Wallace Stegner's "Mormon Country," "Diversity: The Invention of a Concept," by Boston University anthropologist Peter Wood and "The Constant Gardener" by mystery writer John LeCarre were all on University of Utah president Bernie Machen's reading menu recently — at the same time.
"I usually have three books going at a time," said Machen. "I can't focus on just one thing at a time." The busy U. president reads at night, on airplanes — wherever — averaging "about 10 hours per week."
The three books that he was alternating each had a bearing on things currently on Machen's mind, he said. Stegner's recollections of his sojourn in Utah are of interest to another non-Latter-day Saint who has found himself in "Mormon Country." "I think it's important to understand the roots of Utah's culture," said Machen, a transplant from Michigan.
Diversity has been an intriguing topic for Machen lately. He was an official at the University of Michigan when issues regarding how much weight should be given to diversity in university admissions led to lawsuits. The questions pitting diversity against reverse discrimination have now landed in the U.S. Supreme Court, which is expected to rule sometime this summer.
Machen's own pro-diversity leanings are not in accord with Wood's writing on the subject, he said, but an opposing viewpoint "adds to my own concept of diversity."
And LeCarre's novel about corruption in the development and marketing of drugs (in this case, medicine purported to remedy tuberculosis in Africa) reflects on the delicate interface between private business and academia, where new drugs often are created and tested. That's a matter that university presidents such as Machen, whose school does a lot of that kind of research, deal with as part of the job. Reading about it in a novel is infinitely better than ever having to deal with it in reality, Machen suggested.
His wife, Chris, is "a voracious reader" who passes along suggestions. Others who know the president's passion for reading also recommend their choices. "I have a half dozen on my desk," he said.
No favorites, he said. Most anything will do — as long as he can consume them three at a time.