While it’s true that I read basically anything that Michael Lewis writes, it’s also true that there are some books I just think I won’t like. Who Is Government? The Untold Story of Public Service was one of them. I think I assumed it would be a screed extolling the virtues of government, and I…
How to Lead – David Rubenstein
David Rubenstein is a successful (to put it mildly) hedge fund manager who has dedicated a large portion of his later life to philanthropy. One of his projects is interviewing influential people. How to Lead is a collection of thirty interviews he did, almost all between 2018 and 2020. Many of the people came to…
Finding the Magic in Middle School – Chris Balme
I’ve generally found that middle school teachers are the hardest to hire. Teachers either train with their eye on elementary school, and learn to teach towards those foundational skills and early developmental ages, or focus on high school, with the emphasis on more detailed content and more mature relationships. Middle school can sometimes end up…
Reading With My Kids – Spring 2025
I thought it would be a good time to share some of what I’ve read (and loved) with my kids over the last few months. Holes, by Louis Sachar: The underlying message of this book is the way in which hashgacha pratit, lehavdil, operates in the world, though I’m not sure this is what is…
Alex Karp – The Technological Republic
There are some books that are harder to categorize, and The Technological Republic: Hard Power, Soft Belief, and the Future of the West, by Alexander Karp and Nicholas Zamiska, is one of them. It is part philosophical treatise, part social commentary, and part manifesto. But let me take a step back. Alex Karp is fairly…
Julius Rosenwald (Biography) – Hasia Diner
The last chapter of the biography on Julius Rosenwald, the man who grew Sears Roebuck into an iconic American company, was appropriately titled, “Forgetting Julius Rosenwald.” After considering the incredible scope and impact of his philanthropy in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, it’s pretty incredible how little known he is today. Hasia Diner,…
Shira Barth – Relax, It’s Not Brain Surgery
I first met Shira Barth when she was a student in the middle school where I was a principal, about 11 years ago. She was shy, bright, had (and has) wonderful midot, and was obviously curious. I got to know her family over time, both when her younger sister joined the school, and because they…
Thomas Sowell – Intellectuals and Society
What’s incredible about Thomas Sowell, a professor at the Hoover Institute at Stanford, is how accurately he diagnosed the intellectual and social foibles of our time with exceptional prescience. Cosmic Justice, which was the first book I read by him (and was published in 1996), describes and makes sense of the social justice movement and…
Avodat HaNefesh – Eyal Vered
Many years ago, a shaliach I worked with told me about a sefer he was learning, leading up to Rosh Hashana. He showed me the cover, and spoke about how much he loved it. So, of course, when I happened to be travelling to Israel the next week, I picked up a copy. I read…
The Small and the Mighty – Sharon McMahon
I was drawn to The Small and the Mighty: Twelve Unsung Americans Who Changed the Course of History, from the Founding to the Civil Rights Movement, by Sharon McMahon, because I have a long standing love of American history. And while this interest was entirely fulfilled in the book, what made this so enjoyable were…