Lessons Learned from the Lives of Others

by Ronnie Blair
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5 books
Memoirs give us a peek into the lives of others. We can learn from their experiences or live vicariously through their adventures, whether that’s training a hawk, studying penguins in the Antarctic, or facing mortality. These five books provide a variety of excursions into the worlds of others as the authors open the doors to a portion of their lives to allow us in.
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The Harlan Renaissance

Stories of Black Life in Appalachian Coal Towns
William H Turner, 2021
William H. Turner grew up in the same area that I did in Harlan County, Kentucky, though he was roughly a decade older. He dashes the stereotype of Appalachians as exclusively white with his reminisces about a vibrant Black community of coal miners in a town built by a coal company, U.S. Steel. “The inhabitants of the central Appalachian coalfields have always represented racial and ethnic diversity,” Turner writes. He has fond memories of the community he grew up in during the 1950s and 1960s, but doesn’t ignore the racism that he and others experienced. His Appalachian experience is worth seeking out.

H Is for Hawk

Helen Macdonald, 2015
Helen Macdonald’s tale of acquiring and training a hawk is about more than one woman’s experience in falconry. The book is also about the grief she experienced with the death of her father. H is for Hawk made the New York Times’ list of the 100 best books of the 21st century (so far) and can resonate with anyone, whether they have an interest in wildlife or not.

When Breath Becomes Air

Paul Kalanithi, 2016
Paul Kalanithi was a neurosurgeon who was diagnosed with lung cancer when he was in his 30s and his career was just getting started. Suddenly, the doctor had become patient. In When Breath Becomes Air, Kalanithi chronicles the final chapter of his short life as he faces his own mortality and searches for meaning to a life cut short.

I'm Sorry I Cremated You

Finding the Funny in Life and Loss
Jaclyn Michelle Smith, 2024
The subtitle of Jaclyn Michelle Smith’s book is “Finding the Funny in Life and Loss.” Smith, a colleague of mine, recounts the grief she endured through the deaths of both her parents and how new-found love of improv comedy helped her through the difficult time when her father was in hospice. Smith applies lessons she learned in improv classes (“Trust Your Scene Partners,” “Develop Your Character and Play with Joy”) to life and its unexpected twists and turns.

The Last Cold Place

A Field Season Studying Penguins in Antarctica
Naira de Gracia, 2023
This book – part memoir, part scientific study – takes readers to Antarctica, where Naira de Gracia and her fellow scientists are researching penguins, Antarctic fur seals, and how climate change is affecting the continent. She touches on the isolation the researchers endure as well as their interactions with penguins and each other. “For a field technician,” de Gracia writes, “Antarctica was the ultimate season: ultimate remoteness, ultimate species, ultimate immersion.”