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February Reading List: Six books by Northeastern faculty about human connection

From an acclaimed memoir to a workplace how-to guide, the titles featured in our February roundup are about how we relate to, fight with and look after each other.

A person sitting on a bench reading a book.
A member of the Northeastern community reads on the Boston campus. Photo by Alyssa Stone/Northeastern University

Each month, the Faculty & Staff hub is showcasing a selection of books by Northeastern authors across a range of genres, topics and research fields with one shared, fundamental theme. For February, it’s “human connection.”

The titles featured here are wildly different — an acclaimed memoir; a workplace how-to guide; an in-depth examination of primary care medicine; and an account of the relationship between two of history’s most famous queens. But at the core, each one is about how we relate to, fight with, and look after each other — both individually and collectively.

The cover of 'I would meet you anywhere' with a dark blue background and origami paper cranes on it. The title is in a turquoise all capitalized font.

I Would Meet You Anywhere: A Memoir

By Susan Kiyo Ito — CSSH; Oakland campus

From the publisher: Growing up with adoptive nisei parents, Susan Kiyo Ito knew only that her birth mother was Japanese American and her father white. But finding her birth mother was only the beginning of her search for answers.

A Library Journal best memoir of 2023 • Finalist, National Book Critics Circle Award in Autobiography • Finalist, William Saroyan International Prize for Writing

The cover of 'The Job is Easy, the People Are Not' with a white background and a geometrical shape split up into different sections like 'Multiple Perspectives,' 'Emotional Maturity,' 'Cognitive Readiness,' etc. The title is written on it in red sans font.

The Job is Easy, the People are Not: 10 Smart Skills to Become Better People

By Loredana Padurean — D’Amore McKim

From the publisher: Numerous studies demonstrate that working with people is the most stressful part of a job. Learn how “regular” people navigate the complex waters of working with others, get practical suggestions about how to develop your own smart skills, and realize that you are also one of the people that makes the job harder than it should be!

The cover of 'Searching for the Family Doctor' which has a blue background and the title in white text. At the bottom of the cover, a doctors briefcase with a stethoscope draped over is half cut off by the bottom of the cover.

Searching for the Family Doctor: Primary Care on the Brink

By Timothy Hoff — D’Amore McKim — CSSH

From the publisher: As  American medical practice has become increasingly specialized, the number of generalists―doctors who care for the whole person―has plummeted. Exploring how to save primary care by giving family doctors a fighting chance to become the generalists we need in our lives, this book is required reading for anyone interested in the troubled state of modern medicine.

The cover of 'Blood, Fire and Gold' which has a black background and portraits of Elizabeth I and Catherine de Medici on either side. The title is written in gold script font.

Blood, Fire and Gold: The Story of Elizabeth I and Catherine de Medici

By Estelle Paranque, History, London campus

From the publisher: Much has been written about Elizabeth I and Catharine de Medici, but nothing has been said of their complicated relationship—thirty years of camaraderie, competition, and conflict that forever changed the face of Europe. Historian Estelle Paranque offers a new way of looking at two of history’s most powerful women: through the eyes of each other.

The cover of 'Conversational Design' by Michael Arnold Mages, which is read and has the title on it in white text.

Conversational Design

By Michael Arnold Mages, CAMD

From the publisher: “Conversational Design” offers practical tools and case studies to stimulate participation and foster better conversations, all aimed at achieving shared goals. It also provides a fresh perspective on consolidating data from civic conversations into actionable insights for policymakers. This book serves both practitioners and scholars of design, as well as professionals in related fields that use objects and tools to shape social situations.

Book cover of Crossing Digital Fronteras, featuring abstract faces, a cityscape, a butterfly, and a hand reaching over barbed wire.

Crossing Digital Fronteras: Rehumanizing Latinx Education and Digital Humanities

By Isabel Martinez and Ángel David Nieves — CSSH

From the publisher: “Crossing Digital Fronteras” centers critical Latinx Digital Humanities to illustrate the ways college faculty and Latinx students harness digital tools to engage in “messy” yet essential active learning and knowledge production in Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) and Latinx Studies courses. This book definitively inserts Latinx Digital Humanities into broader conversations about best practices at HSIs, on the one hand, and digital humanities and social justice, on the other.