Written by Willie Boag
January 17, 2022
The Birth of SPI Book Clubs
Starting in Fall 2020, the Science Policy Initiative has hosted a well-attended Book Club. We read one book per semester and discuss each over multiple sessions. In Fall 2020, we read Upstream by Dan Heath. For Spring 2021, we solicited suggestions via Google Form and then voted on candidates, ultimately selecting Why We’re Polarized by Ezra Klein. Everyone who signed up to participate in the book club was mailed a copy of the book, purchased locally from Brookline Booksmith.
The motivation for our book club was to make an accessible and inviting event. To that end, each session of the book club begins with the facilitator giving a 5-10 min recap of what happened in that section of the book. So far I, Willie Boag, an EECS PhD student, have facilitated them. In order to make the most of the virtual zoom format starting in spring 2020, I used slides to summarize the content of Upstream (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3). This was appreciated both by people who did not have time to do the reading and also by people who needed a quick refresher. Providing this baseline context allowed for more engaging discussions. No one or two people were the “experts” for being the only ones to complete the reading.
Our first book: Upstream
Upstream was a terrific first book choice! It discusses how to solve problems “upstream,” that is, before they blow up and require emergency responses. It begins with a framework for why upstream problems are difficult to tackle and then transitions to important elements leaders can employ in order to address them.
What makes this book amazing is its heavy reliance on case studies. It doesn’t just say “this is a framework. I am smart, and I built it, so you should follow it.” Instead, it uses its framework (with memorable terms for each element) to analyze many case studies. You don’t actually need to care about the framework to get something out of the experience. You can just admire, for example, that the Chicago Public Schools increased its graduation rate from 52% to 78% and ask “How can I do what they did?” You can admire how Rockport, IL eliminated veteran homelessness in one year, and try to understand how to copy that success. The book doesn’t give the framework just for the sake of feeling smart, it presents it as a way to break down successful solutions into something replicable.
Upstream’s Lessons in Action at MIT
I applied many of the lessons from Upstream to some of the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion organizing work in the EECS department during Summer 2020. EECS student leaders worked to learn from previously unsuccessful efforts; this time they worked on uniting the right people, finding points of leverage, focusing intensely on metrics of success, and insisting that the department provide funding to support the important efforts that came about. This culminated in a student petition to the department, which led to many reforms, including the department hiring a full-time Diversity Officer, including students more formally in faculty hiring (though there’s still room for improvement), sharing demographic enrollment data with the community, and supporting student-run efforts (e.g. GAAP, where each mentor was paid $75 per mentee they served).
Outlook for the SPI Book Club
Over 60 participants signed up for the Fall 2020 book club sessions, and over 40 for the Spring 2021 ones. In fall 2021, SPI continued hosting book clubs, and is excited to explore the perspectives of a diverse set of authors moving forward. Keep an eye on our email list and social media accounts (Twitter, Facebook) to join us next time! We’ll be discussing The Digital Doctor on January 25, 2022 at 7PM at this zoom link.