Book Club

Nonprofit Book Club

The CFJC’s Nonprofit Book Club has read and discussed 16 books together, and we welcome you to join us for Book #17! This opportunity is open to anyone – donors, nonprofit partners, and community members. The Nonprofit Book Club is an informal space for professional development, networking, and learning. We hope you can join us.

Book Club Discussion

“Mountains Beyond Mountains” by Tracy Kidder

The focus of the next Johnson County Nonprofit Alliance Book Club Event will be Iowa Writing Workshop Alum, Tracy Kidder’s “Mountains Beyond Mountains” which shares the incredible story of Dr. Paul Farmer, a world renowned infectious-disease specialist whose life’s mission was to make modern medicine accessible to all. We hope you will join us (whether or not you’ve finished, or even started, the book!) for a discussion on “Mountains Beyond Mountains” on Tuesday, August 5th from 10-11:30am at Fix! Coffee. If you are able to attend the in-person discussion, please RSVP below to give us an idea of how many people to expect! We hope you can pop in for our discussion on the power of one man’s impact on the world.

Summary: Mountains Beyond Mountains takes us from Harvard to Haiti, Peru, Cuba, and Russia as Dr. Paul Farmer changes minds and practices through his dedication to the philosophy that “the only real nation is humanity”—a philosophy that is embodied in the small public charity he founded, Partners in Health. He enlists the help of the Gates Foundation, George Soros, the U.N.’s World Health Organization, and others in his quest to cure the world. At the heart of this book is the example of a life based on hope, and on an understanding of the truth of the Haitian proverb “Beyond mountains there are mountains”: as you solve one problem, another problem presents itself, and so you go on and try to solve that one too. (Source: Summary from Goodreads)

RSVP Tuesday, August 5th 10-11:30am Discussion at Fix! Coffee in the Chauncey Building, Iowa City

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Resources

Resources mentioned in discussion and shared by book club members:

David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants (Malcolm Gladwell)

The Resilience Myth (Soraya Chemaly)

On Her Own Ground: The Life of Madam C.J. Walker (A’Lelia Bundles)

Invisible Women: Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men (Caroline Criado-Perez)

The Blue Sweater: Bridging the Gap Between Rich and Poor (Jacqueline Novogratz)

Leaders Eat Last (Simon Sinek)

We Heard It When We Were Young (Chuy Renteria)

Dare to Lead (Brene Brown)

Philanthropy Revolution (Lisa Greer)

The Light We Carry (Michelle Obama)

Changing the World Without Losing Your Mind (Alex Counts)

The Last Suspicious Holdout (Laddee Hubbard)

Made to Stick (Chip & Dan Heath)

Make the Impossible, Possible (Bill Strickland)

No More Duct Tape Fundraising: A Nonprofit Leaders Guide to Raising More Money (Rachel Ramjatten)

Joan Garry’s Guide to Nonprofit Leadership (Joan Garry)