traumas and wild adolescence, his former career as a photographer and adventurer, and plenty of disgusting behavior (adultery, sexual harassment) he's continued into adulthood under the guise of his past traumas and mental illness. His memoir, published when Richards was in his early 40s, comes across as largely self-indulgent and self-absorbed, like he's still wandering through life and searching for the next money-making grift that'll get him through another few months.
My statistics: Book 282 for 2024 Book 1855 cumulatively...more
Tasha Eurich is an organizational psychologist and principal of her own consulting practice, The Eurich Group, where she works with business leaders tTasha Eurich is an organizational psychologist and principal of her own consulting practice, The Eurich Group, where she works with business leaders to develop and transform their interpersonal skills. In Insight, Eurich expounds about the difference between self-awareness with respect to understanding our *own* thoughts, feelings and behaviours, and self-awareness with respect to understanding *how* others perceive* our thoughts, feelings and behaviours. She makes an important point about how many people who are self-aware in the former category aren't necessarily strong in the latter category, which I've found to be very true. She talks about how to develop the latter category, highlighting examples of people who started out average or below average in managing perceptions but whose skills grew markedly as their careers progressed.
I found this book very helpful in contextualizing experiences I've had in my own career, particularly when managing people who profess strengths in self-awareness but are actually terrible at managing others' perceptions of them. I had a direct report a few years back who is probably the poster child of this phenomenon -- he bragged vociferously about his efforts toward self-improvement and thought that considering reading James Clear's Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones was meritorious (he mentioned this book many times to me, but it's unclear if he ever read it), yet he was a spoiled, petulant child who threw fits and things when he didn't get his way, had the hardest time finding his next job (my field is small -- I've heard bad stories from many mutual contacts about him!) and is likely not long for the professional world unless he becomes self-aware as Eurich describes.
My statistics: Book 289 for 2024 Book 1892 cumulatively...more
Sally Hogshead is an advertising executive-turned-professional speaker who's written several books on business and professional branding. I've previouSally Hogshead is an advertising executive-turned-professional speaker who's written several books on business and professional branding. I've previously listened to her book on personal branding, 2014's How the World Sees You: Discover Your Highest Value Through the Science of Fascination. This book, Fascinate, is the heavily-revised and differently-subtitled 2016 version of a book Hogshead originally published in 2010, Fascinate: Your 7 Triggers to Persuasion and Captivation, and focuses on business branding. I found it quick and engaging to listen to, though I'm not its target audience.
My statistics: Book 295 for 2024 Book 1898 cumulatively...more
Daymond John is an American entrepreneur who founded the hip hop clothing label FUBU (For Us, By Us) and, for at least the first 16 seasons as I'm wriDaymond John is an American entrepreneur who founded the hip hop clothing label FUBU (For Us, By Us) and, for at least the first 16 seasons as I'm writing this review in late 2024, has been one of the main cast of "shark" investors on the US version of Shark Tank. Though John has published several books to date, Powershift is the first of his books I've read. As the subtitle promises, this book focuses on John's conceptualization of the three prongs of influence that have guided his career and those of others he interviewed: 1) establishing credibility and building influence, 2) making deals from a place of strength, and 3) establishing, building, and nurturing relationships over time.
I feel like points #1 and #2 are well-hammered-on in the business press (especially #2, and of course a Shark Tank investor has a lot of insight into this point), whereas #3 is the most novel and most compelling. I appreciated John's examples of ways he's nurtured relationships longitudinally.
My statistics: Book 309 for 2024 Book 1912 cumulatively...more
Jill Ciment (b. 1953) is a writer and college English professor who, from the age of 17 to 63, was the romantic partner, then wife, and now widow of pJill Ciment (b. 1953) is a writer and college English professor who, from the age of 17 to 63, was the romantic partner, then wife, and now widow of painter Arnold Mesches (1923-2016), a man 30 years her senior. She previously wrote about their large age gap relationship in an earlier memoir, 1996's Half a Life: A Memoir. Now that Ciment is widowed and in her early 70s, she wrote this memoir reevaluating their 50+ year relationship in light of the #metoo movement:
Who kissed whom first? If Arnold kissed me first, should I refer to him in the language of today—sexual offender, transgressor, abuser of power? Or do I refer to him in the language of the late ’90s, when my forty-five-year-old self wrote the scene? The president at that time was Clinton, and the blue dress was in the news. Men who preyed on younger women were called letches, cradle-robbers, dogs. Or do I refer to him in the language of 1970, at the apex of the sexual revolution, when the kiss took place—Casanova, silver fox? And how do I refer to myself? In today’s parlance—victim, survivor? The words are used interchangeably but have very different connotations. Calling myself a victim would imply that I had been helpless, whereas calling myself a survivor would suggest I had empowerment. Or do I employ the language used to describe Monica Lewinsky—bimbo, vixen? Or do I talk about myself in the lingo of the sexual revolution? In that case, I was the coolest, bitchin’est chick on the block because I kissed my art teacher.
This is a complicated, nuanced and rather brief book that starts out critically of Mesches and seems to soften as it goes on. Ciment reevaluates the cultural norms of the 1970s when she and Mesches got together and how, as she aged, their relationship became less taboo, with the pendulum swinging back to societal disgust in the light of #metoo. She attempts to deconstruct the motivations of why she, at 17, desired to be with a man exactly her estranged father's age:
I didn’t yet know how to explain to the group that his age was my aphrodisiac, that I needed to be desired by someone older and important so that I could feel special. The fact that he was old enough to be my father was what elevated me above the line of wallflowers, girls who had to wait for boys their own age to ask them to dance. And let us be frank: I didn’t want to have to wait my turn in line with those girls for all the goodies adulthood was offering.
And how, throughout their half-century together, she considered their age difference dually as a fountain of youth (for her, because she'd always be 30 years younger) and a shoe waiting ominously to drop (because she envisioned becoming, and was, his caretaker as he became increasingly feeble and preceded her in death).
In Smart, Not Loud, former TV news report-turned-entrepreneur Jessica Chen initially sought to write a book aimed at Asian-Americans at overcoming ingIn Smart, Not Loud, former TV news report-turned-entrepreneur Jessica Chen initially sought to write a book aimed at Asian-Americans at overcoming ingrained cultural traits and succeeding in Western workplaces, but realized her advice was more generalizable, applying to many who personality-wise, gender-conditioning-wise, cultural-wise, or all of the above, may struggle to speak up and advocate for themselves at work in ways many Western workplaces value. Chen uses the terms "quiet culture" and "loud culture" throughout the book. "Quiet culture" denotes environments where hard work and dedication is paramount, feedback is usually circumspect rather than pointed and direct, age and seniority garner respect and younger more junior people hesitate to contradict their seniors/elders, and trying to stand out and promote or take credit for one's accomplishments is discouraged and seen as gauche. "Loud culture" denotes largely the opposite -- cultures where socialization and building interpersonal relationships are valued as much as or more than hard work, where junior people hesitate less to speak up, where feedback is more direct than implied, and where "the squeaky wheel gets the grease" and the people who expect that their hard work will speak for itself in terms of raises, promotions and opportunities are largely left disappointed.
Chen gives some personal examples from her early days in broadcast journalism of when she thought she spoke up and advocated for herself, only for promised opportunities to be given to others who spoke up more loudly and frequently than she did. She also shares similar anecdotes from people whom she has coached, and a passing anecdote or two from people who are from "loud cultures" trying to adapt to "quiet cultures." A lot of this can be boiled down to understanding others' preferred communication styles/cadences and consciously adapting to them as needed -- for instance, understanding if a boss would be annoyed by and think it presumptuous on your part of being reminded about an opportunity you're aiming at on a semi-regular basis, or whether they would welcome the reminder to keep you top of mind as they have too much to keep track of.
As a fellow quiet culture person (probably due to gender conditioning more than anything else), I found this book generally useful and insightful. I especially enjoyed the advice about highlighting personal accomplishments by sharing and enumerating their impact on others, which definitely feels less braggy than ways I've seen my (mostly male) colleagues crow about their accomplishments (many of which were actually not their accomplishments to begin with).
William Krejci's short book Buried Beneath Cleveland explores lost cemeteries -- and by lost, he doesn't mean small but well-maintained burial sites, William Krejci's short book Buried Beneath Cleveland explores lost cemeteries -- and by lost, he doesn't mean small but well-maintained burial sites, but rather, parking lots, roads, buildings, and overgrown nature areas where human remains from the 1700s-1800s (mostly of early Americans, some of Native Americans or British military members) were once buried but have since been built over, with little traces of the past remaining. Clearly this book took a great deal of research -Krejci does his best to narrate the lives of people likely buried in these areas using historical birth, marriage, and death records - but for most of these ordinary, non-famous people, all that remains are the bare bone details (pun intended). Some of these remains were later exhumed and buried in more established cemeteries that are still maintained today, but many were not, for reasons lost to history. It's sad to think about how commonly forgotten these people were -- many of whom died as children or teens before having families or careers of their own, which likely accelerated how quickly they disappeared from memory.
That being said, this is likely a better reference book or guide should readers want to explore some of these burial locations on their own (Krejci provides geographic coordinates and street landmarks for most, but clearly delineates which sites are on public property and accessible vs. private property and inaccessible, as well as warnings about terrain elements that make some sites less suitable for exploration), rather than a book to be read from start to finish as I did.
In her debut memoir, Stephanie Kiser (b. ~1991) writes about her 20s working as a nanny for various wealthy New York families, while heavily intersperIn her debut memoir, Stephanie Kiser (b. ~1991) writes about her 20s working as a nanny for various wealthy New York families, while heavily interspersing narratives of her own working class childhood in Rhode Island, airing her own entitlement, her family's dirty laundry, and at times, her own cluelessness and stupidity ("I got amazing seats to Hamilton and had to look up if Hamilton was a real person at halftime, I mean, intermission"), in the process. It's not a good look and was quite reminiscent of the Talia Jane Yelp open letter fiasco of 2016.
While I sympathized with Kiser in parts, she also comes across as incredibly entitled. She chose to go into debt by getting an expensive undergrad degree in the liberal arts (forgoing the basketball scholarships she received at less prestigious schools), then chose to move to one of the most expensive cities in the US after college, and was sadly disappointed the only high-paying job she could easily get as a new college grad in NYC was to be a nanny. And she was making good money as a nanny - around $100K/year! Yet, her lifestyle inflated with her money, and she felt entitled to luxury apartments at buildings with doormen, Pottery Barn furniture, and a purebred King Charles Spaniel puppy. I'm a few years older than Kiser, and I spent my 20s working a 60-hour/week job making around $20K/year in a purposely lower cost of living town, scrupulously couponing and saving, very rarely going out to eat, and living with cheap particle board Ikea furniture and hand-me-downs.
I don't think the extensive reflections on Kiser's childhood and family life were very helpful in the overall narrative. I felt uncomfortable on behalf of her family whose dirty laundry and sensitive topics she shared, and it came across as self-centered and demonstrating limited perspective on life. Like I say with almost all of my memoir reviews, the mark of a good memoir is in the growth and shift in perspectives the author demonstrates from a retrospective retelling of their lives. There are glimmers of that here, when Kiser realizes she's benefitting from white privilege and isn't the worst off in the COVID pandemic compared to many of her nanny cohort, but overall I don't think enough time, distance and maturation has passed from the events of Kiser's 20s to effectively write this memoir at this point in time.
My statistics: Book 183 for 2024 Book 1786 cumulatively ...more
In Double Click, journalist Carol Kino takes aim (pun intended) at the American magazine and photojournalism industry of the 1940s and 1950s, through In Double Click, journalist Carol Kino takes aim (pun intended) at the American magazine and photojournalism industry of the 1940s and 1950s, through the central figures of two New Yorkers, identical twin photographers Frances "Franny" and Kathryn "Fuffy" McLaughlin. The twins, raised in upscale social circles (JFK was one of their Choate Rosemary Hall classmates), developed an interest in photography after being gifted an expensive camera by their aunt, and after college, both found success in various publishing houses - Franny at Condé Nast and Fuffy for various other career-girl-focused magazines of the era. Double Click focuses on the twins' twenties as they became established photographers, and also includes a large ensemble cast of other prominent fashion and journalism figures of the era, delineated by a cast of characters section at the end of the book. Both twins went onto have long careers as photographers, and I wish the book had focused more on the longevity and evolution of their careers (and less on their odd, sometimes incestuous love affairs).
My statistics: Book 176 for 2024 Book 1779 cumulatively...more
In Mastering AI, journalist Jeremy Kahn takes a pragmatic approach at how current and future generative artificial intelligence (genAI) tools will chaIn Mastering AI, journalist Jeremy Kahn takes a pragmatic approach at how current and future generative artificial intelligence (genAI) tools will change the way we live and work on many levels - personal, societal, national, and international. There have been an influx of books on genAI in recent years (surely many such book proposals were greenlit in the months following ChatGPT's launch that served to mainstream genAI), and having read many of them, I enjoyed Kahn's relatively clear-eyed and (I think) realistic approach.
Frank Bruni is a long-time journalist, NYT columnist, and, since 2021, a professor of journalism at Duke University. In the Age of Grievance, he writeFrank Bruni is a long-time journalist, NYT columnist, and, since 2021, a professor of journalism at Duke University. In the Age of Grievance, he writes extensively on how divisive American culture has become on social and political issues in recent decades through the pervasive feeling of grievance (both actual and perceived, and on all sides of the current American political spectrum and hot button sociopolitical issues).
I strongly resonated with the majority of Bruni's points in this book. I especially like this quote from chapter 8, when Bruni talks about writing graciously about a political figure from a different party than his own:
To mention [good] qualities at the time of a person's death isn't an act of moral laundering - it's the essence of civility.
I think we could all practice more humility and civility these days, and practice nonjudgmental and open-minded listening to others' viewpoints. That's why I consciously and consistently read books from people whose political and social viewpoints don't match my own, rather than stay in an echo chamber of feel-good, preaching-the-the-choir views. That's why I don't outrightly and blanketly dismiss people because they've been labeled negatively (rightfully or not), and pompously and self-righteously presume that they can't possibly have anything worthwhile to say (or that my fragile ego can't withstand the presence of a dissenting argument). There are very few people who self-identify as 100% villains and lack any redeeming qualities, and the better we are at recognizing the humanity in others and the common goals we share, the better off we are as a society.
There has been an explosion of books about the impact of current AI/ML on all facets of society in the last ~5 years. Murgia's 2024 contribution, CodeThere has been an explosion of books about the impact of current AI/ML on all facets of society in the last ~5 years. Murgia's 2024 contribution, Code Dependent, focuses on the interface between humans and AI/ML technology, and she travels and reports extensively in the developing world and among immigrant communities in Western countries who try to eke out a living as part of the AI/ML workforce, i.e., the eponymous "code dependent." The first part of the book focuses on people in developing countries and refugees who work to train AI/ML through tasks like image recognition, which reminded me of Dr. Fei-Fei Li's ways of training her ImageNet database by employing college students, then Amazon mechanical turk (see The Worlds I See: Curiosity, Exploration, and Discovery at the Dawn of AI). Later sections of the book focus heavily on the gig economy and people who try to make a living wage working as independent contractors for companies like Uber, UberEats, etc. (this topic has been covered pretty extensively in books like James Bloodworth's Hired: Six Months Undercover in Low-Wage Britain, and is evocative of older, non-tech-focused books like Barbara Ehrenreich's Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America.
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