Reading List August - November 2017
I am still working slowly through Patrick Tyler's tome, A World of Trouble, on American foreign policy in the Middle East, but I did read some other books in this time period as well!
Boomerang by Michael Lewis
I laughed harder than I ever expected to laugh while reading a book on economics, thanks to Michael Lewis. In Boomerang, he describes the actions that 5 different European countries took before and after the 2008 economic collapse. I still have much to learn about that economic crisis but Michael Lewis is excellent at telling the stories of the crisis in an engaging and often hilarious manner.
My Friend the Mercenary by James Brabazon
I would never have read this on my own but when I heard NPR interviewing the author, I was instantly hooked on his story and I had to read the book. James Brabazon was a fledgling filmmaker when he went to Liberia to film the fighting during the civil war in the 1990s. He hired a South African mercenary to protect him while he filmed. This book is about Brabazon's journey through Liberia, into the intrigue of international politics and into the heart of war. It is dark, it is brutally honest and I absolutely could not put it down.
Executive Presence by Sylvia Ann Hewlett
Once again my best friend and main source of books surprised me with this one. I brought it on a camping trip because I needed a lightweight paperback and I figured I wouldn't mind losing it because I don't usually like to read books on how to get ahead in the rat race of corporate America. Or so I thought. Although the book truly is about the soft skills that many of us need in our professional lives, it was not all fluff and no substance. I found Hewlett's arguments and supporting evidence compelling and I appreciated her reasoning for why this information mattered. It actually led me to change some of my habits at work. I would recommend it to anyone starting out in the workplace.
The Everything American Government Book by Nick Ragone
I was looking for a quick primer on the structure of the US government and this book fit the bill perfectly. It was a good, quick read which comprehensively described all the major institutions in American government. I am very glad I read it because it makes listening to the news and reading books on foreign policy a little easier to understand now. Worth a read!