Category: Book Review

Savor – a book review

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https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60149549-savorSavor: A Chef’s Hunger for More by Fatima Ali

Certain books enter your life to do more than simply educate or entertain-they move you. This is one such book that took me through a wide range of emotions through its pages.

The book is a memoir told in the words of an exemplary chef who was introduced to me (and many) during her Top Chef Denver competition and later, in her death, through Padma Lakshmi’s Instagram. Fatima Ali, born and raised briefly in Pakistan, then Austin, TX and then again in Pakistan was a chef of acclaim. She uses this book to celebrate her heritage, cooking, family, and love for the profession and professionals of all social stature. Though she achieved much in her 29 short years, she expresses a regret in the final pages of not taking more time to experience more.

She received (and repeatedly acknowledges) the gifts of love of her mother and brother, two rocks who persisted throughout her life, even when they had to be far from her. Her circle of half-sisters (sisters in her words), extended family and friends, fellow chefs and kitchen peers, teachers and loves were rocks she leaned upon in the end.

The story begins with the introduction of a writer tasked with helping write (or complete) this memoir and the first chapter exposes the emotional roller coaster the book promises. Mental and physical abuse and trauma, poverty and divorce, distance and jealousy continue to escalate the emotional tug on the reader. They are each moving and will bring tears easily.

But nothing, NOTHING, nothing prepares the reader fully for the final sixty pages. This is where Fatima and her family feel and share the onslaught of a disease not usually associated with a 28/29-year-old Pakistani woman. The physical pain is exposed in words and feelings only to be reintroduced with the emotional pain of reliving a life and its regrets of childhood and young adulthood. You feel the strain on the mother and brother, the primary oncologist, the friends and peers, and the writers themselves.

The story is told in Fatima’s own words and interspersed with chapters written by or in the mother’s words. The brother, Fatima’s ever persistent rock, speaks but is felt mostly in the comfort clearly felt by Fatima through his words, reactions, and actions. The final chapter, an afterward by the brother, Mohammed, himself is meant to express gratitude to all who were Fatima’s extended family. Instead, it adds and highlights how she became the magnet to attract the very people whose expression of love begins and transcends love through food.

This is an incredible book, an emotional story, and a call to each of us to recognize the gift of life we’ve been given and entrusted to savor.

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Just the good stuff

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The next right thing.


This is a review of Axios’ Jim VandeHei’s latest book of the above name. The prologue suggests reading the book a chapter or two at a time. I chose to read it cover-cover for my first round. Jim has structured this memoir quite like a daily reminder of the important or impactful stuff. Such a daily read can allow the topic to percolate through one’s day, changing and shaping a personal mental model of life.

The book doesn’t just instruct/teach/preach but goes beyond and weaves his own life and work stories. And that’s what sets this book apart.

Jim’s other book, Smart Brevity, documents a method of telling a story for quick yet greatest impact. This well-rehearsed approach formats each chapter in Just the Good Stuff and enables quick read. The stories snap back and forth through his early years growing up, Politico, Axios and other instances.

The chapters are independently complete, yet thread quite eastly when viewed at their macro level. Bulleted ideas to consider complete chapters that begin with an aphorism or a story from his life. Unlike aphorism-heavy books, however, the accompanying stories make a greater impact.

Though I will take another run through the book, this time a chapter or two at a time, I came away with some of his impactful stories. I’ve repeated the ‘…the next best right thing’ mantra more than once since reading the book. And the story he tells of his niece’s note is incredible.

Axios readers will be familiar with many characters from the book (Mike!) and it was good to hear some of their backstories without the book being a memoir for Axios or Politico. This is apparently a telling of Jim’s memories, so I chose to see the stories as supporting cast for the message in the chapter.

Good book, quick read, and thanks to the publisher for the ARC. I kept one of the stars because the book comes at a time when bro-code newsletters are all the rage and the messages within echo those in many newsletters curated by the male influencers producing similar YouTube and newsletter content.

I may need to update my review after a few months of daily reading.

City of Intellect

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City of Intellect: The Uses and Abuses of the University by Nicholas B. Dirks

I picked up this book upon a recommendation and review by Reid Hoffman in his Long Reids blog. Part memoir, part history, and part instruction, this recent book is a good read for those engaged in a university’s administration, governance, or strategic shifts.

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The book and its discussion of the university’s legacy, centuries rather than decades old, and its struggle to evolve is as detailed as it is sometimes disappointing to read. The book begins as a memoir reflected in the way the pages progress, highlighting the author’s employment and administration at institutions such as Columbia and Berkley. It shifts, midway, to the history of the university, telling the story of the university’s formation, its jump across the Atlantic to the US, and continued evolution. Understanding the social, political and financial pressures the book shifts and ends with instructive contemplation.

I found the memoir portion segmented well across the author’s CV, but a bit long. Had Reid Hoffman’s blog not led me to a commitment to read the entire book, I very well might have abandoned it.

When the author shifted, however, to a Genealogy of the University about half-way through the book, I was mesmerized. This part is beautifully told, with the full value of the author’s experience in anthropology and administration.

The final third of the book provided contemplative (not directive) instruction for university and college administrators, faculty, and trustees to withstand the onslaught of politics and social pressures on the university.

The warnings are omnipresent in the book – the university will and must change, with or without the countering forces from seemingly the greatest opposers- faculty. And for all of their bluster, if American politicians truly care about the century of advances brought through higher education across America, then they must redefine their relationship with the university of tomorrow.

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