O-SenseThis week’s question: What was the last great book you read and why would you recommend it?
Scott Bedke - Idaho Speaker of the House. My book suggestion is Founding Brothers by Joseph Ellis. I have read this book multiple times if listening to it in the audiobook form counts as reading. We sometimes have an idealistic view of how easy it was for the founding fathers to lay the groundwork for the Constitution and our nation. It was anything but easy . There has always been politics at work, and as long as human beings interact there will always will be. This book always "recharges" my political batteries and restores my confidence in our system of government.
Damond Watkins - RNC National Committeeman. This is a tough question for me. There are three books that I have re-read recently, a process I enjoy doing with books that at some point in my life, had a profound influence on me.
Brook Trout and the Writing Life was written by Craig Nova, a former professor of mine at Dartmouth. This book explores the relationship that a writer has with fishing and how his love of fishing was always the common thread in other profound events in his life like falling in love, having children, writing novels and making life-long friends. I enjoy this non-fiction book simply because I have seen similar pararells in my own life.
Book 2 is titled Putting America’s House in Order, The Nation AS A Family, by Brock Brower. The title explains my interest. It was written in an earlier time but has application to us as a country today.
And finally, Book 3 is Speak, Memory by Vladimir Nabokov. I love this book for several reasons. If you ever want to see how the English language was meant to be written, read this. It will not disappoint.
Debbie Field - Idaho Women in Leadership (I-WIL), Executive Director. Team of Rivals by By Doris Kearns Goodwin. During today's divisive political battle, it was interesting to read how Lincoln could appoint his presidential primary rivals to his cabinet and make it work for the good of America. It shows the characteristics of an inspirational leader!
John Zarian - General Counsel, NCCCO. The last great book I read was "Undaunted Courage" by Stephen Ambrose. Three hundred years after Columbus, the Pacific Northwest remained almost entirely unknown to American settlers. In a real sense, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark were the Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin of their day! Ambrose's book richly conveys the incredible adventure of their expedition and provides a wonderful insight into Idaho's amazing history and cultural heritage.
David Turnbull - CEO, Brighton Corporation. The First American: The Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin.
Greg Strimple - Partner, GS Strategy Group. The Wet and the Dry – A Drinker’s Journey by Lawrence Osborne. This is a wonderful tome that analyzes how differing views towards the consumption of alcohol helps explain the giant cultural chasm between the Western world and Islam. Fascinating.
Norm Semanko - Founder & Owner, Red States Solutions. The Power of Positive Thinking by Norman Vincent Peale. A timeless classic and the foremost motivational, self-help guide ever published. Standing in stark contrast to all of the current doom and gloom, this book provides an uplifting message that has me looking forward to better days ahead. I highly recommend it.
From the Inside Flap: “Faith in yourself makes good things happen to you. This classic guide to self-esteem and success will help you learn how to: break the worry habit; get other people to like you; avoid ‘the jitters’ in your daily work; believe in yourself and everything you do; develop the power to reach your goals, and so much more.”
Britany Hurst - Communications Director, Idaho Cattle Association. The Steve Jobs Way by William J. Simon and Jay Elliot. It's an inspiring look into the genius of Steve Jobs, and serves as an excellent tool for anyone in any position of leadership or influence, or anyone who wants to improve their own contribution to the whole. Through the authors' reflections on Steve Jobs, the reader learns prioritization, innovation, tenacity, humility in leadership, and to expect the best from himself/herself and those by whom he/she is surrounded. I can't recommend it enough.
Trent Clark - Public and Government Affairs Director, Monsanto – Intermountain States. My book is:Righteous Indignation: Excuse Me While I Save The World by Andrew Breitbart. Published one year before Breitbart’s death, it is a definitive work on how laziness and uncritical thinking have given leftist demagogues a huge opening into American politics. More importantly, in this book Breitbart lays out an approach and strategy to “wake up the minds” of Americans, motivating them to pay at least as much effort and attention to how they govern themselves as they do to the latest America’s Got Talent sensation. The work is a necessary handbook for the “self-selected media consumer” era in American politics.
Justin Vaughn - Professor Political Science, Boise State University. The last really great book I read was by Boise's own Anthony Doerr. All the Light We Cannot See is a masterpiece. People should read it not only because it is an excellent work of literature that will be talked about for years to come, but also because doing so supports one of Idaho's great literary talents. Better yet, buy a copy at a local independent bookseller like Rediscovered Books!
Todd Cranney - Managing Partner, Riverwood Strategies. What it Takes: The Way to the White House by Richard Ben Cramer. A must-read for political junkies about the 1988 presidential campaign from start to finish. Looks at the race from the personal perspective of each major candidate on both sides. Never found a book that more fully illustrates the personal sacrifices that one makes when they run for political office. A great read that captures the essence and nature of politics at its best and sometime its worst.
