Three Stars

Best for:
People looking for some conversation-starting ethical starting points.

In a nutshell:
Ethics professional Liautaud explores a bunch of questions and what the ‘right’ thing might be to do in each.

Worth quoting:
“So I try my best to be careful about making choices that affect the people who will be living with them.”

Why I chose it:
I like accessible pop philosophy books.

Review:
And yet … I need to stop buying pop philosophy books. I’m almost always disappointed. (Except How to Be Perfect. That was fun.) This book is fine, though some parts did frustrate me enough to make me underline a whole lot and write a lot in the margins.

The book breaks the questions down into six sections: family and friends; politics, community and culture; work; technology; consumer choices, and health. She includes questions like: “Should you read your child’s or teenager’s diary or journal?”; “Should voting be mandatory?”; “Should your employer have a say in what you post on your private social media?”; “Should robots have rights?”; “Is purchasing organic food and products a more ethical choice?”; “Would you be in favor of editing the genes of human embryos?”

It’s got a great range of questions, and I think I might have enjoyed the book more with a book club so we could have some good discussions, though some of the questions in the book are pretty straightforward for me, while for the author she sees nearly everything in shades of gray. That’s not necessarily bad, and I think she makes some great arguments against binary thinking in certain circumstances, but there was a bit too much bet-hedging for me.

The chapter that got me frustrated was looking at the question “Should CEOs speak out about important social and political issues of the day?” And her response was basically nope. As though CEOs don’t owe anything to their employees or customers other than dividends. Yuck.

(Also, once again, can philosophers please stop referencing Peter Singer! Ugh.)

Recommend to a Friend / Keep / Donate it / Toss it:
Donate it

Four Stars

Best for:
Fans of Icelandic crime books.

In a nutshell:
Ten years ago, a woman died. Someone went to jail for that murder. Ten years later, friends get together to commemorate the death, and another person dies. This time, the friends are literally on a deserted island, so … it’s gotta be one of them. Right?

Worth quoting:
N/A

Why I chose it:
This is the second in the Hidden Iceland series. I enjoyed the first one. Plus at this point I’ll read basically anything by Ragnar Jónasson.

Review:
This book takes place roughly 20 years before The Darkness. It’s an interesting way to write a series (and the final book apparently takes place 40 years before The Darkness), but it worked in this case. It starts in 1988, with a vignette that will later become relevant. There is a death, an investigation, and ultimately an arrest. The bulk of the book takes place in 1998, 10 years to the weekend of the anniversary of that death. And, once again, someone dies.

Hulda Hermannsdóttir is the main investigator on the second death, and some of what we know about Hulda from the first (but chronologically later) book comes into play here, but you don’t have to have read the first book to understand this one. Hulda is a middle-aged woman trying to make it in a very male profession, and has some frustrating encounters with her colleagues.

Obviously as a crime book I can’t say much more, but I will say that that first vignette had me guessing for a bit as to who the first victim was, which was a nice little addition to the overall main focus of the book, which is what happened to the second victim. As an added bonus, the setting for the second death is a real island off the south coast of Iceland. An island with literally just one building.

Yeah, I’d probably pass on a trip out there…

Recommend to a Friend / Keep / Donate it / Toss it:
Recommend to a Friend

Three Stars

Best for:
Brand new managers of people

In a nutshell:
Basic, graphic-heavy guide to some things to keep in mind as a people manager.

Worth quoting:
N/A, though I did take lots of notes.

Why I chose it:
I’m new to managing people.

Review:
I have been working full time for over 20 years but have somehow managed to never really be a ‘boss.’ I’ve managed interns, and managed staff on loan from other agencies, but I’ve not hired or let people go, or really had any say in much of their work. I was promoted late last year, and just was able to hire my replacement, who I am also going to line manage. I think she deserves a good line manager, so I’m taking classes, talking to people who I think are good line managers and, of course, reading books on the subject.

The book is under 100 pages and divided into four chapters: understanding yourself, interacting with others, managing a team, and leading others. The information was helpful, and I found the section on interacting with others to be helpful. The authors clearly pull from a lot of other management writing out there, so I’m not entirely sure how much comes from them directly, but having all the ideas in one place is convenient.

Overall I think the book is absolutely fine, though I’m not thrilled with the decidedly corporate feel of it. There’s definitely some jargon, and a focus on creating ‘value’ for the company. I work in a quasi public / sort of non-profit field (higher education), and haven’t worked for the fully private sector in 18 years, but I know many people do work in corporations, so I get why that’s the assumption of the main audience. But there are some things that make me think – if this is what the authors this is good management / good work, can I trust the other things they say that are diametrically opposed to my values? An example is when thinking about a value a worker should have, they talk about working extra hours for a customer. Why is overwork the go-to example for something we should laud and emulate? How about the value of hiring enough people to do the job so no one has to work extra hours?

As I said, I did take notes, and I’m sure I’ll refer back to this at some point. It’s a fine starting point, but I’m looking forward to reading some more involved writing.

Recommend to a Friend / Keep / Donate it / Toss it:
Keep