February 2018 Reading Round-Up

Most Dangerous: Daniel Ellsberg and the Secret History of the Vietnam War by Steve Sheinkin

I listened to this one about a year ago and have thought about it in many instances all year. I read it just before Trump's inauguration and I was doing some comparison between Nixon and Trump in their view of nuclear weapons. But this time around, with a year under our belt in his administration, what I noticed most in the book that parallels to today is the war against the media. When a president or an administration tries to shut the press, trouble always ensues. After reading this time around, I wanted to say to The New York Times, "keep publishing!" I feel like I would make the same reply today.

I'm not an avid reader or listener of the news but I'm grateful that we have a free press. My brother is a professor at the University of Oregon in media journalism (he actually got asked by the Russian Today TV, regarded as Putin's propaganda machine, producer to appear on one of their shows for an interview-he is not going on but isn't that insane? It's on the list of things you can't make up!) so this battle with "fake news" that he has to combat daily is an interesting one. The slippery slopes that we have seen in history of the press being overrun to publish only what the president and the administration want them to hear is never a good sign. The secrecy and the hiding is what bothered me most. I feel like this is one of those books that I could read in 10 years and would still get something out of it.

Austin and I were watching the Daniel Ellsberg documentary one night and commenting that we learned none of this in school. I'm not sure if it's because we're embarrassed we lost or embarrassed by our leaders, but it's doing us a disservice not to inform us about what did happen and what could happen again.

The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck

This is a re-read for me in preparation for our family book club. It's one of my sis-in-law's favorite books. I read it for a book club back in 2014 and so disgusted with Wang Lung's character that I didn't really pay attention to many themes. This time around, with the background of the story already there, I was noticing more themes of satisfaction and richness and what those really are about.

In our family book club discussion, we talked about letting our kids experience the same challenges that we had because of the growth it would make. We talked about the treatment of women and wishing we could hear O-lan's side of the story. And if there was irony to the title "The Good Earth". I didn't realize the impact Pearl Buck had after she wrote this book (which won a Pulitzer in the 1930's-the first women to do so) and how she fought for women's rights. 

Focused: Staying on Track, One Choice at a Time by Noelle Pikus-Pace

I loved following Noelle's story back in 2014 and seeing her memorable reaction jumping into the stands to her family after she won the silver medal. All that hard work and sacrifice paid off and it left me teary eyed. I was curious what more I could learn from her story in her book. But it felt like half memoir, half motivational book. There's nothing wrong with that but I guess I wanted more stories and details and it was a skimmed version of that to me. I wanted to know her more but it didn't seem much more than what I got from her Ted talk. I still think she's awesome and a fantastic role model for women, especially young women. I could see this being a great gift for teen girls.

Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the creator of Nike by Phil Knight

One of the memorable stories in my family was when my brother Seth got a new pair of Nike shoes and suddenly his basketball game elevated on the court. My dad, in the stands yells, "it's the shoes! It's the shoes!"

Growing up in Oregon, I remember we all had a sense of pride that Nike was founded here. It was the coolest thing to go to the Nike store in Beaverton as if we going into holy grail territory. This memoir was so fascinating to read as the backstory of how Nike came to be. A lot of the business aspects went way over my head and lots of names of people to keep track of, but wow, the craziness of this business venture was something else. It just seemed like they were never getting above water to real thrive on their own as a company. There are lots of little details as well that stick out like how the name came about, how their telephone number corresponds with Steve Prefontaine's mile record, and more.

Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea by Barbara Demick

This was quite the eye opener book on lives in North Korea in the 1990's. I knew relatively little about how people lived over there. I knew they were a military powerhouse and they've reigned in a communist government but that was about it. I was taken back by how much of a bubble they lived in terms of not knowing what was available in the modern world with technology and advances of our day. 

These people dealt with so much poverty and suffering. We usually hear about these struggles in times of war in earlier time periods but it was happening during my life time. I know there are so many people who are in poverty but it just opened my eyes again to the cruelty and heartache of what people suffer on a daily basis. 

Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World by Cal Newport
I've always wondered what it would be like to be getting my undergrad with a smart phone. I didn't own one till about 3 years ago and I'm trying to gauge whether I'm more distracted now than I was before. Probably. I'm curious how that would have affected my performance in school and what I would have done to combat that. 

The whole premise of the book is to give you evidences that deep work is the best kind of work and produces a great life. I know personally when I've stuck to a commitment without distraction I'm amazed at how much I can get done and how productive I feel. I realize one of my main enemies of distraction is email on my phone. I was listening to a webinar that slot machines get the most money than all of theme parks or movies combined. It's the idea of 'maybe I'll get something this time.' In a similar way, we do that with our phones whether it's email or instagram. There's a swipe down button that may give you the possibility of something new, like this dopamine affect when it happens. It's interesting to think about. 

Overall there is a good amount that I want to implement in my life from this book.

The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton
Where do I begin? Edith Wharton was a woman beyond her times I feel. I loved this novel. There is so much to think about in this one. My sis-in-law describes it like the ending of Remains of the Day where you realize at the end of your life what you missed. I can totally see how that is. I was surprised by the end what characters I loved and which ones I didn't care for.

Some quotes that I thought were interesting. The writing was fantastic as well. 

"...he saw his marriage becoming what most of the other marriages about him were: a dull association of material and social interests held together by ignorance on the one side and hypocrisy on the other." p. 33

"I used to care immensely too: my life was full of such things. But now I want to try not to...I want to cast off all my old life, to become just like everybody else here." p. 81

"Whatever happened, he knew, she would always be loyal, gallant and unresentful; and that pledged him to the practice of the same virtues." p. 146

"He had married (as most young men did) because he had met a perfectly charming girl at the moment when a series of rather aimless sentimental adventures were ending in premature disgust; and she had represented peace, stability, comradeship, and the steadying sense of an unescapable duty." p. 154

"Their long years together had shown him that it did not so much matter if marriage was a dull duty, as long as it kept the dignity of a duty: lapsing from that, it became a mere battle of ugly appetites. Looking about him, he honored his own past, and mourned for it. After all, there was good in the old ways." p. 259


Any good books you've read this month?