In early March, life turned upside down for myself and countless people around the world as the COVID-19 pandemic began to sweep the country at an unprecedented rate and the majority of the world turned to a new lifestyle of working from home. While navigating this transition, I found myself with more time than I ever imagined due to eliminating my office commute and other traditional social activities in the evenings that weren’t possible in this new climate.
As I began embracing this new lifestyle, I constantly talked about these new changes with some of my closest friends. We spent a lot of time talking about how to spend all of this extra time. While we discussed recommitting to fitness, trying new recipes, and even developing new skills and hobbies, our final resolution was to begin a book club. As a group of men, we were going to tackle a list of books that we had always wanted to read. At the end of March, we committed to reading a book specifically as a group at least every three weeks and having a “team call” at least once a week to talk about the approximately 100 pages that we have read. Our only rules were that the book couldn’t have been already read by someone in the group and it should be timely.
Below are the nine books that my friends and I have read together in approximately six months and what led us to that book. Each book is hyperlinked to Goodreads where I record my books and create a review for each book that I’ve read.
The Infinite Game by Simon Sinek
The first book on our list was The Infinite Game by Simon Sinek. As a group we were all familiar with Simon Sinek’s “Start With Why” concept, leading us to wanting to learn more about his beliefs and ideas. This book was timely at the beginning of the pandemic as we witnessed how organization and business leaders managed their teams effectively or poorly, from deciding if employees should be furloughed to leading a virtual workforce. One of my best friends, Shawn Cable, even hosted a webinar on Infinite Leadership using the framework of The Infinite Game.
As the pandemic continued to rage on we all started to take note of the fact that cases and deaths among minority communities vastly exceeded the size of their populations. Healthcare inequities for people of color are well documented across the world and COVID-19 has only exacerbated these challenges. As a group we wanted to learn more about these inequities that exist across our own communities, leading to reading “Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?”: A Psychologist Explains the Development of Racial Identity by Beverly Daniel Tatum. This book has led me to think everyday about the way that systemic racism exists and impacts people around the world. And very unexpected, we also learned so many skills about being better parents, siblings, and mentors to children; it is never too early to talk about racism with children.
Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl
From not seeing any family and friends for months to watching the impact of the pandemic take hold of the world, there were honestly some pretty dark days for myself and my friends at the beginning. We often found ourselves discussing our purpose in life, especially in this current climate. Ultimately, this propelled us to picking up Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl, a harrowing first-hand account of a scientists’ experience in a concentration camp during the Holocaust. This story really put our current “problems” into perspective and provided us with multiple valuable tools to dig deep into our purpose and what that looks like every day, even during COVID-19.
Undercover Economist by Tim Harford
As the spring turned into the summer and the pandemic and shuttering of business continued, the economy really began to feel the continual negative impact that most businesses are still dealing with today. A few of us took some economics classes in college and currently work in finance, but we wanted to take an even deeper look into economics with a perspective of real world impact. While this book doesn’t discuss the pandemic, the Undercover Economist by Tim Harford gave us countless clear explanations around how the economy impacts your trip to the grocery store, the healthcare you receive, and even the trade war between the United States and China. As someone who has never taken an economics class, I am regularly referencing this book to better understand the world around me and how economics plays a vital role.
I Have a Dream: Writings and Speeches that Changed the World by Martin Luther King Jr.
We couldn’t have imagined life being more complicated than managing the pandemic, and then May 25th hit. George Floyd was murdered at the beginning of the summer and rightfully so, the world reacted. Protests led by groups like Black Lives Matter began to demand justice and systemic change across the country. As a group of privileged white men we often talked about where our place was in this conversation. During this time we constantly saw articles and memes that referenced Martin Luther King Jr. in multiple ways. Instead of reading these second- or third-hand stories we wanted to go to the source, reading I Have a Dream: Writings and Speeches that Changed the World by Martin Luther King Jr., original texts and speeches from Martin Luther King Jr. that have shaped the world and our conversation around race. This book was a powerful follow up to Beverly Tatum’s “Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?”
Leading into the peak of the summer, my friends and I began to really feel the social isolation and sometimes loneliness that was fueled by the pandemic. Thankfully one of us had the perfect book for this conversation, Together: Why Social Connection Holds the Key to Better Health, Higher Performance, and Greater Happiness by Vivek Murthy. I read countless stories full of lessons that I will always remember and cherish. Murthy shared a story about the power of a Moai —an Okinawan community group. As I learned about this group, I realized how this book club was its own Moai. Additionally, as we were finishing this book my wedding was weeks away and this idea of community became even more real and important to me.
Dead Aid:Why Aid is Not Working and How There Is a Better Way for Africa by Dambisa Moyo
Initially, I didn’t think Dead Aid: Why Aid is Not Working and How There Is a Better Way for Africa by Dambisa Moyo was timely at the end of August. I thought we broke our own rule about a book being timely for us. Honestly, we were just interested in learning more about economics and aid due to the current economy and what we had learned reading Undercover Economist. And this book certainly did not disappoint. At the macro level, systemic aid that is not tied to any immediate humanitarian need is not the way for countries to thrive and be sustainable. I learned countless new concepts around how aid worked post World War II all the way to how some underdeveloped countries in Africa receive or send aid today. This gave me a lot to think about as governments around the world discussed and passed legislation to provide aid to businesses and people in the form of economic stimulus packages.
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
The first seven books that we read were non-fiction or based on leadership and development concepts. All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr was our first official venture into the world of fiction as a group. A World War II historical fiction story that was recognized as a 2015 Pulitzer Prize Winner and 2016 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction intrigued us as a group. The book was the definition of a “page turner,” turning into long nights of reading hundreds of pages to find out what was going to happen next to the unique and dynamic characters in this story. As we concluded the book we found ourselves thinking a lot about how lucky and privileged we are today. We have job security, our family and friends are mostly healthy, and we aren’t in the middle of a war. Life can change in an instant, so cherish what you and have the people around you.
There is never a wrong time to dive deeper into unlocking your emotions and improving your communication skills with the world and I have loved spending this week kicking off Permission to Feel: Unlocking the Power of Emotions to Help Our Kids, Ourselves, and Our Society Thrive by Marc Brackett (in progress).
I’m proud of the commitment that we have made as a group of men to better ourselves through books and truly hold ourselves accountable. As I reflect on this book club nearly six months in, I think about how much I have enjoyed being challenged intellectually, being held accountable to chasing a goal (pursuit of reading 36 books in a year), learning about a wide variety of topics, and forging even deeper relationships with some of my closest friends in this group.
I will challenge and encourage anyone to find a book that you like and recruit at least one person to tackle that book together. I’m also always looking for that next great book or book club so reach out!
Erik Angus 