Minority Leader: How to Lead from the Outside and Make Change by Stacey Abrams (TED talk: 3 questions to ask yourself about everything you do)
I work in government affairs, and the last thing I enjoy reading for
pleasure are books by politicians. However, this book is different on so
many levels and is a must-read — whether you’re a political junkie or
just someone seeking inspiration to chart your own course. I instantly
related to and was inspired by Abrams’s candid struggles to overcome
self-doubt and embrace the full range of her abilities as a talented
woman of color. Her writing is candid, eloquent, familiar, funny and
highly digestible. I found myself nodding, smiling, dog-earing pages,
and taking deep inhalations to digest her inspiring wisdom. (Read an excerpt from the book here.)
— Nikki Clifton (TED talk: 3 ways business can fight sex trafficking)
The Content Trap: A Strategist’s Guide to Digital Change by Bharat Anand
In the rapidly changing environment of the digital age, entrepreneurs,
business professionals and nonprofit leaders all need to understand how
people interact with content. Focusing on good content without
intentionally considering the connections that content generates is “the
content trap” that hinders progress, growth and sustainability.
— Alvin Irby (TED Talk: How to inspire every child to be a lifelong reader)
Dare to Lead: Brave Work, Tough Conversations, Whole Hearts by Brené Brown (TED Talk: Listening to shame)
This is my favorite of all of Brown’s books. I’ve read all of her
previous books, and I appreciate that this one allows the reader to
revisit important points from the earlier titles. I read Dare the
weekend it was released. It came at a time when I was going through
some personal and professional challenges and helped keep me grounded
and focused.
— Liz Kleinrock (TED Talk: How to teach kids about taboo topics)
Creativity, Inc. by Ed Catmull
Pixar co-founder Ed Catmull takes readers inside how the animation
factory makes their sausage. This book is one of the most intimate looks
behind the scenes of a company’s culture, and the impact it has on the
people, business and product. I highly recommend it for anyone who
thinks deeply about improving the culture of their organization.
— Joe Gebbia (TED Talk: How Airbnb designs for trust)
Alibaba: The House That Jack Ma Built by Duncan Clark
I enjoyed this very inspiring book about the personal and professional
life of Alibaba founder Jack Ma. Ma’s likable and easy-going personality
makes the book very inspiring and fun to read, while also providing
interesting insights as to how he managed to establish one of the
highest-valued companies in China and the world.
— Pierre Barreau (TED Talk: How AI could compose a personalized soundtrack to your life)
Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies by Jim Collins
This is my all-time favorite business book on why values matter and what good leadership looks like.
— Halla Tomasdottir (TED Talk: A feminine response to Iceland’s financial crash)
Good to Great by Jim Collins
This book is full of extraordinary insights into how to manage an
organization based on rigorous research. I also love the intercalated
stories that help bring home points, like the Admiral Stockdale Paradox,
a concept I have lived by both in my work and own life.
— Pardis Sabeti (TED Talk: How we’ll fight the next deadly virus)
The Big Idea by Donny Deutsch
This book will always hold a very dear place in my heart because it was
given to me by my younger sister, who is now of blessed memory. The book
was to encourage me in my entrepreneurial journey, as I switched from a
corporate career in the US into the unknown world of starting and
running an enterprise in Nigeria. It’s filled with stories of
entrepreneurs saying ‘There’s got to be a better way of doing this,’
asking, ‘How can I provide an innovative solution to this problem?’ and
forging ahead to change the world with their ideas. A must read for
anyone who is thinking about taking the entrepreneurship route.
— Achenyo Idachaba (TED Talk: How I turned a deadly plant into a thriving business)
Drop the Ball: Achieving More by Doing Less by Tiffany Dufu
This manifesto/memoir is a reminder of how women are expected to succeed
at two full-time jobs — the paid one outside the home and the unpaid
one at home — and how we need to be realistic about our expectations in
order to be successful at both.
— Grace Kim (TED Talk: How cohousing can make us happier and live longer)
The Fearless Organization: Creating Psychological Safety in the Workplace for Learning, Innovation and Growth by Amy Edmondson (TED Talk: How to turn a group of strangers into a team)
This is the definitive guide to creating the conditions under which
human beings can collaborate, innovate and thrive. It’s the book you
want when you’re trying to do hard things with other people (for
example, trying to get back from that desert island).
— Frances Frei (TED Talk: How to build and rebuild trust)
Rebel Talent: Why It Pays to Break the Rules at Work and in Life by Francesca Gino
I first heard Gino speak on NPR’s Hidden Brain
podcast about the role of rebels in creating real and profound change.
At the time, I had been reflecting about how to acknowledge and honor my
lived experiences and allow them to inform my professional work. Her
evidence-based take on rebels as innovators and positive change agents —
as opposed to the stereotypical person in arms against the opposition —
inspired me to lean into my own authentic rebel talents and to break
some rules along the way.
— Leah Georges (TED Talk: How generational stereotypes hold us back at work)
The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement by Eliyahu M. Goldratt
This is one of those must-reads for any business reader, especially
people who are interested on lean manufacturing. Insightful and full of
a-ha moments, it’s a business book that’s cleverly disguised as a novel.
Surprisingly easy to read, it’ll rock your management self and make you
see your company and your organization in a new light. It covers
productivity, strategy, change management — you name it!
— Julio Gil (TED Talk: Future tech will give you the benefits of city life anywhere)
Give and Take: Why Helping Others Drives Our Success by Adam Grant (TED Talk: Are you a giver or a taker?)
This highly insightful read by an organizational professor at Wharton
Business School examines the link between our success and our
interactions with others and the surprising forces that affect why some
people rise to the top of the success ladder while others sink to the
bottom. It’s a great book that encourages you to let your heart and
values guide much of what you do at work.
— Leila Hoteit (TED Talk: 3 lessons on success from an Arab businesswoman)
The Power of Moments: Why Certain Experiences Have Extraordinary Impact by Chip and Dan Heath
This is technically not a book about moments, despite the title; instead
it’s about what creates powerful experiences and memories. It’s really
helped me think through planning events in business — and in planning
experiences with my family.
— David Burkus (TED Talk: Why you should know how much your coworkers get paid)
Athena Rising: How and Why Men Should Mentor Women by W. Brad Johnson and David Smith
I met Johnson and Smith, two amazing men, when I was writing my book
about stopping sexual harassment and gender inequality. Through their
eyes, I saw that these could be men’s issues too. Here, they provide the
perfect guidebook for helping men be the mentors that women need them
to be — and show us all how this is a fight that men and women need to
engage in together.
— Gretchen Carlson (TED Talk: How we can end sexual harassment at work)
Re-inventing Organizations by Frederic Laloux
This book is about the rise of self-management as a new and future form
of organization. Laloux shows how a number of extraordinary
organizations, from nursing to power generation, have reinvented their
management practices simply based on a different perspective of how we
could relate to one another. Their workers have flourished and their
market share has grown. I love this book because it is at once practical
and inspiring.
— Hilary Cottam (TED Talk: Social services are broken. How we can fix them)
Tribal Leadership: Leveraging Natural Groups to Build a Thriving Organization by Dave Logan, John King and Halee Fischer-Wright
One of the most challenging, rewarding and surprising things about being
a professor is how much of your thought, time and energy is spent
building and leading a team. After all, most faculty are PhDs, not MBAs.
Tribal Leadership is one on a short list of books that I draw on
in order to go beyond the traditional teacher/scholar model and try to
build a team environment where super-smart students work together to
solve super-hard problems.
— Dustin Schroeder (TED Talk: How we look kilometers below the Antarctic ice sheet)
Powerful: Building a Culture of Freedom and Responsibility by Patty McCord
As the longtime head of talent at Netflix and co-author of the legendary Netflix Culture Deck, McCord (TED video: 8 lessons on building a company that people enjoy working for
) has penned an incisive treatise against traditional HR practices. In
short, digestible chapters, she explains how paying top dollar, firing
anyone who isn’t an A+ performer and training employees on how
businesses operate all helped Netflix become one of the most successful
media and technology companies in the world.
— Jason Shen (TED Talk: Looking for a job? Highlight your ability, not your experience)
Creative Change: Why We Resist It and How We Can Embrace It by Jennifer Mueller
Dr. Mueller’s research on how we react to new and innovative ideas has
had a fantastic impact on her field. In this book, she outlines a plan
for overcoming the resistance to change.
— David Burkus (TED Talk: Why you should know how much your coworkers get paid)
The Heroine’s Journey by Maureen Murdock
I’ve read the book many times, and sometimes I just re-read a section
out of it. It’s on my bedside table and in my Kindle, and I have found
it a huge support during various phases in my life in the last 15-plus
years. Most life journeys have been written by and about successful men.
This book helps you understand the deep patterns in the journeys of
successful women — showing what drives us to success but also to
over-exhaustion — and how we can integrate masculine and feminine forces
in our lives.
— Amel Karboul (TED Talk: The global learning crisis — and what to do about it)
Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World by Cal Newport
We are swimming in distractions from email, text messages and social
media, all of them stealing away our attention. Newport (TED Talk: Why you should quit social media)
brings us some hopeful news: placing our concentration and effort on
creating work of value is still a top-tier skill. Then he maps out a
path to recovering this skill for those who may have lost it.
— David Burkus (TED Talk: Why you should know how much your coworkers get paid)
Jugaad Innovation: Think Frugal, Be Flexible, Generate Breakthrough Growth by Jaideep Prabhu, Navi Radjou and Simone Ahuja
This book goes a lot beyond other business books and speaks not only
about the need to be agile but also the need to be frugal in developing
countries in order to fit the consumer and context of these nations. I
find this book extremely hopeful as it shows how simple, cost-effective
solutions can change the world for the better.
— Mileha Soneji (TED Talk: Simple hacks for life with Parkinson’s)
inGenius: A crash course on creativity by Tina Seelig
This wonderful book shows how everyone is creative. Through examples from her own work, others in the design thinking field and history, Seelig (TED Talk: The little risks you can take to increase your luck) provides a wealth of tools and techniques to help everyone uncover their creative potential.
— Elise Roy (TED Talk: When we design for disability, we all benefit)
The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It for Life by Twyla Tharp
Tharp is a dancer and choreographer, and I understand very little of
that craft but I was drawn to her book when I saw it sitting on a table
at a bookstore 15 years ago. She is a pragmatist and a true original.
Her book is a terrific source of battle-tested advice about hard work,
surviving failure, and living a creative life. I often find myself
thinking about its lessons and retelling the stories in my own talks.
— Tim Harford (TED Talk: A powerful way to unleash your natural creativity)
US Army Survival Manual: FM 21-76 by Department of Defense
There’s a ton of really great stuff in this book that applies to
business and life, especially in the beginning. A sample tidbit: “The
greatest enemies in a combat survival and evasion situation are fear and
panic. If uncontrolled, they can destroy your ability to make an
intelligent decision. They may cause you to react to your feelings and
imagination rather than to your situation. They can drain your energy
and thereby cause other negative emotions. Previous survival and evasion
training and self-confidence will enable you to vanquish fear and
panic.” Overall, the first few chapters of the book read like a business
or personal psychology book if you replace combat with business — or
even daily life.
— Chieh Huang (TED Talk: Confessions of a recovering micromanager)
Getting to Maybe: How the World Is Changed by Frances Westley
Westley was my instructor in a conflict resolution course many years
ago, and I have read this book multiple times. I learn something new
each time. However, the main message I got from it when I read it the
first time was that when trying to change the world (in whatever field
you work with), it’s important to stop every once in a while and really
think about what you are doing. It is OK to change plans, it is OK to
change strategies, it is OK to revamp. Sometimes we are so deeply
involved with what we do and the methods we use to reach our goals that
we do not even see when it is not working.
— Patricia Medici (TED Talk: The coolest animal you know nothing about and how you can save it)
Taking the Work Out of Networking: An Introvert’s Guide to Making Connections That Count by Karen Wickre
Who knew connecting with others for one’s career could be so authentic,
observational and reciprocal? In this practical, delightful read, Wickre
reveals a whole new kind of networking for our increasingly
transactional digital world. Full of insights and helpful tips,
especially regarding social media, this is the perfect book for anyone
in the midst of a career transition or considering one. (Read an excerpt
from the book here.)
— Chip Conley (TED talk: What baby boomers can learn from millennials at work — and vice versa)
Go here to see the other book categories in the gift guide
Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions by Dan Ariely
Ariely (TED Talk: How to change your behavior for the better),
a professor of psychology and behavioral economics, reveals through
many studies why we so often behave in a way that totally contradicts
logic. While reading it, I had to smile many times because I could see
myself behaving exactly like the studies’ subjects. After reading Irrational,
you may be a bit more gentler with your own and others’ irrationality.
You will also know why getting something for free does feel so good.
— Hannah Bürckstümmer (TED Talk: A printable, flexible, organic solar cell)
How Emotions Are Made: The Secret Life of the Brain by Lisa Feldman Barrett
I had the pleasure of meeting Barrett (TED Talk: You aren’t at the mercy of your emotions — your brain creates them)
at a TED event where we both spoke. Her book clarifies and, ultimately,
debunks many myths about our emotions and how our brains creates them.
It’s an interesting and thought-provoking read, and I found it to be
engaging and fascinating. I strongly recommend it to anyone who thinks
they can “read” people just by looking at them. (You can read an excerpt from her book here.)
— Simone Bianco (TED Talk with Tom Zimmerman: The wonderful world of life in a drop of water)
Willpower: Why Self-Control Is the Secret to Success by Roy F. Baumeister and John Tierney
I love this book because it explained so many things to me … about me.
Willpower is, quite clearly, a primary tool for success in work and
love. And this book is packed with gripping stories about those who have
struggled with temptation (from Oprah and Eric Clapton to Henry Morton
Stanley and more) that vividly illustrate how to engage this precious
fuel, willpower, to win in business and romance. And I finally know why,
after days of being soooo good, I get to an airport and go wild on
sweets. This book reaches deep into those most fascinating topics: human
nature; how the brain and body work; why we do the things we do; and
how to battle our darker angels to succeed in life.
— Helen Fisher (TED Talk: The brain in love)
Braving the Wilderness: The Quest for True Belonging and the Courage to Stand Alone by Brené Brown
Brown first came to my attention through her TED talk (The power of vulnerability).
I was struck by the courage it took her to be so honest — to
acknowledge that being vulnerable doesn’t mean being weak. In this book,
she again shatters the myth that having the courage to stand alone
doesn’t isolate us. Instead, it brings us into a fuller experience of
community. This message meant a lot to me after I was forced by take a
stand by myself.
— Gretchen Carlson (TED Talk: How we can end sexual harassment at work)
Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead by Brené Brown
This book is all about having courage. Based on 12 years of research, it
explains how vulnerability is both the core of difficult emotions like
fear, grief and disappointment and the birthplace of love, belonging, joy, empathy, innovation and creativity. If we want to lead full lives, Brown (TED Talk: The power of vulnerability)
encourages us to step into the arena in all aspects of our lives and
dare greatly. She writes, “When we shut ourselves off from
vulnerability, we distance ourselves from the experiences that bring
purpose and meaning to our lives.”
— Christine Porath (TED Talk: Why being respectful to your coworkers is good for business)
The World Beyond Your Head: On Becoming an Individual in the Age of Distraction by Matthew Crawford
Did you think being an individual was to be free of all relations and
encumbrances and demands? Think again, says Crawford. We are a social
animal, and we only become ourselves when attending to the demands of
that which allows us to lose our detached self-possession.
— Sajay Samuel (TED Talk: How college loans exploit students for profit)
Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking by Susan Cain (TED Talk: The power of introverts)
Regardless of where you happen to fall on the
introvert-ambivert-extravert spectrum, I highly recommend this
insightful and accessible book. Touchingly personal and well-researched,
this book is what inspired me to pursue social psychology during my
doctoral program. At this crossroads in US history, it is particularly
relevant to understand and celebrate the traits that define each of us
as leaders. I am so happy I consumed Quiet via the audio version, since the book’s takeaways really come to life through the understated yet powerful delivery of the narrator.
— Dana Kanze (TED Talk: The real reason female entrepreneurs get less funding)
Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
Want to understand happiness? In this book, Csikszentmihalyi (TED Talk: Flow, the secret to happiness)
describes a state of consciousness — which he calls “flow” — in which
people typically experience deep enjoyment, creativity and a total
involvement. He also demonstrate the ways that this positive state can
be controlled and not just left to chance. By ordering the information
that enters our consciousness, we can discover true happiness and
greatly improve the quality of our lives.
— Lisa Dyson (TED Talk: A forgotten space age technology could change how we grow food)
The Person You Mean to Be: How Good People Fight Bias by Dolly Chugh
This is such a thought-provoking read for all of us, given the societal issues today. Chugh (TED Talk: How to let go of being a “good” person and become a better person)
argues that we might be better off by not striving to be perfect when
it comes to the hot-button topics today but by being good-ish. (Read an excerpt from the book here.)
— Chieh Huang (TED Talk: Confessions of a recovering micromanager)
How Proust Can Change Your Life by Alain de Botton
Marcel Proust wrote well over one million words replete with deep
insights and observations about human nature, but who has the time to
read that much? Luckily, de Botton (TED Talk: A kinder, gentler philosophy of success)
has distilled Proust’s work into a delightful, witty and wise book
about the human condition. It can inspire hope by making you realize
that so much of we feel is “modern society unhappiness” is actually a
part of human nature.
— Sebastian Wernicke (TED Talk: How to use data to make a hit TV show)
Astonish Yourself: 101 Experiments in the Philosophy of Everyday Life by Roger-Pol Droit
Droit is a great French philosopher, and I was so glad when the
English-language version of this book came out. I always keep a few
copies of it at home to offer as gifts to good friends. It contains very
simple experiments to discover the subconscious and unexpected
processes in your brain, and it’s great inspiration for those of us who
build technologies and create new kinds of experiences.
— Rebecca Kleinberger (TED Talk: Why you don’t like the sound of your own voice)
Grit by Angela Duckworth
In this compelling and interesting read, Duckworth (TED Talk: Grit — the power of passion and persistence)
explores the concept of grit. Through numerous real-life examples of
high achievers, she examines the idea that they possess a combination of
passion and perseverance — not just talent. This book really resonated
with me, a person who sees herself as possessing grit. It made me
recognize that much of my success in athletics, work and life has been
due to my effort and unrelenting determination, despite my not being the
fastest or most talented. I hope that I can teach my own daughter to
have grit.
— Minda Dentler (TED Talk: What I learned when I conquered the world’s toughest triathlon)
One dominant belief in our culture is that inherited intelligence
dictates so much of our success, despite copious examples to the
contrary. Duckworth’s research, which is clearly explained in this book,
helps spread the good news there’s more to the story of what drives
success — and more that we can do to enhance everyone’s chances.
— David Burkus (TED Talk: Why you should know how much your coworkers get paid)
Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol Dweck (TED Talk: The power of believing you can improve)
Dweck’s treatise on growth versus fixed mindsets has been
extraordinarily influential in my professional and personal life. One of
the greatest things that holds us back from reaching our full potential
is fear of failure. By believing that we can grow and change our
abilities through hard work and grit, we can get past that fear and
unlock all sorts of possibilities in ourselves.
–Margaret Gould Stewart (TED Talk: How giant websites design for you and a billion others)
Biased: Uncovering the Hidden Prejudice That Shapes What We See, Think and Do by Jennifer Eberhardt
Stanford University professor Eberhardt draws on years of her own
rigorous academic research and the work of others to effectively break
down how bias insidiously operates in each of our lives — as
perpetrators, victims, bystanders and helpers — every day. The deeply
moving personal and professional experiences that she shares help
facilitate a tangible connection to this important subject matter. A
must read for scholars and laypeople alike, this book reaches beyond the
merely descriptive to prescribe courses of action that have been found
to be effective in combating our unconscious bias.
— Dana Kanze (TED Talk: The real reason female entrepreneurs get less funding)
Stumbling on Happiness by Daniel Gilbert
It’s hard to walk through a library without stumbling on a book about
happiness, but this one is my all-time favorite. Gilbert (TED Talk: The psychology of your future self)
shares fascinating insights from scientific research on happiness and
shows us how our most fundamental assumptions about what will make us
happy often turn out to be wrong. This book is so entertaining and funny
that I can’t read it in public because it makes me laugh out loud (so
it’s perfect for a desert island!).
— Elizabeth Dunn (TED Talk: Helping others makes us happier — but it matters how we do it)
Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear by Elizabeth Gilbert
Forget what you think about Eat, Pray, Love. Gilbert (TED Talk: Success, failure and the drive to keep creating)
has a phenomenal lens on how creativity really works. Throughout the
book, she reminds you that if you take creativity off a precious
pedestal and just keep working on something, magic does happen.
— Rachel Botsman (TED Talk: The case for collaborative consumption)
The Philosophical Baby: What Children’s Minds Tell Us About Truth, Love and the Meaning of Life by Alison Gopnik
This fascinating book offers an intriguing dive into the minds of our
young and how they develop and function. Gopnik (TED Talk: What do babies think?)
encourages us to revisit many of our assumptions on these subjects and
to confront anew the the meaning of life and other philosophical big
questions. Whatever your take on her overarching point — that our
children can enlighten us adults — her book is bound to make you think
and to find hope in the miracle of the human mind.
— Isaac Lidsky (TED Talk: What reality are you creating for yourself?)
The Examined Life: How We Lose and Find Ourselves by Stephen Grosz
This book s a collection of deeply moving stories of self-discovery by psychoanalyst Grosz. His writing about therapy has been described
as “like a combination of Chekhov and Oliver Sacks.” Whether it’s
finding and keeping love, facing trauma in a family history, or
confronting the most sensitive personal or professional vulnerabilities,
this book brings hope by showing that humans have the capacity to heal —
even bloom — when living with life’s most painful emotional scars.
— Alexandra Sacks (TED Talk: A new way to think about the transition to motherhood)
Shared Reality: What Makes Us Strong and Tears Us Apart by E. Tory Higgins
Columbia University professor Higgins introduces readers to his
fascinating social psychological theory of “shared reality” with
patience and passion. Although the theoretical underpinnings run deep,
readers can easily forge an intimate relationship with these findings.
Perhaps the ultimate “desert island” book topic, shared reality enables
us to better understand our innate yearning to connect meaningfully with
others. More important now than ever, this book helps us be better
parents, friends, partners, coworkers and community members by sharing
what is real about the world around us.
— Dana Kanze (TED Talk: The real reason female entrepreneurs get less funding)
How To Be Idle: A Loafer’s Manifesto by Tom Hodgkinson
This is a funny, eye-opening guide to why and how we are living is
making us so miserable, but we can’t even say that, let alone object.
This book explains how we were not always so work obsessed; instead,
work was integrated into our lives, which were more than what we did to
earn money. Plus, there’s a great chapter on why we do hangovers all
wrong.
— Simone George (TED Talk with Mark Pollock: A love letter to realism in a time of grief)
Wherever You Go, There You Are by Jon Kabat-Zinn
Learning to be ‘present’ in your life and to appreciate every single
moment is certainly a wonderful skill to have. Being mindful has made
such a difference in my life — most significantly in adapting and
accepting the acute discomfort that I live with as a double amputee.
Practicing mindfulness has enabled me to include pain into my positive
idea of what it means to ‘feel’ life — the full spectrum of what it
means to be alive!
— Gill Hicks (TED Talk: I survived a terrorist attack. Here’s what I learned)
Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman
Kahneman (TED Talk: The riddle of experience vs. memory)
shares what he has learned in decades of research — a wonderful, clear
and simple analysis of our embedded self-delusions and the
‘dual-process’ model of our brains.
— Tom Hulme (TED Talk: What can we learn from shortcuts?)
The World as Laboratory: Experiments with Mice, Mazes and Men by Rebecca Lemon
Even if we are influenced, shaped and controlled in our behaviors and
actions, at least we are free inside — right? Not so, argues Lemov in
his book. The attempt to engineer the interior space of people began
over a century ago with the field of behavioral psychology, and its
subsequent history is chillingly recounted in this scholarly yet
accessible book.
— Sajay Samuel (TED Talk: How college loans exploit students for profit)
Doing Good Better by Will MacAskill
“Effective altruism” is one of the most important new social movements,
and this book is a great introduction to it. MacAskill (TED Talk: What are the most important moral problems of our time?)
is a philosopher from Oxford who explains how a lot of our intuitions
about how to help the world are misguided, and how we can make a bigger
difference in the world with some simple shifts in our behavior.
— Julia Galef (TED Talk: Why you think you’re right — even if you’re wrong)
Improv Wisdom by Patricia Ryan Madson
This book is a refreshing change from the usual self-help psychology in
that it introduces you to improv and its principles and applies them to
everyday life. I enjoyed learning more about the art of improv and
having the opportunity to think about how I approach life and to try
something different. It’s also a concise, well-organized book that is
easy to revisit over and over. I recommend trying improv if you can —
it’s unbelievably fun.
— Sabine Doebel (TED Talk: How your brain’s executive function works)
The Singing Neanderthals: The Origins of Music, Language, Mind and Body by Steven Mithen
This is a brilliant read for anyone who is passionately connected to
music. Mithen brings together psychology, evolutionary biology,
neuroscience, archaeology and more to uncover just how deeply music is
embedded in our species. Immensely readable, quirky and full of insight
into our human condition, this book drops my jaw at least once per
chapter.
— Meklit Hadero (TED Talk: The unexpected beauty of everyday sounds)
The Skeptic’s Guide to the Universe: How to Tell What’s Really Real In a World Increasingly Full of Fake by Steven Novella
Novella is right up there with Carl Sagan as people who taught me the
joy and humility that comes with understanding how our brains actually
work (or don’t!) in our quest to understand the cosmos and ourselves.
This is the ultimate guide to critical thinking, with all the charm and
irreverence that Steve and the other “Rogues” bring to their weekly
podcast of the same name. As the subtitle suggests, this book comes at a
time when we need it most.
— Matt Russo (TED Talk: What does the universe sound like? A musical tour)
The Wizard of Oz and Other Narcissists: Coping with the One-Way Relationship in Work, Love and Family by Eleanor D. Payson
This incredibly insightful book details the underlying motivations and
behaviors of those with narcissistic personality disorders. It also
describes the interpersonal relationship characteristics between
individuals with NPD and others at work and at home. In a world filled
with increasing self-absorption, it’s is a terrific read.
— Susan Robinson (TED Talk: How I fail at being disabled)
How to Change Your Mind:
What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness,
Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence by Michael Pollan
If there were one book that I could make everyone read — outside my
primary life’s focus of reforming our system of agriculture — it would
be this one. In short, psychedelic drugs can be used as therapy for
everything from addiction and depression to the existential angst that
accompanies the dying process for many people. Pollan (TED Talk: A plant’s eye view)
brings his exceptional storytelling skills and his journalistic sense
of skepticism to the history and the current science around
psychedelics. Riveting, fascinating and enjoyable.
— Bruce Friedrich (TED Talk: The next global agricultural revolution)
Practical Ethics by Peter Singer
This is a great book for someone who wants to consider how they could
live a more ethical life or better understand some issues in applied
ethics. It’s an extremely well argued, compelling book addressing topics
relevant to all of us. You don’t have to agree with everything that
Singer (TED Talk: The why and how of effective altruism)
writes in order to find it thought-provoking and worth the read. In
terms of books that changed my life, this one is right up there.
— Sabine Doebel (TED Talk: How your brain’s executive function works)
The Power of Meaning: Finding Fulfillment in a World Obsessed with Happiness by Emily Esfahani Smith
I was inspired by Smith (TED Talk: There’s more to life than being happy)
after meeting her at the 2017 TED conference. There is so much of
American culture that’s reliant on happiness, and her book is a good
reminder that we might be focusing on the wrong things and perhaps
meaning is a better focus for us.
— Grace Kim (TED Talk: How cohousing can make us happier and live longer)
Mistakes Were Made (But Not By Me): Why We Justify Foolish Beliefs, Bad Decisions, and Hurtful Acts by Carol Tavris and Elliot Aronson
This book forces me to be self-reflective and recognize when cognitive
dissonance enters my decision-making process. Citing numerous historical
examples in which this psychological phenomenon has negatively impacted
outcomes, Tavris and Aronson brilliantly show the reader how we can
identify dissonance in our choices, ultimately helping you make better
decisions and foster better relationships.
— Kelly Richmond-Pope (TED Talk: How whistle-blowers shape history)
Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth and Happiness by Richard Thaler
This book really added another perspective for me. It explained why we
all make — quite often — unwise choices due to a lack of information.
Not to spoil the punchline, but I found it very interesting that the
cause of making bad decisions can be found within ourselves.
— Matthias Müllenbeck (TED Talk: What if we paid doctors to keep people healthy?)
Becoming Wise: An Inquiry into the Mystery and Art of Living by Krista Tippett
This book is full of the same kind of nuanced, wide-ranging intelligence
about what makes us human as her radio show and podcast, “On Being.”
You’ll close the last page feeling intelligently hopeful about how our
wounds actually do serve to make us more wise and connected.
— Courtney Martin (TED Talk: The new American dream)
The Hidden Brain: How Our Unconscious Minds Elect Presidents, Control Markets, Wage Wars and Save Our Lives by Shankar Vedantam
What role do unconscious biases play in how we make decisions when we
buy, think, vote, judge and convict? What we don’t know about what we
believes shapes much more about our lives and our actions than we
realize. The author does a great job of educating readers about the role
of unconscious bias in a page-turning, interesting way.
— Casey Brown (TED Talk: Know your worth, and then ask for it)
Why Buddhism is True: The Science and Philosophy of Meditation and Enlightenment by Robert Wright
Wright (TED Talk: The evolution of compassion)
writes with a combination of humility and wisdom, summarizing the best
research on the science behind Buddhist practices in an approachable
manner. This book makes me feel hopeful that there is a life beyond our
human neuroses, no matter what form they take, and it’s a great read for
both skeptics of meditation and experienced meditators.
— Mara Mintzer (TED Talk: How kids can help design cities)
Go here to see the other book categories in the gift guide
Do these recommendations look familiar? They’ve been curated from TED’s reading lists
Originally appears in: https://ideas.ted.com/gift-guide-books-about-business-and-professional-growth/?utm_source=recommendation&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=explore&utm_term=giftguide
