Happy Friday.
Summer is just around the corner for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, and with it, summertime reading season.
Over the years, raceAhead readers and community members have shared their best recommendations for the books and podcasts that help demystify the world by allowing us to get to know each other better.
To jump-start your lounge-and-learn list, I’ve pulled them together in one handy place, with a few examples to get you started.
Nonfiction books
We asked a group of corporate DEI experts and academicians to recommend books for those seeking to understand the diverse world around them. They did not disappoint.
Here’s one sent in by Mary Beth Wynn, head of HR at Jellyvision, an employee benefits technology company:
The Reason I Jump: The Inner Voice of a Thirteen-Year-Old Boy with Autism by Naoki Higashida. “Not only does it provide incredible insight into how a person with autism experiences the world, but it was also a great reminder for me that everyone has their own unique set of emotional needs that may present very differently in behavior from how I might behave, and empathy for that difference is important,” she says.
Nonfiction podcasts
When we asked for your best recommendations for a podcast series or episode that offers unique insight into race and history, two stood out for nearly everyone: The 1619 audio series associated with The 1619 Project and "Seeing White" from Scene On Radio, the Peabody-nominated project from the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University. (Also an unabashed raceAhead favorite.)
Here's another from a reader:
See Something, Say Something, with Ahmed Ali Akbar. Recommended episodes from the podcast include “Ghee Something, Say Something” (about food appropriation), “Black Muslim Ramadan,” and “Where Do We Go” (about the 2016 election and the SCOTUS response to Muslim travel bans).
Fiction books
We also crowdsourced fiction books from any era to boost our imaginations and offer a legitimate break from the day's news. The assignment: Pick a book that made you feel seen or illuminated something important about someone different than you.
You can find the full set of recommendations here and here, but here's a preview from Chloe Benson, inclusion and diversity specialist at Marsh McLennan: Exit West by Mohsin Hamid.
“This is the first fiction book I’ve read about the refugee experience, and it made a huge impact on my understanding of the lived experience of refugees. The protagonists were dynamic and imperfect in their interpersonal relationships, and I think it made their stories so much more compelling. This book demonstrated the complexity of Arab cultures, the importance of familial relationships, and the cumulative impact of displacement on individuals.”
The heart-grabbing moment: “When we migrate, we murder from our lives those we leave behind.”
Enjoy! I'm wishing you a long weekend filled with family, friends, and the comfort of good ideas.
Ellen McGirt
@ellmcgirt
Ellen.McGirt@fortune.com
This edition of raceAhead was edited by Ruth Umoh.
