Staff Picks Book Reviews
Porchlight is a company filled with voracious readers—talented, creative individuals who know books, and who excel at moving them. Whenever we can, we like to do that by telling you about the books we’re reading.
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Blog / Staff Picks
A World Divided: The Global Struggle for Human Rights in the Age of Nation-States
Book Review by Bryan Rogers
Eric D. Weitz performs what amounts to a living autopsy on the history and health of the nation-state dating back nearly two hundred years.
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Blog / Staff Picks
The Quiet Zone: Unraveling the Mystery of a Town Suspended in Silence
Book Review by Emily Porter
Stephen Kurczy, a journalist who ventures to this small town looking for some silence of his own, finds a reality that is rarely known in today’s modern world.
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Blog / Staff Picks
Go Where There Is No Path: Stories of Hustle, Grit, Scholarship, and Faith
Book Review by Gabbi Cisneros
Christopher Gray wants people to see an outsider's success as earned, not a fluke, and for entrepreneurs to know that for-profit companies, just as well as non-profits, can be good companies that offer solutions to social issues.
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Blog / Staff Picks
A Minute to Think: Reclaim Creativity, Conquer Busyness, and Do Your Best Work
Book Review by Dylan Schleicher
Overwork is glorified in our culture, but it is undermining our overall performance. Instead of suggesting we need to push through, Juliet Funt offers us a thoughtful way out.
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Blog / Staff Picks
Power Play: Tesla, Elon Musk, and the Bet of the Century
Book Review by Dylan Schleicher
Reading award-winning Wall Street Journal tech and auto reporter Tim Higgins's wonderful and in-depth new book about the history of Tesla, I couldn't help wondering what the story would have been like without the oversized ego of Elon Musk involved, or help thinking that I'd like to read that story more.
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Who Do You Want to Be When You Grow Old?: The Path of Purposeful Aging
Book Review by Gabbi Cisneros
This book urges us to be okay with redefining our ideas of prosperity, success, and happiness as we get older, though there's nothing wrong with being more generous with ourselves and our time when we're young as well.
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Below the Edge of Darkness: A Memoir of Exploring Light in the Deep Sea
Book Review by Emily Porter
In her new memoir, renowned marine biologist and oceanographer Edith Widder, PH. D, known for her research on bioluminescence, shares the experiences she had that lead her to become one of the leading scientists in her field.
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A Farewell to Gabo and Mercedes: A Son's Memoir of Gabriel García Márquez and Mercedes Barcha
Book Review by Gabbi Cisneros
A thoughtful memoir from filmmaker Rodrigo García is about processing and learning how to deal with the fame, aging, and death of his father, Gabriel García Márquez.
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Blog / Staff Picks
Finding Your Treasure: Our Family's Mission to Recycle, Reuse, and Give Back Everything--And How You Can Too
Book Review by Gabbi Cisneros
Angel Williams is committed to sharing wealth with others by donating useful items, living a more sustainable life, and inspiring others to join her in this journey.
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Blog / Staff Picks
The Essential Kerner Commission Report
Book Review by Dylan Schleicher
Jelani Cobb reintroduces us to a neglected report commissioned by Lyndon B. Johnson in the 1960s about unrest in American cities—and issues of economic inequality, race, and policing that created them—that is both sadly relevant and illuminating to us today.
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