Dr. Martin Makary is a hepatobiliary and pancreatic surgeon at Johns Hopkins with a strong interest in health policy; of note, as of Jan 2025 as I'm rDr. Martin Makary is a hepatobiliary and pancreatic surgeon at Johns Hopkins with a strong interest in health policy; of note, as of Jan 2025 as I'm reviewing this book, , to succeed outgoing President Biden's appointee, Robert Califf. (And you may be wondering why FDA commissioner is a political appointee to begin with -- the truth is healthcare policy is very much a political issue.)
Dr. Makary has written several books on health policy. In his latest book, Blind Spots, Dr. Makary gives a long history of medical interventions or treatments that were long believed to be helpful or at least not harmful that have since been proven harmful, and vice versa. He talks about ways data has been maligned and twisted by those with vested interest in certain outcomes, and actually goes as far to recount how he confronted some individuals involved in attempts at "gotcha" journalism I was very surprised to read in a book like this. It definitely takes job security and substantial seniority to do those things, which may be why so many don't or can't publicly challenge the status quo regardless of industry.
Though I don't necessarily agree with Dr. Makary point-for-point, this was definitely an interesting and thought-provoking read that I'd recommend to other healthcare workers and those working in health policy.
In Too Young for Cancer, Katie Coleman writes about her diagnosis at age 29 with metastatic (stage IV) renal oncocytoma, an extremely rare subtype of In Too Young for Cancer, Katie Coleman writes about her diagnosis at age 29 with metastatic (stage IV) renal oncocytoma, an extremely rare subtype of kidney cancer, at the middle of the COVID pandemic, and her subsequent diagnostic and treatment journey. Oncocytomas are generally slow-growing, and it took over a year for Coleman to be diagnosed as many healthcare providers dismissed her nonspecific cluster of symptoms given her young age, and unfortunately by the time of her diagnosis, the disease had spread from her kidney to her liver, which is extremely rare behavior for oncocytomas. Coleman's treatment journey thus far has involved care at three different prominent cancer hospitals, including surgical removal of her primary tumor and surgical excision or radioablation of liver metastases, and she remains on active monitoring.
This is a very heartfelt and emotional memoir - Coleman definitely wears her heart on her sleeve as she talks about coming to terms with her diagnosis, struggling to get answers about her long-term prognosis and juggling multiple treatment opinions, and, along with her husband, navigating the challenges of being newly married and reconciling their visions for the future as their lives are uprooted by Coleman's diagnosis. As her journey progresses, Coleman also develops close friendships with others in the rare cancer community, which does much to change her perspective from internally-focused and doom-scrolling to optimistic and seeking ways to give back (which I was really happy to read).
As an MD whose work centers around cancer patients (but in a largely non-patient facing way), reading this book was a good reminder for me of how challenging and scary it can be for those outside the healthcare system who've received a life-altering diagnosis to come to terms with it psychologically and make decisions based on the best information they have. A few years ago one of my immediate family members received a similarly scary cancer diagnosis, and I'm very grateful I was able to help explain and navigate the process with them as an "insider" of sorts (though the experience was still challenging and scary for us), knowing that most cancer patients don't have access to a healthcare insider in their family or close friend circle. Every cancer patient deserves a strong and knowledgeable advocate, and I'm glad that Coleman learned how to advocate for herself and found allies from inside and outside the healthcare system along the way.
In What the Wild Sea Can Be, British marine biologist Helen Scales writes about how climate change is impacting marine ecosystems. Various chapters foIn What the Wild Sea Can Be, British marine biologist Helen Scales writes about how climate change is impacting marine ecosystems. Various chapters focus on impacts on penguin nesting sites, marine forests, various shark species, and many more. While I've read many similar books that focus on the ocean more broadly with respect to ecology and climate change, this book is narrowed to marine ecosystems. Unfortunately, for whatever reason, I found this book dry (pun unintended) and depressing (though I think that was Scales' intention).
My statistics: Book 26 for 2025 Book 1952 cumulatively
Beiser explores how dependent our increasingly "electro-digital" age is on certain metals including lithium, nickel and copper, and how in our quest for green energy we in fact keep burning fossil fuels to extract the raw ingredients needed to create more sustainable energy sources. The extraction of these raw metals is much more dangerous than we realize -- he cites , and also exposes the dangerous working conditions and labor practices (including child labor) in the developing world where metal extraction takes place. And of course, refinement of these raw materials for the West largely takes place in China, which remains a geopolitical risk. (This part reminded me of Rachel Slade's Making It in America: The Almost Impossible Quest to Manufacture in the U.S.A., where she uses a much simpler example - a hoodie - to demonstrate how hard it is to manufacture completely in the US.)
The next part of the book discusses the feasibility of recycling metal from used and discarded electronics and spent batteries -- while in wealthy countries we often chuck these in the trash, there is a large industry in some countries aimed at reuse.
In the last section of the book, Beiser attempts to offer solutions to this impending crisis -- these had a similar tone as Franklin-Wallis in Wasteland -- basically, reuse, recycle, and take better care of our things, and hope that infrastructure improvements will make it easier for society as a whole to follow suit.
Overall, an interesting read.
My statistics: Book 12 for 2025 Book 1938 cumulatively...more
In this book named after his podcast, The Memory Palace, journalist and writer Nate DiMeo presents a collection of eclectic short stories largely on AIn this book named after his podcast, The Memory Palace, journalist and writer Nate DiMeo presents a collection of eclectic short stories largely on American historical figures from the 1700s to the 1900s. These stories don't have a cohesive subject matter theme but are all meant to evoke feelings; they generally landed for me between nostalgic, melancholic, and occasionally maudlin. As DiMeo explains toward the end of the book, when he verges into autobiographical stories:
...it may be life itself: one of those in-between moments you don’t remember later. The in-between feelings you can’t quite put a name to. The space between the story of our lives and those lives as we live them. I love that space and the magic that seems to exist in a place between and beyond concrete facts and the well-worn language of familiar stories. I love the spark that is kindled there, to flare just long enough to help us remember that life, in the present as in the past, is more complicated and more interesting and more beautiful and more improbable and more alive than we’d realized the moment before. That notion animates every story I try to write. I want to conjure the magic that lies in the liminal spaces between the plot points in people’s lives.
The writing style is very conversational (perhaps evocative of his podcast? I'm not a podcast listener in general, so I can't say for certain), which may not be for everyone, and in several instances DiMeo lapses into speculation about what these historical figures might have thought and felt (a pet peeve of mine with nonfiction -- especially in this context since it's inauthentic to be applying 21st century norms and moralities to people of the 18th-20th centuries). Still, this is definitely a unique historical nonfiction book, with bite-sized stories that are likely more accessible to those just getting into nonfiction than, say, an Erik Larson deep dive (DiMeo writes at the end about the process of pitching and crafting this work and defying the expectation to produce a more canonical, focused work). I read the Ebook version which included many photos to illustrate particular stories, which were very insightful.
Ethan Bernstein is a professor of business administration at Harvard Business School, Michael Horn is a cofounder of the Clayton Christensen InstituteEthan Bernstein is a professor of business administration at Harvard Business School, Michael Horn is a cofounder of the Clayton Christensen Institute and previous co-author with the late Christensen, and Bob Moesta is a fellow a the Clayton Christensen Institute. These three authors teamed up for 2024's Job Moves, a how-to manual for people looking to switch jobs or industries. They identify 4 "quests" of job seekers:
Get Out - people in toxic work situations who want a new job -- any job Regain Control - people whose sense of balance and autonomy is thrown off by their current jobs and are seeking new jobs where they have more control Regain Alignment - people who feel their skills aren't valued and respected in their current role, and looking to find a new job where they and their skills are respected Take the Next Step - people who've reached a professional or personal milestone and are looking for a new role (often a diagonal promotion) to reflect that
The authors present a variety of exercises potential job seekers can work through to identify which of the four aforementioned "quests" they're on (through analyzing factors that are pushing one away from their current role as well as pulling one toward a new role), developing job prototype templates, conducting informational interviews with people in interesting jobs, and developing a personal elevator pitch to sell prospective employers on one's candidacy. Many of these resources can be accessed by selling .
Overall, an interesting read with exercises that could be helpful for those who feel miscast in their current roles/industries and who are looking to change industries. This book is probably less useful for people who plan to stay within their industry and general job role and focus their job search on internal maneuvering and interviewing with competitors.
My statistics: Book 122 for 2025 Book 2048 cumulatively...more
Shunmyō Masuno is a Japanese Buddhist monk, professor at Tama Art University, and leader of a design firm specializing in gardening design. He has pubShunmyō Masuno is a Japanese Buddhist monk, professor at Tama Art University, and leader of a design firm specializing in gardening design. He has published several nonfiction books on the topic of Zen Buddhism, with 2021's How to Let Things Go being the latest addition. This book is quite short (the audiobook version was only 3 hours long) and consists of 99 tips that each have around a paragraph of explanation about them; most felt like cliches and were covered too superficially to be particularly insightful. Overall, this is the type of book that probably shouldn't have an audiobook edition or be digested in one sitting; those with Ebook or physical copies who can read and reflect on a few tips at a time will probably have a more meaningful experience than I did listening to this quickly.
My statistics: Book 31 for 2025 Book 1957 cumulatively...more
A century before modern-day con artists like Elizabeth Holmes and Anna Delvey, there was Cassie Chadwick (born Elizabeth Bigley and known by at least A century before modern-day con artists like Elizabeth Holmes and Anna Delvey, there was Cassie Chadwick (born Elizabeth Bigley and known by at least half a dozen aliases, 1857-1907), who in her half-century alive grifted her way from rural Canada to Cleveland high society. Her most infamous con was pretending to be the illegitimate daughter and heiress of steel magnate Andrew Carnegie, in an era before paternity tests could easily repudiate the claim.
In The Imposter Heiress, Annie Reed entertainingly narrates Chadwick's schemes, from her serial cons, how she kept reinventing herself, and her ultimate conviction for fraud in 1905 that led to her imprisonment and early demise in 1907 on her 50th birthday. This is an engaging read, though Reed does seem to heavily partake in one of my nonfiction pet peeves, fictionalizing the narrative for enhanced readability and salaciousness by speculating on what characters must have been thinking and feeling when it's unclear whether the historical record would back this up (that being said, I listened to the audiobook version which, per usual, doesn't include citations).
Heather Suzanne Woods is an associate professor of media and communication at Kansas State University. Unfortunately, Threshold is a book that I couldHeather Suzanne Woods is an associate professor of media and communication at Kansas State University. Unfortunately, Threshold is a book that I could not get past the threshold of (pun intended)-- out of all the 300+ books I've read this year, it ranks near the bottom in terms of readability and clarity -- a book desperately in need of a copyeditor to remove ridiculous amounts of repetitiveness. That is, unless, Woods' idea of winning an argument is just screaming the same point over and over again, with slight variations in the wording, for hours and hours until the reader surrenders and agrees with her logic just to make it stop already. For example, in the audiobook version, the preface is 30 minutes long followed by an introduction that is literally over 2 hours and 30 minutes long, and after listening to over an hour of it, it could be summarized as "smart homes drive social inequity because they separate people who can afford smart homes from people who cannot" literally repeated hundreds of times with scant supporting information. I fast-forwarded to chapter 1 (3 hours into the book) to see if Woods' content or arguments improved once she got to an actual example of a smart home she found offensive...and nope, same repetition, same arguments. One wonders if this book was rendered on a tight deadline with copious use of ChatGPT prompted to turn an essay into a full-length book.
Paul Rabil is a retired professional lacrosse player; in this relatively brief motivational book aimed at athletes but certainly transferrable to non-Paul Rabil is a retired professional lacrosse player; in this relatively brief motivational book aimed at athletes but certainly transferrable to non-athletes, he gives a series of tips on achieving big goals, staying motivated when facing challenges, and reinventing oneself after the end of a sports career. This was a quick listen and largely congruent with other motivational books I've read; I think athletes will enjoy this book as it's geared toward sports, but a general audience will likely find utilty as well.
My statistics: Book 303 for 2024 Book 1906 cumulatively...more
Scott Kelly is a retired NASA astronaut probably most well-known for his year-long stay on the International Space Station, designed to study the longScott Kelly is a retired NASA astronaut probably most well-known for his year-long stay on the International Space Station, designed to study the long-term effects of spaceflight on humans (this was the topic of his prior book, Endurance: A Year in Space, A Lifetime of Discovery). In comparison to that book, Ready for Launch is a bite-sized read (128 pages/<2 hour audiobook) that closely follows the formula of other astronaut general life advice books like Chris Hadfield's An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth and Mike Massimino's Moonshot: A NASA Astronaut’s Guide to Achieving the Impossible. I enjoyed this quick listen, though I wish this book was longer (something I rarely say!) and included more stories from Kelly's fascinating career. Though, as a recent reader of Cady Coleman's memoir Sharing Space: An Astronaut's Guide to Mission, Wonder, and Making Change, it's interesting to hear Kelly's impressions of her vs. hers of him that she shares in her book. Between the two narratives, it's obvious that both show ways of having a mature, productive interpersonal relationship with a work colleague whose style is very different from your own.
My statistics: Book 300 for 2024 Book 1903 cumulatively...more
Mineko Iwasaki (born Masako Tanaka in 1949) is a Japanese former geisha whose story partially inspired Arthur Golden's historical fiction book MemoirsMineko Iwasaki (born Masako Tanaka in 1949) is a Japanese former geisha whose story partially inspired Arthur Golden's historical fiction book Memoirs of a Geisha (briefly, Iwasaki spoke to Golden under the promise of confidentiality, but that promise was broken, leading to professional and personal repercussions for Iwasaki and led to her suing him). In response to Memoirs of a Geisha, Iwasaki decided to write her own memoir, alongside co-author Rande Gail Brown, to set the record straight.
In Geisha, A Life, Iwasaki recalls her brief childhood, her move to an okiya (geisha house) at the age of 5 and formal adoption by the house's owner as the house's successor-apparent, and the subsequent rigorous training in traditional dance and formal entertaining that consumed the remainder of her childhood and teenage years. Iwasaki debuted as a maiko (apprentice geisha) at 15 and and as a full-fledged geisha at 21, and continued in that career, becoming a celebrity-of-sorts, until the age of 29 when she chose to quit due to increasing differences in ideology with the geisha industry.
As a memoir, this was interesting but also somewhat tedious to read, as Iwasaki goes into extensive detail in her childhood stories (I don't know anyone who remembers events that happened when they were 4 or 5 years old that precisely), the clothes and makeup she wore, the petty bullying to which she was subjected, etc. Iwasaki comes off sounding like a spoiled brat as a child, and an indecisive, prideful and messy adult (particularly when narrating her years-long affair with a married man); I thought these were odd choices in a book intended to help her regain face.
My statistics: Book 299 for 2024 Book 1902 cumulatively...more
In I Cannot Control Everything Forever, writer Emily Bloom writes about her difficult path to motherhood, including the discovery that both she and heIn I Cannot Control Everything Forever, writer Emily Bloom writes about her difficult path to motherhood, including the discovery that both she and her husband were carriers for a severe genetic disease (Bloom syndrome) that led to the elective termination of one affected pregnancy, and the challenges that followed after welcoming her daughter, who has congenital hearing loss and type 1 diabetes. Bloom, who holds a PhD in English, writes about the largely-foreign-to-her medical world she navigated through her pregnancies and via her daughter with special needs with a cynicism, pessimism and a huge chip on her shoulder I found largely off-putting (though sometimes this attitude was justified). She seems to liken those who practice genetics today as neo-eugenicists (as a physician practicing in this area, this was offensive to me), and makes flippant comments like how she would have had a much better abortion experience if her own familiar gynecologist could have performed the procedure rather than referring her to a different provider (apparently ignorant of the fact that abortion providers take on nontrivial amounts of professional and personal risk, including to their own and their families' safety, which is why so many OBGYNs don't perform surgical abortions themselves).
While I don't doubt the challenges she and her family have faced and the immense love she has for her daughter, I found myself alternately sympathetic and annoyed through this largely-overwrought 12 hour audiobook/352 page memoir.
Canadian-born Eliza Reid is probably best known as the former First Lady of Iceland who publicly declared after feelinCanadian-born Eliza Reid is probably best known as the former First Lady of Iceland who publicly declared after feeling frustrated at the social expectations of accompanying her husband everywhere; her husband Guðni Th. Jóhannesson was Iceland's president (largely a ceremonial position, lacking the political power of the prime minister, Reid explains) from 2016-2024.
In Secrets of the Sprakkar (sprakkar being an Icelandic word meaning "extraordinary women), Reid shares her own experience immigrating as an adult to Iceland, the country that's led . Reid and her husband met while they were both studying at Oxford and, and after she proposed to him, they decided to settle down together in Iceland as he had a young daughter with a former partner). As Reid learned Icelandic, took her first few jobs, and gave birth to her children, she was impressed at the normalcy and acceptance of sights like , the generous paid parental leave (as of 2024, it's 12 months paid leave split between two parents), and the growing practice of matronymic naming (Reid mentioned that her three sons have patronymic names while her daughter shares her last name). Reid also conducted dozens of interviews with various Icelanders to incorporate into her narrative, which are quite interesting to read (this included an extended interview with members of the all-female rap collective Reykjavíkurdætur (Daughters of Reykjavik), who in 2022 almost made it to Eurovision as Iceland's representative with , but lost to another all-female act instead.
Overall, this book is an interesting read, though I'm deducing a star for repetitiveness and long tangents present throughout the book. Reid's perspective is unique in that she's sharing her perspectives on Iceland as a foreign-born person, but also with the advantages and platform of her political position.
My statistics: Book 297 for 2024 Book 1900 cumulatively
As a long-time aficionado and chronic reader of the productivity genre, I've talked a lot in my ŷ reviews about the clash between productivityAs a long-time aficionado and chronic reader of the productivity genre, I've talked a lot in my ŷ reviews about the clash between productivity and anti-productivity books published in the 2020s (see my recent review of Oliver Burkeman's latest, Meditations for Mortals: Four Weeks to Embrace Your Limitations and Make Time for What Counts. I started listening to Ed Mylett's addition to the genre, The Power of One More, and I was surprised to realize it was published in 2022, as (and despite Mylett's promise of originality, an impossibility in this genre) it sounds very similar in themes to the productivity "hits" of the 2000s and early 2010s like Jeff Olson's The Slight Edge and Darren Hardy's 2010 The Compound Effect: Jumpstart Your Income, Your Life, Your Success and even Rachel Hollis' 2018 #productivityforgirlbosses Girl Wash your Face (which themselves arose from earlier ideas from folks like Brian Tracy, Tony Robbins, Zig Ziglar, etc.). In other words, in 2022, The Power of One More is already well behind the times.
That being said, this is a solid addition to the "classic" productivity genre, though YMMV when adapting these concepts in your own life for all the reasons the anti-productivity folks harp on. I liked Mylett's concept of dividing 24-hour days into shorter segments to hype up a sense of urgency of getting things done more efficiently -- though I would not advise anyone to do this every single day including weekends, holidays, and vacation days, as we all need days off. I agree with Mylett that convenience (which I think is better stated as complacency) is the anathema of forward momentum -- this reminds me a lot of the opening story in Olson's The Slight Edge. It sounds like Mylett's reason for adopting this philosophy is quite heartfelt and has been transformative for him, which is great, though in his many vignettes about his personal life in this book, there are also many religious references and allusion to the veracity of Creationism, so be forewarned (not that that negates the rest of the advice -- I'm never a throw-the-baby-out-with-the-bathwater reader).
My statistics: Book 293 for 2024 Book 1896 cumulatively...more
I won't bury the lede: this is dated self-help book aimed at women much moreso than a financial guidance book.
I'll let Barbara Stanny (who now goes bI won't bury the lede: this is dated self-help book aimed at women much moreso than a financial guidance book.
I'll let Barbara Stanny (who now goes by Barbara Huson), the daughter of one of the founders of H&R Block, explain why she wrote this book:
Raised in a wealthy family, married to a stockbroker, given a trust fund when I turned twenty-one, I never gave money a lot of thought. I always worked hard but never earned much, and it didn’t matter. My father kept assuring me I’d never have to worry. But as Sandy revealed, in the back of many an inheritor’s mind is the nagging fear: What if I lost it? How would I get it back? In my case, that fear became fact. Immediately following my divorce, I struggled in vain to recoup the losses from my ex-husband’s speculative investments.
Finally, I went to financial counselor Karen McCall for help. She was the first one to tell me I was an underearner. “Wait a minute,� I protested, “I’m a writer”—as if my profession precluded any chance of higher pay. Besides, I wasn’t looking to make money. (I guess in some high-minded way, I didn’t want economics to taint the purity of my journalistic integrity. But the truth was—as seen in hindsight—my father never thought women should work. In an unconscious attempt to win his approval, I figured if I didn’t make money then it wasn’t a real job.)
Let's all collectively facepalm now.
Though the author writes repeatedly about her own circumstances that forced her into financial literacy, she also interviewed a number of women who, at the turn of the millenium, were making at least $100,000 annually (approximately $175K in 2024). We find that this group of women:
- generally values money for the power and autonomy it brings, not the number of designer handbags it can buy - do better with a supportive partner whose sense of self isn't denigrated by having a high-income partner - know their worth and aren't afraid to ask for it
That's pretty much all there is to this book, folks.
My statistics: Book 312 for 2024 Book 1915 cumulatively...more
In Kingmaker, British writer and journalist Sonia Purnell writes an exhaustive (528 page/17 hr audiobook) biography of British-turned-American politicIn Kingmaker, British writer and journalist Sonia Purnell writes an exhaustive (528 page/17 hr audiobook) biography of British-turned-American political activist Pamela Churchill Harriman (1920-1997). She was born Pamela Digby and raised in an upper class family, marrying Winston Churchill's son Randolph when she was 19 and he was 28; this marriage was annulled after only a few years but did result in Winston Churchill's namesake grandson. Harriman married twice more, both to much older men, and was widowed in both of those unions; however, her reputation as a courtesan and the numerous affairs she had with other influential men preceded her, similar to her great-great-aunt Jane Digby. In her later life, Harriman became a US citizen and was politically active for the Democratic party, helping to boost Bill Clinton to the presidency in 1992 and serving as US ambassador to France from 1993 until her death in 1997.
Purnell's book on Harriman's life isn't the first biography of her -- it's preceded by Christopher Ogden's 1994 Life of the Party: The Biography of Pamela Digby Churchill Hayward Harriman and Sally Bedell Smith's 1996 Reflected Glory: The Life of Pamela Churchill Harriman (if not others). This is the first Harriman biography I've read, though, and by biography standards there were a lot of spurious conclusions drawn that seemed to exaggerate or overstate Harriman's contributions -- perhaps because Purnell is a journalist rather than a trained historian (I listened to the audiobook which, per usual, didn't include footnotes, though I presume they're in the print and Ebook versions). I also felt that the middle section of the book, covering Harriman's activities between the 1950s-1970s, dragged, as compared to the sections about her activities during the 194s0 and 1980s-1990s -- I wish this section had been trimmed down. It sounds like she lived quite the interesting life for a woman of her day.
My statistics: Book 292 for 2024 Book 1895 cumulatively...more
Lori Garver (b. 1961) has had a long career in space policy, with her highest position being the deputy administrator (2nd highest political appointeeLori Garver (b. 1961) has had a long career in space policy, with her highest position being the deputy administrator (2nd highest political appointee) of NASA for President Obama's first term. She's been a long-time advocate of the commercialization of space flight, with her position being vindicated in recent years as productive collaborations between NASA and commercial players like Elon Musk-founded SpaceX have re-enabled American astronauts to launch from the US after the discontinuation of the shuttle program (especially important in the current geopolitical climate with the US's reliance on Russian Soyuz vehicles a tricky proposition). As I gravitate toward books about space exploration (pun intended), I was naturally excited to hear Garver's take, especially as she's been a powerful woman in this mostly male-dominated arena.
Unfortunately, Garver made the extremely poor choice throughout her memoir/policy credo book of constantly airing her own grievances, complaining incessantly, riding high on vitriol and pettiness, playing the victim card, grandstanding, mocking, and throwing others under the bus. There's a reason that publicists and book editors warn against this -- because it ultimately reflects poorly back onto the author, regardless of whether the author is completely justified and correct or not. See these excerpts below:
Ed’s description of me as a Bond-like villain connected to the commercial world is a nonsensical attempt to deflect his own complicity. His accusation that I was going around Charlie was, in reality, what he had done himself. Ed was the person responsible for shooting ESA in the face. He’d run the risk of making commitments of taxpayer funds without authority, likely intending to trap the US government into doing what he wanted. Ed had been learning how to be a practitioner of the dark arts for thirty-five years, and had become an expert.
and
Many who disagreed with my views attacked me with vulgar, gendered language, degradation, and physical threats. I’ve been called an ugly whore, a motherfucking bitch, and a cunt; told I need to get laid, and asked if I’m on my period or going through menopause. Bundled emails were sent to members and staff on the Hill and throughout the aerospace community from a group calling itself Change NASA Now, aimed at having me removed from my position
and
Success has a thousand fathers, and failure is an orphan. I am elated that so many people are now supporting the transformational initiatives that they previously barely failed to sabotage. It was fully within Congress’s right to question the new concept, but their unwillingness to get onboard with President Obama’s proposal in favor of extending massive aerospace contracts, is a matter of public record. It has been humorous and gratifying to watch the program’s former adversaries run to get on the fast-moving train headed in a different direction than the one for which they’d bought a ticket.
I recently got appointed to a nonprofit's board of directors so I've been looking for resources to help me become more effective in this role. BusinesI recently got appointed to a nonprofit's board of directors so I've been looking for resources to help me become more effective in this role. Business consultant James Galvin's book Maximizing Board Effectiveness was a useful first book for me. Galvin talks about three general types of boards (managing boards, governing boards, and navigating boards) and how each can collectively be effective or ineffective. Briefly, managing boards directly manage an organization (often these nonprofits have no paid staff); governing boards create policies but don't directly manage (as these nonprofits have paid and experienced staff), and navigating boards oversee strategic inflections in organizations -- so each of these board types needs to behave quite differently to best meet their organizations' needs.
Though the focus isn't on how individual board members can be effective, I still found this a useful high level overview on how boards function (or don't).
My statistics: Book 290 for 2024 Book 1893 cumulatively...more
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