The Year of Yes: How to Dance It Out, Stand In the Sun and Be Your Own Person
Shonda Rhimes, 2015
Simon & Schuster
352 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781476777122
Summary
From the creator of Grey’s Anatomy and Scandal and executive producer of How to Get Away With Murder shares how saying YES changed her life.
She’s the creator and producer of some of the most groundbreaking and audacious shows on television today. Her iconic characters live boldly and speak their minds.
So who would suspect that Shonda Rhimes is an introvert? That she hired a publicist so she could avoid public appearances? That she suffered panic attacks before media interviews?
With three children at home and three hit television shows, it was easy for Shonda to say she was simply too busy. But in truth, she was also afraid. And then, over Thanksgiving dinner, her sister muttered something that was both a wake up and a call to arms: You never say yes to anything.
Shonda knew she had to embrace the challenge: for one year, she would say YES to everything that scared her.
This poignant, intimate, and hilarious memoir explores Shonda’s life before her Year of Yes—from her nerdy, book-loving childhood to her devotion to creating television characters who reflected the world she saw around her.
The book chronicles her life after her Year of Yes had begun—when Shonda forced herself out of the house and onto the stage; when she learned to explore, empower, applaud, and love her truest self. Yes. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—January 13, 1970
• Where— Chicago, Illinois, USA
• Education—B.A., Dartmouth College; M.F.A., University of Southern California
• Currently—lives in Los Angeles, California
Shonda Lynn Rhimes is a television producer and writer. Rhimes is the creator, head writer, executive producer, and showrunner of the medical drama television series Grey's Anatomy, its spin-off Private Practice and the political thriller series Scandal.
She is also executive producer of ABC's legal series How to Get Away with Murder, which debuted in September, 2014, and The Catch which debuted in March, 2016. In May 2007, Rhimes was named one of Time magazine's 100 People Who Help Shape The World. She lives in Los Angeles, California, with her three daughters.
Early life
Rhimes was born in Chicago, Illinois, the daughter of Vera P. Cain, a university administrator, and Ilee Rhimes, Jr., a college professor. Her mother attended college while raising six children and earned a PhD in educational administration in 1991; her father, who holds an MBA, was the chief information officer at the University of Southern California until 2013.
Rhimes lived in Park Forest South (now University Park, Illinois), with two older brothers and three older sisters. She has said she exhibited an early affinity for storytelling and that her time spent as a hospital volunteer while in high school sparked an interest in hospital environments.
Rhimes attended Marian Catholic High School in Chicago Heights, Illinois, before enrolling at Dartmouth College, where she majored in English and film studies and earned her bachelor's degree in 1991. At Dartmouth, she joined the Black Underground Theater Association and divided her time between directing and performing in student productions and fiction. She also wrote for the college newspaper.
After college, Rhimes relocated to San Francisco with an older sibling and worked in advertising at McCann Erickson. She subsequently relocated to Los Angeles to attend the University of Southern California (USC) to study screenwriting, winninf a Gary Rosenberg Writing Fellowship. She obtained her M.F.A from the USC School of Cinematic Arts, ranking at the topof her class.
While at USC Rhimes was hired by Debra Martin Chase as an intern. Rhimes credits her early success in part to mentors like a prominent African-American producer, who hired her as an intern at Denzel Washington's production company Mundy Lane Entertainment. Chase would later serve as a mentor to Rhimes and they would work together on The Princess Diaries 2.
Career: 1995–2004
After graduation, Rhimes found herself an unemployed scriptwriter in Hollywood. To make ends meet, Rhimes worked at a variety of day jobs, including an office administrator, and then a counselor at a job center that taught mentally ill and homeless people job skills. During this period, Rhimes worked as research director on the 1995 Peabody Award-winning documentary, Hank Aaron: Chasing the Dream (1995).
In 1998 Rhimes made a short film, Blossoms and Veils, starring Jada Pinkett-Smith and Jeffrey Wright—her only credit as director. A feature script she wrote was purchased by New Line Cinema, which was soon followed by an assignment to co-write the acclaimed 1999 HBO movie Introducing Dorothy Dandridge. The film earned numerous awards for its star, Halle Berry.
In 2001, Rhimes wrote Crossroads, the debut film of pop singer Britney Spears. Although panned by critics, the film grossed over $60 million worldwide. Rhimes then moved on to Disney’s sequel to its popular 2001 movie The Princess Diaries. While the 2004 sequel—The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement—was not the box office hit of the original, Rhimes later said later she treasured the experience for the opportunity of working with Julie Andrews.
Career: 2005–present
Rhimes is the creator and currently executive producer and head writer of Grey's Anatomy. The series debuted as a midseason replacement in March, 2005. The series focuses on the surgical staff at the fictional Seattle Grace Hospital (later to be named Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital), in Seattle, Washington. The series features an ensemble cast with Ellen Pompeo serving as titular character Meredith Grey, who provides narration for a majority of the series' episodes. On May 16, 2006, ABC announced plans to relocate Grey's Anatomy from Sunday evenings to Thursdays to anchor the network's Thursday evening programming, by airing Thursdays at 9 p.m.
Rhimes created and produced the Grey's Anatomy spin-off series Private Practice, which debuted in September, 2007, on ABC. The show chronicled the life of Dr. Addison Montgomery (Kate Walsh) as she left Seattle Grace Hospital for Los Angeles to join a private practice. The series featured an ensemble cast, including Tim Daly, Amy Brenneman, Audra McDonald and Taye Diggs among others. The first season was shortened because of a writers' strike and consists of only nine episodes. In May 2012, ABC picked up Private Practice for the 2012-13 television season with 13 episodes. The series finale was aired January 22, 2013.
In 2011, Rhimes served as executive producer for the medical drama, Off the Map, which was created by Grey's Anatomy writer, Jenna Bans. It focused on a group of doctors who practice medicine at a remote clinic in the Amazon. The series was officially cancelled by the ABC network on in May, 2011.
That same month ABC ordered Rhimes's pilot script Scandal to series. Kerry Washington stars as Olivia Pope, a political crisis management expert who is partially based on former Bush administration press aide Judy Smith. The series debut aired in April, 2012.
In December 2013, it was announced that ABC had ordered to pilot the ShondaLand production How to Get Away with Murder. Actress Viola Davis joined the cast as the lead character in February, 2014. It was officially picked up to series in May, 2014. Rhimes appeared as herself in the 5th episode of Season 3 of The Mindy Project, which aired October 14, 2014.
In 2015, Rhimes developed a pilot called The Catch, based on the Kate Atkinson novel, which columnist Cindy Elavsky described as a "thriller...about a woman who is about to get married...and about to get conned. Mireille Enos stars. The show got picked up by ABC and premiered Thursday March 24, 2016, at 10 pm, taking over How to Get Away with Murder's time-slot after the show ended its second season.
In March 2016, Scandal, How to Get Away with Murder. and Grey's Anatomy were respectively picked up for their sixth, third and thirteenth seasons, and will air during the 2016-2017 season.
ShondaLand
ShondaLand is the name of Rhimes's production company. ShondaLand and its logo also refer to the shows that Rhimes has created, and to Rhimes herself. Shows which are included in ShondaLand are
Grey's Anatomy (2005–present)
Private Practice (2007–2013)
Off the Map (2011)
Scandal (2012–present)
How to Get Away with Murder (2014–present)
The Catch (2016–present)
Personal life
Rhimes adopted her first daughter in June 2002 and adopted another girl in February 2012. In September 2013, Rhimes welcomed her third daughter via gestational surrogacy.
In 2014, Rhimes spoke at her alma mater Dartmouth College's commencement and received an honorary doctorate.
In September 2015, Rhimes revealed she had lost 117 pounds via exercise and dieting. She is an honorary member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. (Adapted from Wikipedia. Retrieved 7/22/2016 .)
Book Reviews
Rhimes's style is comfortingly congenial, like spending a lazy afternoon chatting with an old friend. Even though the author comes across as more of a no-nonsense hard charger than a hand-holder, she slows down and takes our hand in hers anyway. She makes her battles our own by daring to be as honest as possible. As anyone who has watched her shows already knows, Rhimes is a natural storyteller. The tiniest epiphanies feel like revelations in her hands, yet she pulls it off without ever losing herself in a haze of sentimentality or cliches.... Folksy first-person books aren't usually so edgy or so hilariously self-effacing. But somehow, through her esoteric cadence and her delightfully self-indulgent digressions, Rhimes brings the full force of her personality to every page.
Heather Havrilesky - New York Times Book Review
Can help motivate even the most determined homebody to get out and try something new in the New Year.
Chicago Tribune
Instead of writing passionate narratives for her TV characters, Rhimes adopted their pluck and bold attitudes and attacked life with a new sense of purpose.... Who knew that such a small word could have such a life-changing impact? By saying "yes," she learned to dance it out and stand in the sun. Dr. Cristina Yang would be so proud.
Associated Press
[A]s fun to read as Rhimes' TV series are to watch. Her authorial voice is fresh and strong.
Los Angeles Times
If you enjoy the rapid-fire dialogue of her characters, reading this book will feel like home. Rhimes opens up, and inspires, discussing her personal experiences as a sister, daughter, mother, friend and boss tempered with biting insights on societal expectations of women…[a] blend of biography and badassery.
Ebony
A book that is fun, dishy and inspirational all at the same time…a powerful book, a great gift for a friend or yourself, whether you’re a fan of the Shondaland lineup or not.
Mother Load/New York Times.com
Shamelessly entertaining…an antic, funny and surprisingly funky portrait of what it’s like to be one of the most fascinating forces in contemporary network television.
Buffalo News (Editor's Choice Review)
This memoir/call to arms from the one-woman force behind Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal, and How to Get Away With Murder is basically a New Year’s resolution between two covers. Wherever you’re going, bring it with you.
Bloomberg Businessweek
Rhimes is, unsurprisingly, a fantastic memoirist: Her writing is conversational and witty and lyrical, inflected with the supple human breathiness you might expect from a person who spends her days writing dialogue. It features lots of great punchlines.... It features occasional, chatty, second-person asides.... [It] is also in many ways a side-door self-help book…[with] pieces of advice that concern not just Rhimes’s readers, but everyone.... Year of Yes is a book about the shifts taking place in Hollywood right now,and in the world right now, in the guise of a friendly memoir. It is, like Shondaland itself, making a statement. It is insisting that it is time for the people who used to be invisible to come forward and be seen.
Atlantic.com
Brilliant…a peek into Rhimes' wise, funny, surprisingly candid brain, which contains opinions on everything from accepting compliments and balancing show-running with single motherhood to, yes, the recent weight loss that's been (unfairly) making the most headlines. By the end of journey in The Year of Yes, you'll feel like you've gained a new best friend.
Women & Hollywood/ Indiewire.com
You’ll want to standup and cheer when she takes control, remakes her life, and learns to love herself.
Buzzfeed.com
(Starred review.) [A] powerful memoir and self-help book.... [Rhimes] shares some of the key beliefs and events behind this transformation, all with good humor and vivid prose. Rhimes comes across as inspiring and real.
Publishers Weekly
A sincere and inspiring account of saying yes to life…Rhimes tells us all about it in the speedy, smart style of her much-loved TV shows.... Following her may not land you on the cover of a magazine, but you'll be glad you did.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
We'll add the publisher's questions if and when they're available; in the meantime, use these LitLovers talking points to start a discussion for Year of Yes...then take off on your own...
1. Name five characteristics of Shonda that mirror your own. How did her growth change your behavior from now until forever more?
(Questions courtesy of our guest book reviewer, Christine Merser.)
Chaos Monkey: Obscene Fortune and Random Failure in Silicon Valley
Antonio Garcia Martinez, 2016
HarperCollins
528 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780062458193
Summary
The reality is, Silicon Valley capitalism is very simple:
♦ Investors are people with more money than time.
♦ Employees are people with more time than money.
♦ Entrepreneurs are the seductive go-between.
♦ Marketing is like sex: only losers pay for it.
Imagine a chimpanzee rampaging through a datacenter powering everything from Google to Facebook. Infrastructure engineers use a software version of this chaos monkey to test online services’ robustness—their ability to survive random failure and correct mistakes before they actually occur.
Tech entrepreneurs are society’s chaos monkeys, disruptors testing and transforming every aspect of our lives, from transportation (Uber) and lodging (AirBnB) to television (Netflix) and dating (Tinder). One of Silicon Valley’s most audacious chaos monkeys is Antonio García Martínez.
After stints on Wall Street and as CEO of his own startup, García Martínez joined Facebook’s nascent advertising team, turning its users’ data into profit for COO Sheryl Sandberg and chairman and CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Forced out in the wake of an internal product war over the future of the company’s monetization strategy, García Martínez eventually landed at rival Twitter.
He also fathered two children with a woman he barely knew, committed lewd acts and brewed illegal beer on the Facebook campus (accidentally flooding Zuckerberg's desk), lived on a sailboat, raced sport cars on the 101, and enthusiastically pursued the life of an overpaid Silicon Valley wastrel.
Now, this gleeful contrarian unravels the chaotic evolution of social media and online marketing and reveals how it is invading our lives and shaping our future.
Weighing in on everything from startups and credit derivatives to Big Brother and data tracking, social media monetization and digital privacy, García Martínez shares his scathing observations and outrageous antics, taking us on a humorous, subversive tour of the fascinatingly insular tech industry.
Chaos Monkeys lays bare the hijinks, trade secrets, and power plays of the visionaries, grunts, sociopaths, opportunists, accidental tourists, and money cowboys who are revolutionizing our world. The question is, will we survive? (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—ca. 1978-79 (?)
• Raised—Miami, Florida, USA
• Education—B.S., University of California-Berkeley
• Currently—lives in the San Francisco Bay
Antonio García Martínez has been an advisor to Twitter, a product manager for Facebook, the CEO/founder of AdGrok (a venture-backed startup acquired by Twitter), and a strategist for Goldman Sachs. He is still officially on leave from his Berkeley PhD program, and lives on a forty-foot sailboat on the San Francisco Bay. (From the publisher.)
Martinez's profile on his website.
Book Reviews
Chaos Monkeys aims to do...for Silicon Valley [what Michael Lewis's Liars Poker did for Wall Street] and bracingly succeeds. Nothing I’ve ever read conveys better what it actually is like to be in the engine room of the start-up economy. There were moments I laughed out loud, something I never recall doing while reading about Steve Jobs.... There are a few problems with Chaos Monkeys. García Martínez likes footnotes way too much (on one page there are four) and the epigraphs to each chapter are numbingly heavy-handed.... More problematically, there is much more about digital ad technology here than most readers could possibly want.
David Streitfeld - New york Times Book Review
Incisive.... The most fun business book I have read this year.... Clearly there will be people who hate this book—which is probably one of the things that makes it such a great read.
Andrew Ross Sorkin - New York Times
An irresistible and indispensable 360-degree guide to the new technology establishment.... A must-read.
Jonathan A. Knee - New York Times
There are some books that are just too good to miss.... In his insider-tells-all book, Garcia Martinez discusses everything from goofy stories to cultural secrets about some of the country's most powerful and influential businesses.
Atlantic
Unlike most founding narratives that flow out of the Valley, Chaos Monkeys dives into the unburnished, day-to-day realities: the frantic pivots, the enthusiastic ass-kissing, the excruciating internal politics.... [García] can be rude, but he’s shrewd, too.
Bloomberg - Businessweek
An unvarnished account…of Silicon Valley.
CBS This Morning
Traces the evolution of social media and online marketing and reveals how it’s become a part of our daily lives and how it will affect our future.
Leonard Lopate - WNYC
Discussion Questions
The publisher has yet to issue discussion questions, so use these LitLovers talking points to help kick-off a discussion for Chaos Monkeys...then take off on your own:
1. Are the denizens of Silicon Valley doing God's work as some of them claim? If they're not in the tech industry for the money, what are they in it for?
2. After reading Chaos Monkeys, how do you feel about those who work in the Valley? Even the author reflects on his own behavior as caddish: "I was wholly devoid of most human boundaries or morality." Is that hyperbole? Does that descirption apply to others in the industry, especially in the start-up business?
3. Talk about life in the big tech companies. Martinez compares it to life in Cuba or Communist China in 1965. He writes of the "endless toil motivated by lapidary ideas handed down by a revered and unquestioned leader." As you read his account, does his comparison hold up?
4. Talk about Martinez's time at Y Combinator, the industry's start-up accelerator.
5. Is Silicon Valley is a meritocracy, according to the author?
6. What does Martinez suggest are the implications of all the new technology? How is it...and how will it impact our culture? What do you think?
7. Is the book too heavy on technology? Or are Martinez's footnotes and explanations helpful. In other words, do they add to or detract from your enjoyment of the book.
8. What have you come away with after reading Chaos Monkeys? Does the author make you feel as if you're on inside of a start-up? Do you have a greater understanding or appreciation of the industry than you had before?
(Questions by LitLovers. Feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution. Thanks.)
Is Gwyneth Paltrow Wrong About Everything? How the Famous Sell Us Elixirs of Health, Beauty & Happiness
Timothy Caulfield, 2015
Beacon Press
272 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780807039700
Summary
Winner, 2016 Canadian Science Writers’ Association Award
An exploration of the effect our celebrity-dominated culture has on our ideas of living the good life
What would happen if an average Joe tried out for American Idol, underwent a professional makeover, endured Gwyneth Paltrow’s "Clean Cleanse," and followed the outrageous rituals of the rich and famous?
Health law policy researcher Timothy Caulfield finds out in this thoroughly unique, engaging, and provocative book about celebrity culture and its iron grip on today’s society.
Over the past decade, our perceptions of beauty, health, success, and happiness have become increasingly framed by a popular culture steeped in celebrity influence and ever more disconnected from reality. This isn't just a hyperbolic assertion.
Research tells us the following:
- Our health decisions and goals are influenced by both celebrity culture and celebrity endorsements.
- Our children's ambitions are now overwhelmingly governed by the fantasy of fame.
- The ideals of beauty and success are mediated through a celebrity-dominated worldview.
But while much has been written about the cause of our obsession with the rich and famous, Caulfield argues that not enough has been done to debunk celebrity messages and promises about health, diet, beauty, or the secret to happiness.
From the obvious dangers, to body image of super-thin models and actors, or Gwyneth Paltrow’s enthusiastic endorsement of a gluten free-diet for almost everyone, or Jenny McCarthy’s ill-informed claims of the risks associated with vaccines, celebrity opinions have the power to dominate our conversations and outlooks on our lives and ourselves.
As marketing and social media bring celebrities and their admirers ever closer, celebrity status and lifestyle has become a seemingly more realistic and obtainable goal. Being famous has become the main ambition of an increasing number of average citizens, above being kind, successful, or loved. The celebrity brand is at once the most desired state of being (modern day royalty!. and one of the most socially problematic.
Caulfield provides an entertaining look into the celebrity world, including vivid accounts of his own experiences trying out for American Idol, having his skin resurfaced, and doing the cleanse; interviews with actual celebrities; thought-provoking facts, and a practical and evidence-based reality check on our own celebrity ambitions. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—ca. 1963
• Raised—(from Junior High on) in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
• Education—B.S., L.L.B., University of Alberta; L.L.M., Dalhousie University
• Awards—Canadian Science Writers’ Association Award
• Currently—lives in Edmonton
Timothy Caulfield is a Chair in Health Law and Policy and a Professor in the Faculty of Law and the School of Public Health at the University of Alberta. He has won numerous academic awards, has appeared in publications such as Time, Newsweek, Wired, National Geographic, and Scientific American, and been involved with a number of national and international policy and research ethics committees.
He is the author of The Cure for Everything: Untangling Twisted Messages about Health, Fitness and Happiness (2012) and Is Gwyneth Paltrow Wrong About Everything? How the Famous Sell Us Elixirs of Health, Beauty & Happiness (2015). (From the publisher.)
Book Reviews
Health and science expert [Timothy Caulfield] debunks the most powerful and persuasive messages being spread by celebrities when it comes to our health and well-being: what works, what doesn't, what is worth our time and money, and what isn't. A fun and informative read.
CBC Books
An exhaustively researched, hilarious take on how celebrity culture influences everyday life, from ill-fated attempts to make it big on reality TV to celebrity-endorsed diets and beauty regimens.
Emma Teitel - Maclean’s
Caulfield dispels the myths of celebrity-endorsed products and the cult of fame that they sell. More than ever, we view celebrities as paragons of success and emulate celebrity lifestyles.... An intelligent mix of research and pop culture, Caulfield's analysis of celebrity trends gets to the heart of America's obsession with the fame monster.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
These questions were developed by Jennifer Johnson, Reference Librarian for the Springdale (Arkansas) Public Library. Thank you, Jennifer, for sharing them with LitLovers!
General
1. What did you think of the book?
2. What did you like / dislike about it?
3. Erin Collum (Springdale Library staff member) made this comment regarding the book and its author:
Well, I think he’s too good looking to have an average perspective on beauty trends, but he SAID he is flabby and has the worst skin in the world and I think he is just lying to us so that we will trust him and feel like he has a reason to want beauty fixes to work too. He’s the worst.
Do you agree / disagree with her?
4. Caulfield states that in writing the book...
I have tried to show the degree in which celebrities…are wrong about almost everything, whether in relation to health, beauty, [and] the goals to which we should aspire.
Does his book achieve and complete his thesis statement?
Timothy Caulfield, the Author
1. Does the author present a well-rounded discussion?
2. Does he admire or criticize celebrity culture?
3. How can his experiments, assessments, and conclusions be applied to the particular culture of the area of the country in which you live?
4. How accurate is he in his "scientific" research methodology and assessments?
5. What kind of language does he use? Is it objective and dispassionate or biased and opinionated?
6. What short and long term implications do the book have for the future?
7. Was there a specific passage or part of the book that struck you as significant?
8. What have we learned from reading the book?
9. What professional motives does Timothy Caulfield have for publishing this book?
Timothy Caulfield, the Person
1. Do you think, given his physical appearance, that he has the appropriate knowledge and experience to critic beauty standards? What do you think of his "poor-pore predicament" and "blotchy, clogged Celtic hide"?
2. Timothy Caulfield presents a male’s perspective on celebrity culture, particularly focusing on the female section of that specific culture. Do you think he adequately discusses celebrity culture considering his unspoken target is female celebrities?
3. As a native Canadian, do you think he has the expertise to judge US celebrity culture?
4. What underlining personal motives, biases, and objectives do you think Timothy Caulfield has about celebrity culture?
5. In 2014, Timothy Caulfield was named one of 50 most influential persons in Alberta, Canada. Considering his stardom in Alberta, Canada, how can we trust his research and critical thinking process when this juicy tidbit of information was omitted from the book?
Celebrity Authority
1. What is beauty?
2. How does our view of beauty differ from Caulfield’s idea of beauty?
3. In terms of consumer products, does the author evaluate the products equally?
4. Does the author have preconceived opinions of celebrities? Are these opinions specific to a particular demographic in celebrity culture?
5. What did you think of the "Celebrity Escargot Course" and the "resurfacing" options?
6. What are the relationships between employment and beauty, specifically to the celebrity world?
7. Timothy Caulfield could be considered a "celebrity" in popular authorship. Considering his author celebrity status, do you think he is the appropriate person to judge the male and female celebrity cultures?
8. How do our views of beauty and cosmetic surgery change as we age? Does Caulfield take these changing opinions into consideration? Does he attempt to survey the average person?
Stardom Dreams
1. According to Caulfield, parents
...seeking celebrity [have]…become a central family activity, one that consumes a significant amount of their financial resources and their time.
Is success and fortune the same thing as celebrity success, according to Caulfield?
2. Are cognitive biases of unrealistic optimism exclusively tied to celebrity culture?
3. According to a UN Report, Caulfield has stated
The idea of social mobility, of becoming rich, is core to the American mythology…but, ironically, American performance in this area is consistently one of the worst of the developed nations.
If someone says they want to get rich, according to Caulfield’s arguments, does that automatically mean celebrity status?
4. Do you believe that celebrity culture is a "reflection of our collective values and a manifestation of complex interplay between social expectations and socioeconomic realities"?
5. What are your thoughts on the "Narcissism Epidemic"?
(Questions submitted by Jennifer Johnson. Please feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution both to Jen and LitLovers. Thanks.)
The Gene: An Intimate History
Siddhartha Mukherjee, 2016
Scribner
608 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781476733500
Summary
From the Pulitzer Prize-winning, bestselling author of The Emperor of All Maladies—a magnificent history of the gene and a response to the defining question of the future: What becomes of being human when we learn to “read” and “write” our own genetic information?
Siddhartha Mukherjee has a written a biography of the gene as deft, brilliant, and illuminating as his extraordinarily successful biography of cancer.
Weaving science, social history, and personal narrative to tell us the story of one of the most important conceptual breakthroughs of modern times, Mukherjee animates the quest to understand human heredity and its surprising influence on our lives, personalities, identities, fates, and choices.
Throughout the narrative, the story of Mukherjee’s own family—with its tragic and bewildering history of mental illness—cuts like a bright, red line, reminding us of the many questions that hang over our ability to translate the science of genetics from the laboratory to the real world.
In superb prose and with an instinct for the dramatic scene, he describes the centuries of research and experimentation—from Aristotle and Pythagoras to Mendel and Darwin, from Boveri and Morgan to Crick, Watson and Franklin, all the way through the revolutionary twenty-first century innovators who mapped the human genome.
Riveting, revelatory, and magisterial history of a scientific idea coming to life, and an essential preparation for the moral complexity introduced by our ability to create or “write” the human genome, The Gene is a must-read for everyone concerned about the definition and future of humanity. This is the most crucial science of our time, intimately explained by a master. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—1970
• Where—New Dehli, India
• Education—B.A., Stanford; Ph. D, Oxford; M.D., Harvard
• Awards—Pulitzer Prize
• Currently—teaches at Columbia Medical School in New York City, New York
Siddhartha Mukherjee (born 1970) is an Indian-born American doctor and non-fiction writer. He is the author of the Pulitizer Prize winner The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer (2010). In 2016 he published The Gene: An Intimate History.
Mukherjee was born in New Delhi, India. He went to school at St. Columba's School. He majored in biology at Stanford University, then won a Rhodes scholarship to Oxford University where he earned a Ph.D. in immunology. After graduation, he attended Harvard Medical School to train as an internist and won an oncology fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital.
He is currently serving as Assistant Professor of Medicine at Columbia University in New York City. He is also a staff cancer physician at Columbia University Medical Center.[3] He lives in New York and is married to the MacArthur award-winning artist Sarah Sze. They have two daughters.
HIs 2010 higly-regarded book, The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer, details the evolution of diagnosis and treatment of human cancers from ancient Egypt to the latest developments in chemotherapy and targeted therapy. In addition to winning the 2011 Pulitzer Prize, it was listed in "The 10 Best Books of 2010" by the and the "Top 10 Nonfiction Books by Time magazine. In 2016 Mukherjee published The Gene: An Intimate History, which quickly reached the top of the New York Times Bestseller list. (Adapted from Wikipedia.)
Book Reviews
The story of [the gene]…has been told, piecemeal, in different ways, but never before with the scope and grandeur that Siddhartha Mukherjee brings to his new history, The Gene. He fully justifies the claim that it is "one of the most powerful and dangerous ideas in the history of science." As he did in his Pulitzer Prize-winning history of cancer, The Emperor of All Maladies (2010), Mukherjee views his subject panoptically, from a great and clarifying height, yet also intimately…The books form a magnificent pair. The Emperor of All Maladies is, as Mukherjee notes, the story of the genetic code corrupted, tipping into malignancy. The new book, then, serves as its prequel.... Mukherjee arranges his history not just chronologically but thematically. This is necessary. Science seldom progresses in a neat logical order anyway, but genetics, especially, encompasses and influences many subjects at once…Mukherjee's analysis…is clarifying and, in my view, definitive.
James Gleick - New York Times Book Review
[D]estined to soar into the firmament of the year's must reads, to win accolades and well-deserved prizes, and to set a new standard for lyrical science writing…Dr. Siddhartha Mukherjee dazzled readers with his Pulitzer-winning The Emperor of All Maladies in 2010. That achievement was evidently just a warm-up for his virtuoso performance in The Gene: An Intimate History, in which he braids science, history and memoir into an epic with all the range and biblical thunder of Paradise Lost…Thanks to Dr. Mukherjee's remarkably clear and compelling prose, the reader has a fighting chance of arriving at the story of today's genetic manipulations with an actual understanding of the immensely complicated science and the even more complicated moral questions.
Abigail Zuger M.D. - New York Times
Many of the same qualities that made The Emperor of All Maladies so pleasurable are in full bloom in The Gene. The book is compassionate, tautly synthesized, packed with unfamiliar details about familiar people.
Jennifer Senior - New York Times
[Mukherjee] nourishes his dry topics into engaging reading, expresses abstract intellectual ideas through emotional stories....[and] swaddles his medical rigor with rhapsodic tenderness, surprising vulnerability, and occasional flashes of pure poetry.... With a marriage of architectural precision and luscious narrative, an eye for both the paradoxical detail and the unsettling irony, and a genius for locating the emotional truths buried in chemical abstractions, Mukherjee leaves you feeling as though you've just aced a college course for which you'd been afraid to registe—and enjoyed every minute of it.
Andrew Solomon - Washington Post
His topic is compelling. . . . And it couldn’t have come at a better time.
Courtney Humphries - Boston Globe
Mukherjee is an assured, polished wordsmith . . . who displays a penchant for the odd adroit aphorism and well-placed pun. . . . A well-written, accessible, and entertaining account of one of the most important of all scientific revolutions, one that is destined to have a fundamental impact on the lives of generations to come. The Gene is an important guide to that future.
Robin McKie - Guardian (UK)
[The Emperor of All Maladies and The Gene] both beautifully navigate a sea of complicated medical information in a way that is digestible, poignant, and engaging.... [The Gene] is a book we all should read. I shook my head countless times while devouring it, wondering how the author—a brilliant physician, scientist, writer, and Rhodes Scholar—could possibly possess so many unique talents. When I closed the book for the final time, I had the answer: Must be in the genes.
Matt McCarthy - USA Today
[A]uthoritative...building on extensive research and erudition, and examining the Gordian knots of genes through the prism of his own family’s struggle with a disease. He renders complex science with a novelist’s skill for conjuring real lives, seismic events.
Hamilton Cain - Minneapolis Star Tribune
A fascinating and often sobering history of how humans came to understand the roles of genes in making us who we are—and what our manipulation of those genes might mean for our future.... The Gene captures the scientific method—questioning, researching, hypothesizing, experimenting, analyzing—in all its messy, fumbling glory, corkscrewing its way to deeper understanding and new questions.
Jim Higgins - Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel
The Gene is excellent preparation for all the quandaries to come.
Mary Ann Gwinn - Seattle Times
Inspiring and tremendously evocative reading....both expansive and accessible.... Mukherjee spends most of his time looking into the past, and what he finds is consistently intriguing. But his sober warning about the future might be the book’s most important contribution.
Kevin Canfield - San Francisco Chronicle
As compelling and revealing as [The Emperor of All Maladies].... On one level, The Gene is a comprehensive compendium of well-told stories with a human touch. But at a deeper level, the book is far more than a simple science history.
Fred Bortz - Dalls Morning News
Dr Mukherjee uses personal experience to particularly good effect.... Perhaps the most powerful lesson of Dr Mukherjee’s book [is]: genetics is starting to reveal how much the human race has to gain from tinkering with its genome, but still has precious little to say about how much we might lose.
Economist (UK)
(Starred review.) Mukherjee deftly relates the basic scientific facts...while making clear the aspects of genetics that remain unknown. He offers insight into both the scientific process and the sociology of science.... Mukherjee grounds the abstract in the personal to add power and poignancy to his excellent narrative.
Publishers Weekly
(Starred review.) The development of the concept of the gene as the primary unit of heredity is comparable in terms of impact and importance to that of the atom and the byte to physics and information science, respectively, argues Mukherjee.... This highly accessible and thoughtful volume on a cornerstone of modern biology will have broad appeal.— Evan M. Anderson, Kirkendall P.L., Ankeny, IA
Library Journal
(Starred review.) Sobering, humbling, and extraordinarily rich reading from a wise and gifted writer who sees how far we have come—but how much farther far we have to go to understand our human nature and destiny.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
Use our LitLovers Book Club Resources; they can help with discussions for any book:
• How to Discuss a Book (helpful discussion tips)
• Generic Discussion Questions—Fiction and Nonfiction
• Read-Think-Talk (a guided reading chart)
(We'll add specific questions if and when they're made available by the publisher.)
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot: Strange Days in Afghanistan and Pakistan
Originally published as: The Taliban Shuffle
Kim Barker, 2011
Knopf Doubleday
320 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781101973127
Summary
From tea with warlords in the countryside to parties with drunken foreign correspondents in the "dry" city of Kabul, journalist Kim Barker captures the humor and heartbreak of life in post-9/11 Afghanistan and Pakistan in this profound and darkly comic memoir.
As Barker grows from awkward newbie to seasoned reporter, she offers an insider’s account of the region’s "forgotten war" at a time when all eyes were turned to Iraq.
Candid, self-deprecating, and laugh-out-loud funny, Barker shares both her affection for the absurdities of these two hapless countries and her fear for their future stability. (From the publisher.)
See the 2016 film with Tina Fey and Margot Robbie.
Listen to our Movies Meet Book Club Podcast as Hollister and O'Toole discuss the movie and book.
Author Bio
• Birth—ca. 1969-70
• Where—Billings, Montana, USA
• Education—B.A., Northwestern University
• Currently—lives in New York City, New York
Kim Barker is an American memoirist and journalist, best known for The Taliban Shuffle—later titled Whiskey Tango Foxtrot after the 2016 film adaptation by Tina Fey. The book recounts her time as Chicago Tribune war correspondent in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Barker was born in Montana, living in Billings until 13 when her family moved. She attended Northwestern University, earning her B.A. in journalism. Working the Chicago Tribune metro desk during the 9/11 attack, she decided to ask for an overseas assignment. Up to that point, she had made only a couple of overseas trips as a reporter, and the most danger she'd experienced had been misreading a map and finding herself at the head of a fast-moving forest fire—a background which didn't exactly prepare her for the rigors of working in the world's war zones.
Yet as she told the paper's foreign editor, "I am single and I have no children, therefore I'm expendable, and I'll go anywhere you want"...which is how she eventually became the paper's South Asian Bureau chief, interviewing Afghan warlords and evading suicide bombs. Despite the danger—or perhaps because of it—Barker admits to never having felt more alive then when she was close to death. As she told The Missoulian:
[T]here's something about being there, in both Pakistan and Afghanistan, where I felt like everything mattered. It just all seemed so important. All of our conversations revolved around world affairs, and this war, and what should be done in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Everything was just covered in this idea that this was vital, what's happening over here...and that you were writing history.
During the time of her coverage (2004-2009), Barker developed a deep affection for Afghanistan, which she points out is similar in many ways—with its mountains and rural lifestyle—to the beauty and hardiness of Montana. As much as she was drawn to the region and its people, however, she left once she realized that by continuing as a war correspondent, she risked becoming a "war hack." Barker now works for the New York Times.
Read Vanity Fair about what it feels like for Barker to have Tina Fey play her in Whiskey Tango Foxtrot.
Book Reviews
Remarkable.... [Barker] has written an account of her experiences covering Afghanistan and Pakistan that manages to be hilarious and harrowing, witty and illuminating, all at the same time.
Michiko Kakutani - New York Times
[An] immensely entertaining memoir.
Boston Globe
[P]art war memoir, part tale of self-discovery that, thanks to Barker’s biting honesty and wry wit, manages to be both hilarious and heartbreaking.
Chicago Tribune
What you’d hear if the reporter never turned off the voice recorder between interviews—brilliant firsthand outtakes that wind up telling us more about the Afghan debacle than any foreign policy briefing.
Seattle Times
At once funny and harrowing, insightful and appalling.... [The book] will pull you in so deep that you’ll smell the poppies and quake from the bombs.
Minneapolis Star Tribune
If you’re looking for a window on the challenges facing Afghanistan and Pakistan today—from a resurgent Taliban to American incompetence to Afghan and Pakistani corruption and nepotism—Barker provides a sterling vantage point.
San Francisco Chronicle
[A]n insider’s perspective of Afghanistan and Pakistan—their fascinating cultures, unstable governments, and burgeoning terrorist groups.... With dark, self-deprecating humor and shrewd insight, Barker chronicles her experiences as a rookie foreign reporter and the critical years when the Taliban resurged amidst the collapse of the Afghan and Pakistani. governments.
Daily Beast
Reveals many enduring truths.... Novel both for its humor and for its perspective...it rises (or sinks) to levels of seriousness that will be remembered long after the po-faced analysis of other writers has been forgotten.
National
Brilliant, tender, and unexpectedly hilarious.
Marie Claire
Candid and darkly comic.... With self-deprecation and a keen eye for the absurd, Barker describes her evolution from a green, fill-in correspondent to an adrenaline junkie.
Publishers Weekly
Politically astute and clearly influenced by Hunter S. Thompson, Barker provides sharp commentary on the impotence of American foreign policy in South Asia after the victory against the Taliban.... Fierce, funny and unflinchingly honest.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
Use our LitLovers Book Club Resources; they can help with discussions for any book:
• How to Discuss a Book (helpful discussion tips)
• Generic Discussion Questions—Fiction and Nonfiction
• Read-Think-Talk (a guided reading chart)
(We'll add specific questions if and when they're made available by the publisher.)