White bookshelf with two shelves filled with books, small drum on left, glass container with coins in bottom left corner, two small stones in middle of bottom shelf.

Reading List

Books are a great model for the skills I help my clients build. Here’s why:

1. Books invite you to fully surrender your attention to one thing.

2. When you commit to a book, you engage more deeply with information - and your own imagination.

3. Attention is within our power to reclaim. Choosing a book over a screen is a reminder of that. (And it models intentionality to my children!)

↓ Every book on this list has informed how I think, teach, and coach.

Currently Reading: 2025

TAKING CHARGE OF ADULT ADHD

RUSSELL A. BARKLEY, PhD with CHRISTINE M. BENTON
Comprehensive strategies and worksheets to help build understanding of yourself, and take charge of different dimensions of your adult ADHD diagnosis.
TOMORROW, AND TOMORROW, AND TOMORROW

GABRIELLE ZEVIN
A friendship story - within the context of game design and development. Many resonant connections to my work life in educational media, games, and game design. Also based in Cambridge in the 90’s, a location and setting I know very well.
TRILLION DOLLAR COACH

ERIC SCHMIDT, JONATHAN ROSENBERG, & ALAN EAGLE
The profile of Bill Campbell - coach to Silicon Valley C-suite teams at Apple, Google and more. Was a helpful validation of many leadership methodologies that I bring into my own coaching, and a lot about being in this work for the right reasons.
COLORED TELEVISION

DANZY SENNA
Legacy and future identity, stolen ideas…struggling to reconcile 90s-era dedication to authenticity with the realities of Hollywood and raising a family. Hard to put down, and made me uncomfortable in a good way.
10 TO 25: THE SCIENCE OF MOTIVATING YOUNG PEOPLE

DAVID YEAGER, PhD
Yeager makes a compelling and researched-based case for prioritizing trust and support in managing and supporting the from tween through early adulthood. I found compelling the section about combining a ”stress can be enhancing” belief with “growth mindset.” Easier said than done, but a noble and sticky objective.
THE COUPLE'S GUIDE TO THRIVING WITH ADHD

MELISSA ORLOV & NANCIE KOHLENBERGER, LMFT
ADHD is a lot to manage individually, When adding the complexities and interdependencies of marriage, partnership and children, having clear communication and understanding are paramount for acceptance and better understanding how care appears in unexpected ways.
HOW THE WORD IS PASSED: A RECKONING WITH THE HISTORY OF SLAVERY ACROSS AMERICA

CLINT SMITH
I learned about Smith through his poetry - that spoke to me as a father. This compelling prose examines the intersection of contemporary personal narrative, historical storytelling, and exploration of locations where different dimensions of African enslavement flourished.
FINDING YOUR WAY HOME: A SOUL SURVIVAL KIT

Melody Beattie
Known for her writing about the heart and emotional energy, Melody’s book provides guidance for nourishing your soul - finding your people, your work, your location, your meaning. Exploring this dimension of ourselves, helps name the reason we’re on this earth.
YOUR BRAIN'S NOT BROKEN: STRATEGIES FOR NAVIGATING YOUR EMOTIONS AND LIFE WITH ADHD

TAMARA ROSIER, PhD
Tamara is the former president of ACO (ADHD Coaches Organization). In this book she offers readable, endearing and actionable content. She writes about experiencing ADHD through the axis of emotional energy and fun. How do you modify management strategies when an individual task fits into the 4 different quadrants?
OVERCOMING OPPOSITIONAL DEFIANT DISORDER

GINA ATENCIO-MACLEAN, PsyD
My kids are not diagnosed as ODD - but the thoughtful exercises and research backed strategies in this book have come in handy in helping my kids build better routines and manage frustration.
SMART BUT SCATTERED

PEG DAWSON, EdD & RICHARD GUARE, PhD
I appreciate the format of this book. ABCs in the first half: A = Antecedent (environment), B= behavior, and C= consequence. And an organized "putting it all together" in the second half!
YOUR CHILD IS NOT BROKEN

HEIDI MAVIR
I'm disturbed by some parents who seek to find a "cure" for their children's challenges and disregard their unique human qualities. This book offers validation for parents who choose to accept their complex kids for who they are, and make efforts to accept and help them, not "fix" them.

Books Read: 2024

FROM STRENGTH TO STRENGTH

ARTHUR C. BROOKS
Decline in midlife is inevitable, and it happens sooner than many of us imagine. Strivers and workaholics who attain success in their 20s and 30s, find their strategies are less effective in their 40s and beyond. This book explores why and what to do about it.
FOUR THOUSAND WEEKS

OLIVER BURKEMAN
The average life span is 4000 weeks…how do we "spend" them? And is "spend" even the right word? This book helps re-evaluate our relationship with time, and offers perspective on how to reckon with the limited duration we're here on Earth.
THE ANXIOUS GENERATION

JONATHAN HAIDT
As a parent, I long to help my children build a healthy relationship with technology. I appreciate that Haidt articulates the combination of overprotective parenting and technology access as a one-two punch that's leading to increases in mental illness.
THE BODY KEEPS THE SCORE

BESSEL VAN DER KOLK, M.D.
Nearly 10 years on the NYT bestseller's list, Bessel Van Der Kolk illustrates the necessity to address emotional trauma through somatic and physical entry points.
PSYCHONAUTS

MIKE JAY
As we adapt to a world of AI, I'm so curious about the capacity of our brains and creativity that computers cannot imitate. A fascinating history of mental enhancement through drugs.
THE PRACTICE OF ADAPTIVE LEADERSHIP

RONALD HEIFETZ, ALEXANDER GRASHOW, & MARTY LINSKY
As a lead faculty member with Adaptive Leadership+, it's my job to keep current with the strategies and practices of this ageless theory. I'm also working on synthesizing how this theory applies to raising children and parenting.
THE MYSTERIOUS CASE OF RUDOLF DIESEL

DOUGLAS BRUNT
I always knew that diesels were a special kind of engine (in fact, I reluctantly returned a "clean diesel" VW during Dieselgate). Rudolf Diesel was a German, Gilded Age industrialist who invented the motor. The story of his disappearance taps into all the drama of the era at the dawn of WWI.
BODY LEARNING

MICHAEL J. GELB
This year, I began studying Alexander Technique, a system of awareness building through postural change. Building body awareness gets me out of my head. I’m “unlearning” a ton - reducing tension and pain, and creating more expansive vision.
DILLA TIME

DAN CHARNAS
J Dilla shifted paradigms in hip hop production, creating a sound that married the messiness of human "feel" with the precision of drum machines. This book provides a comprehensive picture of the complexities of genius.
MORE ATTENTION, LESS DEFICIT

ARI TUCKMAN, PSYD, MBA
Many of us with ADHD have selective memory, so knowledge in the areas of our expertise can escape us from time to time. This comprehensive guide grounds me in how ADHD manifests differently for a variety of people.
HOW TO DO IT NOW BECAUSE IT'S NOT GOING AWAY

LESLIE JOSEL
I'm a big fan of Leslie Josel, an expert in teen organizational coaching - with nuanced views on procrastination. This practical and playful book demystifies why we procrastinate and provides strategies to work through it.
STOLEN FOCUS

JOHANN HARI
Written is playful journalistic style, Hari takes a deep dive into the cultural and biological reasons for humans’ diminishing ability to focus over the last 150 years.
DOPAMINE NATION

ANNA LEMBKE, MD
Lembke identifies that many of our individuals struggles stem from the culture that arises in an attention economy.
AWAKENING YOUR IKIGAI

KEN MOGI
The Japanese concept of Ikigai centers attitudes and beliefs that lead to a fulfilling life. Many of the principles encourage access to "flow" - the state of comprehensive engagement.
THE INNER GAME OF TENNIS

W. TIMOTHY GALLWEY
This classic "performance" book from the 70s introduces many of the concepts we now know as "flow" - based in an easy-to-read metaphor of tennis and his experience as a pro.
OF BOYS AND MEN

RICHARD V. REEVES
Our culture is struggling to define and modernize concepts of manhood. In the era of automation, AI and political instability, Reeves argues that we need to move beyond outdated beliefs to help men thrive without denigrating the progress of women over the past 70 years.
HOW THE ELITES ATE THE SOCIAL JUSTICE MOVEMENT

FREDRIK DEBOER
DeBoer offers a seething criticism of contemporary liberal strategy and bases many recommendations from a Marxist, class-based perspective. Though I'm not sure I agree with every criticism he shares, it was a very helpful read to illustrate the logic of people who have greatly changed political alliance since Trump, Biden, and COVID.
DOPPELGANGER

NAOMI KLEIN
Naomi Klein and Naomi Wolf were cut from the same cloth, but grew to have profoundly different perspectives and beliefs. Klein explores the challenges of contemporary culture, identity, politics and what it means to be human through her deeply personal tale of publicly mistaken identity.