We have a legend on I’d Rather Be Reading today, friends. None other than Malcolm Gladwell is here to talk about his latest book, Revenge of the Tipping Point: Overstories, Superspreaders, and the Rise of Social Engineering , which is out October 1. Revenge of the Tipping Point comes nearly 25 years after Malcolm’s 2000 book The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference , a bestseller that took his career to the next level and ushered in a new genre of books. Today on the show w...
Sep 30, 2024•32 min•Season 14Ep. 8
We are back today with another fantastic episode, and for my 38th birthday today, I’d like to give you a gift — a conversation about a book that really touched me. We’re chatting today about Dr. Mary E. Anderson’s book The Happy High Achiever: 8 Essentials to Overcome Anxiety, Manage Stress, and Energize Yourself for Success—Without Losing Your Edge , which came out September 24. She writes that we are experiencing an epidemic of high achievers anxiety, which Mary explains in today’s episode. In...
Sep 25, 2024•48 min•Season 14Ep. 7
I’m so pleased to have on the show today Megan Gorman, who wrote a very compelling book called All the Presidents’ Money: How the Men Who Governed America Governed Their Money , which is out September 24. Before we get into the book — which isn’t that such a great idea and such a great title? — let me tell you a little more about Megan: she is the founder and managing partner of Chequers Financial Management, a female-owned high-net-worth tax and financial planning firm. Her clientele ranges fro...
Sep 24, 2024•38 min•Season 14Ep. 6
Celebrating the giants of American history — the George Washingtons, the Abraham Lincolns, the Martin Luther King Jrs — is important, but behind every larger-than-life American icon is, as Sharon McMahon calls her new book, The Small and the Mighty . The full title of Sharon’s book, which is out September 24, is The Small and the Mighty: Twelve Unsung Americans Who Changed the Course of History, from the Founding to the Civil Rights Movement , and all of these 12 unsung American heroes are extra...
Sep 23, 2024•32 min•Season 14Ep. 5
I am a huge sports fan, and both the college football season and the NFL season are in full swing. Sports-wise, this is one of my favorite times of the year, and our guest today Joe Posnanski has written a book for all lovers of the game called Why We Love Football: A History in 100 Moments that you definitely won’t want to miss. Joe chose 100 moments because of the 100 yards in a football field, and talks to us today about how on earth he chose just 100 moments out of the hundreds and even thou...
Sep 21, 2024•37 min•Season 14Ep. 4
My guest today truly needs no introduction. Ladies and gentlemen, we are fortunate enough today to have the one, the only Connie Chung here with us to chat about her memoir, Connie , out September 17. Definitely stick around for the surprise Maury Povich pop in midway through the conversation—Maury, of course, is Connie’s husband of 40 years. Where to even start with Connie Chung and what an inspiration she is to female journalists like me? Connie is the youngest of five sisters, and she writes ...
Sep 20, 2024•47 min•Season 14Ep. 3
If you are as big of a Selling Sunset fan as I am, then you are going to love today’s episode. Season eight of Netflix’s massive hit reality series just dropped September 6, and here today to chat about her new book Selling Sunshine: Surviving Teenage Motherhood, Thriving in Luxury Real Estate, and Embracing My Voice is one of the show’s stars, Mary Bonnet. Mary has written an incredibly vulnerable book that takes us inside her struggles, her pain, her heartache, but also her joy, her happiness,...
Sep 17, 2024•30 min•Season 14Ep. 2
Today on the show to kick off season 14 is a second-time guest: Kathy Iandoli, who we spoke to back in 2021 about her book on the legendary Aaliyah. And Kathy is back with a book she co-wrote with another legendary musician—Eve, who in a word, is just fabulous. In the book, we learn so much about this rapper, actress, talk show host, and multihyphenate, including that she felt cursed by being born with the name Eve—as in the first woman, Eve, according to the Bible. We talk today with Kathy abou...
Sep 16, 2024•37 min•Season 14Ep. 1
Unbelievably, we’ve reached the season finale of season 13! What a season, huh? Don’t you worry, because we’ve got more conversations to come in season 14. But today we’ve got a great one for you—Julia Boorstin of CNBC is here to chat about her buzzy, powerful book When Women Lead: What They Achieve, Why They Succeed, and How We Can Learn from Them , which came out in 2022 but is still making waves today. The book is, in my opinion, a masterpiece about women, leadership, and business. And Julia ...
Sep 12, 2024•34 min•Season 13Ep. 21
Today on the show, we’re talking about the history and power of hairdressing and how, as our guest Dr. Elizabeth Block puts it in her new book, how hair “contributed to the lived experiences of women.” Her new book Beyond Vanity: The History and Power of Hairdressing is out September 10 and looks at hair through an academic lens—and it’s totally compelling. We get into the cultural impact of hair; why hair is, as the title suggests, something that is beyond vanity; how choosing a hairstyle or co...
Sep 09, 2024•27 min•Season 13Ep. 20
The 40th president of the United States, Ronald Reagan, is once again our topic du jour today, as we’re talking about Max Boot’s new book Reagan: His Life and Legend, which comes out on September 10. In the fantastic 880-page book, Max quotes someone as having said of Reagan that “there was almost no one who did not succumb to his magic.” Today on the show we talk about what that magic was; about his love story with his wife, Nancy Reagan, who Max writes in the book without her Reagan “would nev...
Sep 08, 2024•39 min•Season 13Ep. 19
Let me ask you a question—how much time have you spent really, truly thinking about the United States’ second president, John Adams? Probably not a ton—but today’s conversation will certainly make you think about him, and probably think a bit differently about him, at that. John Adams came into the presidency on the heels of an impossible act to follow—President George Washington, who today’s guest Dr. Lindsay M. Chervinsky writes in her new book Making the Presidency: John Adams and the Precede...
Sep 05, 2024•37 min•Season 13Ep. 18
We talk about power frequently in society, but do we ever really put much thought into status? And what even is status, exactly? On the show today, we talk about how much status matters, and our guest, Dr. Alison Fragale, writes in her new book Likeable Badass: How Women Get the Success They Deserve that resources follow respect, and very little advancement is going to happen unless someone has respect—also known as status. Alison writes that women are largely disadvantaged when it comes to stat...
Sep 04, 2024•32 min•Season 13Ep. 17
Today on the show we’re talking about a bona fide beauty icon—Elizabeth Arden, who built the cosmetics empire of the same name beginning in 1910. Now, if you think about that time period, not many women were running a beauty empire, but she was. At the height of her career, she was one of the wealthiest women in the world, but what do we really know about Elizabeth Arden, the woman? Well, first of all, Elizabeth Arden is not her birth name—that would be Florence Nightengale Graham. Elizabeth Ard...
Sep 03, 2024•51 min•Season 13Ep. 16
Tomorrow, August 30, the biopic Reagan hits theaters, with Dennis Quaid playing President Ronald Reagan. We’re so fortunate on the show today to have a man who knew Reagan well—Ken Khachigian, whose new book Behind Closed Doors: In the Room with Reagan and Nixon , focuses on his relationship with not just Reagan but also President Richard Nixon, as well. Right smack dab on the front cover of the book, which just came out on July 23, Ken is described as a speechwriter, confidant, and strategist t...
Aug 29, 2024•35 min•Season 13Ep. 15
When it comes to books that have impacted my life for the better, Kara Loewentheil’s Take Back Your Brain: How a Sexist Society Gets in Your Head—and How to Get It Out tops the list. It came out May 21, and in it she writes that our thoughts “are like GPS—they tell your brain what to focus on, how to feel, and what to do. You have to set that GPS on purpose to create the life you want.” To do so, Kara walks us through three steps: 1. How to identify what thoughts are really driving you. 2. How t...
Aug 28, 2024•34 min•Season 13Ep. 14
Today on the show we are talking about American fashion, specifically Empresses of Seventh Avenue: World War II, New York City, and the Birth of American Fashion , the brand-new book from Nancy MacDonell, out August 27. Prior to World War II, American designers were nothing short of second-class citizens to the French. But, after the Nazis invaded Paris during the war, everything changed for French fashion, and by the time the war ended in 1945, the American look was in fashion. What is the Amer...
Aug 27, 2024•23 min•Season 13Ep. 13
Today I am talking to author Heath Hardage Lee about one of America’s First Ladies, and perhaps one of our most private ones—Pat Nixon, wife of President Richard Nixon. The timing is interesting: earlier this month marked 50 years since President Nixon’s resignation from the presidency following Watergate, and earlier this month Heath released her really, really fantastic new book The Mysterious Mrs. Nixon: The Life and Times of Washington’s Most Private First Lady , which I absolutely tore thro...
Aug 22, 2024•45 min•Season 13Ep. 12
Today on the show we’re returning to the Alex Murdaugh saga, as I call it—this is actually not the first time on the show we’ve spoken about it and not even the first time in season 13 we’ve spoken about it. It is compelling to me for its savagery—I can’t understand it, a man who could do this evil to his family and to so many others, as well. Today on the show we have Valerie Bauerlein, here to talk about her brilliant new book The Devil at His Elbow: Alex Murdaugh and the Fall of a Southern Dy...
Aug 20, 2024•41 min•Season 13Ep. 11
I’m really excited to bring you this conversation today about a book that came out in 2017 called Beauty Sick: How the Cultural Obsession with Appearance Hurts Girls and Women by Dr. Renee Engeln. In the book, Dr. Engeln introduces us to beauty sick culture and what it feels like and looks like for women and girls. She writes in the book “How might women’s lives be different if they book the energy and concern aimed at their own appearance and aimed it out at the world instead?” If women didn’t ...
Aug 15, 2024•35 min•Season 13Ep. 10
We’ve actually already talked about today’s book and author before on the show—back in January, when the book came out, we mentioned it on the show as it was my first #ReadwithMC book club pick. And now, how lucky are we today to have Kate Kennedy on I’d Rather Be Reading discussing her book One in a Millennial: On Friendships, Feelings, Fangirls, and Fitting In, which came out January 23. This book put into words everything I wish I could have said about being a millennial and perfectly nails d...
Aug 14, 2024•44 min•Season 13Ep. 9
Twenty-five years ago, on September 22, 1999, one of the most beloved television shows of all time premiered on NBC: The West Wing , starring Martin Sheen, Rob Lowe, Allison Janney, Bradley Whitford, John Spencer, and a whole host of other talented actors, including our two guests today—but more on them in a moment. The political drama was created and largely written by Aaron Sorkin, one of my personal favorite writers, and aired from that day in 1999 until May 14, 2006, totaling seven seasons. ...
Aug 13, 2024•48 min•Season 13Ep. 8
On May 4, 1970, during a rally on the campus of Kent State University opposing expanding the Vietnam War into Cambodia by United States military forces, as well as protesting the draft and the Ohio National Guard’s presence on campus, all it took was 13 seconds for 28 National Guard soldiers to fire 67 rounds, killing four and wounding nine unarmed college students. One of the nine injured suffered permanent paralysis, and students Allison Krause, 19, Jeffrey Miller, 20, Sandra Scheuer, 20, and ...
Aug 12, 2024•37 min•Season 13Ep. 7
If you’ve been a longtime listener to the show, you know I love to have conversations about faith, and I’ve got two back-to-back ones for you listeners this weekend. Today on the show we have the absolutely lovely Demi-Leigh Tebow, who you might know as Miss Universe 2017. Back then, she was Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters, before she married famous quarterback Tim Tebow in 2020. Demi-Leigh is the founder of The Tebow Group, an entrepreneur, a keynote speaker, and an influencer who was crowned both Miss S...
Aug 11, 2024•35 min•Season 13Ep. 6
One of my favorite faith leaders, Max Lucado, is on the show today chatting with me about his latest book, What Happens Next: A Traveler’s Guide Through the End of This Age , which comes out on August 13. Today’s show is a conversation about faith, and about the end times—but it’s anything but doom and gloom and frightening and scary. It’s quite the opposite, actually—I’ve never felt more peace about what will happen to me when it’s my time, and I’ve also never felt more peace about those I love...
Aug 10, 2024•25 min•Season 13Ep. 5
I am a big fan of the dynamic Lydia Fenet, who has written not one but two books we are talking about on the show today: The Most Powerful Woman in the Room Is You: Command an Audience and Sell Your Way to Success , which came out in 2019, and Claim Your Confidence: Unlock Your Superpower and Create the Life You Want , which came out last year. Lydia is the CEO and founder of the Lydia Fenet Agency, has raised over a billion dollars for nonprofits globally as the world’s leading charity auctione...
Aug 04, 2024•41 min•Season 13Ep. 4
One of my recent absolute obsessions is skincare. I am always looking for new information, data, research, and resources about my skin, and that’s how I stumbled across Hannah English’s brilliant book Your Best Skin: The Science of Skincare , which came out in 2022. Hannah is a beauty writer, content creator, and pharmaceutical scientist with a clinical research background who breaks down the science behind skincare in such an easily digestible and understandable format. Hannah’s book teaches us...
Aug 03, 2024•35 min•Season 13Ep. 3
Today on the show we have Jason Ryan, here to talk to us about his new book Swamp Kings: The Story of the Murdaugh Family of South Carolina and a Century of Backwoods Power , which came out in April. We have spoken about the Murdaugh saga (as I like to call it) on the show before, and we’ll actually speak about it again in season 13. This book certainly talks about Alex Murdaugh, but it also talks about the Murdaugh family of Hampton County, South Carolina, and how Alex’s actions—as depraved as ...
Aug 02, 2024•33 min•Season 13Ep. 2
We are kicking off season 13 with a book from 2021 that changed my life for the better that I had to revisit and bring to you listeners: Energize: Go from Dragging Ass to Kicking It In 30 Days by Dr. Michael Breus and Stacey Griffith. Dr. Michael Breus is known as “the Sleep Doctor,” and to that end, he writes in the book “to stop feeling so tired and burst with infinite energy all day long, all you have to do is follow the right schedule personalized for your chronotype and body type.” What is ...
Aug 01, 2024•32 min•Season 13Ep. 1
I have always been a big proponent of books finding you when they’re meant to, and I recently read Daniel Pink’s latest book, The Power of Regret: How Looking Backward Moves Us Forward , which came out in 2022. I’ll be honest—I don’t think I had ever consciously thought about regret until reading his book. Then, I realized, by learning from the regrets of my past, I could at least try to do my best to prevent the regrets of my future. As I mentioned last week, I am taking a big leap professional...
Jul 23, 2024•35 min•Season 12Ep. 22
