Summer is here and despite the fact that most of our “vacations” are taking us no further than our guest bedrooms, we’re making time to step away from work, rejuvenate, and enjoy some time off. As we do so, here are some recent staff book selections to consider for your own “carry-on” (to your backyard).

Nathaniel, Product Owner: The Little Book of Hygge by Meik Wiking

Patrick, Senior Business Analyst: Weird Theology by Alex Raizman. He is a new author who started writing on Reddit and enough users kept clamoring for more of his work that he turned a writing prompt into a full length book.

Melissa, Content Migration Analyst: The Lion’s Roar by Chögyam Trungpa.

Zach, UX Designer: Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration by Amy Wallace & Ed Catmull. Also finishing up the graphic novel series Bone by Jeff Smith.

Matthew, Technical Leader: On Becoming a Leader by Warren Bennis, and The Clean Coder: A Code of Conduct for Professional Programmers by Robert Martin

Katelyn, Software Developer: Clean Code: A Handbook of Agile Software Craftsmanship by Robert Martin, and Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess by Bobby Fischer, Stuart Margulies, and Donn Mosenfelder.

Ben, Client Services Analyst: Lost in Math: How Beauty Leads Physics Astray by Sabine Hossenfelder

Hannah, Product StrategistThe Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo, which is a fictional take on some dark magic underpinning the secret societies at Yale, and Educated by Tara Westover

Eileen, Business Analyst: The Eye of the World, the first book in the fantasy series The Wheel of Time, by Robert Jordan

Additionally, many of us have been educating ourselves on, or engaging with, issues surrounding racism, anti-racism, and the many forms of privilege. Our Chief People and Customer Success Officer, Susan Dawson, is an avid reader, and compiles her list of book, TV, movie, and podcast recommendations here:

  • The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander
  • If Beale Street Could Talk (book by James Baldwin, and 2018 movie)
  • White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo
  • The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration by Isabel Wilkerson
  • "1619," hosted by Nikole Hannah-Jones (podcast)
  • "Dear White People" (TV)
  • Tears We Cannot Stop: A Sermon to White America by Michael Eric Dyson
  • So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo
  • "The Condition of Black Life is One of Mourning" (podcast)
  • I'm Still Here: Black Dignity in a World of Whiteness by Austin Channing Brown
  • Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
  • Stamped From the Beginning by Ibram X. Kendi
  • 13th (movie)
  • Barracoon :The Story of the Last 'Black Cargo' by Zora Neale Hurston
  • Plus: explore The Scholarly Kitchen's two-part series on books about race and racism
Happy reading, learning, adventuring, and quarantining.

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