I was pleased to see the renovation announcement from our Estes Library. When plans were presented to the community a while back, it touched a chord with the community, and there was an outpouring of support. Good! A healthy library is a critical part of a successful town.
For a long time, books have been the recorded repository of human knowledge, thought, and fiction. Now we have many electronic options, and the repository of information continues to grow, albeit much of it in the ether, that great “library in the sky.”
I started reading literature from my parents’ bookshelves at an early age. When I left home, I found that I loved the smell of the stacks of old books in big libraries. But it’s the words that really count. I love words and try to use them wisely, though concisely. And I try to listen to the words offered by others. Sometimes those words are sweet, sometimes they’re harsh, and everything in between. And that’s OK. As the folk song says, I hear them all.
Perhaps the most important skill learned in our schooling is communication. We have many brilliant minds in town, and many who communicate excellently. I learn so much each week. Our library is a hub of communication and a gathering place for information and knowledge.
Most of the recent books I’ve read are nonfiction, and many of them are loaned to me by well-meaning citizens and others. I am offered books, PDFs of scientific articles (progress and regress), and much more. I try to absorb them all.
In these less than two years in office, a sampling of the books and readings that have been loaned to me includes:
- “Perseverance,” by Margaret J. Wheatley, is a series of quotes and interpretations about how to persevere through trials and tribulations that beset us in life.
- “Into the Fog,” by Pete Behrens, talks about how leadership is not based on title and how leaders must be humble and learn to navigate and lead through both internal and external fog, enabling all to contribute to solutions.
- “Corruptible,” by Brian Klaas, is a look at what power is, who gets it, and what happens when they do. It draws on hundreds of interviews with some of the world’s top leaders—from the noblest to some of the very ignoble.
- “If I Betray These Words,“ by Wendy Dean and Simon Talbot, explores moral injury in medicine, a state where clinicians feel trapped between their oath to put patients first and a broken, profit-driven healthcare system.
- “Ohèn:ton Karihwatéhkwen“ or “Thanksgiving Address (Greetings to the Natural World),“ the central prayer of the Iroquois Confederacy, offering gratitude to all elements of creation.
- “Unreasonable Hospitality,” by Will Guidara, teaches how to transform ordinary service into extraordinary experiences through radical empathy. It emphasizes giving people more than they expect and empowering staff to go above and beyond.
- “The Soul of Civility,” by Alexandra Hudson, who, as she grew up, discovered a difference between politeness―a superficial appearance of good manners―and true civility. She examines how true civility transcends political disagreements.
- “Five-Alarm Leadership,” by Rick Lasky and John Salka, frames leadership as a lifetime study. (For a truly excellent book on leadership, read local author Walt Borneman’s “The Admirals.”)
- “Be Now Here,” by Richard Alpert/Baba Ram Dass, includes mindfulness lessons and revelations from 1971.
- “If Mayors Ruled the World,” by Benjamin Barber, presents an interesting concept, since a successful mayor is very focused on their community while also networking with all of the other forces that make up the political, business, and personal landscape.
- “Ukraine We Stand Together,” by Darrell S. Mudd, Natalia Pleshkova, and Irina Irkliienko.
- “Hamnet,” by Maggie O’Farrell, is a very well-researched book that requires some effort to read thoroughly but has a redeeming, powerful conclusion. (Yes, folks share fiction with me, also, in this case, historical fiction.)
And many more. Each of those who lent me these had a purpose in lending them, and I respect that. I receive some partisan political readings and notes, though I maintain the requisite nonpartisan balance for my mayoral duties. But it’s all part of the communication spectrum, and I appreciate it. Perhaps some folks who loan me writings hope to steer my actions in certain directions. That is their prerogative. I must read and decide how to assimilate that input. And so it goes.
May we all become wiser as we continue to exchange words. I appreciate yours. I’ll see you at our great EP library (thanks to Claudine, the staff, and library friends), and I look forward to the remodeled version in 2027!