The Most Interesting Books I Read in 2023
South to America, by Imani Perry
This was one of the books I took from my father’s library last year. It’s a poetic exploration of the culture of the South and what it means for American history.
“If America is to be salvific, it can only be so because underneath our skyscrapers lie the people who have tasted the red clay, the loamy soil. Lashed, hidden, running, captured. Crucified for gain, bloodying the soil. If their dreams can become ‘we’ dreams, hope will spring. ‘Greatness’ is such an egotistical and dangerous word. But in the land of big dreams and bigger lies, we love greatness anyway. And if we want it, if we aren’t afraid to grab it, we have to look South, to America.”
The Good Life: Lessons from the World's Longest Scientific Study of Happiness, by Robert Waldinger and Marc Schulz
The Good Life is full of inspiring stories of lives well lived. The main takeaway from the study—that “people who are more connected to family, to friends, and to community, are happier and physically healthier than people who are less well connected”—is worth remembering.
“The good life is joyful… and challenging. Full of love, but also pain. And it never strictly happens; instead, the good life unfolds, through time. It is a process. It includes turmoil, calm, lightness, burdens, struggles, achievements, setbacks, leaps forward, and terrible falls. [...] There is simply no way to make life perfect, and if there were, then it wouldn’t be good. Why? Because a rich life—a good life—is forged from precisely the things that make it hard.”
The Right Kind of Wrong, by Amy Edmondson
Edmondson articulates an insightful spectrum of failures, from sabotage to experimentation, and the conditions under which organizations can have “intelligent failures.”
“Discovering new drugs, launching a radical new business model, designing an innovative product, or testing customer reactions in a brand-new market are all tasks that require intelligent failures to make progress and succeed. Trial and error is a common term for the kind of experimentation needed in these settings, but it’s a misnomer. Error implies that there was a “right” way to do it in the first place. Intelligent failures are not errors.”
Relentless, by Tim Grover
Written by the personal trainer of Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant, among others, this book runs counter to much of what’s written about how to be successful.
“Truly relentless people—the Cleaners—are predators, with dark sides that refuse to be taught to be good. And whether you know it or not, you do have a dark side. Use it well and it can be your greatest gift.”
G-Man, by Beverly Gage
This biography of J. Edgar Hoover, the former Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), is a fascinating look at building and exercising power and why it’s not always the good guys who win.
“Hoover’s fundamental views changed little over the course of his career—one part high-minded administration, one part narrow-minded reaction. Yet he knew how to be flexible and adapt quickly to changing circumstances. [...] Often, he had to do it in just a few months’ time and in the midst of crisis. That he managed such challenges as effectively as he did can be attributed to a surprising degree of nimbleness and creativity, traits not often associated with career bureaucrats, much less with Hoover.”