Books to Consider

by Stephen Mills on August 24, 2010

Hamlet’s BlackBerry: A Practical Philosophy for Building a Good Life in the Digital Age – This is a really good book about what it means to make use of the advantages of the connected digital world without suffering all the disadvantages. I highly recommend it as probably the most balanced treatment of the good and the bad of being permanently connected and a fascinating history going back to Socrates.

The Way We’re Working Isn’t Working: The Four Forgotten Needs That Energize Great Performance – This is just a really, really good book on how to perform better. Definitely recommended.

The Invisible Gorilla: And Other Ways Our Intuitions Deceive Us – Another book about how our intuitions are often wrong and what to do about it. This was an extremely well written book.

Empire of the Summer Moon: Quanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanches, the Most Powerful Indian Tribe in American History – This is now on the bestseller list and deservedly so. It is really an eye opening account of the little-known culture of the Great Plains Indian tribe the Commanches. I can honestly say I learned a good bit of little-known western history from reading this book.

Wrong: Why experts* keep failing us–and how to know when not to trust them *Scientists, finance wizards, doctors, relationship gurus, celebrity CEOs, … consultants, health officials and more – A fascinating account of how experts are always getting it wrong. There were some surprises in here for me. For instance, 2/3 of scientific papers announcing a new finding and published in the most elite peer-reviewed journals are later proven mistaken for a variety of reasons.

The Secret Life of the Grown-up Brain: The Surprising Talents of the Middle-Aged Mind – As a 49 year-old I LOVED this book. Yes, you are not as quick as you used to be and yes, recall of names becomes more difficult, but in other ways the middle-aged brain is better than a young brain. For anyone past 40 and who wonders about what is going to happen to your mind, I highly recommend this wonderful book.

The Alternate-Day Diet – This is a diet for health as well as weight loss. Consider it.

The New Good Life: Living Better Than Ever in an Age of Less – This is a good read and a very interesting look at how the Baskin Robbin’s heir gave up his inheritance for the ultimate Spartan life. His points are legitimate but he goes way further than I would ever consider.

Here is a list of other books to consider. I liked all of these:

The Last Stand: Custer, Sitting Bull, and the Battle of the Little Bighorn

Mengele: The Complete Story

The Youth Pill: Scientists at the Brink of an Anti-Aging Revolution

Being Wrong: Adventures in the Margin of Error

The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon (Vintage Departures)

The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains

What do YOU think? Leave a comment and join the conversation.