With nearly 40 million books in the Library of Congress alone, it can be hard to know what to read next. Thankfully, staff members at UCI Beall Applied Innovation have shared a few titles they find interesting, insightful and worth a read. Please find below, in their own words, brief descriptions on their recommendations.


Ronnie Hanecak
Senior Director of Licensing

Arrowsmith
By Sinclair Lewis
The career responsibilities of being both a physician and a scientist can be daunting and not without conflict. Lewis’s book chronicles the adventures of Martin Arrowsmith, a medical doctor, who must overcome the societal influences of the time (financial incentives, social status and problems still facing today’s medical profession) along with personal tragedy as he devotes himself to science in his quest to cure the bubonic plague. It is an inspiring story of the sacrifices and ethical challenges that all successful scientists face and is particularly relevant given the current tensions between science, politics and society.


Kate Klimow
Chief Administrative Officer and Director of External Relations

If I Understood You, Would I Have This Look on My Face?:
My Adventures in the Art and Science of Relating and Communicating
By Alan Alda
In the digital age, it seems like all we do is communicate, but are we really engaging, educating and creating meaning? This book helps explain how to get out of our heads and improve the way we relate and talk with others.

Raise Your Hand
By Alice Paul Tapper
Written by an eleven-year-old who noticed that the girls in her class weren’t participating as much as the boys, this book’s goal is to help Tapper’s school friends feel more confident in class. For all of us, it illustrates what a little bravery can do.


Matt Hanson
Director of New Ventures

Steve Jobs
By Walter Isaacson
Great insight into the real personal and professional life of an entrepreneur, authorized by Steve Jobs as he was battling cancer, and written by one of the foremost biographers of the 21st century, Walter Isaacson.

Les Misérables
By Victor Hugo
You think it’s about the French Revolution and a man’s character struggles, which it is, but the protagonist Jean Valjean becomes an entrepreneur, makes a lot of money and transforms a town, benefitting everyone, and giving him the resources and opportunities to do good, not just do well. He was the Steve Jobs of his country (albeit fictional).

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