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Recommendations based on Happy City: Transforming Our Lives Through Urban Designby Charles Montgomery
* statistically, based on millions of data-points provided by fellow humans
The Death and Life of Great American Cities
by Jane Jacobs
Exposes the flaws of urban planning, advocating for a more organic approach.
A direct and fundamentally optimistic indictment of the short-sightedness and intellectual arrogance that has characterized much of urban planning in this century, The Death and Life of Great ... (Goodreads)
Just My Type: A Book about Fonts
by Simon Garfield
Exploration of the fascinating history and variety of typefaces that have shaped our world.
What’s your type? Suddenly everyone’s obsessed with fonts. Whether you’re enraged by Ikea’s Verdanagate, want to know what the Beach Boys have in common with easy Jet or why it’s okay to like Comic ... (Goodreads)
Capital in the Twenty-First Century
by Thomas Piketty
An economic analysis of wealth and inequality in the modern era.
What are the grand dynamics that drive the accumulation and distribution of capital? Questions about the long-term evolution of inequality, the concentration of wealth, and the prospects for economic ... (Goodreads)
Team of Teams: New Rules of Engagement for a Complex World
by Stanley McChrystal
Exploring the challenges of leading and managing in a world of complexity, uncertainty, and rapid change.
The retired four-star general and and bestselling author of, My Share of the Task, shares a powerful new leadership model As commander of Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), General Stanley ... (Goodreads)
Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea
by Barbara Demick
Exploration of the lives of North Koreans during the famine and repression of the 1990s.
Nothing to Envy follows the lives of six North Koreans over fifteen years—a chaotic period that saw the death of Kim Il-sung, the unchallenged rise to power of his son Kim Jong-il, and the ... (Goodreads)
Your Money or Your Life
by Vicki Robin
An exploration of personal finance and the journey to financial independence.
In times like these, it's more important than ever to know the difference between making a living and making a life. Your Money or Your Life is even more relevant today than it was when the book ... (Goodreads)
Factfulness: Ten Reasons We're Wrong About the World – and Why Things Are Better Than You Think
by Hans Rosling
A data-driven book that challenges common misconceptions about the world and presents a more accurate, optimistic view of global progress.
Factfulness:, The stress-reducing habit of only carrying opinions for which you have strong supporting facts. When asked simple questions about global trends— what percentage of the world’s ... (Goodreads)
Bullshit Jobs: A Theory
by David Graeber
A critical analysis of meaningless jobs that contribute nothing to society, and the psychological toll they take on workers.
From bestselling writer David Graeber, a powerful argument against the rise of meaningless, unfulfilling jobs, and their consequences. Does your job make a meaningful contribution to the world? In ... (Goodreads)
Stumbling on Happiness
by Daniel Todd Gilbert
A scientific exploration of why we often fail to predict what will make us happy and how we can find happiness in unexpected ways.
• Why are lovers quicker to forgive their partners for infidelity than for leaving dirty dishes in the sink? • Why will sighted people pay more to avoid going blind than blind people will pay to ... (Goodreads)
How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence
by Michael Pollan
An exploration of the history, science, and potential therapeutic benefits of psychedelic drugs.
Could psychedelic drugs change our worldview? One of America's most admired writers takes us on a mind-altering journey to the frontiers of human consciousness When LSD was first discovered in the ... (Goodreads)
Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder
by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
An exploration of how disorder and chaos can lead to strength and resilience.
From the bestselling author of The Black Swan and one of the foremost philosophers of our time, Nassim Nicholas Taleb, a book on how some systems actually benefit from disorder. In The Black Swan ... (Goodreads)
Between the World and Me
by Ta-Nehisi Coates
A letter to his son, exploring the realities of racism in America.
“This is your country, this is your world, this is your body, and you must find some way to live within the all of it.” In a profound work that pivots from the biggest questions about American ... (Goodreads)
Soccernomics
by Simon Kuper
A data-driven analysis of soccer, exploring the economics and psychology behind the world's most popular sport.
Why do England lose? Why does Scotland suck? Why doesn’t America dominate the sport internationally... and why do the Germans play with such an efficient but robotic style? These are questions every ... (Goodreads)
The Sports Gene: Inside the Science of Extraordinary Athletic Performance
by David Epstein
Investigates the role of genetics in athletic performance, challenging the notion of natural talent and hard work as the sole determinants of success.
Now a, New York Times, Bestseller! With a new chapter added to the paperback. In high school, I wondered whether the Jamaican Americans who made our track team so successful might carry some special ... (Goodreads)
Why I Write
by George Orwell
Reflection on the art and craft of writing, exploring its purpose and power.
Whether puncturing the lies of politicians, wittily dissecting the English character or telling unpalatable truths about war, Orwell's timeless, uncompromising essays are more relevant, entertaining ... (Goodreads)
Hyperbole and a Half: Unfortunate Situations, Flawed Coping Mechanisms, Mayhem, and Other Things That Happened
by Allie Brosh
A humorous and candid account of the author's life, exploring the highs and lows of everyday life.
#1, New York Times, Bestseller “Funny and smart as hell” (Bill Gates), Allie Brosh’s, Hyperbole and a Half, showcases her unique voice, leaping wit, and her ability to capture complex emotions with ... (Barnes & Noble)
The Unwinding: An Inner History of the New America
by George Packer
An exploration of America's political and economic decline over the last few decades.
A riveting examination of a nation in crisis, from one of the finest political journalists of our generation American democracy is beset by a sense of crisis. Seismic shifts during a single ... (Goodreads)
Command and Control: Nuclear Weapons, the Damascus Accident, and the Illusion of Safety
by Eric Schlosser
An exploration of nuclear weapon safety and the risk of catastrophic accidents.
A myth-shattering exposé of America’s nuclear weapons Famed investigative journalist Eric Schlosser digs deep to uncover secrets about the management of America’s nuclear arsenal. A groundbreaking ... (Goodreads)
The Partly Cloudy Patriot
by Sarah Vowell
An exploration of American nationalism and identity, weaving in personal stories and reflections.
Sarah Vowell travels through the American past and, in doing so, investigates the dusty, bumpy roads of her own life. In this insightful and funny collection of personal stories Vowell—widely hailed ... (Goodreads)
Homo Deus: A History of Tomorrow
by Yuval Noah Harari
An exploration of humanity's future, and the potential paths of our species.
Yuval Noah Harari, author of the critically-acclaimed, New York Times, bestseller and international phenomenon, Sapiens, returns with an equally original, compelling, and provocative book, turning ... (Goodreads)
Other Minds: The Octopus, the Sea, and the Deep Origins of Consciousness
by Peter Godfrey-Smith
Exploration of the philosophical and scientific questions surrounding the emergence of consciousness in animals other than humans.
Although mammals and birds are widely regarded as the smartest creatures on earth, it has lately become clear that a very distant branch of the tree of life has also sprouted higher intelligence: the ... (Goodreads)
The Magic of Reality: How We Know What's Really True
by Richard Dawkins
Exploring the science behind phenomena of the natural world, from the big bang to evolution.
Magic takes many forms. Supernatural magic is what our ancestors used in order to explain the world before they developed the scientific method. The ancient Egyptians explained the night by ... (Goodreads)
Food Rules: An Eater's Manual
by Michael Pollan
A guide to mindful eating, exploring the connection between health, environment and culture.
A DEFINITIVE COMPENDIUM OF FOOD WISDOM Eating doesn't have to be so complicated. In this age of ever-more elaborate diets and conflicting health advice, Food Rules brings a welcome simplicity to our ... (Goodreads)
The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing
by Marie Kondō
A guide to mastering the art of decluttering and organizing for a more fulfilling life.
#1, NEW YORK TIMES, BESTSELLER • The book that sparked a revolution and inspired the hit Netflix series, Tidying Up with Marie Kondo,: the original guide to decluttering your home once and for all. ... (Barnes & Noble)
We Should All Be Feminists
by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
A call to action for an inclusive, gender-equal society through an examination of feminism.
What does “feminism” mean today? That is the question at the heart of We Should All Be Feminists , a personal, eloquently-argued essay—adapted from her much-viewed TEDx talk of the same name—by ... (Goodreads)
Thinking, Fast and Slow
by Daniel Kahneman
An exploration of the two systems of the mind, and how they influence decision-making.
In the highly anticipated Thinking, Fast and Slow , Kahneman takes us on a groundbreaking tour of the mind and explains the two systems that drive the way we think. System 1 is fast, intuitive, and ... (Goodreads)
The Code Book: The Science of Secrecy from Ancient Egypt to Quantum Cryptography
by Simon Singh
A comprehensive history of cryptography and its role in shaping our world.
In his first book since the bestselling Fermat’s Enigma , Simon Singh offers the first sweeping history of encryption, tracing its evolution and revealing the dramatic effects codes have had on wars, ... (Goodreads)
The Hare With Amber Eyes: A Family's Century of Art and Loss
by Edmund de Waal
A journey through time, tracing the history of a family's collection of art and their struggles with loss.
The Ephrussis were a grand banking family, as rich and respected as the Rothschilds, who “burned like a comet” in nineteenth-century Paris and Vienna society. Yet by the end of World War II, almost ... (Goodreads)
Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI
by David Grann
Exposé of a series of murders of the Osage Nation in 1920s Oklahoma and the FBI's investigation.
In the 1920s, the richest people per capita in the world were members of the Osage Indian Nation in Oklahoma. After oil was discovered beneath their land, the Osage rode in chauffeured automobiles, ... (Goodreads)
Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin
by Timothy Snyder
History of the mass extermination of civilians in Central and Eastern Europe during WWII.
Americans call the Second World War “The Good War.” But before it even began, America’s wartime ally Josef Stalin had killed millions of his own citizens—and kept killing them during and after the ... (Goodreads)
