Recommended reading for right now
In light of the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting social distancing we have composed a recommended reading list focused around books helpful for this moment.
Infectious Change: Reinventing Chinese Public Health After an Epidemic »
Are you curious about how a crisis like COVID-19 can change healthcare systems? In her award-winning book Infectious Change Katherine A. Mason investigates local Chinese public health institutions in Southeastern China, examining how the outbreak of SARS re-imagined public health as a professionalized, biomedicalized, and technological machine. If this captures your attention then don’t miss Katherine Mason’s blog entry which includes an epilogue addressing the Coronavirus pandemic.
Continuing the theme of learning from the SARS pandemic, SARS in China focuses on specific aspects of the SARS outbreak—epidemiological, political, economic, social, cultural, and moral. They analyze SARS as a form of social suffering and raise questions about the relevance of national sovereignty in the face of such global threats.
Are you working from home and leading a team? Simple Habits for Complex Times by Jennifer Garvey Berger and Keith Johnston provides three integral practices that enable leaders to navigate the unknown.
"This is mandatory reading if you want a shot at navigating complexity with grace. Jennifer and Keith render complexity visible, accessible, and workable. We all know about the pressures of uncertainty and the rapid pace of change, but 'the how' of being a leader has been unfathomable—until now. "
—Gayle Karen K. Young, Chief Talent and Culture Officer, Wikimedia Foundation
Are you working at home for the first time? Jennifer Garvey Berger’s Unlocking Leadership Mindtraps offers practical advice on how to escape toxic work patterns.
Is workplace balance on your mind? Dreams of the Overworked offers vivid sketches of daily life for nine families, capturing what it means to live, work, and parent in a world of impossible expectations, now amplified unlike ever before by smart devices.
Are you trying to cultivate a mindful attitude while getting work done? Try Quantum Leadership by Frederick Chavalit Tsao and Chris Laszlo. Drawing on extensive research, this book shows how changing a person's consciousness is the most powerful lever for unlocking his or her leadership potential to create wealth and serve humankind.
Do you need leadership motivation? Alphabet Chairman of the Board John L. Hennessy shares his experiences as a successful tech entrepreneur, esteemed academic, and venerated administrator in his book Leading Matters.
Think you aren’t creative? Think again! In their award-winning book The Craft of Creativity Matthew A. Cronin and Jeffrey Loewenstein argue that creativity is a cognitive process that hinges on changing one's perspective.
Are you looking for professional growth? The award-winning Peer Coaching at Work draws on research and practice to deliver a hands-on guide to facilitating peer coaching relationships.
Do you need some measured insight on economic trends? Try Bubbles and Crashes by Brent Goldfarb and David A. Kirsch.
“A fascinating account of how and when new technologies lead to exuberant asset prices. Anyone who thinks about innovation and financial markets will enjoy this book.”
—Jonathan Levin, Stanford Graduate School of Business
Do you need help processing this moment? Narratives of Crisis by Matthew W. Seeger and Timothy L. Sellnow examines the fundamental role that narratives play in catastrophic events. Stories become fundamental to how we understand a disaster, determine what should be done about it, and carry forward our lessons learned.
Would you like a better grasp of the forces behind fundamental infrastructures like electricity and water? In their book Reliability and Risk Emery Roe and Paul R. Schulman construct a new theoretical perspective that reveals how to make sense of complex interconnected networks and improve reliability through management, regulation, and political leadership.
How can leadership get the world through this pandemic? Leadership Dispatches offers an example in the form of Chile's leaders—in government, business, religion, academia, and beyond— who facilitated Chile's recovery from a devastating 2010 earthquake.
Why do companies who put their employees first thrive? In Organizations for People William F. Baker and Michael O'Malley look at the practices of twenty-one companies who see it as their mission to offer people a better, more fulfilling life for themselves, and assist with that holistic journey by providing the organizational elements people need to reach their potential.
Are you overwhelmed by change right now? Noam Wasserman’s award-winning book Life Is a Startup shows how to take lessons from successful startups and apply them to decisions in our own lives.
How can medical history help us understand what’s happening now? Secret Cures of Slaves by Londa Schiebinger examines medicine and human experimentation in the Atlantic World, exploring the circulation of people, disease, plants, and knowledge between Europe, Africa, and the Americas.
"Londa Schiebinger's insightful book provides us with a conceptual grid for understanding the production and distribution of medical knowledge and the ethics of experimentation, opening up many fertile new avenues for research."
—Mark Harrison, University of Oxford
How does understanding the history of Chinese medicine benefit our understanding of health? Forgotten Disease offers insights into the world of early Chinese doctors and how their ideas about health, illness, and the body were developing far before the advent of modern medicine.
"The writing of the history of diseases has played a crucial but often invisible role in shaping Chinese medicine as we know it today. Forgotten Disease challenges the dominant historiography with great insights, enabling us to relate anew to the past and to reopen possibilities for further developing this living tradition."
—Sean Hsiang-lin Lei, Academia Sinica, Taiwan
The New States of Abortion Politics »
Want some background on why Texas, Ohio, and Mississippi designated abortion a “non-essential” procedure? We suggest The New States of Abortion Politics by Joshua C. Wilson, which tells the story of anti-abortion activists, from streets to legislative halls, to courtrooms.
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