Mike Matthews

My thoughts after 61 years on this planet on family, public education, cooking, and life.

Books Library

How to be an Antiracist

Ibram X. Kendi 2019
Read: 2020
Non-Fiction

As the George Floyd protests rated in 2020, I made a commitment to read and learn more about how to address racism in our country. In terms of their impact   […]   View Post →

How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy

Jenny Odell 2019
Read: 2020
Non-Fiction

I can’t remember how I came across this book, but I’m glad I did. This is a very intellectual book that combines economics with art, literature, poetry and more. I   […]   View Post →

How to Raise an Adult

Julie Lythcott-Haims 2015
Read: 2019
Education/Leadership, Non-Fiction

How to Raise an Adult, by Julie Lythcott-Haims (2015) I had the chance to hear Julia L-H speak near Stanford University last year. She is a highly enthusiastic person who   […]   View Post →

How Will You Measure Your Life?

Clay Christensen 2012
Read: 2012
Education/Leadership, Non-Fiction

I had all of our administrators read this book this summer, and they loved it. He asks and advises on three questions. How can I be sure that: I will   […]   View Post →

In the Kingdom of Ice: The Grand and Terrible Polar Voyage of the USS Jeannette

Hampton Sides 2015
Read: 2018
Non-Fiction

My wife recommended this book to me. It is a nonfiction story of an ill-fated journey to the north pole in the 1870’s. There were many theories about the north   […]   View Post →

Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption

Bryan Stevenson 2014
Read: 2021
Non-Fiction, Reading Now

I don’t know why I have not read this book until now. But Bryan Stevenson has been someone who’s been mentioned to me by several of my friends in the   […]   View Post →

Kitchen Confidential, by (2000)

Anthony Bourdain 2000
Read: 2018
Cooking, Non-Fiction

After the untimely death of Anthony Bourdain, I began to learn a lot about this TV celebrity that so many in the world were inspired by. I have to admit   […]   View Post →

Know How

Ram Charan 2007
Read: 2016
Education/Leadership, Non-Fiction

I actually did not find a lot of application for this book for the public education sector. If I were starting a charter school or an internet-based school, two ideas   […]   View Post →

Leading with Focus

Michael J. Schmoker 2016
Read: 2017
Education/Leadership, Non-Fiction

Schmoker’s original book, simply called Focus, remains one of my favorite educational books of all time. Schmoker’s point remains the same: schools need to narrow their focus on what they   […]   View Post →

Less: A Novel

Andrew Sean Greer 2018
Read: 2019
Fiction

This is a book my wife read with her book club. It’s not my typical read. It’s a Pulitzer Prize winner which means it’s pretty “literature-y” for my tastes. I   […]   View Post →

Leverage Leadership

Paul Bambrick-Santoyo 2012
Read: 2015
Education/Leadership, Non-Fiction

This book tells the story of the power of data in transforming schools and helping all students to achieve. I am a bit ambivalent about this one. While I agree   […]   View Post →

Living Forward: A Proven Plan to Stop Drifting and Get the Life You Want

Michael Hyatt and Daniel Harkavy 2016
Read: 2018
Education/Leadership, Non-Fiction

I am a big goal-setter. I find that I am much more focused and driven when I write down my goals or when I have target events to shoot for.   […]   View Post →

Make Your Bed: Little Things that Can Change Your Life … and Maybe the World

Admiral William H. McRaven 2017
Read: 2021
Education/Leadership, Non-Fiction, Reading Now

I’ll get to the title of the book later. This is written about the trials and travails of life. It’s about how life can kick you in the teeth, whether   […]   View Post →

Master of the Grill

America's Test Kitchen 2016
Read: 2017
Cooking, Non-Fiction

This is another book from the good people at America’s Test Kitchen/Cooks Illustrated. So I do a heck of a lot of outdoor cooking. I even built a new outdoor   […]   View Post →

Media Moms and Digital Dads

Yalda Uhls 2015
Read: 2016
Education/Leadership, Non-Fiction

Our Education Foundation brought in Yalda Uhls to speak to our parents about students and technology. I introduced her and to do so felt a need to read her book   […]   View Post →

Montana, 1948

Larry Watson 1993
Read: 2011
Fiction

This is another book on the Mira Costa reading list that I had not yet read. It deals with difficult family issues, coming of age, race and rural living. I   […]   View Post →

Never Send a Human to Do a Machine’s Job

Yong Zhao 2015
Read: 2016
Education/Leadership, Non-Fiction

This is a thoughtful book about how technology should be used in education and learning. In spite of increasing amounts of money invested in technology in schools, there have not   […]   View Post →

News of the World

Paulette Jiles 2016
Read: 2018
Fiction

This was recommended to me by my father. It is a story of a 70+-year-old cowboy and war veteran whose main occupation was going around Texas and other western states   […]   View Post →

Nova Scotia

David Orkin 2009
Read: 2017
Non-Fiction

Our summer trip this year will be a bicycling trip to Nova Scotia in eastern Canada. We take big biking trips every other year with a close group of friends   […]   View Post →

Overloaded and Underprepared

Denise Pope 2015
Read: 2015
Education/Leadership, Non-Fiction

This book has become a very important book in our district.  Written by a group of Stanford University School of Education leaders, and former teachers, it talks about the fact   […]   View Post →

Pathways to the Common Core

Lucy Calkins 2012
Read: 2014
Education/Leadership, Non-Fiction

We have trained almost all of our elementary teachers in writing the way Lucy Calkins and Columbia University teach writing. It’s a method that works to make all students believe   […]   View Post →

Quiet Strength

Tony Dungy 2007
Read: 2010 or before
Education/Leadership, Non-Fiction

I listened to Mr. Dungy read his books while driving back and forth to work. Again, www.audible.com for great downloads right to your iPod. I’ve always admired the man and   […]   View Post →

Rich Dad, Poor Dad

Richard Kiyosaki 2000
Read: 2010 or before
Non-Fiction, Recommended for Young Adults

It’s been on the best seller list since it came out. It’s corny and very simply written. But as a parent and an educator, there’s not better book to give   […]   View Post →

Rookie Smarts

Liz Wiseman 2014
Read: 2014
Education/Leadership, Non-Fiction

Liz Wiseman is a great author and an even better speaker. I heard her at an ACSA Conference in San Diego and saw her in a whole different light. She   […]   View Post →