Essentialism by Greg McKeown

After an incredibly busy second semester, I think that Greg McKeown’s new book, Essentialism, should be considered as an all school read. I have already been sharing it with teachers and students. Recommended by Daniel Pink, Arianna Huffington and Reid Hoffman (cofounder of LinkedIn), this book provides valuable insight into how to train yourself in “the disciplined pursuit of less.” 

As the publisher says, “it’s about doing less, but better.” There are sections on Essence (what is the Essentialist mindset?), Explore (how does one discern the vital?), Eliminate (cut out the trivia?)  and Execute.   Filled with practical advice and summarizing charts and diagrams, Essentialism is a ready reference on the journey to making better choices and defining what is truly essential in your life. Perfect for the over-committed and overwhelmed, this is book worth making the time to read and to reflect upon.

Part of the Exploration process is to actively investigate multiple options and then choose which are most critical; in that spirit, here is a 5 minute video about McKeon and Essentialism from the Stanford Graduate School of Business:

Lengthier videos (lecture and at Google) are available online; as is the author’s website. 

 

Graduation and then what? More learning!

I have been thinking quite a bit recently about both high school and college graduation ceremonies and new beginnings they symbolize. As a result, several related books have caught my eye:

One was A Freshman Survival Guide for College Students with Autism Spectrum Disorders: The Stuff Nobody Tells You About!  written by Haley Moss, a university student described as having High-Functioning Autism. Moss’ earlier book about attending middle school as a student on the Autism Spectrum received very positive reviews. Based on her more recent experiences at the University of Florida, she offers tips and advice for surviving the first year at college. This Freshman Survival Guide seemed like a vital resource for several of our Junior and Senior students and when I shared the title with our Post High School Counselors, they were immediately interested.  Unfortunately, the print copies will not be available until June 21st, but we plan to be purchasing copies to share with interested students and parents this summer and during the next school year. In reviewing a digital pre-pub version, I especially liked the frank, upfront tone that the author set, acknowledging that her experiences may not apply to everyone, but that she is trying to give an honest account of “the good, the bad, and the ugly.” She divides the book into sections which deal with Still Being in High School (read about college fairs, visiting campuses, prom and more); Getting Ready for College (housing, orientation, etc.); Dorm Life 101; Academics; Professional Life (resumes and interviewing); Social Life (including social media); Stress and Mental Health (homesickness, feeling overwhelmed, depression); Living Independently; and Home and Growing Up (with notes for parents).  This book is certain to generate some productive conversations and allay concerns, especially since it reinforces for me the strong foundation and preparation which our students already have.

Life after College by Tori Randolph Terhune and Betsy A. Hays focuses on “10 Steps to Build a Life you Love.”  The two authors, the CEO of Brand Chicks who graduated in 2009 from Fresno State paired with a college professor/motivational speaker, previously collaborated on Land Your Dream Career for college sophomores.  Here, they focus on seniors and recent grads making the transition from college life to being a working professional.  The advice in a number of categories (sleep, living healthy, money management, career momentum, mentors, etc.) is based on the authors’ own experiences and on interviews with professionals like a certified financial planner and a health coach. If you like making lists and a “worksheet” type experience, this may be a book for you.   While Terhune and Hays provide often-needed and valuable information in a personal and conversational way, it did seem a little “preachy” to me and some advice (“buy birthday cards in bulk”) felt as though it was geared to people older than the typical twenty-something recent grad.

Finally, I also read several essays in Should I Go to Grad School edited by Jessica Loudis, Bosko Blagojevic, John Arthur Peetz, and Allison Rodman.  This book is designed for someone who might be considering grad school in the arts or humanities (not engineering, law, business, or life sciences, all of which seem to generate plenty of advice and press).  Should I Go to Grad School refreshingly starts with a section similar to the “choose your own adventure” stories that we read in elementary school.  Based on the answers to a series of questions, the reader is directed with humor and verve to different paths, some of which recommend applying and some of which advocate waiting or re-evaluating. This part was fun to read and definitely felt helpful and honest to begin thinking about the key elements of this decision. Next came the (41!) essays, told from different perspectives and in different styles, about the pros and cons of grad school in the humanities.  Clearly, this book would appeal to a narrower audience, but it is well-written (by people interested in the humanities, after all) and worth exploring if you are considering English, History, Film or Fine Arts as part of your post-college options.   

So,  depending on which ceremonies you might be attending and whether you are a student, parent, teacher/professor or friend, do think about reading one of these books ... essentially, learning is a lifelong process!

The Hollow Ground by Natalie S. Harnett

I learned an amazing amount by reading The Hollow Ground by Natalie S. Harnett. Set in 1960’s in Northeast Pennsylvania, it focuses on the coal fires under Carbondale/Centralia and their impact on the community and on the family of 11 year-old Brigid Howley. Even though I had driven Route 6 through Carbondale, I did not know about these fires.  Harnett’s vivid descriptions helped me to image the smells, sounds and temperatures associated with this catastrophe:

“An entire playground had been condemned because the ground was too hot for dogs or kids to play. ...  Sinkholes, quick and sudden, plunging open at your feet." 

We know that miners’ lives are extremely difficult, but this story recounts the horror of hearing about your neighbors’ death due to carbon monoxide poisoning from these fires, seeing others evicted due to the fires’ spread, and having inspectors checking air quality in your own family’s home in the middle of the night.

It was even more difficult to read about the sheer poverty, lack of job prospects, and level of despair experienced from generation to generation. None of the adults seemed able to financially or emotionally support each other for any length of time and they barely held on for the children in their care.  In fact, the idea of being "hollow" inside and the painful choices associated with orphanages and adoption is woven throughout this coming of age story.

American Studies classes and some Junior Theme English students may find The Hollow Ground to be as intriguing as I did. Even the character's names are chosen with care: the name Brigid is associated with fire and she is the patron saint of children whose parents are not married; Dolores (Ma) means sorrow and Adrian (Daddy) refers to darkness - and possibly to water. Teachers could prompt discussions by pairing The Hollow Ground with the graphic novel and/or movie titled Winter's Bone which also deals with rural poverty and hard choices although it is set in the Ozarks. And I think students would find some very interesting parallels between the devastating coal fires and the more recent fracking controversy that the author mentions in her online discussion guide. The Smithsonian Magazine also ran a feature about the fires in 2005 and more info is available at the Carbondale Historical Society.

Delancey by Molly Wizenberg

I originally requested Delancey because this book was promoted on Library Reads and because I was looking for a gift for good friends who love to cook AND to read. AND I will be buying a copy for them because I so enjoyed Molly Wizenberg's conversational tone and her amusing anecdotes about the hard work of starting a restaurant with her husband.  In fact, I was reading this book on a road trip and kept laughing and reading excerpts to my husband who laughed along and finally asked me to stop so that he could enjoy the book in its entirety.

Wizenberg's writing is both funny and evocative: "no one said a word as we waited, at least two dozen of us, watching him [the pizza cook] the way a pack of lions watches a grazing zebra." I also loved her descriptions of food, especially since pizza was featured and several recipes are included, such as Tomato and Corn Salad with Shallot Vinaigrette, Chilled Peaches in Wine or Toni's Apple Crisp.  Delancey is certainly a terrific read for "foodies" and anyone interested in opening a restaurant. As a result, I will also be recommending Delancey to teachers and students in our Gourmet and Business classes. Some of our Gourmet students were recently required to read The Soul of a Chef by Michael Ruhlman, but I think that Delancey could be even more engaging for them. 

I look forward to following Molly Wizenberg's blog, Orangette and hope to make a trip to her family's restaurant in Seattle when I am next on the West Coast.  I want to see what she describes as what matters about Delancey: "We get to make people happy. We get to give people a good night. We get to spend our days doing work that we can be proud of, and when we’re done, there’s all the pizza you can eat."

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

Slower paced and beautifully written, All the Light We Cannot See is set during World War II in Germany and France. The stories of a blind Parisian girl, Marie-Laure, and an orphaned German boy, Werner, are told in a parallel narrative. Family, friendship, compassion/empathy and, of course, survival, all feature in this novel.  We see the characters grow and change and their lives become intertwined as they struggle with questions of good and evil.

Since I was reading digitally, I honestly had no idea that All the Light We Cannot See was 544 pages which is definitely long, but I found myself (like other reviewers) slowing down near the end because I did not want this story and the exquisite writing to be over. This novel is definitely one to savor.

Doerr’s website says that he spent ten years in the writing of All the Light We Cannot See. So well done, expect to see it in movie theaters. In addition, I was happy to note that award-winning Anthony Doerr is an American author since that is one of our requirements for Junior Theme. I will encourage stronger readers who can handle the book’s length to consider this title and I know that our faculty and book group members will also be interested.  I found Doerr’s writing to be so moving that I will also be ordering two collections of his short stories, Memory Wall and The Shell Collector, for use with our English classes.

The Boom by Russell Gold

Did you know that U.S. energy companies are drilling and fracking about 100 wells every day across much of the country? That statistic came from an award winning Pulitzer-Prize nominated reporter, Russell Gold. I often read his columns in The Wall Street Journal and found his new book, The Boom: How Fracking Ignited the American Energy Revolution and Changed the World, to be a fascinating read as well. 

Gold lays out the facts, teaching his readers about the pros and cons of this controversial technology. To what extent is water contaminated? What waste is happening and where (with Gold's parents' farm and North Dakota as examples)? What steps (fixing leaks and adding infrastructure) can be taken to improve the situation? What factors (like more energy independence, increased revenues and more jobs) seem to counteract pressures for stricter regulations and environmental safeguards?  Read Russell Gold’s book and learn more in this extensive (over an hour) interview conducted at Columbia University in early April 2014:

 

At New Trier, additional materials on “fracking” are available through diverse sources such as CQ Researcher database; DVD titles Gasland; a new book, Frackers, by another Wall Street Journal reporter (Gregory Zuckerman); plus numerous online industry resources. Many of our students have chosen non-fiction books for Junior Theme this year and I think that The Boom is an ideal candidate.  Not only is the high interest topic presented in a very engaging, readable way, Gold is a fantastic role model for our budding researchers. The Boom has 30+ pages of sources and a 15+ page index – all of which will give our students plenty to explore as they consider the future of energy production and consumption.