217 ratings | 17 reviews | avg rating:4.48

more photos (6)

Shannon’s Year In Books

Shannon’s 2025 Year in Books

Take a look at Shannon’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.

Go to Shannon’s 2025 Year in Books

Shannon Huffman Polson’s Followers (67)

Shannon’s Bookshelves

to-read (75)
currently-reading (23)
read (235)
did-not-finish (0)
books-i-like-for-my-kids (25)
chapter-books-for-kids (27)
grad-stack (6)
influences-on-north-of-hope (8)
leadership (8)
military (3)
See all bookshelves »

Shannon’s Friends (455)

Amanda Geaney

1,720 books | 1,620 friends

Elisabeth Wheatley

1,522 books | 2,662 friends

Janice Richardson

743 books | 210 friends

Mark Noce

1,827 books | 5,036 friends

Emily Millikan

1,145 books | 105 friends

Bebeth

575 books | 66 friends

Virginia

283 books | 376 friends

Lauren Carr

70 books | 3,797 friends

More friends…

Shannon Huffman Polson

Goodreads Author

Born

in Anchorage, Alaska, The United States

March 25

Website

http://www.shannonpolson.com

Twitter

aborderlife

Genre

Business, Psychology, Nonfiction

Influences

{author:Amy Edmondson| } Annie Dillard, Barry Lopez, Marilynne Robinso ...more

Member Since

January 2012

URL

https://www.goodreads.com/shannonhuffmanpolson

edit data

Shannon Huffman Polson is the author of The Grit Factor: Courage, Resilience and Leadership in the Most Male Dominated Organization in the World (Harvard Business Review Press 2020) and North of Hope: A Daughter's Arctic Journey. (Zondervan/Harper Collins, 2013). She writes in all genres exploring the ideas of borders.

Polson's book, The Grit Factor, a synthesis of lessons and stories from three years of interviews of women general officers, fighter pilots, submariners and others was published by Harvard Business Review Press in September 2020, and has been awarded an Axiom Book Award.

Her first book, North of Hope, was released in 2013 by Zondervan/Harper Collins. In 2015 Polson released The Way the Wild Gets Inside: Field Notes from Alaska Shannon Huffman Polson is the author of The Grit Factor: Courage, Resilience and Leadership in the Most Male Dominated Organization in the World (Harvard Business Review Press 2020) and North of Hope: A Daughter's Arctic Journey. (Zondervan/Harper Collins, 2013). She writes in all genres exploring the ideas of borders.

Polson's book, The Grit Factor, a synthesis of lessons and stories from three years of interviews of women general officers, fighter pilots, submariners and others was published by Harvard Business Review Press in September 2020, and has been awarded an Axiom Book Award.

Her first book, North of Hope, was released in 2013 by Zondervan/Harper Collins. In 2015 Polson released The Way the Wild Gets Inside: Field Notes from Alaska, a slim volume of essays. Her first fiction is included in the anthology The Road Ahead, published in early 2017. Polson's essays and articles appear in a number of literary magazines and periodicals, including honorable mention in the 2022 Words and Music Contest at Peaudunque Review (including publication), finalist in the Veteran's Writing Award for Iowa Review, and honorable mention in the 2015 VanderMey Nonfiction Contest (an essay later republished in the Utne Reader) and an excerpt from her working manuscript, Some/One in River Teeth Journal. Her work is anthologized in several publications.

Polson was born in Anchorage, Alaska, and grew up loving the outdoors. After studying English Literature at Duke, she headed from the ivory tower to the tarmac of Ft. Rucker, AL, where she flew Apaches in the first crop of women attack helicopter pilots. An MBA at the Tuck School at Dartmouth transitioned her to five years in marketing at two companies. Now she's back in the books, and back in love. Polson has scuba dived on three continents, sky dived on two, and climbed the highest mountain in North America and Africa.

When she's not writing, she speaks to corporate and social audiences around the country on leadership, GRIT, and purpose as well as running The Grit Institute, an online training development platform dedicated to developing courageous leaders for a better world.

Other times she can be found in the mountains of Washington and Alaska with her husband and sons, working to build a new library in her small community (winthroplibraryfriends.org), and lay leading an Episcopal church start-up. In 2009 Polson was awarded the Trailblazer Woman of Valor award by Senator Maria Cantwell. Polson earned her MFA in Creative Non-fiction from Seattle Pacific University in August of 2012.

Find Polson at www.linkedin.com/in/shannonhpolson, IG at instagram.com/shannonhpolson, www.twitter.com/aborderlife and on Facebook: www.facebook.com/ShannonHPolson ...more

Learn more
Ask the Author

To ask Shannon Huffman Polson questions, please sign up.

Combine Editions
Shannon Huffman Polson’s books

Average rating: 3.89 · 663 ratings · 145 reviews · 10 distinct works • Similar authors

	North of Hope: A Daughter's Arctic Journey 3.83 avg rating — 327 ratings — published 2013 — 7 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Grit Factor: Courage, Resilience, and Leadership in the Most Male-Dominated Organization in the World 4.05 avg rating — 200 ratings — published 2020 — 6 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Be There Now: Travel Stories from Around the World by Mike O'Mary (Goodreads Author), Julie Rand (Editor), Lynn Pinkerton (Contributor) 3.61 avg rating — 72 ratings — published 2013 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	You, the Leader (HBR Women at Work Series) by Harvard Business Review, Amy Gallo, Muriel Maignan Wilkins (Goodreads Author) 3.85 avg rating — 48 ratings — 7 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	River Teeth: A Journal of Nonfiction Narrative Issue 17.1 Fall 2015 by Joe Mackall (Editor), Joe Wilkins (Goodreads Author), Kerry Folan 4.67 avg rating — 6 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Way the Wild Gets Inside: Field Notes from Alaska 4.50 avg rating — 6 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	She's Got Grit: The Generals: A Grit Project Publication it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 2 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Trachodon 2: A Dinosaur of a Little Magazine by Scott Nadelson (Goodreads Author), Brian Maxwell, Michael Delp 4.50 avg rating — 2 ratings — published 2011	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	River Teeth A Jouranl of Nonfiction Narrative, Volume 17, Number 1, Fall 2015 by Stephen Benz, Jill Christman, Karen Dietrich (Goodreads Author) 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	SRPR, Spoon River Poetry Review, 49.1, 2024 by Spoon River Poetry Review, Steve Halle (Goodreads Author) (Editor), Destiny Hemphill (Contributor) 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — published 2023	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by Shannon Huffman Polson…

17 posts
Shannon Huffman Polson's Blog: The Grit Project

SO glad to have found this. And 2012 looks terrific too. Thanks...

SO glad to have found this. And 2012 looks terrific too. Thanks Galley Cat!

View more on Shannon Huffman Polson's website »

1 like · Like • 0 comments • flag

Published on December 06, 2012 12:30

View all 17 posts »

Shannon is Currently Reading

Shannon Polson is currently reading

The Lady and the Monk: Four Seasons in Kyoto (Vintage Departures)

by Pico Iyer

bookshelves: currently-reading

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Jan 01, 2025 09:33PM

Shannon Polson is currently reading

Eager to Love: The Alternative Way of Francis of Assisi

by Richard Rohr

bookshelves: currently-reading

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Sep 15, 2023 11:40AM

Shannon Polson is currently reading

The Great Dissenter: The Story of John Marshall Harlan, America's Judicial Hero

by Peter S. Canellos

bookshelves: currently-reading

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Sep 15, 2023 11:35AM

rss
Shannon’s Recent Updates

Shannon Polson rated a book it was amazing The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Nov 01, 2025 01:29PM · like
Shannon Polson rated a book really liked it People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
There's a great deal I liked very much about this book: most particularly the braided narrative, the thoughtful concept, the (sometimes overwhelming but then also impressive) historical detail. And yet the latter, and the political overtones which oc ...more
Nov 01, 2025 01:28PM · 1 like · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Shannon Polson rated a book really liked it People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
There's a great deal I liked very much about this book: most particularly the braided narrative, the thoughtful concept, the (sometimes overwhelming but then also impressive) historical detail. And yet the latter, and the political overtones which oc ...more
Nov 01, 2025 01:25PM · 1 like · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Shannon Polson liked a quote “[There are] three possible ways to find meaning in life—even up to the last moment, the last breath…1) a deed we do, a work we create; 2) an experience, a human encounter, a love; and 3) when confronted with an unchangeable fate (such as an incurable disease), a change of attitude toward that fate.” Viktor E. Frankl
Oct 07, 2025 07:50AM · like · more quotes by Viktor E. Frankl
Shannon Polson rated a book it was amazing Dirtbag Billionaire: How Yvon Chouinard Built Patagonia, Made a Fortune, and Gave It All Away by David Gelles (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Oct 03, 2025 09:35AM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Dirtbag Billionaire by David Gelles. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Dirtbag Billionaire by David Gelles <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Shannon Polson wants to read Spirit of Place : Letters and Essays on Travel by Lawrence Durrell	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
May 02, 2025 08:27AM · like
Shannon Polson wants to read Broken Vessels: Essays by Andre Dubus	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
May 01, 2025 09:19AM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Broken Vessels by Andre Dubus. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Broken Vessels by Andre Dubus <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Shannon Polson wants to read Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy (Goodreads Author) Goodreads Choice Awards Nominee in Readers' Favorite Fiction	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Mar 08, 2025 02:18PM · like
Shannon Polson rated a book it was amazing Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
What a wonderful foray into the very first of Jane Austen's novels! Grateful for prose that is descriptive and made me slow down to savor and understand. ...more
Jan 12, 2025 09:47AM · 1 like · like · see review
Shannon Polson started reading The Lady and the Monk: Four Seasons in Kyoto (Vintage Departures) by Pico Iyer	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Jan 01, 2025 09:33PM · 1 like · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Lady and the Monk by Pico Iyer. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Lady and the Monk by Pico Iyer <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">

More of Shannon's books…

Quotes by Shannon Huffman Polson (?)

“I wondered what those mountains behind them might tell me, what advice they would give, if they could talk. What they would tell me about love, and about loss, and about how this wild place could heal as naturally as it could kill.”
― Shannon Huffman Polson, North of Hope: A Daughter's Arctic Journey

tags: grief, healing, mountains, wilderness

5 likes

“In this waiting, there is witness.”
― Shannon Huffman Polson, North of Hope: A Daughter's Arctic Journey

tags: grief, waiting

2 likes

“The line between the living and the dead may not be much of a line at all, but the terrain is not for the weak of heart.”
― Shannon Huffman Polson, North of Hope: A Daughter's Arctic Journey

tags: death, grief

2 likes

See all Shannon Huffman Polson's quotes »

Topics Mentioning This Author

topics	posts	views	last activity
Play Book Tag: North of Hope by Shannon Huffman Polson - 4 stars (Subdue)	1	4	Mar 15, 2023 08:11AM
Play Book Tag: Subdue the Shelf Tracking Thread - ENGINEER LEVEL	38	45	Oct 30, 2023 11:17PM
2026 Reading Chal...: Joy's Gems Personal Challenge 2023	14	193	Nov 17, 2023 07:49AM
2026 Reading Chal...: Joy's Gems Member's Corner - 2023	45	188	Nov 25, 2023 08:00AM
Non Fiction Book ...: 2023 NFBC Team Challenge -- Venimus Vidimus Legimus (Team X)	350	146	Jan 01, 2024 07:20AM
On The Same Page : 3500 For 2023 (closed)	1831	132	Jan 19, 2024 12:28PM
Around the World ...: Alaska	17	393	Nov 28, 2024 11:01PM
Crazy Challenge C...: Shrink that TBR! 2022-2023 Yearly Challenge	169	173	Jan 28, 2025 07:58AM

More…

Shannon’s Quotes

“Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people.”
― Henry Thomas Buckle

tags: creativity, dreams, gossip, misattributed-eleanor-roosevelt, paraphrased

2657 likes

“The lyf so short, the craft so long to lerne.”
― Geoffrey Chaucer, The Parliament of Birds

tags: creativity, learning, time

270 likes

“There is an hour of the afternoon when the plain is on the verge of saying something. It never says, or perhaps it says it infinitely, or perhaps we do not understand it, or we understand it and it is untranslatable as music.”
― Jorge Luis Borges

tags: afternoon, music, plains, understand, untranslatable

82 likes

“Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.”
― Benjamin Franklin

tags: hmmm

6898 likes

“Many people die at twenty five and aren't buried until they are seventy five.”
― Benjamin Franklin