Peak Careers

Professional Development for Career Practitioners

Book Reviews

The Poacher’s Son by Paul Doiron

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I was looking for a good “escape” book after reading the story about King Leopold from Belgium, and this book landed on my lap from my friend Alan. Yahoo! Perfect book for me at this time and now I am hooked on Paul Doiron.

This is the authors first book and I can’t wait to read his other books. It is about a young man who becomes a Maine Game Warden, and yes, in this book his father is a poacher. But there is so much more to this book. I love that he has done extensive research on what game warden’s do and he weaves it into this book.

Plus, so many of the places he describes are places I have been been, Jackman, Waldo County, Spencer Lake, Flagstaff, and more. I could not put this book down once I started. There were times I had to just turn out the light and go to sleep because I could have kept reading.

Want to read a good book about Maine? In the woods? With intrigue and a whole bunch of “who done its?” Start here.

To Wake The Giant by Jeff Shaara

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Once again, a great book by Jeff Shaara who takes real history and brings it alive. This book follows a number of real-life characters in their role leading up to the bombing of Pearl Harbor. From a sailor named Biggs, to Secretary of State Hull, Commander Genda with the Japanese airforce, and more.

Each person comes alive as Shaara shares actual events they were involved with and helps the reader understand the situation for what it was…real life. Real human decisions which need to be made with limited information.

I read this book nightly and often had to just stop myself from reading in order to get some sleep. Especially the last chapter of the actual attack. Wow, what a horrific attack, and we were not ready for it at all.

Shaara begins with Biggs in December of 1940, just about a year before the attack, and brings us through the bombing. We made many mistakes not listening to the clues and believing stereotypes that “the Japanese could never do that because…” He ends the book with his Afterword, explaining what happened to many of the real-life characters after the war.

If you are a history buff or not, this book is worth the read.

cover of the book, To Wake the Giant

The Art of Gathering: How We Meet and Why It Matters

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By Priya Parker

You know when you read something and realize that you were doing some things right but you didn’t know why? Yep, that is how this book felt to me so many times.

Priya walks us through the various parts to gathering, whether it is a simple meeting, family get-together, or a wedding. You really need to be clear about the purpose of the gathering as that will define who is invited, how you invite the, how you greet them, and what you deliver. And oh yeah, how you close. It is all about the purpose and being clear in your own head what that means.

I loved her chapter, Never Start a Funeral with Logistics. Her story about every one being so sad and mournful at a funeral and the first thing the funeral director did was “the bathroom is down the hall…the family would like you to attend a get together at _____”. What people REALLY needed to hear first is recognizing some feelings / emotions.

When I read this I was preparing to do a two-hour long zoom-workshop and realized that the 1st thing I was doing was introducing myself and going over the agenda. I changed it a bit and did a poll that engaged people first and still made the point about what we would be talking about. Hmmm….that was pretty smart. Thanks Priya.

I then had them introduce themselves, where they worked, and some pivotal point in their own career development. Another Priya thing. Many of these folks knew each other but probably did not know a past pivotal moment in their lives.

There is so much more to gathering that we take for granted. If you are the host, you have a responsibility to be clear about the purpose, keep the purpose forefront so that those people who know the purpose and stay engaged, do not get “sidelined” by someone who either hogs the show or does not stay focused on the purpose (which might simply be to get to know each other better). The host has the responsibility to keep the gathering going in the right direction. (i.e. staying on the agenda for a work meeting comes to mind to me).

But, the host can not take over a meeting either – there is a balance and the author does a great job at breaking down these roles, again from something as simple as a family / social get-together to setting up a United Nations meeting.

I enjoyed this book which we discussed in a small book-club I am in. Oh yeah, never end with logistics either. Do logistics 2nd to last and end with a summary of what happened.

Elephantoms: Tracking the Elephant

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By Lyall Watson

The author grew up in South Africa spending time in the bush hoping someday to see a wild elephant. One day, he and a group of other 12 or 13 year old kids saw one and it changed Lyall’s life. From then on he was obsessed with learning more about this great animal.

He ends up going to college to study more but his love is in the bush. He shows us how elephants great memories help them navigate their shrinking world…how they actually mourn for the loss of one of their own…how they care for each other, and much more.

One of the coolest things I learned was their low-level sound communication that is below what humans can hear and can transmit for miles.

So many interesting small stories within this book, I loved it and have a great appreciation for how amazing this animal is and how concerned I am for their shrinking numbers.

Journey on the Crest: Walking 2600 Miles from Mexico to Canada

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By Cindy Ross

I hiked the Washington section of the PCT in 1981 for 400 miles and was “hooked” on long-distance hiking. Since then I have completed about 1800 miles of the trail by doing sections of 110-200 miles at a time. Cindy hiked the trail from Mexico to Oregon in 1982 and then finished it in 1984.

She did a great job at describing the feelings and emotions, and the physical parts of hiking long distance. I loved it. I also enjoyed that I had hiked much of the trail over the years and could clearly picture where she was most of the time. In particular I enjoyed the Oregon and Washington sections for some reason. Maybe because I did those early on and the reminiscing was great. Maybe because we were hiking both around the same time period as well.

If you are a long-distance hiker, you will enjoy this book with the various characters who walk the PCT with Cindy.

Greenlights

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By Matthew McConaughey

The actor Matthew McConaughey is quite the introspective guy. He really marches to his own drummer and was willing to give up millions of dollars in “rom-com” movies just so he would not be bored. He has taken off in an RV and drove around the country, sped off to the Amazon (which he thought at one point was in Africa), and then he eventually went to a remote site in Africa…just to explore himself.

He is a thinker and a person who is on a mission to improve himself in anyway he can…all while doing it his own way.

Fun book to read and I have more respect for Matthew now than I did before.