We recently reached out to various members of the GoPhil Community, Board of Directors and Founder’s Circle – an amazing group of intelligent, insightful, globally-conscious, earth and humanity lovers – to see what they have been reading and listening to.
The suggestions below make up a wide and interesting array of books (and podcast) to tuck into this summer and fall. Where possible, all book links direct to a black-owned online bookstore. For a complete list of additional bookstores by state within the US, please click here.
From GoPhil Partner Free To Shine
Do What Matters
by Nicky Mih (Managing Director & Co-Founder at Free To Shine)
Do What Matters is about courage and achieving the seemingly impossible. It is for people who are ready to step up in their life and leadership. Nicky Mih deftly takes us on a journey of the complexities and challenges of leading a child protection organization in Cambodia. Working with families facing immense difficulties and children battling to go to school has taught Nicky Mih many lessons that have changed the way she lives and leads. Do What Matters is a call to action to do more with the life we too often take for granted. It is a reminder to do what matters most to you – in your business, with your family, and in the world.
“A book about courage and achieving the seemingly impossible. The author shares her journey from volunteering to leading an organization that has helped hundreds of young girls from rural villages in Cambodia to get an education and be protected from sex slavery. Within the first two chapters you’ll be shocked as she tells the stories of some of the young victims, and then each remaining chapter fills you with so much hope, joy and inspiration. Each chapter concludes with a lesson learned to be applied to leadership roles or just day to day living. This book will help us all to be a better person and do what matters in life!”
• Robin & Robert Craig, GoPhil Founder’s Circle •
From Generosity to Justice: A New Gospel of Wealth
by Darren Walker
“This book provides a big inclusive umbrella in which to think about philanthropy as more a continuum… all the way from the funding of things (charity) to the notion of broad, sweeping systems change which address critical issues like root causes and wide sweeping inequities. Never have the ideas put forth in this book been more relevant than in our current environment.”
– Linda DeWolf, GoPhil Co-Founder
A Burning
by Megha Maiumdar
An electrifying debut novel about three unforgettable characters who seek to rise–to the middle class, to political power, to fame in the movies–and find their lives entangled in the wake of a catastrophe in contemporary India.
“I bought this on a whim after reading The New York Times new release list. The story centers around a small number of core characters and tensions that exist across religions and classes. The book has also been the catalyst to have in-depth discussions with friends and colleagues.”
– Barbara Burger, GoPhil Founder’s Circle
1619 Podcast
by The New York Times
Four hundred years ago, in August 1619, a ship carrying more than 20 enslaved Africans arrived in the English colony of Virginia. No aspect of the country that would be formed here has been untouched by the 250 years of slavery that followed. “1619,” a New York Times audio series hosted by Nikole Hannah-Jones, examines the long shadow of that fateful moment.
“Proof that history, as I was taught, can be considered fiction or interpretive selection.”
– Jill Roeder, GoPhil Director of Operations
The Long Night of White Chickens
by Francisco Goldman
Winner of the Sue Kaufman Prize for First Fiction and a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award, The Long Night of White Chickens marked the brilliant debut of Francisco Goldman’s internationally acclaimed writing career.
“A novel about Guatemala, where a complex political and indigenous world contrasts with life in the US. Worthwhile reading.”
– Helena Ribe, GoPhil Founder’s Circle
Manifesto for a Moral Revolution: Practices to Build a Better World
by Jacqueline Novogratz (Founder & CEO of Acumen)
“This quote from the book pretty much said it all to me:
‘What we need is a moral revolution, one that helps us reimagine and reform technology, business and politics, thereby touching all aspects of our lives. By “moral” I don’t mean strictly adhering to established rules of authority or convention regardless of consequence. I mean a set of principles focused on elevating our individual and collective dignity: a daily choice to serve others, not simply benefit ourselves. I mean contemplating the audacity that built the world we know with a new humility more attuned to our interdependence.’”
– Lydia Dean, GoPhil Co-Founder
When My Time Comes – Conversations About Whether Those Who Are Dying Should Have the Right to Determine When Life Should End
by Diane Rehm
“Many will know Rehm as the host of her popular show on NPR from 1979 to 2016. The book is a collection of interviews with people with different perspectives on how death should be handled. Rehm is firmly on the side of the individual’s right to make his or her own decisions at end of life, even as a believer in God. Even if you disagree with medical aid in dying, her book shines light on the fact that death is a part of living and emphasizes the importance of knowing beforehand how you want to end your journey in life.”
– Robin & Robert Craig, GoPhil Founder’s Circle
The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America
by Richard Rothstein
“In light of the recent events, I began to question my own feelings about racism, and whether I was as “anti-racist” as I have always believed. I decided the best way to delve into the issue was to do some self-education. This book is a real eye-opener, disgusting revelation (to me) at our own government’s complicity in today’s problems.”
– Jeanie Mamula, GoPhil Founder’s Circle
The Second Mountain: The Quest for a Moral Life
by David Brooks
“As I read through this book I constantly thought of the many travelers, donors, and partner program staff and people they serve – many of whom I have met through GoPhil. Most if not all are on a high moral path, one of respect for others codified in ‘Listen and Learn’. It is also a tale of what many of us go through as we move into the Second Mountain phase of our life, when we (if not before) think deeply about questions of ‘ultimate’ meaning… Who am I really? What is my purpose? How do I best serve my family and humankind? It is a book filled with insights with David Brooks even admitting to his own vulnerabilities as he moves through a difficult midlife transition.“
– Ronald Reneau, GoPhil Founder’s Circle
It’s Not Your Money: How to Live Fully from Divine Abundance
by Tosha Silver
It’s natural to crave prosperity. Some seek to manifest it in myriad ways – using anything from vision boards to writing a pretend check for a million dollars from the Bank of Divinity. Yet whatever comes, or doesn’t, the mind always seems to want more. But what if there was a whole other way? Instead of grasping and chasing, what if we offered everything – our money (or lack of it), our triumphs, our problems, our desires – fully back to Love? What if this offering itself was actually the secret to abundance?
“Very thoughtful and compassionate ideas surrounding our need to be open conduits of giving and receiving, spirituality and meaning – a discussion that my mind has been craving for quite some time.”
– Travis Day, GoPhil Director of External Communications