Gavin Newsom

I wanted to like this so much more than I did, but I found this memoir to be both braggy and with an agenda. On the whole, I still like the man and I can't deny the positive success he has had in California. I have no doubt he will be running for president. This book made me realize HOW connected Newsom is. To the Gettys, Pelosis, the tech giants, politicians, celebrities, etc. Even though he grew up with divorced parents and a mom who struggled to make ends meet, his family's legacies and show more friendships afforded him insane opportunities. From dining with royalty, partying with celebrities, studying polar bears in Alaska and so much more. This book feels like it was made just to silence his critics, to say, "Yes, I know all these people, they opened doors for me and helped me out, but I struggled as a kid! I didn't get where I got JUST because of my connections." And really, that is the crux of the book. As a reader you have to decide how much of Gavin Newsom's success came from his hard work and perseverance and how much came from the sphere that surrounded him. I do think it is a mix of both and I still admire him. I just got tired of all the name dropping. show less

One of the sweetest moments in what is a wonderful paean to community, collaboration, and the technology that can help foster those two critically important elements of civilization comes when Gavin Newsom, in the acknowledgment section at the end of the book he has written with Lisa Dickey ("Citizenville: How to Take the Town Square Digital and Reinvent Government"), offers "thanks to all government workers whose work directly and indirectly impacts all our lives each and every day...." show more Citizenville effectively and convincingly promotes the idea of individual community members collaborating with each other and their colleagues in government to produce positive change. More importantly, it pushes us toward an approach that already fosters levels of engagement in playful ways: transferring our love of game-playing for virtual results (as exemplified by FarmVille) into a form of game with more rewarding real-world results. Newsom is explicit about the challenges we face in attempting to use technology to increase citizen-government collaborations: "The sad truth is that the history of government is a history of technophobia" (p. 6); government workers often collect magnificent amounts of useful data without working to make it accessible (p. 22); government agencies are much better at attracting constituents to one-time events than to encouraging long-term involvement (p. 115); and "...government isn't interested in solving problems so much as managing them" (p. 220). That's not a situation, he suggests, that is sustainable: "No one foresaw that sea change for newspapers, but in hindsight it had to happen. The same is true for government. It's hard to predict exactly how this will unfold, but it's absolutely inevitable that the relationship between people and government will change. If nothing else, the changing expectations of new generations, weaned on smartphones and the Internet, guarantee that we can’t just continue with business as usual" (pp. 174-175). The playfulness inherent in Newsom's "Citizenville" model has certainly found its way into many local efforts, and if implemented by others, will help us continue to produce positive results rather than falling into the destructively nonproductive trap of complaining about government. show less

This is the story by and about Gavin Newsom, how he started as a dyslexic child, grew into a young adult entrepreneur in the wine and food industry and finally made his way into politics in his home city of San Francisco. During his childhood, his parents were divorced early. He continued his relationship with both of his parents, hobnobbing with his dad’s ultra rich friends while helping his struggling mom meet her financial needs as well. Newsom gave quite a detailed history of his show more parents’ families, much of which was distressing to read. I was particularly interested, though, in reading about two issues, gay marriage and homelessness, with which he dealt early on during his term as mayor of San Francisco. If truth be told, I mostly read this book to learn more about a possible future President of the United States and wanted to get an idea if he might win my vote in a future national election.

I enjoyed reading his book and found Gavin Newsom to be a hard-working guy who hustles at all times to get his job done. This book gave me a good picture of the “young man in a hurry”. show less

As Newsom looks like a US presidential candidate, this seemed like a timely read. I like the humility of the story and the many frank details of painful family weaknesses. I also like the resolute commitment to a politics of inclusion and human kindness. The book is intended to make the author known to the public, and I think it succeeds. Time will tell how consequential his life will become.