Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance
An interesting memoir from someone that grew up in a hillbilly family from Kentucky and Ohio. He talks about the challenges that he and his family faced and then he expands to discuss the wider challenges faced by individuals in those communities. It was an interesting book that I would recommend, and, based on its best seller status, everyone else is recommending it also. Grade: B+
An Invisible Thread by Laura Schroff
A fascinating story of a women that becomes friends with a homeless black child in New York City. The book cover's both Laura's story and the challenges faced by homeless children. Extraordinarily moving and inspiring. Grade: A-
Thank You for Being Late by Thomas L. Friedman
Friedman is a great author that has previously written seminal books on globalization (The World is Flat) and the middle East (The Lexus and the Olive Branch). This book looks at the impact of 40 years of accelerating change in technology, global warming, and markets, and then looks at how that accelerating change is impacting people. It is a phenomenal book. It felt, at times, like Friedman was trying to capture all that he had learned over his career in a single book. Personally, I wish he had left the last two chapters out because they felt off-topic and disconnected from the rest of the book, but it was otherwise nearly perfect. Grade: A-
