Peak Careers

Professional Development for Career Practitioners

Book Reviews

A Chain of Thunder. By Jeff Shaara

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I love history, but I love history more when a person can make the stories come alive. In all of Shaara’s books, he captures the historical characters by giving them believable voices. What did they say? How did they say it? What type of personality did they have? Shaara does this in all his books.

When I was attending college at the University of Wisconsin- Stevens Point, I had a history professor, Dr. Frank Crow, who taught history the same way. By giving a feel for the personality of the people who was talking about . I still remember Dr. Crow talking about Benjamin Franklin with all his attributes and foibles.

The siege of Vicksburg is another great story about the Civil War and the difficulties that not only soldiers faced on both sides, but the civilians in Vicksburg.

The Last Green Valley

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by Mark T. Sullivan

Wow, I could not put this book down. I’d read in bed and not get tired. I only turned out the light when my wife came to bed. I even turned off hockey games on TV so that I could read more.

Mark Sullivan interviewed Adeline and Emil and many others who were affected by the German / Russian armies that caused the Martel family to leave Ukraine as refugees trying to get to the allies to protect them. Stalin was horrible and Hitler was too. These poor people had no safe place so they left their homes in the Ukraine (timely topic with Russia invading Ukraine as I read this book) and had obstacle after obstacle to deal with.

Not the least of which was Emil (the father) being taken by the Russians to a prison in Poland where 75% of the prisoners died from starvation, over worked, and / or diseases.

The day after finishing the book I still replay so many of the struggles they all suffered through and find it amazing that they were able to survive and ultimately thrive in Montana.

The best book I have read in a few years and although it is based on a true story at the end of World War II, I am sure there are refugees today who have similar struggles trying the best to live a normal life.

Crossing Paths: A Pacific Crest Trailside Reader

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Edited by Rees Hughes and Howard Shapiro. Illustrations by Amy Uyeki

All proceeds go to the PCT Association

This is the 3rd book in the PCT Trailside Readers. All three are collections of stories from people who have hiked the PCT with a few stories from history along the trail in the earlier editions.

Rees and Howard are my two backpacking buddies who I have hiked with for over 40 years…we know each other. We recently hiked in Vermont on a section of the Long Trail. Here is a glimpse into that trip if you are interested.

my backpacking community

We hiked the PCT as section hikers starting in 1981. I have about 1800+ miles completed and Rees and Howard have both finished all 2650 miles.

I loved the first two trailside readers but I have to say there is something about the stories in this one that really stuck with me.

There is a story about a father and daughter who hike the trail and how their love of the trail developed over time. A wonderful story about a guy who would hold cello concerts along the way by having people deliver his cello to his next food pick up spot. His favorite was the night he played at Timberline Lodge at Mt. Hood…it must have been magical.

Plus a story from Rees who talks about our time on the trail over 40 years and how we had met a trio of “old men in their 60’s” in 1981 and we all said to each other after they left, “we want to be those guys.” And we are.

If you love hiking, you’ll love this book for sure as it is filled with short 2-5 pages stories of people’s experiences along this beautiful, sometimes scary, always memory filled trail

 

Do What You Love and Other Lies About Success and Happiness

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By Miya Tokumitsu

This book came recommended to me (can’t remember who but I have a e-note with lots of book recommendations) and I recommended it to my book club in our career counselors Facebook group.

The used book I bought is filled with highlights, sticky notes, and hand written scribbles on the inside cover and throughout the book.

It was actually quite funny because some pages had nearly the entire page highlighted or underlined 🙂

As a career service provider I was looking for advice on what to do but this is more about why our society is so fixated on the mantra “Do What You Love (DWYL)” and the downsides of it.

Some of the results of this mantra mean that there are many people with college degrees, doing work they thought would be work they love once they got their degree, and instead they are doing work that does not require a college degree and they also have huge student loans.

Companies love to lure people in to do work they love only to pay them little like child care, or interns, or adjunct faculty, then pay them little while the owners make money. All the while many of these people believing they are doing what they love but never can move up to make more money.

Many of these jobs that fit into the DWYL category are minimum wage and people are not able to raise a family on it. The DWYL mantra clearly favors the rich who can afford to send their children to college (who cares if the college costs $60,000 / year), and then find a job for their son/daughter to do.

She rails on all kinds of systemic things like temp agencies as paying little, offering hope of full-time work but never getting it. But I don’t buy all her arguments. I see lots of people who get FT jobs from internships as well as FT jobs from temp agencies.

She makes good points about how this idea feeds the higher education institutions and many companies who promise a future but don’t deliver…except to make millions for the owners. But apprenticeships have been around for centuries and they worked out

There clearly is an elitist and socio-economic thing going on in the US in particular that benefits the wealthy, but some of these systems are still great, like temp agencies, and adjunct. But higher education needs to figure out how to operate their schools AND pay faculty a living wage.

I have more thoughts on this and hope to come back to it soon.

Give and Take: Why Helping Others Drives our Success

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By Adam Grant

Very thought-provoking book which challenged some of my thinking on who winners and losers might be. His premise is that people are either “givers, matchers, or takers.”

Givers: People who are willing to give of their time, network, expertise, and money to others with no expectation of receiving anything back.

Matchers: Pretty much what the name implies…people who will give but are expecting something in return.

Takers: They tend to plow you over on their way to the top. There have been some very successful “takers” over the years like Carnegie, Rockefeller, and such, but they may not have been the most well-liked that is for sure.

Adam Grant gives numerous examples supported by research throughout the book. The most amazing statistic is that givers often end up at the bottom of the success ladder…and at the top. It depends upon what type of “giver” you are. If you give too much, sometimes it is at your own detriment and some people will take advantage of you.

Bottom line though, Grant makes a persuasive argument to support the idea that “givers” will come out ahead in the end. Sometimes it will take a few year before you see the results, but it is best to “give” with no expectations of return, build your reputation, and give more. People will remember you and support you as you move forward and in times of need. (I think of It’s a Wonderful Life with George Bailey).

One example is how “givers” in Med School often did poorly in their first two years as they spend more time helping others which means less time for studying. But the final two years of Med School requires more collaboration and this is where they truly shine. By the end of their studies, they are often at the top of their class.

My mother always said it was better to “give” than “receive” and I think she was on to something. Thanks Mom, RIP.

Where the Crawdads Sing

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By Delia Owens 

I loved this book. It is about an underdog who, in many ways, does not have a chance to survive, but then continues to figure out how to survive. She loves nature, is all alone, searches for love, has been left to fend for herself so much she trusts no one. But she still survives.

A beautiful book about people, survival, and filled with surprises. There is a reason this book has been on the Best Seller list for so long. I don’t want to write too much more so will simply say…read this one.