Best for: Anyone at a bit of a crossroads in life, trying to figure out their next career move. In a nutshell: The creators of the Designing Your Life workshops and program at Stanford offer their tips and process for figuring out options for your career, using design as the basis. Worth quoting: “If it’s not actionable, it’s not a problem” “There is no one idea for your life. There are many lives you could live happily and productively (no matter how many years old […]
Mostly Good Survey of Western Philosophy
Best for: Anyone interested in an introduction to ideas from western philosophy, starting with Socrates and Plato. In a nutshell: Philosopher (and podcaster) Nigel Warburton spends 40 chapters exploring the one or two main hallmarks of different western philosophers. Worth quoting: “Philosophers challenge dogma. They ask why people believe what they do, what sorts of evidence they have to support their conclusions.” Why I chose it: I was feeling a little nostalgic about my days studying philosophy. That program was only a year, and pretty […]
Lots of Saxon Names
Best for: Anyone who likes a little trivia about place names. In a nutshell: Author Hilliam provides the history of the name of every station on the London Underground Worth quoting: “Interestingly, our word ‘book’ also comes from this Saxon word (boc hyrst) for a beech tree. Even before books as we know them were invented, wooden writing tablets were made of thin slices of beech wood, on which letters known as runes could be scratched. These, of course, were pieces of boc.” Why I […]
Kindness
Best for: Anyone looking for a meaningful read that, despite being nearly 400 pages, flies by. In a nutshell: Eleanor Oliphant is nearly 30 and has lived her life alone since leaving foster care. But when she and her colleague witness a man take a bad fall on the street, she starts down a path towards confronting her loneliness and her past. (Read the synopsis online, as I fear I’m not doing it justice.) Worth quoting: “Human mating rituals are unbelievable tedious to observe. At […]