Refresh your e-reader (or bookshelf—remember those?) with new titles from the McCombs community.

Mike Lamke, MSTC ’01, wrote “The Unsanctioned,” a novel that deals with the thin line between a citizen's right to free speech and national security. Mixing fact with fiction, “The Unsanctioned” creates a world of real government organizations and imagined but realistic technology. He says his education influenced the book, including “how to develop high-technology products, research the current state of the art, if it’s feasible and how to describe the product.” Lamke is a West Point graduate who served five years in the military and as a private contractor in Iraq. He works for Lockheed Martin, supporting homeland security and law enforcement programs.

“Suits: A Woman on Wall Street,” is an insider’s perspective on investment banking, from the point of view of a self-described outsider, Nina Godiwalla, BBA ’97. A Southerner from a Persian-Indian immigrant family, Godiwalla saw tremendous success on Wall Street, but found herself struggling with the consequences of her ambition and the choices it forced her to make. Fortune’s Anne Fisher writes that Godiwalla’s “candid memoir is a must-read for anyone (especially any woman) aspiring to a career in high finance." After nearly a decade working for Fortune 500 companies, Godiwalla founded MindWorks, which trains business professionals in meditation and stress management.

In “Beyond Light Bulbs: Lighting the Way to Smarter Energy Management,” Susan Meredith, MBA ’06, moves beyond the doom and gloom of the energy crisis to offer hopeful, concrete advice for how to protect the planet and improve the future. “Rather than address energy as a problem, it is addressed here as an opportunity,” Meredith writes. “We need to use our personal and organizational energy to solve the issues of global energy. Energy management on all levels is the key to creating health for our planet and ourselves.” Meredith is also the founder and president of HumanExcel, a leadership consulting firm based in Austin.

Red McCombs has, in his words, "dabbled in automobiles, cattle, oil and gas, broadcasting, insurance, racehorses, motion pictures, real estate, politics, minor league baseball and pro football." Written in collaboration with University of Texas historian Don Carleton, “Big Red: Memoirs of a Texas Entrepreneur and Philanthropist,” chronicles McCombs’ life, from a 10-year-old selling peanuts to farm workers in Spur, Texas, to the billionaire philanthropist, car dealer and co-founder of Clear Channel Communications.

After a decade in the tech industry post-graduation, including helping grow MySQL from $10 million in sales to a $1 billion acquisition, Nicolas Pujol, MBA ’00, switched gears to write “The Mind Share Market: The Power of an Alternative Currency.” The book looks at the radical shift in marketing of adding value to advertising and creating so-called “free products” to attract new customers and increase market share. Pujols argues this hidden customer segment can make or break a business and shares the philosophy and practice of making the strategy work for a company.