As you might guess, we’re voracious readers at PSC. We can’t tell you how many kitchen, hallway, lunch and after-work conversations center around the interesting things we’re reading, why we like them (or don’t) and how they apply to our professional and, sometimes, personal lives.
We invite you to join us in that conversation. Below are a few of the books and articles we’ve read recently that we believe you might find thought provoking, as well. They don’t represent the views of the company — just fodder we use as individuals to inform our thinking, challenge our assumptions and spark engaging and meaningful discussions.
If you want to talk to us about our recommendations, please feel free to click on our names and shoot us an email.
Happy reading!
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Mark Coscarelli, Vice President
“Many of California’s Salmon Populations Unlikely to Survive the Century” by Alastair Bland (NPR)
It’s probably not surprising that, in addition to eating, sleeping and working on all things fish, I also read about them. This article offers a particularly sobering assessment of the impending fishery impacts wrought by climate change, dams and agriculture on the California coast. Is there anything Michigan can learn from their experience?
Melissa Gibson, Senior Consultant
Land contracts can be a valuable tool — one my grandfather used to help people buy the home they had previously been renting — but the absence of oversight and meaningful regulation, allowing predatory practices to flourish, is astounding.
Meredith Johnson, Senior Consultant
“Emotional Agility: Get Unstuck, Embrace Change, and Thrive in Work and Life” by Susan David, PhD
Goal setting has always been challenging for me in work and in life. Susan David’s book provides a science-based approach to using the emotions we experience every day as a way of uncovering what matters most.
Peter Pratt, President
I found this book so informative and insightful that I bought a copy for everyone at PSC. You might like it too if you ever feel like the world is changing too fast, but you don’t quite know why.
Todd Parker, Program Senior Consultant
“A New Landscape: 8 Ideas for the Interior Department” by the staff at the Property and Environment Research Center (PERC)
Did you know the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) manages about 500 million acres of federal land — more than one-fifth of all land in the United States? Although I don’t always agree with their policy approaches, PERC has outlined some interesting market-based tactics for the DOI to consider when making environmental and economic improvements. Maybe they’re worth exploring for managing state lands, too.
Selma Tucker, Director of Marketing and Communications
“In the Elusive Search for Affordable Housing, Clues Emerge” by John Buntin (Governing Magazine)
While snug as a bug in my single-family home in Grand Rapids — a community grappling with the effects of a rapidly growing economy and tightening housing supply — I find myself reflecting on what I can do personally to address the issue of affordable housing. Could I become a YIMBY? If you pay for shelter, this article is worth your time.