Recommended Reads: Your Next Favourite Book Awaits
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By
Amanda Lewis
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The following titles are the most requested non-fiction items across Wood Buffalo Regional Library’s eContent and print collections.
Find inspiration and tools to reach your full potential, change the way you think, or simply understand the world around us a bit better.
All available free with your library card.
The Anxious Generation
By Jonathan Haidt
Social psychologist Jonathan Haidt discusses the alarming rate at which the mental health of adolescents declined in the early 2010s. He investigates the nature of the decline of “play-based childhood” and the effects of the rapidly expanding “phone-based childhood”, with consequences including sleep deprivation, attention fragmentation, perfectionism and more. Haidt brings clear calls to action and lays out four rules that may set us free.
Atomic Habits
By James Clear
If you are looking to change your habits this is the book for you. With simple strategies to adjust your behaviors that can be applied to everyday life, James Clear provides a framework to create a system of change for yourself. Drawing from proven ideas in biology, psychology and neuroscience, he has created an easy-to-follow guide that makes good habits inevitable. This book reshapes the way you think about progress and success by utilizing tiny changes to create remarkable results.
Better Small Talk
By Patrick King
International bestselling author and social skills coach, Patrick King, brings us a guide to easily transform awkward small talk into conversations with depth. King, himself a shy introvert, has turned human interaction into a science, one that anyone can master. The ability to connect with one another is the root to friendships, romance, and overall happiness. Featuring simple steps to build your confidence and subtle conversational habits that help you deepen your ability to have genuine conversations – with a stranger, a loved one, or in a networking setting.
The Psychology of Money
By Morgan Housel
Money is often thought of as a math-based field. However, Morgan Housel shares 19 stories of finances that dive deeper into what influences us. Personal history, our unique views of the world, ego, pride, marketing and odd incentives are all part of our decision process. The true ability to do well with money is based off our behaviours more than our abilities to crunch numbers. With practical advice and relatable content, Housel teaches how to make better sense of one of life’s most important topics.
101 Essays That Will Change the Way You Think
By Brianna Wiest
A compilation of moving and philosophical writing to leave you thinking deeply, with ideas to change your life. Featuring pieces on why you should pursue purpose over passion, embrace negative thinking, see the wisdom in daily routine, and become aware of the cognitive biases that are creating the way you see your life. Some of these pieces have never been seen; others have been read by millions of people around the world. A believer in the concept of embracing the potential we are born with for both ourselves and the world, Wiest will leave you pondering your process and your life.
The 48 Laws of Power
By Robert Greene
Pulling from philosophies of Machiavelli, Sun-Tzu, Carl von Clausewitz and other great thinkers, The 48 Laws of Power provides a fascinating look at the history of power and those who have wielded or become victim to it. Greene turns three thousand years of historical knowledge about power into 48 well explicated laws with applications to real life. This book is for the power-hungry and may put off gentler souls, although Greene believes genuinely innocent and truthful people may still be playing for power. Find yourself captivated or disturbed, but always intrigued by his illustrations across history and the everyday.
12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos
By Jordan B. Peterson
Canadian clinical psychologist Jordan Petersen brings us 12 ‘rules for life’. Providing essays in abstract ethical principles, psychology, mythology, religion, and personal anecdotes, Peterson discusses the rules, standards, principles, and values people need. Revealing that humans not only require but thrive off routine and tradition in their lives, he uniquely combines the hard-won truths of ancient tradition with the stunning revelations of cutting-edge scientific research. Humorous, surprising and informative, Peterson tells us why skateboarding boys and girls must be left alone, what terrible fate awaits those who criticize too easily, and why you should always pet a cat when you meet one on the street.
Think and Grow Rich
By Napoleon Hill
With material on how to thrive in challenging economic times, Napoleon Hill offers the secrets of super achievers such as Henry Ford, Andrew Carnegie, and John Rockefeller and explains how to use their formula for success. Written and released in 1937, the idea that if you can control your mind, you can control your destiny is the core concept of this title. Each chapter brings insights that can alter your perspectives on money, people, psychology, and yourself, regardless of your profession and business.
The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F***
By Mark Manson
Rejecting the idea of focusing on positivity, this refreshing book takes a new perspective on self help guides. Manson leaves out the sugar-coating and provides a relatable and realistic view of the world around us, embracing the negatives and learning to live with them. Manson makes the argument, backed by academic research, that improving our lives hinges, not on our ability to turn lemons into lemonade, but on learning to stomach lemons better. Human beings are flawed and limited—”not everybody can be extraordinary, there are winners and losers in society, and some of it is not fair or your fault.” Manson advises us to get to know our limitations and accept them.
Hidden Potential: The Science of Achieving Greater Things
By Adam Grant
This title offers inspiration for unlocking the potential within ourselves. Adam Grant utilizes groundbreaking evidence, surprising insights, and vivid storytelling to show the way we can bring ourselves to where we want to be. He believes we deeply underestimate our abilities, focusing on those who are gifted or talented and over-looking our own capabilities to grow. When opportunity doesn’t knock, there are ways to build a door. Hidden Potential offers a new framework for reaching aspirations and exceeding expectations, and realizing potential isn’t about being a workaholic or a perfectionist. What matters most is not how hard we work, but how well we learn. The character skills that propel progress include the proactivity to absorb and adapt to new information, the courage to embrace discomfort, and the determination to find the beauty in imperfections.
