📚️ Recent Reads | Badge of the Month | September 2020 | XM Community

📚️ Recent Reads | Badge of the Month | September 2020


Userlevel 7
Badge +13

Last month, we officially launched our new Badge of the Month program, which will run every month from here on out. The goal of this program is to bring together different thoughts and opinions about a new topic each month, so that the community can learn and grow together!

HOW TO PARTICIPATE:


During the first week of each month, we will post a new question, topic or activity for you to participate in and to help get the conversation going. Depending on the difficulty or complexity of the question / challenge, we will keep it open for 1 week or 2 weeks to ensure you have enough time to participate.
When the new Badge of the Month question / topic / activity is posted, please feel free to leave a comment and invite others in the community to join in the conversation! If you see an opinion you can relate to or would love to hear more about what that person thinks, feel free to engage with each other and ask additional questions.
All community members who contribute to the post with a thoughtful comment, and engage with others will receive a badge. Each Badge of the Month post will indicate how long you have to respond to the post in order to receive the badge.

BADGE OF THE MONTH | SEPTEMBER 2020


Participate in this month's discussion between September 1 and September 22 to receive this badge worth 10 points. If you miss out on responding to this post, don't worry, we plan to have a new question, topic, or activity every month so you can pop back in next time for your chance to participate, connect with others, and earn a badge!
Question: What is a *book that you have read recently, either for professional development, personal development, or for fun? Rate it on a scale from 0-10, and let us know why it deserves your rating.
EDIT: *book, movie, podcast, you name it - there are no rules!
With everything going in the world around us, many have found peace in setting aside some time to read. We know a lot of people have decided that this is the time that they want to develop themselves professionally. Others have taken the time to read books to help them develop on a more personal level. Regardless, we would love to hear about any books that you have read recently. We're curious what you would rank them, and if it's one you would recommend to other community members? Tell members why you did or did not like a book, or what were some of the key takeaways?


18 replies

Userlevel 7
Badge +38

I hope that it is okay to expand this to movies based on books. I don't know about others in the community but I spend a lot of my day staring at a screen reading articles, websites, reports, etc. So when I get off from work more reading is the last thing I want to do. My mind is burnt out and I want to be able to sit back and consume information in video format (audio books and podcasts also don't appeal to me). I'm envious of those of you who have the concentration to go on reading after work and look forward to seeing your recommendations.
My 10/10 movie based on a book is "Just Mercy." I have been doing a ton of equity and diversity work within my academic division. But having lead a privileged life and not identifying with any minority group, I felt like an impostor at times. Who was I to be leading discussion about systemic racism and inequality? I'm a researcher, not a D&I specialist. And I only got involved with the Equity and Diversity Committee when they need expertise to analyze results to our division's climate survey.
I watched "Just Mercy" at the recommendation of other Equity and Diversity Committee members. The storytelling was so powerful that it brought me to tears in many parts of the film. The real-life uphill battle that the characters were facing based on their race (and in the main character's regardless of education) was infuriating to me. It motivated me to dived deeper into equity work, with a focus on how we can move from raising awareness of bias to action. That is action to reduce bias and improve opportunity for those our systems are stacked against.
100% recommend "Just Mercy" to others.

Userlevel 7
Badge +11

The book I've been reading most recently is something I found on a topic I've been researching: "Censorship, Surveillance, and Privacy: Concepts, Methodologies, Tools, and Applications". It's an extremely compelling collection of 107 scholarly articles from various authors, though I warn any potential readers that the writing can be pretty dense!
I would certainly recommend this book to many of my XM peers. As we consider how to best leverage both X and O data, it's important to have a foundational knowledge on how to best be the stewards of our customers' and employee's data. This book will certainly contribute to that foundation and therefore, I recommend it 10/10, though I must disclose that I've not read all of the articles within.
(Also, I wholeheartedly agree with Betsy that after digging into stuff like this book during the day and in my studies, I just want to watch something in my downtime. Although, I'll admit I end up watching self-indulgent fluff instead of worthwhile content like she did!)

Userlevel 7
Badge +38

https://www.qualtrics.com/community/discussion/comment/29880#Comment_29880JenCX I can assure you that I also watch "self-indulgent fluff" and the worthwhile content is not a common occurrence for me 😳

Userlevel 6
Badge +27

I am currently listening to The customer of the future from Blake Morgan!!! and I definitely give it a 10. It covers all the concepts about experience, in a close and personal way, but encompassing all the scope and robustness of this topic. always hand in hand with examples that help to understand each step of the way. Chapter 2 focuses on employee culture and experience, which has captured me. I recommend them to everyone!

Userlevel 6
Badge +28

In India, one of the great actor "Sushant Singh Rajput" who recently committed sucide where whole nation believes that it is an planned murder.
News broke everyday are so interesting that how people around him have planned so well to prove it suicide based on depression theory just coz actor had anxiety issues which every other human is facing due to the world pressure.
Its been almost been 3 months to his death, and there have been so many things which came up to his story. In fact, the famous Steve Huff has practically spoken to the soul or spirit of the actor. Its been uploaded over youtube over the channel Huff Paranormal. Quite Interesting!

Userlevel 7
Badge +13

https://www.qualtrics.com/community/discussion/comment/29875#Comment_29875Yes! I've gone in and edited the post - it's definitely okay to expand this to movies, podcasts, whatever feels right! I'd say the question is more of a loose guideline to help get the conversation started - answer however you feel most comfortable. It looks like Mercy got an 84% on Rotten Tomatoes 🍅 so I may give it a try. I'll report back my rating!

Userlevel 1
Badge +5

I was really excited to see Brene Brown at X4, and had bought her book Dare to Lead back in January to learn more about her. Hearing her speak at the work differently summit reminded me that she had referenced Daring Greatly in her Date to Lead book- so I went on line to my local Indy bookseller and with in a couple days it was in my mailbox! While reading Daring Greatly, I realized that I had read the books in reverse- and I really should have started with Daring Greatly before going on to Dare to Lead. There were a lot more fundamental explanations that would have been nice to have. I enjoyed both books either way, and got a lot of value from them. I give them both a 10 - as I don't count user error against the book.

Userlevel 1
Badge +10

I recently found out I was pregnant, after years of trying, so now I am trying to digest every pregnancy book and article out there! My most recent was the ever popular "What to expect when you are expecting". I had thought with the millions of copies sold and longevity (I remember my mom reading it when pregnant with my younger siblings!) that it would have some gems of wisdom, but honestly I have preferred the information I have been getting from apps and online. Why? Because it's personalized. I get the information most important to me, based on the data I have been sharing over months and months. I will finish the book, just in case I find the cure to my pregnancy fatigue or morning sickness.

Userlevel 7
Badge +38

https://www.qualtrics.com/community/discussion/comment/29983#Comment_29983kbowers congratulations on your pregnancy! I've never been in those shoes so don't have any suggestions but still wanted to celebrate your long awaited good news.

Userlevel 6
Badge +45

The book I most recently finished (in a matter of days because it was sooooo good) is Down River by John Hart. I'd give it a 9/10 due to it's fast-paced, gritty, whodunit story line paired with hauntingly beautiful Southern-Gothic prose. I only knocked off one point because some places in the story jumped around and needed more description and/or transition, in my opinion. Still, I've read nearly every book by this author and he doesn't disappoint.
Now I'm reading The Making of a Chef by Michael Ruhlman, which my boss recommended to me. I'm only a few chapters in, but already hooked!

Userlevel 6
Badge +45

I'm curious to know...is anyone reading something they'd give less than 5/10 stars? At what point do you give up and stop reading, or do you see it through to the end?

Userlevel 6
Badge +51

I have to admit that I am not a very good reader, but Michelle Obama´s book has been really nice to read. I recommend this book because the way she tells her story and her accomplishments is very inspiring. It seemed to me a story told from a very close and human side with deep reflections. I think that it gives you a valuable message about effort, perseverance and dedication to become someone you want to be or simply someone who knows how to pursue their dreams. I really liked how she talked about her childhood, her stage at university and how she always highlights discipline. But what seemed most beautiful to me was how she reflected in her words her constant gratitude to his parenshts.
I would like to share one of the most beautifull quotes of the book, I read the book in Spanish(My language).
"Yo ya tenía edad para comprender que todas las horas que mi madre nos había dedicado a Craig y a mí eran horas que se había robado a si misma"
In English it would be something like: "I was old enough to understand that all the hours my mother had spent with Craig and me were hours that she had stolen from herself"

Userlevel 6
Badge +45

IsabelPosada that is a beautiful quote! Thanks for sharing.

Userlevel 7
Badge +56

I'm reading "50 at 50", the new anthology by the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) for its 50th anniversary. It's taking me a while to get through because it is such a deep and rich collection of history and analysis about the sport of baseball, which I've loved since high school. SABR has the reputation of being heavily focused on "SABRmetrics," which is extremely intense analysis of statistics, and development of new measures to explain performance.
There is some of that in this collection, but what I take from it is the diversity of research, insight, and scholarship that comes from quantitative and qualitative information. It's a lesson that I take into my professional life as well.

Badge +1

I work in a company that is in the oncology market and I found "The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer" by Siddhartha Mukherjee. After I read the book I had the pleasure of meeting the author as a guest speaker at an event I planned.
The book is not light reading. Chapters go back and forth between the history of cancer to Dr. Mukherjee's current-day patients stories.
As one description said " The story of cancer is a story of human ingenuity, resilience, and perseverance, but also of hubris, paternalism and misperception."
We still fight the war on cancer --- but is a cunning foe who ducks and weaves.

Badge +4

I've been reading (listening to) Stephen King's "If It Bleeds", which is a compilation of 4 shorter stories. I'd rate it an 8. As with most King books, the stories involve some bizarre, perplexing, and interesting paranormal occurrences. I find listening to the stores is a good relaxing "get away" from every day life, and I enjoy the level of description the king provides to every scene, every character, the smells, the sounds, the curious things that you never really think about.

Userlevel 5
Badge +36

A book that I have read recently was Hidden Valley Road: Inside the Mind of an American Family by Robert Kolker which tells the story of the Galvin family and their twelve children, six of which are diagnosed with schizophrenia. This book was a real page-turner and I'd give it a 10/10. Reading about the family's experience and the differences in how schizophrenia manifested in each individual was heartbreaking and fascinating at the same time. Kolker also did an excellent job of explaining the development of various theories and treatments surrounding the disease. I'm looking forward to reading Kolker's first book Lost Girls: An Unsolved American Mystery next.

Userlevel 7
Badge +38

I don't know about anyone else, but it's been awhile since I watched "On the Basis of Sex." I remember taking myself to the movie theater to see it, but haven't watched it since. I look forward to rewatching it soon in honor of the late RBG. May she rest in peace and continue to inspire.

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