How to Read Literature Like a Professor: A Lively and Entertaining Guide to Reading Between the Lines
Rating: 5/5 | I didn't study English or literature in college, but I wish I had taken at least one or two classes. I love to read, and I'm sure there are deeper meanings I'm missing. I did some poking around online to figure out the best way to get started, and I found my way to this book. If you find yourself in a similar situation, I recommend that you do too. (Click the post to read more.)
What does it mean when a fictional hero takes a journey? Shares a meal? Gets drenched in a sudden rain shower? Often, there is much more going on in a novel or poem than is readily visible on the surface — a symbol, maybe, that remains elusive, or an unexpected twist on a character — and there's that sneaking suspicion that the deeper meaning of a literary text keeps escaping you.
In this practical and amusing guide to literature, Thomas C. Foster shows how easy and gratifying it is to unlock those hidden truths, and to discover a world where a road leads to a quest; a shared meal may signify a communion; and rain, whether cleansing or destructive, is never just rain. Ranging from major themes to literary models, narrative devices, and form, How to Read Literature Like a Professor is the perfect companion for making your reading experience more enriching, satisfying, and fun.
Author: Thomas C. Foster
Rating: 5/5
I didn't study English or literature in college, but I wish I had taken at least one or two classes. I love to read, and I'm sure there are deeper meanings I'm missing. I did some poking around online to figure out the best way to get started, and I found my way to this book. If you find yourself in a similar situation, I recommend that you do too.
How to Read Literature Like a Professor does not read like a textbook. It's a fun read that definitely taught me something (or multiple somethings!). It also inspired me to read more of the classics, as Foster references many works again and again throughout the book. When I finished, I purchased an anthology of American short stories to start practicing on!
Exit West
Rating: 5/5 | This book offers a perspective on the refugee crisis happening today. It never mentions the nationality or religion of the characters by name, but these details can be easily inferred. And yes, it uses a magical element—the doors that transport you elsewhere in the world—but it's not a fantasy book. Instead, these magical doors serve as a device by which Hamid emphasizes the experiences of his characters: that "elsewhere" offers hope, but for a refugee, it's hard to feel welcome anywhere. (Click the post to read more.)
In a country teetering on the brink of civil war, two young people meet—sensual, fiercely independent Nadia and gentle, restrained Saeed. They embark on a furtive love affair and are soon cloistered in a premature intimacy by the unrest roiling their city. When it explodes, turning familiar streets into a patchwork of checkpoints and bomb blasts, they begin to hear whispers about doors—doors that can whisk people far away, if perilously and for a price. As the violence escalates, Nadia and Saeed decide that they no longer have a choice. Leaving their homeland and their old lives behind, they find a door and step through.
Exit West follows these characters as they emerge into an alien and uncertain future, struggling to hold on to each other, to their past, to the very sense of who they are. Profoundly intimate and powerfully inventive, it tells an unforgettable story of love, loyalty, and courage that is both completely of our time and for all time.
Author: Mohsin Hamid
Rating: 5/5
This book offers a perspective on the refugee crisis happening today. It never mentions the nationality or religion of the characters by name, but these details can be easily inferred. And yes, it uses a magical element—the doors that transport you elsewhere in the world—but it's not a fantasy book. Instead, these magical doors serve as a device by which Hamid emphasizes the experiences of his characters: that "elsewhere" offers hope, but for a refugee, it's hard to feel welcome anywhere. No matter where you go, society will outcast you. "Elsewhere" may be better, but it is not utopia.
My favorite aspect of this book was Hamid's writing style. He has a beautiful cadence and a masterful use of phrasing. He switches between short, matter-of-fact statements and long sentences joined by commas that can take an entire paragraph. These paragraphs may begin lightly, but by the end, you've been walloped. Here's an example:
"Saeed prayed a great deal, and so did his father, and so did their guests, and some of them wept, but Saeed had wept only once, when he first saw his mother's corpse and screamed, and Saeed's father wept openly only when he was alone in his room, silently, without tears, his body seized as though by a stutter, or a shiver, that would not let go, for his sense of loss was boundless, and his sense of benevolence of the universe was shaken, and his wife had been his best friend."
This book hypnotized me and took my breath away in moments I was least expecting it. It also made me think. Trust me. Read it.
Mistborn Trilogy
Rating: 5/5 | I worked at Barnes & Noble as a temp employee for last year's holiday season (which was awesome!). During one of my shifts, a coworker pulled The Final Empire off the shelf, shoved it at me, and said, "Read this." I am so glad that I listened! This was my first experience with Brandon Sanderson, but I have absolutely come to understand why he is such a fantasy powerhouse. (Click the post to read more.)
In a world where ash falls from the sky, and mist dominates the night, an evil cloaks the land and stifles all life. The future of the empire rests on the shoulders of a troublemaker and his young apprentice. Together, can they fill the world with color once more?
In Brandon Sanderson's intriguing tale of love, loss, despair and hope, a new kind of magic enters the stage — Allomancy, a magic of the metals.
Author: Brandon Sanderson
Rating: 5/5
Book 1: The Final Empire
Book 2: The Well of Ascension
Book 3: Hero of Ages
I worked at Barnes & Noble as a temp employee for last year's holiday season (which was awesome!). During one of my shifts, a coworker pulled The Final Empire off the shelf, shoved it at me, and said, "Read this." I am so glad that I listened! This was my first experience with Brandon Sanderson, but I have absolutely come to understand why he is such a fantasy powerhouse. What a universe he has created in this trilogy (and beyond). If you like fantasy, you HAVE to read this. I mean it.
These books were on the longer side, but they needed to be because the plot and characters are so complex. I was almost always fully engaged and eager to see what would happen next. In fact, the endings of all three were some of the best book endings I have ever read! And I loved watching Vin progress from the fearful and distrustful child to the strong, brave and loving woman she became.
Also, you know that feeling when you're reading a book and you can kind of see what will happen next, and you really don't want it to, but you know it's probably necessary for the plot? One of my favorite aspects of these books was that Sanderson found a way to make it so that it didn't have to happen that way! It made these stories feel so much more original, creative, and, ultimately, enjoyable.
The Nightingale
Rating: 4.5/5 | My sister bought me this book for my birthday so that I could read it on the beach during my honeymoon. I wouldn't really call it a "beach read," as it was heavy and complex, but it was definitely worthy of being read. (Click the post to read more.)
Despite their differences, sisters Vianne and Isabelle have always been close. Younger, bolder Isabelle lives in Paris while Vianne is content with life in the French countryside with her husband Antoine and their daughter. But when the Second World War strikes, Antoine is sent off to fight and Vianne finds herself isolated so Isabelle is sent by their father to help her.
As the war progresses, the sisters' relationship and strength are tested. With life changing in unbelievably horrific ways, Vianne and Isabelle will find themselves facing frightening situations and responding in ways they never thought possible as bravery and resistance take different forms in each of their actions.
Author: Kristin Hannah
Rating: 4.5/5
My sister bought me this book for my birthday so that I could read it on the beach during my honeymoon. I wouldn't really call it a "beach read," as it was heavy and complex, but it was definitely worthy of being read.
As one might expect from a WWII story, this book took me on a rollercoaster of emotions. But it also taught me a lot about what happened in France during the war, as it is not a country that receives a great deal of focus when you learn about WWII in school. And having this information presented from the perspective of two women—one of whom was on the front lines of action and one of whom had to keep life together for her family while her husband was away—was unique and extremely impactful. In fact, I find it extraordinary that this is a work of fiction.
This book will break you in half, but I don't think you'll regret picking it up.
Tears We Cannot Stop: A Sermon to White America
Rating: 5/5 | I picked this book up shortly after it was released, knowing that Michael Eric Dyson is a well-known, well-liked author who does a good job of framing social justice issues. (Click the post to read more.)
Short, emotional, literary, powerful―Tears We Cannot Stop is the book that all Americans who care about the current and long-burning crisis in race relations will want to read.
As the country grapples with racist division at a level not seen since the 1960s, one man's voice soars above the rest with conviction and compassion. In his 2016 New York Times op-ed piece "Death in Black and White," Michael Eric Dyson moved a nation. Now he continues to speak out in Tears We Cannot Stop―a provocative and deeply personal call for change. Dyson argues that if we are to make real racial progress we must face difficult truths, including being honest about how black grievance has been ignored, dismissed, or discounted.
Author: Michael Eric Dyson
Rating: 5/5
I picked this book up shortly after it was released, knowing that Michael Eric Dyson is a well-known, well-liked author who does a good job of framing social justice issues.
As someone who has immense privilege in this world, I know that reading books like this is not enough to do my part, but I hope that it is a good place to start. It certainly did open my eyes to additional perspectives I hadn't considered before and fanned my flame of desire to act.
How to Win Friends and Influence People
Rating: 5/5 | This book seems like it is the original from which all other leadership books have been born. Dale Carnegie's advice is simple, straightforward, and timeless. Nothing is revolutionary, but it is all framed in a way that makes it easy to remember and apply in your daily life. (Click the post to read more.)
You can go after the job you want...and get it! You can take the job you have...and improve it! You can take any situation you're in...and make it work for you!
Since its release in 1936, How to Win Friends and Influence People has sold more than 15 million copies. Dale Carnegie's first book is a timeless bestseller, packed with rock-solid advice that has carried thousands of now famous people up the ladder of success in their business and personal lives.
As relevant as ever before, Dale Carnegie's principles endure, and will help you achieve your maximum potential in the complex and competitive modern age.
Learn the six ways to make people like you, the twelve ways to win people to your way of thinking, and the nine ways to change people without arousing resentment.
Rating: 5/5
This book seems like it is the original from which all other leadership books have been born. Dale Carnegie's advice is simple, straightforward, and timeless. Nothing is revolutionary, but it is all framed in a way that makes it easy to remember and apply in your daily life. I made a conscious effort to apply some of the advice during a job interview, and it actually blew the interviewers away. In fact, I wanted to refer back to his advice so often that I had the chapter titles printed on a poster and brought it to my cube at work (which also serves as a great conversation starter!). His stories and examples about real people whom he met during his workshops do a great job of driving his points home.
All Souls Trilogy (A Discovery of Witches)
Rating: 4.5/5 | A fantasy book with a heroine who loves libraries and studies history. What more could you want? Harkness does a great job of keeping the witches/vampires/daemons thing far from cheesy. It took a while to set everything up, but as the story is quite complex, that wasn't terrible. (Click the post to read more.)
Deep in the stacks of Oxford's Bodleian Library, young scholar Diana Bishop unwittingly calls up a bewitched alchemical manuscript in the course of her research. Descended from an old and distinguished line of witches, Diana wants nothing to do with sorcery; so after a furtive glance and a few notes, she banishes the book to the stacks. But her discovery sets a fantastical underworld stirring, and a horde of daemons, witches, and vampires soon descends upon the library. Diana has stumbled upon a coveted treasure lost for centuries-and she is the only creature who can break its spell.
Author: Deborah Harkness
Rating: 4.5/5
Book 1: A Discovery of Witches
Book 2: Shadow of Night
Book 3: The Book of Life
A fantasy book with a heroine who loves libraries and studies history. What more could you want?
Harkness does a great job of keeping the witches/vampires/daemons thing far from cheesy. It took a while to set everything up, but as the story is quite complex, that wasn't terrible. Plus, I usually find that the second book in any series is my least favorite, but that was absolutely not the case with this trilogy. The second book was invigorating, pulling from deep historical events and spinning a pretty unique type of magic. I'm not usually a historical fiction reader, and I actually disliked history in school, but I did study theatre, so having Christopher Marlowe as a main character was exciting for me. I don't think you'd have to know much about or like history to love that part of the story.
Diana is a very strong character with plenty of complexity. I was a little surprised at how quickly she fell for tall, dark, and brooding, but as I said, the plot is complex. If Harkness didn't speed us along to the meaty middle, we'd never get to the end. Matthew is sort of one-sided but definitely grows as the story progresses. And I still can't decide if he's super dreamy or just a vampire...
All in all, the series had great, human themes with an engaging plot and unique characters. I highly recommend.
The Legend of Holly Claus
Rating: 5/5 | This book is one of the greatest dark horses of my life. My mother bought it for me many years ago, and I have re-read it several times since then. I also lend it to friends whenever I can, and they always love it as well. (Click the post to read more.)
Santa Claus is the King of Forever, Land of the Immortals. When one special boy writes to Santa asking what no other child has ever asked, a miracle occurs: Santa and Mrs. Claus are blessed with a daughter. But the birth of Holly Claus also brings about a terrible curse—from an evil soul named Herrikhan. Holly's heart is frozen, and the gates to Forever are locked, barring exit or entry.
As she grows into a beautiful and selfless young woman, Holly longs to break the spell that holds her people hostage. With four faithful and magical animal friends, she escapes to the wondrous world of Victorian New York, where she will face countless dangers, adventures, and a miracle all her own.
Author: Brittney Ryan
Rating: 5/5
This book is one of the greatest dark horses of my life. My mother bought it for me many years ago, and I have re-read it several times since then. I also lend it to friends whenever I can, and they always love it as well. It's Christmas magic meets Anastasia meets The Little Mermaid (just bear with me here).
Holly Claus is the daughter of Santa and Mrs. Claus, made possible by the magic that is created when a young boy asks Santa what he'd like for Christmas instead of providing a traditional Christmas list. Enter the evil, cursed-out-of-magic-land villain (who reminds me a lot of Rasputin in the Disney telling of Anastasia). Growing up, she must always remain at home for her own safety. Naturally, she becomes increasingly curious about the rest of the world, and she flees the safety of her castle and country for adventure, companionship, and—ultimately—the triumph of good over evil.
As a children's book, the characters and plot are not very complex, but they are very lovable. The story is ripe with magic and adventure.
The Art of Hearing Heartbeats
Rating: 5/5 | I picked up this book because I saw the opening paragraph displayed on a Kindle pictured on a sign in a Barnes & Noble. The first few sentences hooked me, so I googled them, identified the book, walked to the shelf, and picked it up. I'm so glad I did. (Click the post to read more.)
A poignant and inspirational love story set in Burma, The Art of Hearing Heartbeats spans the decades between the 1950s and the present. When a successful New York lawyer suddenly disappears without a trace, neither his wife nor his daughter Julia has any idea where he might be…until they find a love letter he wrote many years ago, to a Burmese woman they have never heard of. Intent on solving the mystery and coming to terms with her father’s past, Julia decides to travel to the village where the woman lived. There she uncovers a tale of unimaginable hardship, resilience, and passion that will reaffirm the reader’s belief in the power of love to move mountains.
Author: Jan-Phillipp Sendker
Rating: 5/5
I picked up this book because I saw the opening paragraph displayed on a Kindle pictured on a sign in a Barnes & Noble. The first few sentences hooked me, so I googled them, identified the book, walked to the shelf, and picked it up. I'm so glad I did.
If you're looking for a quick read with an impactful story that is heartbreakingly beautiful, this is the one for you. It is entirely believable that the portrayed events could happen in real life with the exception of one pivotal magical element. This only enhances the story's charm—what if magic like this really exists all around us? In the end, I walked away with that wonderful feeling that I'd been walloped in the gut by beauty.
Between You & Me: Confessions of a Comma Queen
Rating: 5/5 | You don't have to love grammar and language to enjoy this book, but if you do love words, it's positively delightful. Mary Norris writes exactly as well as you'd expect her to, and she's just as lovely as The New Yorker itself. (Click the post to read more.)
Mary Norris has spent more than three decades in The New Yorker's copy department, maintaining its celebrated high standards. Now she brings her vast experience, good cheer, and finely sharpened pencils to help the rest of us in a boisterous language book as full of life as it is of practical advice.
Between You & Me features Norris's laugh-out-loud descriptions of some of the most common and vexing problems in spelling, punctuation, and usage—comma faults, danglers, "who" vs. "whom," "that" vs. "which," compound words, gender-neutral language—and her clear explanations of how to handle them. Down-to-earth and always open-minded, she draws on examples from Charles Dickens, Emily Dickinson, Henry James, and the Lord's Prayer, as well as from The Honeymooners, The Simpsons, David Foster Wallace, and Gillian Flynn. She takes us to see a copy of Noah Webster's groundbreaking Blue-Back Speller, on a quest to find out who put the hyphen in Moby-Dick, on a pilgrimage to the world's only pencil-sharpener museum, and inside the hallowed halls of The New Yorker and her work with such celebrated writers as Pauline Kael, Philip Roth, and George Saunders.
Readers—and writers—will find in Norris neither a scold nor a softie but a wise and witty new friend in love with language and alive to the glories of its use in America, even in the age of autocorrect and spell-check. As Norris writes, "The dictionary is a wonderful thing, but you can't let it push you around."
Author: Mary Norris
Rating: 5/5
You don't have to love grammar and language to enjoy this book, but if you do love words, it's positively delightful. Mary Norris writes exactly as well as you'd expect her to, and she's just as lovely as The New Yorker itself.
I write content and copy edit as part of my full-time job, and I still learned a great deal from this book. But the grammar advice isn't what makes it great; it's the fact that it's a style guide infused with a memoir of a very interesting and funny writing professional.
P.S. I can't stop over-analyzing my hyphens now and I also bought a subscription to the AP Style Book. So...
When Breath Becomes Air
Rating: 5/5 | What an absolutely beautiful book by an absolutely beautiful person. I often find memoirs interesting, but it is rare that I find them so moving. Paul is not only a brilliant doctor with a unique story to tell but also a fantastic writer. (Click the post to read more.)
At the age of thirty-six, on the verge of completing a decade’s worth of training as a neurosurgeon, Paul Kalanithi was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer. One day he was a doctor making a living treating the dying, and the next he was a patient struggling to live. Just like that, the future he and his wife had imagined evaporated. When Breath Becomes Air, which features a Foreword by Dr. Abraham Verghese and an Epilogue by Kalanithi’s wife, Lucy, chronicles Kalanithi’s transformation from a naïve medical student “possessed,” as he wrote, “by the question of what, given that all organisms die, makes a virtuous and meaningful life” into a young neurosurgeon at Stanford, guiding patients toward a deeper understanding of death and illness, and finally into a patient and a new father to a baby girl, confronting his own mortality.
What makes life worth living in the face of death? What do you do when the future, no longer a ladder toward your goals in life, flattens out into a perpetual present? What does it mean to have a child, to nurture a new life as another fades away? These are some of the questions Kalanithi wrestles with in this profoundly moving, exquisitely observed memoir.
Paul Kalanithi died in March 2015, while working on this book, yet his words live on as a guide and a gift to us all. “I began to realize that coming face to face with my own mortality, in a sense, had changed nothing and everything,” he wrote. “Seven words from Samuel Beckett began to repeat in my head: ‘I can’t go on. I’ll go on.’” When Breath Becomes Air is an unforgettable, life-affirming reflection on the challenge of facing mortality and on the relationship between doctor and patient, from a gifted writer who became both.
Author: Paul Kalanithi
Rating: 5/5
What an absolutely beautiful book by an absolutely beautiful person. I often find memoirs interesting, but it is rare that I find them so moving. Paul is not only a brilliant doctor with a unique story to tell but also a fantastic writer. I picked up this book because I was intrigued by what I'd heard about the subject matter and because it had received significant acclaim. I kept reading it because I was enraptured.
What the book's summary doesn't tell you is that Paul had a medical degree as well as an MA in English literature. This does, of course, explain why he writes so eloquently, but it is also pivotal to his entire life. He spent his education and his career attempting to join what it means to be medically alive and what it means to be spiritually, emotionally alive—something captured through storytelling about the human existence. To him, the body and soul cannot exist if medicine and literature do not work in tandem. I think this idea is so beautiful.
Half the Sky: Turning Oppression in Opportunity for Women Worldwide
Rating: 5/5 | I had heard of this book before, but I finally picked it up as part of Emma Watson's book club, Our Shared Shelf. I am so glad that I did. My eyes have been opened to so much more that happens in the world and to new ways we can actively make those things better. (Click the post to read more.)
From two of our most fiercely moral voices, a passionate call to arms against our era’s most pervasive human rights violation: the oppression of women and girls in the developing world.
With Pulitzer Prize winners Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn as our guides, we undertake an odyssey through Africa and Asia to meet the extraordinary women struggling there, among them a Cambodian teenager sold into sex slavery and an Ethiopian woman who suffered devastating injuries in childbirth. Drawing on the breadth of their combined reporting experience, Kristof and WuDunn depict our world with anger, sadness, clarity, and, ultimately, hope.
They show how a little help can transform the lives of women and girls abroad. That Cambodian girl eventually escaped from her brothel and, with assistance from an aid group, built a thriving retail business that supports her family. The Ethiopian woman had her injuries repaired and in time became a surgeon. A Zimbabwean mother of five, counseled to return to school, earned her doctorate and became an expert on AIDS.
Through these stories, Kristof and WuDunn help us see that the key to economic progress lies in unleashing women’s potential. They make clear how so many people have helped to do just that, and how we can each do our part. Throughout much of the world, the greatest unexploited economic resource is the female half of the population. Countries such as China have prospered precisely because they emancipated women and brought them into the formal economy. Unleashing that process globally is not only the right thing to do; it’s also the best strategy for fighting poverty.
Deeply felt, pragmatic, and inspirational, Half the Sky is essential reading for every global citizen.
Authors: Nicholas D. Kristof, Sheryl WuDunn
Rating: 5/5
I had heard of this book before, but I finally picked it up as part of Emma Watson's book club, Our Shared Shelf. I am so glad that I did. My eyes have been opened to so much more that happens in the world and to new ways we can actively make those things better. The balance between facts and figures and the stories of real people the authors have met during their humanitarian travels is perfect to keep you engaged and interested.
I think the biggest takeaway I got from this book was how important women's education is to the development and improvement of the entire world. When you keep a girl in school, she is likely to wait until an older age to have children, and she is likely to have fewer children. This is good for everyone, as families can have as few or as many children as they are able to support. Plus, educated women will likely have earning and spending power, and when women make financial decisions, more of that money goes toward food and education for their children, keeping the cycle in check. Plus, it's shown that societies that educate their women have greater respect for all and much less violence in general.
Then, once you've learned all that, the book goes one step further to help you figure out what you can do to make it happen.
The Giver Quartet
Rating: 5/5 | If you let the fact that this is a children's series stop you from reading it, you will have made one of the greatest mistakes of your life. This quartet is and probably always will be my #1 go-to recommendation to anyone who asks me what they should read next. (Click the post to read more.)
The Giver, the 1994 Newbery Medal winner, has become one of the most influential novels of our time. The haunting story centers on twelve-year-old Jonas, who lives in a seemingly ideal, if colorless, world of conformity and contentment. Not until he is given his life assignment as the Receiver of Memory does he begin to understand the dark, complex secrets behind his fragile community. Lois Lowry has written three companion novels to The Giver, including Gathering Blue, Messenger, and Son.
Author: Lois Lowry
Rating: 5/5
If you let the fact that this is a children's series stop you from reading it, you will have made one of the greatest mistakes of your life. This quartet is and probably always will be my #1 go-to recommendation to anyone who asks me what they should read next. Most people have heard of The Giver, but few know that there are four books. They are all just as good (if not better?) than the first.
The lessons these books teach are poignant, important, and extraordinarily relevant to today's political climate. For example, one book features a small society of people who have welcomed outcasts and banded together to support one another and keep the group safe. It is almost a utopian society. Then they start to feel a bit threatened, and the talk about sealing the entrance and denying new people who need help "for the good of the group" starts to spread like poison. Sound familiar in 2017? (Messenger was written in 2004. It was meant for kids...or was it?)
The way Lois Lowry wrote these stories is breathtaking. They are not long books. The language is simple and straightforward. The sentences take what they are saying for granted, so they make you think and then make you wonder why you never thought that way before.
If Harry Potter Ran General Electric: Leadership Wisdom from the World of Wizards
Rating: 5/5 | Many of you in the leadership world may have heard of Tom Morris’ famous book, If Aristotle Ran General Motors. In it, he discusses how the principles addressed by great historic philosophers translate to the business world today. Many major organizations face questions about ethics, human nature, and competitive excellence. According to Morris, the great thinkers of old had much to say on these subjects. (Click the post to read more.)
J. K. Rowling’s novels about Harry Potter and the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry have captured the imaginations of people everywhere. In If Harry Potter Ran General Electric, bestselling business author Tom Morris (If Aristotle Ran General Motors) uncovers the values and timeless truths that underlie Rowling’s hugely popular books and illuminates the lessons they offer to all of us in our careers and daily lives.
But, you say, Harry Potter lives in a world of magic. What can we possibly learn to apply to our own careers and everyday lives? Morris shows that the most difficult problems Harry and his friends face are rarely solved by the use of magic alone. Rather, they are conquered by intelligence, reasoning, determination, creativity, friendship, and a host of other classic virtues–the very qualities, in fact, that make for success in every aspect of our lives.
Blending an array of provocative examples from the novels with thought-provoking commentary on contemporary management practices, If Harry Potter Ran General Electric offers readers a master’s course on leadership and ethics, told in an engaging and insightful way.
Author: Tom Morris
Rating: 5/5
Disclaimer: Harry Potter spoilers ahead!
Many of you in the leadership world may have heard of Tom Morris’ famous book, If Aristotle Ran General Motors. In it, he discusses how the principles addressed by great historic philosophers translate to the business world today. Many major organizations face questions about ethics, human nature, and competitive excellence. According to Morris, the great thinkers of old had much to say on these subjects.
However, you may not have heard of a spinoff book Morris wrote: If Harry Potter Ran General Electric: Leadership Wisdom from the World of Wizards. Having been a child in the 90s and early 2000s, I'm what you’d call a major Potterhead (okay, maybe even more than my peers are). Thus, when I first heard of this book, I knew I had to read it as soon as possible. I immediately bought a used copy on Amazon. I knew I was hooked when I saw the title of the first chapter: “Albus Dumbledore, CEO.”
Morris dives into what it means to be a brave, authentic leader. He highlights the best part of Albus Dumbledore’s wisdom and experience. He shows how everyone flocks to Harry's leadership because of his dedication to truth and morals. He extracts Harry’s 5 steps to courage, and shows how these steps relate to Jeff Immelt’s leadership of General Electric. He takes everything we love about these characters and brings it back to leadership…and what could be better than that? (Answer: almost nothing.)
I have only one criticism. Morris wrote this book before JK Rowling released the last Harry Potter book. Its copyright is 2006. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was released in 2007. Was that really so long to wait to publish? Or, could we not have a second edition? There is SO much more to say about these characters once book seven brings everything to light. This is especially true about Dumbledore and the way his character (and thus his leadership) is not as perfect as we've always believed. There’s something to be said for knowing your own limitations and when a certain amount of power is too much for you, right?
That’s where my list of negatives ends, though.To give you a glimpse of how fresh and inspiring (and fun!) the Harry Potter-Leadership metaphor was, here’s one of my favorite quotes from the whole book:
“If you can find a real yet metaphorical troll to fight with your associates in any business or organizational context, you can position yourself to create or firm up a new level of trust, respect, productive friendship, and teamwork among the people around you.”
Morris is referring to the troll our favorite trio battled in The Sorcerer’s Stone. They were a close-knit team forever after. I totally get how this could translate to any team environment! But I never thought of it like that before. While reading this book, I found fun moments like this over and over again. He takes the situations and the characters we love and shows us how they embody what leaders can do for their teams.
There is one point I remember most vividly from this book: being ethical 100% of the time is hard, and it takes a lot of courage. It’s not easy to commit to always making the decision that is best for the masses and not just for yourself. You have to be really brave to tell the truth all the time, even if the situation seems trivial. And although we saw Harry break these rules on his journey to great leadership, we see the end product of that journey in Dumbledore. The headmaster’s composure, dedication, and amazing leadership (at the time of the books) is admirable, but it is also attainable. Morris shows us how.
Morris combed through the first six books (again, can we please get a second edition?) to find all the leadership techniques that are applicable to the real world. He put them into steps and guides for us to follow. And he did it while the Harry-Potter-lover in me danced for joy.