A lot of books on here are self-help/motivation/how-to-rise-in-business which are fabulous reads, but a great fiction book I’ve read recently is:
We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler.
It’s a great read about family struggles and has an AMAZING plot twist. Based on a real family in America, it’s a very real look into a family functioning with a psychology professor as a father and the final chapter of the book talks about what happened to the real life family. After finishing the book I spent hours reading more about this family and others like it online.
Books from when I was young:
James Baldwin’s The Fire Next Time. This actually the REAL history of the United States. As a student of US history, my college years were spent feeling appalled at the gaps that exist in my own nation’s narrative, particularly in the moments of clarity that came upon exposure to what was so intentionally disregarded. James Baldwin shattered my previous understanding of the narrative, and revealed the pieces of knowledge I needed to realize why those parts of the story largely remained discarded in conventional US history courses.
Seymour Hersh’s The Dark Side of Camelot. Like the Baldwin text, I read this as a young history student, and realized there was another way to view an American president who many of my teachers heralded as a hero. Sometimes adults aren’t always right, and Hersh helped me gain a healthy dose of scholarly cynicism.
Edith Wharton’s The Age of Innocence. Sometimes having monetary comfort isn’t what it’s cracked up to be, and her message of gilded America’s problems remains highly pertinent today.
Books I’ve read in adulthood:
Elena Ferrante’s My Brilliant Friend series. Ferrante’s work in this series (as well as her other books) exposes so many universal truths that exist in female friendships.
Karl Ove Knausgaard’s My Struggle series. Karl Ove describes the mundane components of daily life in a manner that makes you want to enjoy your morning coffee a bit longer, pay more attention to the sound of the pages of your book turning, revel in the sensation of kicking a ball in a field, and contemplate the music of your youth with more thoughtfulness than most people care to invest. He makes it seem not so bad to see and feel your life passing, and to absorb each moment for what it’s worth.
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Hi Harry,
I found it very interesting that you go to visit SF, and go to all the awesome companies such as IDEO - how were you able to get this opportunity?
And do you think attending the stanford d.school improved your chances when applying to Stanford?
Thanks!
Hey there,
I got the opportunities through connections I’d made from various entrepreneurial ventures in the past.
I haven’t attended the d.school (but plan to during my undergraduate time), rather the people who authored the book have taught there too.
If you want more information, send me an email at hmellsop@stanford.edu !
I just read your bio! How were you able to meet Baba Shiv? That’s amazing!!