Wear It Well: Reclaim Your Closet and Rediscover the Joy of Getting Dressed
Very glad I read this, and I’m already looking forward to revisiting her advice probably twice a year (fall and spring)!
About the book
Author: Allison Bornstein
Publisher: Chronicle Prism
More info:
The StoryGraph | Goodreads
Note: Content and trigger warnings are provided for those who need them at the bottom of this page. If you don’t need them and don’t want to risk spoilers, don’t scroll past the review.
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My Review
I’ve been meaning to pick up Wear It Well for months, as I’m one year postpartum and really wishing I had more outfits that feel like the current version of me — more color and more classic cuts. So when I needed a short book to pick up next, this was the perfect fit. (Pun unintentional but delightful.)
This book reads very self-help-y, but it’s so short (you can read it in a day) that it’s worth wading through for the good advice. I found a lot of value in Bornstein’s recommended method of sorting through my existing wardrobe; it really helped me think about what I wanted to keep and what the commonalities of those pieces were. Her 3-word method also feels like it’s going to be super useful in the future; I’ve already started calling my words to mind as I’ve (thoughtfully) begun to shop for pieces that I felt were missing from my closet.
Very glad I read this, and I’m already looking forward to revisiting her advice probably twice a year (fall and spring)!
Content and Trigger Warnings
None
Democracy in Retrograde: How to Make Changes Big and Small in Our Country and in Our Lives
Democracy in Retrograde is a fun, short, super accessible guide to becoming more civically engaged. It’s easy to digest in bite sizes and offers some useful tools for thinking about the ways you might derive the most satisfaction from getting involved and presents an excellent case for why you should.
About the book
Author: Emily Amick and Sami Sage
Publisher: Gallery Books
More info:
The StoryGraph | Goodreads
Note: Content and trigger warnings are provided for those who need them at the bottom of this page. If you don’t need them and don’t want to risk spoilers, don’t scroll past the review.
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Bookshop.org (print or ebook) | Libro.fm (audio)
My Review
Democracy in Retrograde is a fun, short, super accessible guide to becoming more civically engaged. I think it tips a little too far in attempting millennial relatability in a few spots (ie, the metaphor of a glass half-full of iced coffee instead of water), but overall, it’s easy to digest in bite sizes and offers some useful tools for thinking about the ways you might derive the most satisfaction from getting involved and presents an excellent case for why you should.
I liked the way Amick and Sage make the case for civic engagement as an antidote to hopelessness and despair — even more timely now, in early 2025, than when they wrote it just after the January 2021 insurrection. Their evidence and conviction is convincing and inspiring. I also really liked the tools they offered, in particular the pragmatist/realist/optimist/pessimist/idealist outlooks and the four activism “personality types,” complete with a Buzzfeed-style quiz. It was a genuinely helpful (albeit slightly cheesy) way to help me assess where my strengths lie, what energizes me the most, and how I might bring that unique mix to my own civic engagement in ways that fit with my real life and are rewarding.
All in all, a quick read that I recommend.
Meditations for Mortals: Four Weeks to Embrace Your Limitations and Make Time for What Counts
If you’re a chronically busy, list-making, type-A, overachiever like me, please do yourself a favor and pick up Four Thousand Weeks. If you already did that three years ago, pick up Meditations for Mortals.
About the book
Author: Oliver Burkeman
Publisher: FSG
More info:
The StoryGraph | Goodreads
Note: Content and trigger warnings are provided for those who need them at the bottom of this page. If you don’t need them and don’t want to risk spoilers, don’t scroll past the review.
Buy and support indie bookstores (+ I earn a small commission):
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My Review
I don’t exaggerate when I tell you that Oliver Burkeman’s Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals changed my life. It found me at exactly the right moment and gave me the vocabulary and motivation to break out from some very unhealthy patterns (with the help of my therapist). But that was three years ago. So when I heard that he was publishing a follow-up in the form of 28 daily bite-sized essays, I was in.
While this certainly wasn’t as revolutionary as Four Thousand Weeks (for me), I don’t think it’s meant to be. Four Thousand Weeks is Burkeman’s manifesto on letting go of unrealistic productivity expectations and accepting the finitude of your own limitations in order to prioritize the things that are actually important to you. This book works best as a refresher — a reminder, once you’ve inevitably fallen back into your former habits, that reinspires and helps you refocus. I think the 28-day format worked great for this purpose, and I loved that it only took me a couple of minutes to read each day’s essay.
If you’re a chronically busy, list-making, type-A, overachiever like me, please do yourself a favor and pick up Four Thousand Weeks. If you already did that three years ago, pick up Meditations for Mortals.
Content and Trigger Warnings
None
How to Baby: A No-Advice-Given Guide to Motherhood, with Drawings
I’m 37 weeks pregnant and felt like this was a gift to me from Finck. Plus, it was dang funny.
About the book
Author: Liana Finck
Publisher: The Dial Press
More info:
The StoryGraph | Goodreads
Note: Content and trigger warnings are provided for those who need them at the bottom of this page. If you don’t need them and don’t want to risk spoilers, don’t scroll past the review.
Buy and support indie bookstores (+ I earn a small commission):
Bookshop.org (print)
My Review
This book of cartoons is exactly what it promises to be: “A No-Advice-Given Guide to Motherhood, with Drawings.” I’m 37 weeks pregnant and felt like this was a gift to me from Finck. I felt deeply seen by the parts of the journey I’d already experienced, validated by the parts of the process that are honestly shown as truly no fun at all, and buoyed by the prospect of a future that is going to be hard but also rewarding. Plus, it was dang funny.
This would make a fantastic baby shower gift for any expecting mother in your life.
Content and Trigger Warnings
Pregnancy and childbirth
Please Unsubscribe, Thanks!: How to Take Back Our Time, Attention, and Purpose in a World Designed to Bury Us in Bullshit
Please Unsubscribe, Thanks! is full of useful, actionable tips plus astute economic and cultural commentary — and it’s very funny! Highly recommend it as a way to find your post-COVID normal.
Author: Julio Vincent Gambuto
Publisher: Avid Reader Press
Goodreads | The StoryGraph
Click above to buy this book from my Bookshop.org shop, which supports independent bookstores (not Amazon). You can also find it via your favorite indie bookstore here.
Note: Content and trigger warnings are provided for those who need them at the bottom of this page. If you don’t need them and don’t want to risk spoilers, don’t scroll past the full review.
Cover Description
When the pandemic essentially brought the world to a standstill, author Julio Gambuto came to understand a powerful in the pre-pandemic world, Americans were exhausted, lonely, unhappy, wildly overworked and overbooked, drowning in sea of constantly being on the go and needing to buy more, more, more. But when that pressure disappeared, people rediscovered what was important to them. They quit jobs that made them unhappy and moved their families to suburbs. Simple things like outdoor walks replaced gym memberships; home cooking and backyard gardens replaced takeout; less commuting meant more time for family and creative projects; and for perhaps the first time in a long time, people were being honest . Honest about what they wanted, what they believed in. Honest about the problems they were facing within their families, friend groups, workplaces, towns, and society overall.
That honesty, he noticed, had the potential to make the ground shift. It created a capacity for change. But he also knew that it likely wouldn’t last, because the most powerful forces running our world would not allow it to. They wanted control over our clicks, our conversations, our dollars, our work, our votes—our lives . The only way that we could beat those systems, would be to resist the calls to keep moving, and to “go back to normal.” In order to change, we had to unsubscribe.
Now, in Please Unsubscribe, Thanks!, Gambuto gives us a radical blueprint for the ways we can take a deep breath, renew and commit to a life that we really want, individually and collectively, from unsubscribing to emails and automated subscriptions to reevaluating the presence of people and ideas and habits that no longer serve us or make us happy. Infused with the practical advice in James Clear’s Atomic Habits and the humor of Sarah Knight’s The Life-Changing Magic of Not Giving a F**k , Please Unsubscribe, Thanks! helps us focus on where we find joy in our lives and encourages us to toss out what doesn’t bring us joy in this modern world.
TL;DR Review
Please Unsubscribe, Thanks! is full of useful, actionable tips plus astute economic and cultural commentary — and it’s very funny! Highly recommend it as a way to find your post-COVID normal.
For you if: You feel like you don’t have enough hours in the day.
Full Review
Please Unsubscribe, Thanks! came to me just when I needed it. I’d been feeling overextended, mostly thanks to my own drive and desire. I knew I needed to do something about it, but I just couldn’t see myself cutting back on any of the things on my plate.
Julio Gambuto is a filmmaker who wrote a viral essay called “Prepare for the Ultimate Gaslighting” at the start of the pandemic. He looked around, saw that things didn’t fully need to go back to the way they were before, and called BS on the hypercapitalist high-speed treadmill that was about to start back up again. He unsubscribed from everything — and I mean everything: emails, paid subscriptions, airline memberships, toxic relationships, assumptions about himself and his life. Then he added back the things that actually made him happy, a little at a time. In this book, he gives advice about how we can do the same.
I appreciated that he recognized that his nuclear option wasn’t going to be for everyone and offered levels of “unsubscribing” that might be right for each of us. I personally unsubscribed from a TON of email lists and newsletters and reexamined a few of those self-driven “subscriptions” that were making me feel overextended. And it absolutely took the edge off, the way I’d been hoping.
But that’s not the only meat of this book. Gambuto’s research and explanation of the economic and sociopolitical forces that have gotten us onto this treadmill (on purpose) is astute and deeply thought-provoking. This is the part that’s going to stick with me the most, for sure. Plus, it’s EXTREMELY funny (the audio read by the author was great!).
This is a quick read, and I recommend it. We’re all looking for the post-COVID normal that feels right for us. Let Gambuto show you what worked for him, because some (or all) of it might work for you, too.
Content and Trigger Warnings
Pandemic/COVID-19
Toxic relationships (minor)
Quarterlife: The Search for Self in Early Adulthood
Quarterlife is an insightful and pretty helpful book about the phase of life between the late teens and mid-thirties. I recommend it!
Author: Satya Doyle Byock
Publisher: Random House
Goodreads | The StoryGraph
Click above to buy this book from my Bookshop.org shop, which supports independent bookstores (not Amazon). You can also find it via your favorite indie bookstore here.
Note: Content and trigger warnings are provided for those who need them at the bottom of this page. If you don’t need them and don’t want to risk spoilers, don’t scroll past the full review.
Cover Description
An innovative psychotherapist tackles the overlooked stage of Quarterlife—the years between adolescence and midlife.
I'm stuck. What's wrong with me? Is this all there is? Satya Doyle Byock hears these refrains regularly in her psychotherapy practice where she works with "Quarterlifers," individuals between the ages of (roughly) sixteen to thirty-six. She understands their frustration. Some clients have done everything "right" graduate, get a job, meet a partner. Yet they are unfulfilled and unclear on what to do next. Byock calls these Quarterlifers "Stability Types." Others are uninterested in this prescribed path, but feel unmoored. She refers to them as "Meaning Types."
While society is quick to label the emotions and behavior of this age group as generational traits, Byock sees things differently. She believes these struggles are part of the developmental journey of Quarterlife, a distinct stage that every person goes through and which has been virtually ignored by popular culture and psychology.
In Quarterlife, Byock utilizes personal storytelling, mythology, Jungian psychology, pop culture, literature, and client case studies to provide guideposts for this period of life. Readers will be able to find themselves on the spectrum between Stability and Meaning Types, and engage with Byock's four pillars of Quarterlife development:
- Separate: Gain independence from the relationships and expectations that no longer serve you
- Listen: Pay close attention to your own wants and needs
- Build: Create, cultivate, and construct tools and practices for the life you want
- Integrate: Take what you've learned and manifest something new
Quarterlife is a defining work that offers a compassionate roadmap toward finding understanding, happiness, and wholeness in adulthood.
TL;DR Review
Quarterlife is an insightful and pretty helpful book about the phase of life between the late teens and mid-thirties. I recommend it!
For you if: You’re in your 20s or 30s and find yourself in the tug-of-war between stability and meaning (relatable).
Full Review
As is true for a lot of the nonfiction books I’ve been picking up lately, I first heard about Quarterlife in Anne Helen Petersen’s Culture Study newsletter. It was a quick listen on audio, and while it wasn’t quite as hard-hitting for me as I think I’d expected, I am really glad I read it and would recommend it to anyone else in their 20s or 30s.
It’s by a woman who’s essentially the only psychotherapist who specializes in and studies the years between the late teens and mid-thirties, which she calls quarterlife. From her observations, she’s constructed two common personas — “stability types” and “meaning types” — that bookend the two ends of a spectrum all quarterlifers fall into as they search for the right balance of stability and meaning. She’s also identified and named “four pillars of quarterlife development”: separate, listen, build, and integrate.
The first part of the book describes some of the research and how she arrived at these two personas, and the second part introduces us to four of her former “clients” (fictionalized blends of many real-life clients) and talks about their journies through the four pillars. I liked this construction, but I think the four people she described just felt a tad bit too much like stereotypes of their personas (which, tbh, they were meant to be) for me to connect to.
Still, I recognized a LOT of myself in her work and descriptions, and I’ll be thinking about this book for a long time to come.
Content and Trigger Warnings
Suicidal thoughts
Porn addiction
Toxic relationship
Equal Partners: Improving Gender Equality at Home
Equal Partners is a quick read with useful insights and suggestions to help everyone in a home work toward equal distribution, not just visible labor but cognitive labor too.
Author: Kate Mangino
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Goodreads | The StoryGraph
Click above to buy this book from my Bookshop.org shop, which supports independent bookstores (not Amazon). You can also find it via your favorite indie bookstore here.
Cover Description
From gender expert and professional facilitator Kate Mangino comes Equal Partners, an informed guide about how we can all collectively work to undo harmful gender norms and create greater household equity.
As American society shut down due to COVID, millions of women had to leave their jobs to take on full-time childcare. As the country opens back up, women continue to struggle to balance the demands of work and home life. Kate Mangino, a professional facilitator for twenty years, has written a comprehensive, practical guide for readers and their partners about gender norms and household balance. Yes, part of our gender problem is structural, and that requires policy change. But much of our gender problem is social, and that requires us to change.
Quickly moving from diagnosis to solution, Equal Partners focuses on what we can do, everyday people living busy lives, to rewrite gender norms to support a balanced homelife so both partners have equal time for work, family, and self. Mangino adopts an interactive model, posing questions, and asking readers to assess their situations through guided lists and talking points. Equal Partners is broad in its definition of gender and gender roles. This is a book for all: straight, gay, trans, and non-binary, parents and grandparents, and friends, with the goal to help foster gender equality in readers' homes, with their partners, family and wider community.
TL;DR Review
Equal Partners is a quick read with useful insights and suggestions to help everyone in a home work toward equal distribution, not just visible labor but cognitive labor too.
For you if: You live with a partner.
Full Review
I picked up Equal Partners after reading the author’s interview with Anne Helen Petersen in the Culture Study newsletter. Every partnership is different, and all people are different, but no matter what, it’s hard to achieve a truly balanced distribution of labor (visible and cognitive) that goes into a household. It takes active work from both people involved, and this book has some useful suggestions on how to work toward it.
The book is split into three sections: research and info about the problem of unequal distribution of labor, suggestions for partners, and broader societal changes that must be made. The middle is by far the most useful, especially if you are pretty well versed in modern gender issues, but I appreciated all of it. There are also some really interesting takeaways from couples she found who had actually achieved equal partnership in the home. I thought it had some reflection exercises and conversation guides that were useful in real life, as well.
I also appreciated that Mangino made an intentional effort to break out of gender stereotypes (and the gender binary) as much as possible. It occasionally felt like she tried a bit too hard — going slightly off topic to explain gender concepts that most people understand nowadays — but better too much than too little.
The Good Life: Lessons from the World's Longest Scientific Study of Happiness
The Good Life is one of those rare “self-help” books that actually uses all its pages well. I really appreciated the way it not only presented the research but also provided helpful, actionable tools to carry to its advice in real life.
Author: Robert Waldinger and Marc Schulz
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Goodreads | The StoryGraph
Click above to buy this book from my Bookshop.org shop, which supports independent bookstores (not Amazon). You can also find it via your favorite indie bookstore here.
Note: Content and trigger warnings are provided for those who need them at the bottom of this page. If you don’t need them and don’t want to risk spoilers, don’t scroll past the full review.
Cover Description
What makes for a happy life, a fulfilling life? A good life? According to the directors of the Harvard Study of Adult Development, the longest scientific study of happiness ever conducted, the answer to these questions may be closer than you realize.
What makes a life fulfilling and meaningful? The simple but surprising answer is: relationships. The stronger our relationships, the more likely we are to live happy, satisfying, and overall healthier lives. In fact, the Harvard Study of Adult Development reveals that the strength of our connections with others can predict the health of both our bodies and our brains as we go through life.
The invaluable insights in this book emerge from the revealing personal stories of hundreds of participants in the Harvard Study as they were followed year after year for their entire adult lives, and this wisdom is bolstered by research findings from this and many other studies. Relationships in all their forms—friendships, romantic partnerships, families, coworkers, tennis partners, book club members, Bible study groups—all contribute to a happier, healthier life. And as The Good Life shows us, it’s never too late to strengthen the relationships you have, and never too late to build new ones.
Dr. Waldinger’s TED Talk about the Harvard Study, “What Makes a Good Life,” has been viewed more than 42 million times and is one of the ten most-watched TED talks ever. The Good Life has been praised by bestselling authors Jay Shetty (“Robert Waldinger and Marc Schulz lead us on an empowering quest towards our greatest need: meaningful human connection”), Angela Duckworth (“In a crowded field of life advice and even life advice based on scientific research, Schulz and Waldinger stand apart”), and happiness expert Laurie Santos (“Waldinger and Schulz are world experts on the counterintuitive things that make life meaningful”).
With warmth, wisdom, and compelling life stories, The Good Life shows us how we can make our lives happier and more meaningful through our connections to others.
TL;DR Review
The Good Life is one of those rare “self-help” books that actually uses all its pages well. I really appreciated the way it not only presented the research but also provided helpful, actionable tools to carry to its advice in real life.
For you if: You like to read stories from other people’s lives and then learn from them.
Full Review
First, thank you to Simon & Schuster Audio and Libro.fm for the gifted audiobook! My curiosity about this book was piqued when the NY Times ran their January 2022 7-day happiness challenge around its findings and advice, so when I saw the audiobook in my app, I decided to dive right in.
The authors, Robert Waldinger and Marc Schulz, are the current leaders of Harvard’s nearly 100-year-long study on happiness and what makes for a good life. The study began by following the lives of kids in Boston all the way through their lives, and today it also follows many of their children and new participants as well. It’s the only study of its kind, but the book draws from its own findings as well as many other studies on happiness to reinforce the key takeaways.
The main takeaway from the study is that the #1 most important thing to leading a long and happy life is having strong relationships with other people — more so than any sort of health factor or economic privilege. You might be wondering how they can turn that simple finding into an entire book — I know I did. Books in this genre have a tendency to ramble; they’d be better served as a simple TED Talk. But I’m happy to report that the authors did a really good job of making use of the space in this book. They filled it with interesting stories about real participants’ lives that had clear takeaways, and they offer a lot of advice (and lessons they learned directly from those participants) on how, exactly, to strengthen those relationships, even if you’re introverted or estranged from your family or whatever it is.
This was an easy listen that made me reflect on how I’m living my life and energized me to put its advice into practice. I’m glad I read it, and I hope others do too.
Content and Trigger Warnings
This book contains stories about real people’s lives, but summarizes and does not go into great detail. The following triggers are mentioned, but minor.
Death of a spouse
Alcoholism
PTSD in veterans
Suicidal thoughts
Miscarriage
Homophobia
Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals
For me, personally, the arrival of Four Thousand Weeks in my lap felt life-changing. I’m going to be recommending it to my fellow burned-out, anxious millennials for a long time.
Author: Oliver Burkeman
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Goodreads | The StoryGraph
Click above to buy this book from my Bookshop.org shop, which supports independent bookstores (not Amazon). You can also find it via your favorite indie bookstore here.
Cover Description
The average human lifespan is absurdly, insultingly brief. Assuming you live to be eighty, you have just over four thousand weeks.
Nobody needs telling there isn’t enough time. We’re obsessed with our lengthening to-do lists, our overfilled inboxes, work-life balance, and the ceaseless battle against distraction; and we’re deluged with advice on becoming more productive and efficient, and “life hacks” to optimize our days. But such techniques often end up making things worse. The sense of anxious hurry grows more intense, and still the most meaningful parts of life seem to lie just beyond the horizon. Still, we rarely make the connection between our daily struggles with time and the ultimate time management problem: the challenge of how best to use our four thousand weeks.
Drawing on the insights of both ancient and contemporary philosophers, psychologists, and spiritual teachers, Oliver Burkeman delivers an entertaining, humorous, practical, and ultimately profound guide to time and time management. Rejecting the futile modern fixation on “getting everything done,” Four Thousand Weeks introduces readers to tools for constructing a meaningful life by embracing finitude, showing how many of the unhelpful ways we’ve come to think about time aren’t inescapable, unchanging truths, but choices we’ve made as individuals and as a society—and that we could do things differently.
TL;DR Review
For me, personally, the arrival of Four Thousand Weeks in my lap felt life-changing. I’m going to be recommending it to my fellow burned-out, anxious millennials for a long time.
For you if: You are searching for the feeling of being on top of absolutely everything so that you can finally relax — but you can never find it.
Full Review
To make a long story short, this book cracked open my world, and I think it’s going to change my life. It may or may not be as impactful for you — I happen to have read at a time when I not only needed it, but was ready to hear the things it says.
The book is for people who find themselves stretched thin, not by an inability to say no to others but by an inability to say no to themselves. People who are hungry to squeeze as much into their days and to-do lists and calendars as possible. People who are searching for the feeling of being on top of absolutely everything so they can finally relax. (People like me.) The three quotes below explain it better than I could, so I’ll let you read them for more on what the book’s about.
In Four Thousand Weeks, Burkeman is saying something that feels necessary and different. I listened to the first few chapters on audio, and then I went back to my print copy with a highlighter and read them over again to make sure that I’d really absorbed it. I’m probably going to re-read it. And I’m definitely going to be recommending it to my fellow stressed, anxious, burned-out millennials for a long time.
“The problem with trying to make time for everything that feels important—or just for enough of what feels important—is that you definitely never will. The reason isn’t that you haven’t yet discovered the right time management tricks or supplied sufficient effort, or that you need to start getting up earlier, or that you’re generally useless. It’s that the underlying assumption is unwarranted: there’s no reason to believe you’ll ever feel ‘on top of things,’ or make time for everything that matters, simply by getting more done.”
“Rendering yourself more efficient—either by implementing various productivity techniques or by driving yourself harder—won’t generally result in the feeling of having ‘enough time,’ because, all else being equal, the demands will increase to offset any benefits. Far from getting things done, you’ll be creating new things to do.”
“The harder you struggle to fit everything in, the more of your time you’ll find yourself spending on the least meaningful things. … The reason for this effect is straightforward: the more firmly you believe it ought to be possible to find time for everything, the less pressure you’ll feel to ask whether any given activity is the best use for a portion of your time. Whenever you encounter some potential new item for your to-do list or your social calendar, you’ll be strongly biased in favor of accepting it, because you’ll assume you needn’t sacrifice any other tasks or opportunities in order to make space for it … If you never stop to ask yourself if the sacrifice is worth it, your days will automatically begin to fill not just with more things, but with more trivial or tedious things, because they’ve never had to clear the hurdle of being judged more important than something else.”
The Listening Path: The Creative Art of Attention
The Listening Path is a six-week approach to getting in touch with the world, yourself, and the beyond. It wasn’t for me — it was too “woo-woo” as she herself puts it — but it might be for you.
Author: Julia Cameron
Publisher: St. Martin’s Essentials
Goodreads | The StoryGraph
Click above to buy this book from my Bookshop.org shop, which supports independent bookstores (not Amazon). You can also find it via your favorite indie bookstore here.
Cover Description
The newest book from beloved author Julia Cameron, The Listening Path is a transformational journey to deeper, more profound listening and creativity. Over six weeks, readers will be given the tools to become better listeners — to their environment, the people around them, and themselves. The reward for learning to truly listen is immense. As we learn to listen, our attention is heightened and we gain healing, insight, clarity. But above all, listening creates connections and ignites a creativity that will resonate through every aspect of our lives.
Julia Cameron is the author of the explosively successful book The Artist’s Way, which has transformed the creative lives of millions of readers since it was first published. Incorporating tools from The Artist’s Way, The Listening Path offers a new method of creative and personal transformation.
Each week, readers will be challenged to expand their ability to listen in a new way, beginning by listening to their environment and culminating in learning to listen to silence. These weekly practices open up a new world of connection and fulfillment. In a culture of bustle and constant sound, The Listening Path is a deeply necessary reminder of the power of truly hearing.
TL;DR Review
The Listening Path is a six-week approach to getting in touch with the world, yourself, and the beyond. It wasn’t for me — it was too “woo-woo” as she herself puts it — but it might be for you.
For you if: You are spiritual and looking for creative inspiration.
Full Review
First, a big thank you to Macmillan Audio and Libro.fm, who provided a complimentary copy of the audiobook of The Listening Path for review. They sent it on January 1, and I decided to give it a listen because it seemed like a great way to kick off the new year.
The book builds on concepts that Julia Cameron describes in The Artist’s Way, her first (and very well-known) book in this category. She starts The Listening Path by essentially recapping that book, describing her practice of morning pages, artist’s dates, and intentional walks. I actually think I got the most value out of this book from this section, as I’ve decided to try using morning pages as a potential journaling habit.
The rest of the book is broken into six weeks’ worth of direction. They are: listening to your environment; listening to others; listening to yourself; listening beyond the veil; listening to your (dead) heroes; and listening to silence. The first three are the longest, and the last three are quick to read. I ended up speeding through them because by that point, I knew this book was too out there for my taste, too “woo-woo” as she herself describes it. But there was only an hour or so left of the book, so I finished. Also, the chapters themselves also seem much longer than they need to be, with lots of repetitive and meandering stories about her dog and her friends and phone calls, etc.
This book was not for me, but if you are a spiritual person, it could definitely be for you!
The Making of a Manager: What to Do When Everyone Looks to You
The Making of a Manager is a helpful, friendly, useful book specifically for people who are becoming managers for the first time. I really appreciated it!
Author: Julie Zhuo
Publisher: Portfolio
Goodreads | The StoryGraph
Click above to buy this book from my Bookshop.org shop, which supports independent bookstores (not Amazon). You can also find it via your favorite indie bookstore here.
Cover Description
Leading a team for the first time is a daunting new endeavor. Facebook's Vice President of Product Design Julie Zhuo presents a bold new guide to getting respect--and results--in your new managerial role.
Julie Zhuo remembers the meeting where she was asked to become a manager. As in, convince her peers that she deserved to be in charge of all of them. She was 25. She barely had any experience being managed, let alone managing others. But hey, what could go wrong?
As it turns out, Julie had a lot to learn. Like most first-time managers, she was thrown straight into the deep end, with little to guide her. What followed was a series of anxiety-inducing firsts, from her first time agonizing over whether an interviewee was a good fit for her team, her first time building trust with a report who was more experienced than she was, and her first time firing someone she liked. In this accessible, friendly guide, she reveals what she learned the hard way:
Why you should give continuous feedback, instead of waiting for performance reviews
Why you shouldn't deliver critical feedback in a "compliment sandwich"
Why you should stop trying to impress your manager, and start asking for help with your thorniest problems
If you are a new manager, looking to be promoted, or even in your first decade or so of managing, this is a practical guide to navigating the often-choppy waters.
Review
I borrowed the audiobook of The Making of a Manager from my library after I found out that I was going to become a manager for the first time — I’d googled some recommendations for first-time managers, and it led me here. I’m glad it did!
This book is a helpful, friendly, useful book specifically for people who are becoming managers for the first time. Julie Zhou was thrust into a manager role at a young age and learned by doing, so she wrote the book she wished she’d had then. It was exactly what I needed — things to look out for, how to think about your newfound responsibility for someone else’s career, and tangible advice for holding meetings, giving feedback, etc.
Thank you Julie!
Radical Candor: Be a Kick-Ass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity
Radical Candor is a must-read for anyone who manages people in any way, or who expects to soon. I found it really helpful!
Author: Kim Malone Scott
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Goodreads | The StoryGraph
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Cover Description
From the time we learn to speak, we’re told that if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all. While this advice may work for everyday life, it is, as Kim Scott has seen, a disaster when adopted by managers.
Scott earned her stripes as a highly successful manager at Google and then decamped to Apple, where she developed a class on optimal management. She has earned growing fame in recent years with her vital new approach to effective management, the “radical candor” method.
Radical candor is the sweet spot between managers who are obnoxiously aggressive on one side and ruinously empathetic on the other. It’s about providing guidance, which involves a mix of praise as well as criticism — delivered to produce better results and help employees achieve.
Great bosses have strong relationships with their employees, and Scott has identified three simple principles for building better relationships with your employees: make it personal, get (sh)it done, and understand why it matters.
Radical Candor offers a guide to those bewildered or exhausted by management, written for bosses and those who manage bosses. Taken from years of the author’s experience, and distilled clearly giving actionable lessons to the reader; it shows managers how to be successful while retaining their humanity, finding meaning in their job, and creating an environment where people both love their work and their colleagues.
TL;DR Review
Radical Candor is a must-read for anyone who manages people in any way, or who expects to soon. I found it really helpful!
For you if: You want to learn how to build good relationships with your reports at work.
Full Review
“Some professionals say you need to have a praise-to-criticism ratio of 3:1, 5:1, or even 7:1. Others advocate the “feedback sandwich” — opening and closing with praise, sticking some criticism in between. I think venture capitalist Ben Horowitz got it right when he called this approach the “shit sandwich.” Horowitz suggests that such a technique might work with less-experienced people, but I’ve found the average child sees through it just as clearly as an executive does.”
A few weeks ago, I learned that we are going to hire someone new on my team at work, and I’m going to be their manager. I was honored and excited, and then immediately realized what a big responsibility this will be, to support and nurture another person in their career. I posted in the Next Big Idea Club Facebook Group, asking for book recommendations for new managers. Both Adam Grant and Daniel Pink responded (!), and both of them suggested this book. Which was great, because by that point, some light Googling had already led me to borrow the audiobook from my library.
Radical Candor is a bit of a modern classic when it comes to books about managing people, and for good reason. It’s filled with advice and punctuated with dozens of helpful, illustrative examples. It doesn’t just blow off hot air, and it isn’t one of those books that should really just be a TED Talk. I think I’m going to buy a physical copy, if just to refer back to some of the conversation starters and questions suggested for things like one-on-one meetings.
Thank you, Kim Malone Scott, for this gift!
You’re Not Listening: What You’re Missing and Why It Matters
You’re Not Listening is a well-written, readable, persuasive book that underscores the importance of true, unselfish listening and will inspire you to get better at it.
Author: Kate Murphy
Publisher: Celadon Books
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Cover Description
At work, we’re taught to lead the conversation.
On social media, we shape our personal narratives.
At parties, we talk over one another. So do our politicians.
We’re not listening.
And no one is listening to us.
Despite living in a world where technology allows constant digital communication and opportunities to connect, it seems no one is really listening or even knows how. And it’s making us lonelier, more isolated, and less tolerant than ever before. A listener by trade, New York Times contributor Kate Murphy wanted to know how we got here.
In this always illuminating and often humorous deep dive, Murphy explains why we’re not listening, what it’s doing to us, and how we can reverse the trend. She makes accessible the psychology, neuroscience, and sociology of listening while also introducing us to some of the best listeners out there (including a CIA agent, focus group moderator, bartender, radio producer, and top furniture salesman). It’s time to stop talking and start listening.
TL;DR Review
You’re Not Listening is a well-written, readable, persuasive book that underscores the importance of true, unselfish listening and will inspire you to get better at it.
For you if: You want to deepen your relationships. I recommend this for everyone, even if you don’t usually read a lot of nonfiction.
Full Review
“Listening takes effort. Like reading, you might choose to go over some things carefully while skimming others, depending on the situation. But the ability to listen carefully, like the ability to read carefully, degrades if you don’t do it often enough. If you start listening to everyone as you would scan headlines on a celebrity gossip website, you won’t discover the poetry and wisdom that is within people. And you withhold the gift that the people who love you, or could love you, most desire.”
If you’re like me (and a bunch of other people, according to an informal poll by the author of this book), you know that you could be a better listener. What you might not realize — at least not fully — is just how important that is.
You’re Not Listening was the Next Big Idea Club’s April selection, and I’m so glad I read it. This isn’t one of those nonfiction books that should have just been a TED Talk; I found it to be well edited and worth your time. It’s a quick read, with short, punchy, focused chapters; a readable and conversational writing style; and the perfect blend of example, anecdote, psychology, science.
And this might sound kind of weird, but by the end of the book, I felt almost like Kate Murphy had listened to me, rather than me listening to (reading) her. She’s a journalist with great listening skills and obviously fantastic at her job. But she also hits the nail on the head with why listening, and being listened to, is so important to all of us, and the common pitfalls that we try, but fail, to avoid. Without shaming you, she guides you to take stock of your own desire to listen and propensity to do so.
One thing I learned that really struck a chord include the fact that people in long-term relationships often stop listening to one another deeply; in fact, when we know someone well, our brains tend to believe that we know what they’re going to say next, so we listen even less. That’s what can lead couples to grow apart and feel like they don’t know one another anymore, like their partner is someone different from who they first met.
In fact, this book is packed with interesting things, like the fact that when you aren’t listening to someone, they can subconsciously pick up on it, which makes them not try hard in the conversation, and actually makes them more boring, leading to a vicious cycle. Even the presence of a cell phone sitting nearby while you’re having a conversation can make both people less likely to open up, knowing that more dopamine-infused interesting things are within arms’ reach.
Kate Murphy gets in, makes her point, inspires you to become a better person, and then leaves you there to do something about it. And if that’s not what we all want out of a nonfiction read, I don’t know what is.
Trigger Warnings
None
*This is an affiliate link to Bookshop.org, an online alternative to buying books on Amazon. A portion of every sale goes directly to independent bookstores! When you buy a book using my link, I will also receive a small commission. Thank you for supporting indies. They need us.
Before and After the Book Deal: A Writer’s Guide to Finishing, Publishing, Promoting, and Surviving Your First Book
Before and After the Book Deal is a helpful, conversational, informative breakdown of all the things that go into writing and publishing a book. As a book reviewer, I found it so interesting!
Author: Courtney Maum
Publisher: Catapult
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Cover Description
Everything you’ve ever wanted to know about publishing but were too afraid to ask is right here in this funny, candid guide by acclaimed author Courtney Maum. Before and After the Book Deal: A Writer's Guide to Finishing, Publishing, Promoting, and Surviving Your First Book has over 150 contributors from all walks of the industry, including international bestselling authors Anthony Doerr, Roxane Gay, Garth Greenwell, Lisa Ko, R. O. Kwon, Rebecca Makkai, and Ottessa Moshfegh, alongside cult favorites Sarah Gerard, Melissa Febos, Mitchell S. Jackson, and Mira Jacob. Agents, film scouts, film producers, translators, disability and minority activists, and power agents and editors also weigh in, offering advice and sharing intimate anecdotes about even the most taboo topics in the industry. Their wisdom will help aspiring authors find a foothold in the publishing world and navigate the challenges of life before and after publication with sanity and grace.
Are MFA programs worth the time and money? How do people actually sit down and finish a novel? Did you get a good advance? What do you do when you feel envious of other writers? And why the heck aren’t your friends saying anything about your book? Covering questions ranging from the logistical to the existential (and everything in between), Before and After the Book Deal is the definitive guide for anyone who has ever wanted to know what it’s really like to be an author.
TL;DR Review
Before and After the Book Deal is a helpful, conversational, informative breakdown of all the things that go into writing and publishing a book. As a book reviewer, I found it so interesting!
For you if: You are curious about what it’s like to write and publish a book, even if you don’t plan to do it for yourself.
Full Review
As a person who writes (long-form marketing content) for a living and reads a ton, of course I’ve always been curious about what it would be like to write a book someday. Recently, now that I’m active on bookstagram and interacting with authors and publishers all the time, I’ve become even more curious.
Before and After the Book Deal was exactly the right book to scratch that itch. Courtney Maum takes every aspect of the writing and publishing process and breaks them down from the writer’s perspective, from before you even have a draft to after the buzz about your new book has faded. It’s broken up into short, easy-to-digest subsections and organized very usefully and clearly.
Reading this book felt exactly like sitting down with Courtney for coffee (okay maybe not exactly, because I had to make my own coffee and such) and picking her brain about being a writer. She is conversational, candid, funny, and generous. She also really did her homework and spoke to I-don’t-even-know-how-many other writers, agents, and publishing professionals to get their perspectives, too. Like, SO MANY. And despite the chorus, it’s not a cacophony; it’s all threaded together naturally, cohesively, and helpfully. A true feat.
I recommend this book not only for those who think they may want to write a book, but also anyone who simply wants to know more about how the book sausage gets made. It’s that well written and easy to read.
I think I’ll be re-reading and referencing this book for years to come. Thank you, Courtney, for all you have done here. Truly.
Trigger Warnings
None
*This is an affiliate link to Bookshop.org, an online alternative to buying books on Amazon. A portion of every sale goes directly to independent bookstores! When you buy a book using my link, I will also receive a small commission. Thank you for supporting indies. They need us.
Successful Aging: A Neuroscientist Explores the Power and Potential of Our Lives
Successful Aging is a scientific but well-written and interesting look at current thinking about how the brain works and how you can protect it as you age.
Author: Daniel J. Levitin
Publisher: Dutton Books
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Cover Description
Successful Aging delivers powerful insights:
Debunking the myth that memory always declines with age
Confirming that "health span" — not "life span" — is what matters
Proving that sixty-plus years is a unique and newly recognized developmental stage
Recommending that people look forward to joy, as reminiscing doesn't promote health
Levitin looks at the science behind what we all can learn from those who age joyously, as well as how to adapt our culture to take full advantage of older people's wisdom and experience. Throughout his exploration of what aging really means, using research from developmental neuroscience and the psychology of individual differences, Levitin reveals resilience strategies and practical, cognitive enhancing tricks everyone should do as they age.
Successful Aging inspires a powerful new approach to how readers think about our final decades, and it will revolutionize the way we plan for old age as individuals, family members, and citizens within a society where the average life expectancy continues to rise.
TL;DR Review
Successful Aging is a scientific but well-written and interesting look at current thinking about how the brain works and how you can protect it as you age.
For you if: You are a curious person and don’t mind reading a lot of scientific info.
Full Review
I got my hands on a copy of Successful Aging through the Next Big Idea Club. I wouldn’t normally reach for a book like this on my own, but I’m glad I read it! I was feeling especially curious and drawn to nonfiction one weekend, so I picked it up. And it certainly scratched my curious itch!
This book is an in-depth look at how the brain works (at least, what we know of it today) and how we can protect it as we age in order to live happily and fully for as long as possible. It’s very scientific, but I was impressed with how Daniel Levitin didn’t make it feel like a textbook. Don’t get me wrong; there are a lot of biological words and concepts here. But the way the book was written made them feel as conversational as I think it’s possible to be on a topic like this.
The book definitely inspired me to tweak a few of my habits. He emphasizes things we already know are good for us — sleeping well, eating moderately well, moving our bodies every so often — but clarifies why those things are important for the brain, specifically. It also opened my eyes to the psychology and emotional motivations typical for older adults, which I think will help me interact with my 97-year-old great grandmother specifically!
Several times while I was reading, I looked up and asked my husband, “Did you know that ___?” And I think that’s the mark of a good scientific nonfiction.
Trigger Warnings
None
*This is an affiliate link to Bookshop.org, an online alternative to buying books on Amazon. A portion of every sale goes directly to independent bookstores! When you buy a book using my link, I will also receive a small commission. Thank you for supporting indies. They need us.
The Catalyst: How to Change Anyone's Mind
The Catalyst is a helpful, well-researched book about lowering the barriers of resistance in people’s minds. There were some really good nuggets in there that I will probably use quite often.
Author: Jonah Berger
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
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Note: Content warnings are provided for those who need them at the bottom of this page. If you don’t need them and don’t want to risk spoilers, don’t scroll past the full review.
Cover Description
Everyone has something they want to change. Marketers want to change their customers’ minds and leaders want to change organizations. Start-ups want to change industries and nonprofits want to change the world. But change is hard. Often, we persuade and pressure and push, but nothing moves. Could there be a better way?
This book takes a different approach. Successful change agents know it’s not about pushing harder, or providing more information, it’s about being a catalyst. Catalysts remove roadblocks and reduce the barriers to change. Instead of asking, “How could I change someone’s mind?” they ask a different question: “Why haven’t they changed already? What’s stopping them?”
The Catalyst identifies the key barriers to change and how to mitigate them. You’ll learn how catalysts change minds in the toughest of situations: how hostage negotiators get people to come out with their hands up and how marketers get new products to catch on, how leaders transform organizational culture and how activists ignite social movements, how substance abuse counselors get addicts to realize they have a problem, and how political canvassers change deeply rooted political beliefs.
This book is designed for anyone who wants to catalyze change. It provides a powerful way of thinking and a range of techniques that can lead to extraordinary results. Whether you’re trying to change one person, transform an organization, or shift the way an entire industry does business, this book will teach you how to become a catalyst.
TL;DR Review
The Catalyst is a helpful, well-researched book about lowering the barriers of resistance in people’s minds. There were some really good nuggets in there that I will probably use quite often.
For you if: You like big idea nonfiction and work in marketing, non-profit work, politics, or another industry where you are trying to persuade.
Full Review
I was drawn to The Catalyst mostly because Jonah Berger wrote it. I really liked his book Contagious: Why Things Catch On and found it useful, so I was happy to read his latest. Much like Contagious, I found this book to be helpful and useful. It’s also a quick read.
The Catalyst talks about why the human brain has a tendency to dig its heels in, cling to what it already knows, and resist change. Then it breaks down five techniques to help lower those barriers to help people feel more open and comfortable with the idea of changing their minds. Berger uses engaging stories and examples and cites a ton of research to bring it all to life.
Sometimes when I read big idea nonfiction, I’m not sure if the author is telling me something that I implicitly already knew, or they are just good at writing so that their conclusions feel natural and believable. I think it’s a bit of both, especially with this book. I conceptually understood a lot of his points before, I think, but he’s packaged them in a way that turns those things into tools.
In my day job, I write longform marketing content for a financial services start-up, so we are always trying to change behavior (to help people live their best lives!). I have already found myself thinking about pieces of this book in my day-to-day.
CONTENT Warnings
Within his examples:
Hateful language directed at religious groups (e.g., Islamophobia, antisemitism)
Transphobia and trans misogyny
Homophobia and heterosexism
*This is an affiliate link to Bookshop.org, an online alternative to buying books on Amazon. A portion of every sale goes directly to independent bookstores! When you buy a book using my link, I will also receive a small commission. Thank you for supporting indies. They need us.
How to Be an Artist
How to Be An Artist is a slim book containing just over 60 short “lessons.” I think it’s most useful for people pursuing visual art like drawing or painting, but it was a fun little read.
Author: Jerry Saltz
Publisher: Riverhead Books
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Note: Trigger warnings are provided for those who need them at the bottom of this page. If you don’t need them and don’t want to risk spoilers, don’t scroll past the full review.
Cover Description
"Inspiration leaps off the pages from Jerry Saltz's new book on creativity. . . . This book is for the artist or non-artist, for the person who gets plain English, for the person who understands that practical talk can coax out the mystical messages that lie underneath." — Steve Martin
Art has the power to change our lives. For many, becoming an artist is a lifelong dream. But how to make it happen? In How to Be an Artist, Jerry Saltz, one of the art world’s most celebrated and passionate voices, offers an indispensable handbook for creative people of all kinds.
From the first sparks of inspiration — and how to pursue them without giving in to self-doubt — Saltz offers invaluable insight into what really matters to emerging artists: originality, persistence, a balance between knowledge and intuition, and that most precious of qualities, self-belief. Brimming with rules, prompts, and practical tips, How to Be an Artist gives artists new ways to break through creative blocks, get the most from materials, navigate career challenges, and above all find joy in the work.
Teeming with full-color artwork from visionaries ancient and modern, this beautiful and useful book will help artists of all kinds — painters, photographers, writers, performers — realize their dreams.
TL;DR Review
How to Be An Artist is a slim book containing just over 60 short “lessons.” I think it’s most useful for people pursuing visual art like drawing or painting, but it was a fun little read.
For you if: You want to start practicing art or practice it more deeply — especially visual art.
Full Review
Ever since I heard that Jerry Saltz, the art critic, was expanding his essay of 33 rules to be an artist, I was excited to read it. He is known for being fun, approachable, and knowledgable.
How to Be an Artist is a slim little book that features 63 “lessons.” I read two to three each day over the course of a month. Some are only a paragraph long, and some are a few pages. But each one is uplifting and punchy.
The book is described as useful for any kind of artist, not just painters / drawers / sculptors / etc. As a writer (in my day job, here on this blog, and perhaps someday elsewhere), I was hoping there would be plenty for me, too. I would say that around a third of the lessons are widely applicable to any form of art — maybe a half if you are interpreting loosely. But many of them are very specific to visual artists, with actual drawing exercise prompts and everything.
So it wasn’t exactly what I was looking for, but it was still fun and a great way to spend a few minutes each day for a month!
Trigger Warnings
None
*This is an affiliate link to Bookshop.org, an online alternative to buying books on Amazon. A portion of every sale goes directly to independent bookstores! When you buy a book using my link, I will also receive a small commission. Thank you for supporting indies. They need us.
Good Habits, Bad Habits: The Science of Making Positive Changes That Stick
I was pleasantly surprised that this book did NOT feel like so many others that had come before it. Wendy Wood is an accomplished neuroscience researcher who also has a knack for translating her results into helpful, clear prose.
We spend a shocking 43% of our day doing things without thinking about them. That means that almost half of our actions aren't conscious choices but the result of our non-conscious mind nudging our body to act along learned behaviors. How we respond to the people around us; the way we conduct ourselves in a meeting; what we buy; when and how we exercise, eat, and drink — a truly remarkable number of things we do every day, regardless of their complexity, operate outside of our awareness. We do them automatically. We do them by habit. And yet, whenever we want to change something about ourselves, we rely on willpower. We keep turning to our conscious selves, hoping that our determination and intention will be enough to effect positive change. And that is why almost all of us fail. But what if you could harness the extraordinary power of your unconscious mind, which already determines so much of what you do, to truly reach your goals?
Wendy Wood draws on three decades of original research to explain the fascinating science of how we form habits, and offers the key to unlocking our habitual mind in order to make the changes we seek. A potent mix of neuroscience, case studies, and experiments conducted in her lab, Good Habits, Bad Habits is a comprehensive, accessible, and above all deeply practical book that will change the way you think about almost every aspect of your life. By explaining how our brains are wired to respond to rewards, receive cues from our surroundings, and shut down when faced with too much friction, Wood skillfully dissects habit formation, demonstrating how we can take advantage of this knowledge to form better habits. Her clear and incisive work shows why willpower alone is woefully inadequate when we're working toward building the life we truly want, and offers real hope for those who want to make positive change.
Author: Wendy Wood | Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Goodreads | IndieBound (buy local!) | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
Rating: 4 / 5
I read this book as part of my subscription to The Next Big Idea Club, which is a quarterly book subscription of new big idea nonfiction titles curated by Malcolm Gladwell, Adam Grant, Susan Cain, and Daniel Pink. So, while I was nervous that would be yet another book about building habits (that should probably have just been a TED Talk), I decided to give it a shot.
I was pleasantly surprised that this book did NOT feel like so many others that had come before it. The difference is really that Wendy Wood is an accomplished neuroscience researcher who also has a knack for translating her results into helpful, clear prose.
The first section of the book is heavy on neuroscience, explaining what habits really are and how they exist in the brain. The second section goes into four ways to control your habits, like adapting your setting strategically, and how to stack habits on top of each other. The final section goes into a bit of the ramifications of this research and offers more food for thought.
My only wish from this book is a bit more how-to. She does a great job of explaining why certain things do or do not work, but doesn’t really offer any sort of summary at the end of each chapter with a recap of the actual advice given or next steps to take in your own life. The result is a little bit of “Okay, but how do I actually DO that?” It’s in there, you just have to kind of hunt for it, so that’s what makes following her advice less straightforward than is typical in self-help books.
That being said, I did learn a TON and now have some plans to make changes to my own habits! So if you’re looking to build or kick a habit, definitely check this one out. It will have something there for you.
Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World
Range was an interesting and (mostly) engaging look at the different approaches to learning that we take in society today. I thought the author was clear and conversational, and he used good examples and stories that are relatable to real life.
What’s the most effective path to success in any domain? It’s not what you think.
Plenty of experts argue that anyone who wants to develop a skill, play an instrument, or lead their field should start early, focus intensely, and rack up as many hours of deliberate practice as possible. If you dabble or delay, you'll never catch up to the people who got a head start. But a closer look at research on the world's top performers, from professional athletes to Nobel laureates, shows that early specialization is the exception, not the rule.
David Epstein examined the world's most successful athletes, artists, musicians, inventors, forecasters and scientists. He discovered that in most fields--especially those that are complex and unpredictable — generalists, not specialists, are primed to excel. Generalists often find their path late, and they juggle many interests rather than focusing on one. They're also more creative, more agile, and able to make connections their more specialized peers can't see.
Provocative, rigorous, and engrossing, Range makes a compelling case for actively cultivating inefficiency. Failing a test is the best way to learn. Frequent quitters end up with the most fulfilling careers. The most impactful inventors cross domains rather than deepening their knowledge in a single area. As experts silo themselves further while computers master more of the skills once reserved for highly focused humans, people who think broadly and embrace diverse experiences and perspectives will increasingly thrive.
Author: David Epstein | Publisher: Riverhead
Rating: 3.5 / 5
“You have people walking around with all the knowledge of humanity on their phone, but they have no idea how to integrate it. We don’t train people in thinking or reasoning.”
Range was an interesting and (mostly) engaging look at the different approaches to learning that we take in society today. I thought the author was clear and conversational, and he used good examples and stories that are relatable to real life.
Epstein’s point is basically that today, people feel the need to specialize in something super early — starting kids at the violin as toddlers, choosing a hyper-specialization in a branch of science as a college freshman (or earlier), etc.
But the problem with this approach is that there are important skills to be learned from adjacent fields (the piano, the guitar, singing; statistics, psychology, cross-functional science) that you miss if you specialize so soon. And so if you’re taken out of your specific vertical for any reason, you’re useless. What if the key to curing cancer requires someone to have knowledge about two different branches of science? The way things work now, those scientists’ work would never cross over.
Epstein also applies this to everyday people’s real lives, talking about how people who change careers, even “late,” tend to be happier in them. He also gives advice about how to broaden your own horizons.
This one definitely made me think about how I approach learning in my own job, plus how it’s never too late to learn a new skill or start a new hobby. I’m glad I read it.
Farsighted: How We Make the Decisions That Matter the Most
Rating: 4/5 | I read Farsighted as part of my subscription to the Next Big Idea Club. It was fun to have it paired with Joyful, which was about the small things, because Farsighted is about the big things. Big, important decisions and the ways you can ensure that you're making the best choices possible. (Click the post to read more.)
Plenty of books offer useful advice on how to get better at making quick-thinking, intuitive choices. But what about more consequential decisions, the ones that affect our lives for years, or centuries, to come? Our most powerful stories revolve around these kinds of decisions: where to live, whom to marry, what to believe, whether to start a company, how to end a war.
Full of the beautifully crafted storytelling and novel insights that Steven Johnson's fans know to expect, Farsighted draws lessons from cognitive science, social psychology, military strategy, environmental planning, and great works of literature. Everyone thinks we are living in an age of short attention spans, but we've actually learned a lot about making long-term decisions over the past few decades. Johnson makes a compelling case for a smarter and more deliberative decision-making approach. He argues that we choose better when we break out of the myopia of single-scale thinking and develop methods for considering all the factors involved.
There's no one-size-fits-all model for the important decisions that can alter the course of a life, an organization, or a civilization. But Farsighted explains how we can approach these choices more effectively, and how we can appreciate the subtle intelligence of choices that shaped our broader social history.
Author: Steven Johnson | Publisher: Riverhead
Rating: 4/5
I read Farsighted as part of my subscription to the Next Big Idea Club. It was fun to have it paired with Joyful, which was about the small things, because Farsighted is about the big things. Big, important decisions and the ways you can ensure that you're making the best choices possible.
The information was presented in a straightforward, digestible way, with plenty of engaging examples that Johnson told like stories. He also had a couple of big examples — like Obama's team's mission to find and kill Osama Bin Laden — that were threaded throughout the entire book, which tied it all together nicely.
I also appreciated the fact that Johnson gave readers not only the tools to make good decisions, like a pre- or post-mortem and AARs, but also the why behind them. He cites so much research about the benefits of diverse thinking, what kinds of groups make good decisions and what kinds don't, etc. It's so important to talk about those topics and keep them at the forefront of our minds.
All in all, not totally life-changing, but a good, quick read.