Hi friends,
November was a crazy month for us. It sometimes seems like
nothing happens for a long time and then everything happens at once. Dan’s been
looking for a job since he graduated in March. He’s now accepted one in Louisville,
CO. So we’re moving to the Boulder area! I’m thankfully able to keep my job as
GAO has a field office in Denver. November has been full of moving preparations
including preparing our house to sell, buying a house in CO, securing
financing, searching for new childcares, etc… We’re definitely going to miss Maryland
and our friends here, but we’re excited to start a new adventure.
Because of that, I didn’t have a ton of time for reading,
but I read a few good novels and two fascinating nonfiction books.
I hope that you all enjoyed Thanksgiving, and let me know if
you have thoughts about these books or suggestions for future reading.
Thanks!
Tonya
Rating: 4 of 5 stars
Recommendation: yes!
Review: From my work as a policy analyst evaluating Department
of Defense weapons systems, I’m very familiar with the term “military
industrial complex” and the implications it has for how our tax dollars are spent,
ideas that get developed, communities that receive jobs, and the U.S. role as a
world leader. Before reading this book, I was unaware though of the “prison
industrial complex.” Davis explains that, “the term industrial complex was
introduced by activists and scholars to contest prevailing beliefs that
increased levels of crime were the root cause of mounting prison populations.
Instead, they argued, prison construction and the attendant drive to fill these
new structures with human bodies have been driven by ideologies of racism and
the pursuit of profit.” She explains that these two ideologies have been so successful
in the U.S. that we now have the largest prison population in the world and
that these prisons are disproportionately filled with Black, Indigenous, and
People of Color (BIPOC). She acknowledges that while a call to abolish prisons
now seems extremely radical, calls to abolish slavery and segregation laws were
also considered equally as radical before those things happened. She explores
alternatives to the current system of mass incarceration including “demilitarization
of schools, revitalization of education at all levels, a health system that
provides free physical and mental care to all, and a justice system based on
reparation and reconciliation rather than retribution and vengeance.” This book
may have been written almost 20 years ago, but it’s more relevant and
applicable than before. Definitely a necessary read for anyone interested in
solving some of the biggest problems that the U.S. continues to struggle with
to this day.
If Then: How the Simulmatics Corporation Invented the
Future by Jill Lepore
Rating: 4 of 5 stars
Recommendation: yes! For anyone interested in
learning about how political campaigns and big tech companies came about
Review: This was a particularly relevant book to read
before and following the 2016 election. Lepore tells the story of a long-forgotten
1960s political campaign/advertising/ behavioral data analystic company called Simulmatics that
founded or fundamentally changed these fields. Nowadays, we all take it for granted that every political
campaign and any company that wants to continue to stay in business gathers as
much data as possible about their potential voters/consumers. They segment
people into groups and then target ads and political messages to us. Some
labels that apply to me would be: millennial, mother of small children, wife, employee, lives in
Maryland, etc.... However, the world didn’t use to be this way. The Simulmatics corporation
birthed the ideas of applying quantitative analysis to the study of human
behavior. They worked for the Kennedy campaign, had multiple contracts with the
Johnson administration in Vietnam and at home to study among other things what the
effect of a civil rights speech from Kennedy in Nashville would have on Black
voters in the North; how long the Vietcong would continue to resist; and how to
predict riots in the late 1960s. She explores the stories of the men who
founded the company, and as she always does, brings depth and complexity to the
story by discussing the women and families in the lives of these powerful but
sometimes crazy men. She quotes an author from the 1960s who observed. “Burdick
wondered whether pluralism could survive when the nation’s political scientists
had dedicated themselves to the project of segmenting the electorate.” Now that
we’re living this reality, I think it’s fair to say that pluralism has died or is
struggling for its last breaths. From what I can see, the main tactic that both
parties take in elections is to take the most emotional and hot button issues
they can think of and then terrify the electorate into coming to vote. Another writer
observed that, “How far can one push the
rational faculties of the voter without tripping some mechanism of doubt and
anxiety.” In the fight to overcome antipathy, both parties vilify the other and
paint a horrific picture of death and destruction should their party lose. This
is, in my opinion, the largest problem with our political discourse now. I’ve
worked in government long enough, and lived in both predominantly conservative
and liberal communities long enough to be well-acquainted with both liberals
and conservatives that I can tell you that NO ONE MAJOR POLITICAL PARTY IS
TRYING TO DESTROY OUR COUNTRY! We all have different priorities for selecting problems
that need to be solved and then different methods for solving them. Excuse me. I’ll
get off my soapbox, as I’ve digressed far from this review. Anyway, Lepore
notes that, “Simulmatics died. The fantasy of predicting human behavior by way
of machines did not. …. Simulmatics failed, but not before its scientists built
a very early version of the machine in which humanity would in the early
twenty-first century find itself trapped, a machine that applies the science of
psychological warfare to the affairs of ordinary life, a machine that
manipulates opinion, exploits attention, commodifies information, divides voters,
fractures communities, alienates individuals, and undermines democracy. “… Long
before the age of quarantine and social distancing, Simulmatics helped atomize
the world.” Only time will tell what the long-term implications of this atomization
will be.
Nothing to See Here by Kevin Wilson
Rating: 4 of 5 stars
Recommendation: sure
Review: What would you do if your best friend from
high school who you haven’t seen for 20 years writes you out of the blue and
asks you to come nanny her two new step children who occasionally explode into
flames when experiencing difficult emotions? This is the exact situation Lillian
finds herself in, and her response is yes! She'll do it! This book explores some of the most
important and scary relationships and emotions that we experience as humans
from parental love, to depression, to loss. It made me think a lot about what motivates me in relationships as the characters struggle with ambition, betrayal, and love. It also does a wonderful job exploring how differences in class affect
how we relate to ourselves and those around us. Highly recommend for anyone
looking for a read that will help them experience the full spectrum of human
emotion.
Rhythm of War by Brandon Sanderson
Rating: 4 of 5 stars
Recommendation: yes! For anyone who likes epic fantasy
Review: I’m a huge fan of Sanderson and his epic
fantasy creation the Cosmere. This is the fourth installment in the Stormlight
archive series. Each book comes in at 1,000+ pages, and I think this is the
longest one yet at 1,242 pages. This is a must read for anyone who enjoys fantasy worlds along
the lines of Wheel of Time or Lord of the Rings. Each Stormlight
book tells the back story of one of the main characters through flashbacks, and
this book was the story of the Parshendi, the seemingly eternal enemies of the
humans in the never-ending war for the planet Roshar. While I still enjoy
reading about our favorite old characters – Shallan, Dalinar, and Kaladin – my favorite
part of this book was getting to know Queen Navani better and accompany her on
her scholarly endeavors that, as always, result in a final climax that rocks
the foundation of Roshar and will have ripple effects through the whole
Cosmere. I also enjoyed the mental health elements in this book as one of our
favorite characters makes an unexpected career move. Two years can’t go by fast
enough as I can’t wait for the next installment in the Stormlight sage. I highly
recommend for any fantasy fans out there.
Mommy Corner
We all went to Target together. It was notable because it's the first time we all went shopping together since before the Pandemic. 
Chloe having fun at school. 
As anyone with a toddler would know, you end up decorating the tree way too many times every year. Maya thought these little, round ornaments were toys just for her. 
She also enjoyed playing with the little nativity set that actually is just for her. 
I did absentee voting this year and got a link to this sticker when my ballot was counted.
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