The Manager's Path: A Guide for Tech Leaders Navigating Growth and Change

The Manager's Path: A Guide for Tech Leaders Navigating Growth and Change by Camille Fournier

The author did a NanoWriMo book on her experience transitioning from engineer to management. People still need to remain a bit technical as the rise up. First steps are typically working as a mentor to interns. Other steps include doing more people work and less coding. Even those on a technical track still need to have a little people experience. The best technical people are not necessarily the best managers. The book is a nice tech-focused book on management and rising up the career ladder. (Which sometimes is best done at places that do not have a ladder!) Management is different at different companies and at different phases of growth as are the opportunities.

The Cigarette: A Political History

The Cigarette: A Political History by Sarah Milov

Politics have long been intertwined with tobacco. The tobacco program helped to provide sufficient income for the farmers. This was needed to help provide an adequate supply in the consolidated industry. The oligopoly of cigarette companies had been fighting government intervention and helped to use the regulation to their own benefit. They continued to exercise significant influence in policy. The government encouraged spreading American-style cigarettes throughout the world. They curried favor with the politicians to ensure that the tobacco program remained intact. When health concerns became associated with cigarettes, the companies welcomed government restriction on advertising filters. They later combatted negative research on cigarettes with their own research to sew confusion. The tobacco politicians helped reduce negative regulation. Tobacco companies also aligned with unions to prevent restrictions on workplace tobacco. Even as it became difficult to stop cigarette restrictions, tobacco companies fought the "worse" regulations to get things that would limit their impact. (Even the tobacco settlement was not as bad as it good have been.)

Can't and Won't: Stories

Can't and Won't: Stories by Lydia Davis

This collection of short stories includes some that last just a page and others that go on. Some are based on spam email. Others arose out of the obituaries. There are a few that deal with the paralysis of making decisions. There is a very long one about receiving a grant. Will that allow the recipient to leave teaching? Well, maybe not. How will it change how the author interacts with people? There are various diversions to discuss how a teacher interacts with her class and the fear of writing on the blackboard. Then it punches forward to the thank you note to the foundation - that is overly analyzed and never sent. The style of the stories is excellent with skill taken to turn even the most mundane into a well-hewed message.