I spend a lot of time with books. I have written a few of them. More importantly, I read a lot of them. Usually two non-fiction books a week.
A few years ago, a friend took a look at the list of books on my iPad/Kindle and asked why I didn’t share my thoughts about what I was reading. She was right in suggesting that I should. However, I didn’t have a way of doing so other than posting reviews on Amazon and, now, Goodreads.
With the launch of this website, I now have a way of writing short reviews of books in comparative politics and peacebuilding, especially those that are written from a systems or complexity approach and/or that focus on wicked problems. As with Amazon, I will only review books I really liked and recommend reading. Only giving five star reviews hurts my rating on Amazon, but that’s not an issue here. I will add titles as I read them and, when time permits, add others from my “backlist.”
As with everything else on this site, I’d welcome suggestion(s), especially if they come with reasons why your choice(s) should be at the top of my very large virtual stack of books to read.
To read these short summaries and reviews, just hover over the book’s image below and click.
Transcend
In Transcend, Kaufman updates Abraham Maslow's ideas in the light of a half century of evidence on values and beliefs.
Why Are We Yelling?
A thoughtful and funny book that stumbles onto most of the key principles of conflict resolution. You'll learn a lot. I did.
Upstream
By upstream, Heath means we should look at the root and interconnected causes of problems and address them early in their development.
Life’s Great Question
A brief but spectacular look at how helping others helps ourselves.
Gods of the Upper Air
A great book about anthropology and a whole lot more, including peacebuilding and comparative politics.
Tightrope
A truly depressing but beautiful and powerful book which we all should read.