Books of 2016 + Empathy Lab Answer for Question #4

Question #4 at Empathy Lab asks, what was my favorite book of 2016. It is somewhat embarrassing because it was the last book I read, and looking back on the year, I didn’t read as much as I wanted too. This year will be different. No, not famous last words.

My favorite book from 2016 was the one I got for Christmas from my Aunt Sheila and Uncle Chris (wife’s aunt and uncle), MARCH Book Three, a graphic novel by Congressman John Lewis, writer Andrew Aydin, and illustrator Nate Powell.

The current political and social climate made this book more relevant and impactful now as we see a resurgence of far right radical groups and deeper racial and economic divide. MARCH is about the early 1960’s civil rights movement here in the United States through the eyes of John Lewis, chairman of SNCC from 1963 through 1966. Without giving too much away, it was the BEST civil rights education I’ve ever received from a book. Grade school history courses should be required to have this text in their curriculum. It was easy to read, contains amazing illustrations that put you in the violence and victory, and provides a powerful story of civil struggle that still hasn’t ended.

Outside of MARCH, what else did I read?

1. MARCH: Book Three – John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, and Nate Powell
2. Girl on the Train – Paula Hawkins
3. The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up – Marie Kondo
4. Art of Community – Jono Bacon
5. The Phoenix Project: A Novel About IT, DevOps, and Helping Your Business Win – Gene Kim, Kevin Behr, George Spafford
6. Behind the Cloud: The Untold Story of How Salesforce.com Went from Idea to Billion-Dollar Company and Revolutionized an Industry
7. The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers – Ben Horowitz
8. Fallen Leaves: Last Words on Life, Love, War, and God – Will Durant
9. Impact Mapping: Making a big impact with software products and projects – Gojko Adzic
10. I am missing a few that I don’t have in front of me. Will add soon.

What stayed on the shelf?

1. TBD…I need to gather the books.