Edited by Jen McFarland Flint; illustrations by Fabio Consoli

Whatever your summer plans might look like this year—whether you’re traveling to a faraway beach or enjoying downtime much closer to home—nothing has the power to transport us quite like a good book. We asked alumni and members of the faculty to tell us about their desert-island picks or the books that have been most meaningful to them over the years. Here are a few of their favorites to consider for your warm-weather reading.

The idea of being on a desert island with just one book—even one I love—is almost unbearable to me.

There are times when I’m hankering for nonfiction, either a biography or something topical, such as Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty, Patrick Radden Keefe’s page-turner history of the Sackler family that seems to have made everyone’s list for best books of 2021. (I also loved his earlier Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland.)

At other times, a novel is just what I need. One that really stuck with me recently was Kazuo Ishiguro’s Klara and the Sun. It wasn’t exactly a breezy read but, like his earlier Never Let Me Go, it really made me think about what exactly it means to be human. When it comes to just pure juicy reading, it is hard to beat Anderson Cooper’s dive (with historian Katherine Howe) into his ancestors, Vanderbilt: The Rise and Fall of an American Dynasty. I learned so much not only about the family, but also about the history of New York, especially during the Gilded Age.

—Karen Tumulty (MBA 1981) is deputy editorial page editor and a columnist for the Washington Post. Before joining the Post in 2010, she wrote for Time and the Los Angeles Times. She is the author of the 2021 biography, The Triumph of Nancy Reagan.

I first read Pride and Prejudice in my teens and it resonated for me, but I revisited it after watching the 1995 BBC adaptation, and that’s when it became my absolute favorite. It has inspired me to remain hopeful in adversity, rethink my biases, and unlearn first impressions about people. One of the parts that I like most is when Elizabeth Bennet rejects the wealthy Mr. Darcy’s proclamation of love and marriage because he treated her as an inferior. For the 19th century, Jane Austen takes a truly radical approach to economic and social distinction. This story is not just about happily ever after; it’s also about overcoming biases and coming out a winner, even when the odds are against you. I am such a fan that I even attended the Jane Austen Festival, in Bath, in 2010.

—Fariha Ansari Javed (PLDA 18, 2014) is the chief strategy officer at an insurtech company and a member of the HBS Global Alumni Board. She was previously the founding director at the Common Room.

Choosing my favorite book feels a bit like choosing my favorite kid, but I’d say Simulacra and Simulation, by Jean Baudrillard.

It gives an impressively imaginative perspective on the world and makes you stop to think after each sentence. It makes rereads enjoyable; there’s always more to explore and contemplate.

The book that helped me read something like Simulacra and Simulation is How to Read a Book. It made me realize that reading is an intensely informative debate with the author, and through structured reading—and then rereadings—of a book, the author’s words come to life. It’s a philosophy on how to absorb everything a book has to offer, and it has forever shaped how I read.

—Rahkeem Morris (MBA 2017) is cofounder of HourWork, which helps companies recruit and retain talent.

I first read Man’s Search for Meaning, by Viktor Frankl, about four years after HBS, when I was reflecting on a major career decision point. While the book is rich with insights, two big concepts continue to shape me today. First is the idea that two people can experience the same challenging circumstances and see them completely differently. Frankl calls this “the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances.” The second is the counterintuitive idea that the less you aim directly at success and happiness, the more likely you are to find them. Instead, Frankl encourages us to pursue “dedication to a cause greater than oneself,” and success and happiness will flow from it. The book influenced me to change the path I was on, and that has made all the difference.

—Nate Boaz (MBA 2006) is a dad, author, US Marine Corps veteran, and recovering professional services addict.

For me, different books resonate in different seasons.

Recently, I’ve enjoyed Brené Brown’s work, especially Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead. I appreciate her data-based advocacy for cultivating vulnerability, courage, connection, and authenticity in a culture that too often minimizes their value.

—Sarah Riggs Amico (MBA 2003) is executive chairperson of Jack Cooper Investments and a founder of Rediscovering Our American Dream (ROAD), a mission-driven media company.

The Book of Joy: Lasting Happiness in a Changing World is a conversation between His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu about finding joy in the face of suffering and grief.

It’s also a glimpse into the friendship, mutual respect, humility, and values of two spiritual leaders and Nobel Peace Prize winners. It culminates in the eight pillars of joy: perspective, humility, humor, and acceptance (qualities of the mind), and forgiveness, gratitude, compassion, and generosity (qualities of the heart).

This book changed my perspective. A lot of the obstacles to joy are internally driven: envy, competitiveness, contempt. The “ah-ha” was that I can choose joy. I have agency. I can be grateful for the blessings I have (instead of comparing myself to others); I can laugh at myself (instead of taking life too seriously); and I can always be more generous and compassionate (“we go” vs. ego). One of my favorite quotes: “Ultimately, joy is not something to learn; it is something to live. And our greatest joy is lived in deep, loving, and generous relationships with others.”

—Isabelle Colin-Hau (MBA 2004) is an impact-education funder who invests in change-makers, as well as solutions and ideas to unlock human potential through learning.

Do Not Say We Have Nothing, by Madeleine Thien, is a book that I could read time and again.

The novel is a grand tour through China’s incredible 20th-century history, up to the Tiananmen massacre. Thien has a rare gift to show us the personal, touching, and human side of history. I feel it is particularly important not to forget the humans “on the other side” at a time of heightened geopolitical tensions.

—Felix Oberholzer-Gee is the Andreas Andresen Professor of Business Administration in the Strategy Unit and author of the upcoming Better, Simpler Strategy: A Value-Based Guide to Exceptional Performance.

Over the past few years, America has been going through a long-overdue racial reckoning, the results of which are mixed.

With matters of race, family, politics, religion, and more, we think about them distantly, and what Kiese Laymon calls on us to do in Heavy: An American Memoir, is to think more deeply about each of these aspects of life. The reality is that this book is ornately written, and the complications of life are intricately explicated. Laymon shows—he doesn’t just tell—us what it looks like to be an American, while upending and rethinking the memoir. Though written some years ago, this book’s publication forced a reconsideration of the genre.

As graduates from HBS, we often consider how we can quickly synthesize messy and complex business challenges into neatly arranged recommendations that can be scaled. But what Laymon reminds us, perhaps, is to go slower, to embrace the messiness and the nuances that can be lost in the rapid haste to synthesize. Heavy forces a thinking that expands the reader’s moral imagination.

—Caleb Gayle (MBA 2019) is an award-winning journalist who writes about race and identity. He is the author of the 2022 book, We Refuse to Forget: A True Story of Black Creeks, American Identity, and Power.

Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World, written by Tracy Kidder

and originally published in 2003, is a fascinating, close-on look at the life and work of Paul Farmer, a public health leader of extraordinary vision, dedication, and impact. His untimely death at age 62 last winter makes the story even more compelling.

Rosemary Sullivan’s The Betrayal of Anne Frank: A Cold Case Investigation is the spell-binding story of the small team of investigators, who, almost 80 years after the crime, set out to discover the person or persons who betrayed the Frank family’s Amsterdam hiding place to Nazi authorities in 1944—a betrayal that resulted in the death of seven people (only Anne’s father, Otto Frank, survived). It is a narrative of careful, tireless detective work. It is also an account of political, religious, and social persecution and the consequent moral catastrophe in a city that had once prided itself on its inclusiveness and diversity. As such, it makes chilling and vital reading for our time—when racial, ethnic, and religious hatred are again on the rise and when emboldened white supremacy threatens violence, injustice, and an ethical race to the bottom for so many people around the world.

—Nancy Koehn is a historian and the James E. Robison Professor of Business Administration. Her latest book is Forged in Crisis: The Power of Courageous Leadership in Turbulent Times.

Like the main character of The Beach, a novel by Alex Garland, I also left my homeland, friends, and family for years

of the unknown, and backpacked by myself through India and Thailand, including Ko Phi Phi, where this book is set. It was once one of the most beautiful spots in Thailand. I have always been driven to explore faraway regions, although I walk with the help of crutches. My physical limitations never hindered me from visiting dangerous places and leading an adventurous life. The opposite is true: They helped me face challenges audaciously and with a positive mind. I’ve met fascinating people while visiting 34 diverse countries—places without available medical care, where corruption and poverty have ruled, and where armed people are part of the daily scene. In the Philippines, strangers tried to kidnap me. I was robbed in India, and I have been an easy target on many occasions because of my crutches. I was saved a few times by friends, family, and sometimes by sheer luck. Some incidents may have scarred me for good. Now, after several years back in my home country, those adventures bring back some of the most beautiful memories of learning to adapt. Travel helped me get the most out of my one wild and precious life. I am already looking forward to my next crossroads.

—Raf Verheij (MBA 2004) has enjoyed a career in energy, international consulting, outsourcing, and offshoring. He cofounded an art venture before returning to his Dutch hometown, where he was selected as a wheelchair handball player for the Dutch National team and competed at the European Handball Tournament in Croatia.

The Boys in the Boat, by Daniel James Brown, offers insight into what it means to be a member of a crew, with the hard work and hope for glory, the teamwork that’s inherent to the sport, and the comradeship generated among teammates.

I actually have my own boys-in-the-boat story. Twenty years after the University of Washington team won its gold medal in the 1936 Olympics, I was the coxswain of the Yale crew that won an Olympic gold. I’ve been involved in the sport ever since as a coxswain, a sculler, and a high school coach. The truth is that almost everyone who has rowed has their own boys-in-the-boat story. That’s part of the beauty of the sport.

—Bill Becklean (MBA 1968) has coached the boys’ crew team at the Cambridge Rindge and Latin School since he retired from the investment research business in 2006. He was on the gold-medal eights team at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics.

Bill Becklean (front, center); photo courtesy Phillips Exeter Academy

Post a Comment