Decent amount of reading for a summer than seemed quite chaotic. Fairly eclectic . Always open to suggestions. 

The Plague – Albert Camus (1947) (Novel). French-Algerian town of Oran and its citizens deal with disease, death, and loneliness. Reflection here. 

God and Money – John Cortines and Gregory Baumer (2016) (Personal Finance). Two recent Harvard Business School graduates discuss thoughts on faith, finances, and giving. Less than 3% of American adults give away 10% or more of their income. Advocates for setting a floor of giving away at least 10% of gross income. In addition, the authors suggest setting an income and net worth cap and giving away the remainder. Reflection here (near the end of the post). 

How to get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia – Mohsin Hamid (2013) (Novel). Family, love, business, morality, and violence. Novel claims to be written in a self-help style (though it didn’t really capture the self-help voice, in my opinion). I greatly preferred Hamid’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2008) to this one, but still think Hamid is talented and worth reading. As a father and a son, I liked this quote near the end – “You feel a love [toward your son] you know you will never be able to adequately explain or express to him, a love that flows one way, down the generations, not in reverse, and is understood and reciprocated only when time has made a younger generation of an older one.” (222). 

When Breath Becomes Air – Paul Kalanithi (2016) (Memoir). Dr. Paul Kalanithi is diagnosed with metastatic lung cancer as a 35-year old nonsmoker. Paul’s diagnosis came just as he was finishing his training as a neurosurgeon at Stanford. Faith, family (including a newborn daughter), and work all provide purpose. Reflection here. 

The Coddling of the American Mind – Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt (2018) (Social Psychology and Culture). Argues that privileged, upper/middle class children and students are overprotected. Children need more free play. Students need more exposure to differing viewpoints, learning civil discourse, and building well-supported arguments. 

Let Your Mind Run – Deena Kastor (2018) (Memoir). History of a top professional runner and the role of positive thinking. 

The Road – Cormac McCarthy (2006) (Novel). Story of survival, family, purpose, and treatment of others. Reflection here. 

Love in the Ruins – Walker Percy (1999) (Novel). Satire, politics, religion, relationships, and the end of the world. 

Amusing Ourselves to Death – Neil Postman (1985) (Cultural Commentary). Thesis – “Orewell warns that we will be overcome by an externally imposed oppression. But in Huxley’s vision, no Big Brother is required to deprive people of their autonomy, maturity, and history. As he saw it, people will come to love their oppression, to adore the technologies that undo their capacities to think.” (Preface).

Midlife and the Great Unknown – David Whyte (2003) (Poetry). Poetry and musing on midlife, death, work, love, and the environment. (Audiobook format). Reflection here.