Testimonial Awards 2020: The Honouree Book List
As a thank you for participating in our virtual Honour Roll, we would like to offer you a complimentary copy of ONE of the following books. Please complete the form in the email by November 20 and let us know which book you’d like to receive!
For more information, please connect with Nina Newman.
Senator Murray Sinclair
Book recommendation:
“The Inconvenient Indian” by Thomas King
The Inconvenient Indian is a historical recounting of the Native American reality in both Canada and the United States of America. Thomas King’s portrayal is one of the most accurate, fair and non-strident retellings I have come across of an often one-sided and whitewashed history of this continent.
I often have a vivid visual analogy when I describe the writings of Thomas King. He is like the Incredible Hulk armed with facts as his indomitable strength.
I recommend this book to any reader interested in our history but especially to those who have an interest in eliminating old stereotypes and one-sided history lessons.
I have often said that in order to know where we want to go, we need to know where we came from. Therefore, for real Reconciliation to happen, we all need to know our history.
Anne McLellan
Book recommendation:
“Income Inequality: The Canadian Story” by IRPP (Institute for Research on Public Policy)
From a research perspective, there is a dearth of Canada-specific evidence on how income inequality manifests itself here, and whether there are trends that are unique to our circumstance. To fill some of those knowledge gaps, the Institute for Research on Public Policy (IRPP) gathered some of the country’s leading experts to provide new evidence on the causes and effects of growing income inequality in Canada and the role of policy in addressing it.
If income inequality was an important policy issue prior to COVID-19, it has taken on a whole new relevance since the economic shutdown caused by the pandemic. Now more than ever, decision-makers need to get this right, and this book provides a host of insights and recommendations to help them do that.
Shingai Manjengwa
Book recommendations:
“Factfulness” by Hans Rosling
When I finished this book, I was overwhelmed by a sense of loss. I remember when Hans Rosling passed away, I tweeted about it. I said his motion charts would live forever, and they will. When I put the book down, I had the thought that Hans and I would have been great friends, I read this book and ‘I got it’, I understood his mission and perhaps who he was. This book is a quest to learn and share learnings about data, statistics, and mathematics to make the world a better place and, it is a ruthless commitment to facts, compassion, logic, and empathy. Hans never attempts to dazzle and overwhelm with jargon, nor to inundate with data and figures. Instead, he is a story-teller and he teaches with kindness. Rest in peace, Hans Rosling, 1948-2017.
“The Computer and the Cancelled Music Lessons: Data Science for Children” by Shingai Manjengwa
I wrote this book to expose kids to the field of data science and to spark an important conversation about technology as a tool for problem-solving and education, rather than just passive entertainment. I had the idea that as a society, we never actively and consciously socialized technology to kids and they were learning about it by observing adults, learning the good, the bad, and the ugly behaviors from us. As an example, the first iPhone was announced by Steve Jobs in 2007 so over the last 13 years, adults, teenagers, and babies were discovering the iPhone’s magic, wonders, and new features at the same time that we were all discovering and managing its addictive power. It takes a village to raise a child and I wrote this book to empower adults to take-on and own the conversation about the internet, phones, and tablets with kids and to responsibly socialize the role of technology in our lives.
Rob Russo
Book recommendation:
“The Last Lion” by William Manchester
Volume 1 of The Last Lion has the dramatic punch of a novel with compelling characters rollercoastering from adversity to triumph to calamity. In just his first 35 years of life he went from rich kid of a can’t miss political leader to losing his father to going into the armed forces to being taken prisoner to escaping dramatically to prize-winning author and newspaperman to brilliant young Conservative MP to turncoat-Liberal cabinet minister to being drummed out of politics amid scandal. This is a man who faced adversity, stared it down and sent it slinking away in embarrassed defeat.
Senator Peter Harder
Book recommendations:
“Twilight of Democracy: The Seductive Lure of Authoritarianism” by Anne Applebaum
Anne Applebaum’s latest book “Twilight of Democracy. The seductive lure of Authoritarianism”, 2020, is an elegantly written and insightful review of the recent rise of authoritarianism, the lure of nationalism and autocracy and what we should do about it. Applebaum’s personal story only adds to the urgency and intensity of her analysis. This is a must read to begin to understand the advocates of illiberalism.
“Moral Man and Immoral Society” by Reinhold Niebuhr
I first read Reinhold Niebuhr’s “Moral Man and Immoral Society” fifty years ago. First written in 1934 and renewed in 1960, this book launched Niebuhr as the foremost public intellectual on the subject of morality in public life. The basic thesis of this book and furthered in subsequent writings (especially, The Children of Light and the Children of Darkness, 1944) is that a sharp distinction be drawn between the moral and social behavior of individuals and of social groups and that this distinction justifies and necessitates political policies which a purely individualistic ethic must always find embarrassing. Niebuhr is a pessimist about the human condition and a committed liberal democrat in his time. This is captured in his claim, “Man’s capacity for justice makes democracy possible; but man’s inclination to injustice makes democracy necessary.” These words have been on my desk since university.
Elyse Allan
Book recommendation:
“Leadership in Turbulent Times” by Doris Kearns Goodwin
Today’s uncertain environment and tomorrow’s unpredictability are challenging definitions of leadership as well as the role and expectations of leaders. What qualities does a leader need to best navigate a company, institution or country through these choppy waters?
Please enjoy the engaging book by Doris Kearns Goodwin entitled Leadership in Turbulent Times. Goodwin explores lessons in leadership by drawing on her extensive knowledge of four historical political leaders; Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Lyndon Johnson. I have observed that history offers many lessons relevant to leading today. Goodwin’s book reinforces that point as she explores these four U.S. Presidents and their individual paths to the White House, experience as leaders and resulting impact. She weaves her historical knowledge and personal experience with in-depth research. Her storytelling illustrates the different paths these leaders followed to realizing their ambition, facing adversity and ultimately impacting society. While reading this book, I often reflected on our political leaders in Canada, the U.S. and elsewhere and their performance in these unsettled waters. Goodwin’s book helps each of us to understand our own leadership journey and to better recognize and encourage the development of leadership capabilities in others.