Welcome to 2016, a brand new year packed with opportunities for you to try new things, learn new skills, and make new friends! Read on to discover some great titles to fuel your personal ambitions.
The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right
by Atul Gawande
What I will be doing is making checklists. All sorts of checklists. I’m making one right now, in fact, which includes finishing this list of book recommendations! My next recommendation is for the book, The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right. In this book, Gawande makes a compelling case for how incorporating simple checklists into our routines can focus our attention, break down processes into manageable portions, and prevent us from making needless and costly mistakes. Gawande peppers his suggestions with interesting anecdotes from medicine and aviation, demonstrating ways in which these checklists are literally saving lives. The average person’s checklists may not deal with matters of life and death, but Gawande ably demonstrates that when used well, checklists can help us improve our quality of life and our level of excellence in our work.
What’s Your Story? True Experiences from Complete Strangers
by Brandon Doman
Finally, further add to this new appreciation for the people around you by picking up What’s Your Story? True Experiences from Complete Strangers by Brandon Doman. Doman began what he calls The Strangers Project by setting out a notebook and a marker in a coffee shop and putting up a sign that said, “Hi there! Please stop and share your story!” And people did. In the introduction to this book, Doman states that in this project his “burning curiosity to listen to people was met with their equally intense desire to be heard.” The book includes the stories of strangers passing through Washington Square Park in New York City in their own words, written in their own handwriting, and it is some of the most compelling, disturbing, heartbreaking and inspiring writing you will read all year. Who knows, maybe it will inspire you to take out your own notebook and marker and write down your life story.
Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking
by Susan Cain
Speaking of excellence, when was the last time you made a point to thank the quietest person in the room for making your life better through their thoughtful sensitivity and insight? If the answer is “never,” or even “not often,” you should immediately stop what you are doing and pick up the book, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking. In this read, author Susan Cain offers a thorough analysis of an often under-appreciated segment of our society: the introverts. For better or for worse, we live in a world in which the loudest voices generally rule; but Cain does a superb analysis of how the thoughtful reflection and impulse control that introverts bring to the table often help (when heeded) to balance out the louder, more impetuous extroverted voices around us. If you are an introvert, know an introvert, or ever expect to meet an introvert (in other words, anyone and everyone), expand your appreciation of this personality type by reading this book.
Drop Dead Healthy: One Man’s Humble Quest for Bodily Perfection
by A.J. Jacobs
If you are one of the many Americans who has just resolved to lose weight, get fit, or be healthier in 2016, do yourself a favor and pick up A.J. Jacobs’ book, Drop Dead Healthy: One Man’s Humble Quest for Bodily Perfection. An experiential journalist, Jacobs immerses himself in all of his projects, which have included reading the entire Encyclopedia Britannica (The KnowIt-All) and devoting a year to following as many Biblical teachings as humanly possible (The Year of Living Biblically). Jacobs’ latest project describes the nearly two years in which he worked to improve his body from head-to-toe (and every organ in between). Jacobs’ antics as he attempts to lower his stress, sleep soundly, breathe right, move more and hurt less will entertain and enlighten you. It will probably also help you to pinpoint the diet and fitness fads you do—and don’t—want to try. (Example: I will not be doing the caveman diet or workout anytime soon.)
Vanessa Walstra is an Adult Services Librarian at the East Grand Rapids Branch of Kent District Library where she sails through her days answering questions, looking out on Reeds Lake, and recommending great stories.
