A few things about me

Please check out my LinkedIn for my education and career background.

  • I get joy out of taking tons of online courses and consider myself a lifelong learner. I list a few recent good ones below. 🎓

  • I love to read. My favorite genres are traditionally history and historical fiction but more recently natural history and history of science. I list some good books below. 📚

  • I’m curious about the world and I love exploring. I lived several years outside the United States and have visited over 30 countries and over 20 Provinces in China. 我以前会说中文，但现在我忘记了大部分 😂

  • I love the outdoors. In the past I have been a trip leader, wilderness camp counselor and certified wilderness first responder. Our natural world is beautiful and worth protecting! 🌍

  • I live in Philadelphia with my multi-talented wife and smiley baby 🌆

Books

history

  • The Hemingses of Monticello by Annette Gordon-Reed
  • Up South: Civil Rights and Black Power in Philadelphia by Matthew J. Countryman
  • The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin
  • Battle Cry of Freedom by James McPherson
  • Reconstruction: America’s Unfinished Revolution 1863 - 1877 by Eric Foner
  • Sweet Taste of Liberty: A True Story of Slavery and Restitution in America by W. Caleb McDaniel
  • The Years of Lyndon B. Johnson: Master of the Senate by Robert Caro
  • Rizzo: The Last Big Man in Big City America by S.A. Paolantonio
  • The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York by Robert Caro
  • Paris 1919: Six Months that Changed the World by Margaret MacMillan
  • The Cold War: A New History by John Lewis Gaddis
  • Imagined Communities by Benedict Anderson
  • Jerusalem: A Biography by Simon Sebag Montefiore
  • China Wakes: The Struggle for the Soul of a Rising Power by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn
  • Factory Girls: From Village to City in a Changing China by Leslie T. Chang
  • Wild Swans in Jung Chang
  • Burmese Days by George Orwell

science & technology

  • A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking
  • Steve Jobs by Walter Issacson
  • The Gene: An Intimate History by Siddhartha Mukherjee
  • The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer by Siddhartha Mukherjee
  • The World Until Yesterday by Jared Diamond
  • The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History by Elizabeth Kolbert
  • Tom’s River by Dan Fagin
  • That Used to be Us by Thomas Friedman and Michael Mandelbaum
  • The Price We Pay: What Broke American Health Care by Marty Makary
  • An American Sickness: How Healthcare Became Big Business and How You Can Take It Back by Elisabeth Rosenthal
  • Chip War: The Fight for the World’s Most Critical Technology by Chris Miller
  • Eccentric Orbits: The Iridium Story by John Bloom
  • The MVP Machine: How Baseball’s New Nonconformists Are Using Data to Build Better Players by Ben Lindbergh and Travis Sawchik

Courses