On My Nightstand: Expanding Your Perceptions

An alumnus recommends a few influential reads.

Dr. Shamir Andrew Ally.

You’ll forgive Dr. Shamir Andrew Ally ’94 if his bedside table isn’t cluttered with books; he’s a man on the move. The PhD in Applied Management and Decision Sciences (now PhD in Management) alumnus has traveled to 72 countries and is a visiting professor at Qatar University. A voracious reader, he started a program to donate textbooks to college students in Guyana, his birth country. Here are a few tomes he highly recommends:

DREAMS AND SHADOWS: THE FUTURE OF THE MIDDLE EAST by Robin Wright
From an author who has covered wars and revolutions across the globe as a reporter, this book outlines how the Middle East will remain in a contest between the familiar and the feared, with the comfort of tradition bumping up against the lure of political trends.

THE EMPEROR OF ALL MALADIES: A BIOGRAPHY OF CANCER by Dr. Siddhartha Mukherjee
The author presents a history of the disease—from the Greek slave who may have excised Persian Queen Atossa’s tumor to his own patients—to demystify its behaviors.

THE SNOWBALL: WARREN BUFFETT AND THE BUSINESS OF LIFE by Alice Schroeder
There are countless lessons to be learned from Buffett’s life in business, which began when he purchased chewing gum from his grandfather and resold it door to door. Now one of the world’s wealthiest people, he gives away much of his money to foundations. This book teaches readers to see disappointments as stepping-stones to spectacular achievements.

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