Books My Friends Like

On the finale of season one, the tables have turned. Instead of me reading a book my friend likes, my wife reads a book that I like! Taylor is my wife of just over six months, a future school psychologist, and a big fan of cats. “The Doomsday Calculation” is a book about a mathematic equation that gives probability to future events that have no past or present data to help predict them, primarily existential events like the end of humanity. If it sounds confusing, that’s because it is… a little. Taylor and I have a conversation that sometimes—like the book—gets a little confusing, but at the very least, we give some good thought experiments from the book that will hopefully entertain. Recorded June 28, 2020.

Mara Mapes knew me when I unsuccessfully tried to grow my hair out in middle school, was in a sorority with my wife, and also took my engagement pictures. To top it all off, she just earned her master's degree studying human development. "The Sound of Gravel" is an unforgettable and gripping memoir about growing up in a polygamist, fundamentalist Mormon cult. Mara's education brings quite the perspective to our conversation, and we also unpack our shared perspective as Christians reading the book. Recorded June 5, 2020.

Eric Johnson is a great friend of mine. We worked very closely for two years, he was a groomsman in my wedding, and he also was an English major in college, so he should be a great fit for the podcast, right? "East of Eden" is an absolute classic. It was published in 1952 and tells a dense and beautiful tale that parallels the story of Cain and Abel in the Bible. It's a masterfully written story that meditates on the issue of good and evil, which is a topic that Cain and Abel prove is nearly as old as humanity itself. Recorded July 15, 2020.

Nick Wyman was one of my roommates in college, my best man, and ultimately one of my closest friends of all time. "Between the World and Me" was named one of the top ten nonfiction books of the 2010s (yeah, the whole decade) and nearly won a Pulitzer Prize. The book is a powerful dive into America's racial history, written as a letter from the author to his son. Nick and I discuss what makes the book so compelling and unpack the ways that it was particularly beneficial for us as white men in America. Recorded May 12, 2020.

Dustin Eubanks was a middle school and high school classmate of mine (starring as the Cowardly Lion alongside my Tin Man in our high school's Wizard of Oz), and he also has sailing on his resume. "August: Osage County" is a Pulitzer Prize winning play about a family who reunites after their patriarch disappears, and as they all come under the same roof for the first time in a while, past and present wounds and secrets are revealed, resulting in disaster after disaster. Dustin unpacks some of the themes and meditations of this compelling play and explains why it is a story that he returns to time and time again. Recorded July 2, 2020.

Audrey Ward is a photographer and fellow graduate of the Greenlee School of Journalism andCommunication at Iowa State University. She and I have played music together in a couple different contexts, and she took some photos of me with some goats last year. "Bird by Bird" by Anne Lamott is a book from the '90s about writing, and more broadly, creativity, and even more broadly, life. It's an honest and incredibly helpful look into the creative process, where Lamott debunks many myths about creativity and success with real-life examples from her life as a professional writer. Recorded July 12, 2020.

Patrick Cunningham and I attended elementary school together and were great friends in high school; we also both enjoy movie scores, although Patrick is studying them and wants to write them full-time, which I do not want to do. "All the Light We Cannot See" is a modern epic of sorts, written over the course of ten years. It follows--and masterfully intertwines--the stories of two young teenagers over the course of ten years during World War II. Patrick and I discuss the impressive storytelling, unpack the book's timeless message, and do our best to pronounce French names once or twice. Recorded June 20, 2020.

Purshia Gambles is a friend and coworker of mine, but most importantly a proud Texan (wreck 'em, am I right?). "I'm Still Here" is a memoir from Austin Channing Brown about what it's like to grow up in majority-white areas as a Black woman. Specifically, Brown gives wisdom toward how organizations and people can truly embrace diversity and unity as more than just a surface-level value. Purshia and I discuss the impactful story and unpack the different and unique ways that the book was valuable for her (a Black women) and I (a white man). Recorded May 18, 2020.

Trailer for season one of Books My Friends Like.