Book Club
For the Book Club — Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World
If you’ve sat next to me in a meeting this month, you probably already know I’m reading this book. I can’t stop talking about it. The author debunks the common myth that specialization is the key to success using detailed evidence explained so anyone can understand. The experts’ consensus is that you need to devote…
Read MoreFor the Book Club — The Truth Matters: A Citizen’s Guide to Separating Facts from Lies and Stopping Fake News in its Tracks
As we get more and more information from new, untested sources, untrustworthy sources and fake news grow, undermining trust in media and politics. This short book offers real-world tips and resources to counter the trend. Chapters include how to read critically, using fact-checking sites, finding trustworthy sources and experts (and how to spot the fakers),…
Read MoreFor the Book Club: The Tyranny of Metrics
As the world moves toward data and analytics to evaluate progress (and it should), we need to be careful that the movement is meaningful. This must-read is full of cautionary tales, including a chapter on medicine, of mis-use of metrics to evaluate performance that ended up doing more harm than good and box-checking in place…
Read MorePractical Wisdom – The Right Way to Do the Right Thing
New to the Book Club Why do our institutions and systems, including healthcare, seem to be getting more complex and more costly but not better? This fascinating book argues that we have lost practical wisdom – the ability to balance the need for reasonable rules and standards with doing the right thing. The law of…
Read MoreSummer reading — What the Eyes Don’t See
To save money in 2014 the state of Michigan switched Flint’s drinking water supply, with disastrous consequences. The latest addition to the CT Health Policy Project Book Club, What the Eyes Don’t See by Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, follows her journey as a pediatrician with a conscience fighting the state to protect Flint’s kids. Not an…
Read MoreBook Club — Lost Connections: Uncovering the Real Causes of Depression and the Unexpected Solutions
For the Book Club– Lost Connections: Uncovering the Real Causes of Depression and the Unexpected Solutions By Johann Hari, 2018 Depression and anxiety are becoming growing epidemic across the globe. This fascinating book by a sufferer explores the medicalization of the illnesses and over-reliance on drugs as a solution. Instead he explores social causes related…
Read MoreNew to the Book Club: Distracted: How Regulations are Destroying the Practice of Medicine and Preventing True Health-Care Reform
I knew that doctors face increasing administrative burdens, but I had no idea how bad it was. Distracted is 201 pages of examples of bureaucratic burdens and Catch 22’s that make no sense placed on practices trying to provide the best healthcare they can. The author concedes that costs are out of control, the healthcare…
Read MoreFrom the Book Club: An American Sickness: How Healthcare Became Big Business and How You Can Take It Back
This latest addition to the CT Health Policy Project Book Club should be required reading for everyone. I’ve been a health policy analyst for over twenty years and I learned something new on every page. I couldn’t read it in one shot – I kept throwing it down in disgust. The author is a former…
Read MoreNew to the Book Club — Economic Ideas You Should Forget
The title alone pulls you in – Economic Ideas You Should Forget. Ideas and theories that everyone believes but aren’t true. 71 eminent economists and social scientists from around the world each contributed an economic theory that should be forgotten. Myths debunked include more choice is better, that economic growth increases well-being, and that CEO…
Read MoreNew to the Book Club: Creating Scientific Controversies
It’s a shame that this book is written in the style of a textbook rather than for the general public, because we all need to hear David Harker’s message. Created scientific controversies surround issues where there is broad scientific agreement but the public’s perception is that there is uncertainty and doubt. The false controversies can…
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