17 Book recommendations by Social Bluers

We’ve recently asked our Social Bluers what they are reading and if they would like to share some of their favourite books. Here’s a selection of books that are recommended.

The Alchemist: Paulo Coelho
This book is a modern classic. It’s a great story that reminds you of the essential pearls of wisdom such as listening to our hearts and following our dreams.

AI Superpowers: Kai-Fu Lee
AI Superpowers is an interesting book by Kai-Fu Lee if you want to learn more about Artificial Intelligence. It discusses the astonishingly rapid pace at which AI is being developed and the competition between China and the US to do so.

Atomic Habits: James Clear
This is a great read to improve your habits. It teaches you that changing small things in your everyday processes will provide big changes in performance in the long run.

The Things You Can See Only When You Slow Down: Haemin Sunim
This book was written by Haemin Sunim, a renowned Buddhist meditation teacher. In this worldwide bestseller, he emphasizes the importance of forging a deeper connection with others and being compassionate and forgiving toward ourselves.

Catch-22: Jospeph Heller
Catch-22 is a hilarious and absurd novel that tells the story of soldiers who try to stay sane on a military base, and to stay alive flying their missions, so that they may return home. It’s a war novel that ignores the violence of war up to the end and doesn’t show a clash between good and bad, but rather the absurdity of the thing.

How To Be A Stoic – Ancient Wisdom for Modern Living: Pigliucci Massimo
Philosopher Massimo Pigliucci writes about the concept of Stoicism, a pragmatic philosophy that focuses our attention on what is possible and gives us perspective on what is unimportant. This is a very interesting read to discover how Stoicism can be applied to our everyday lives in the quest for meaning.

The Good Soldier: Ford Madox Ford
This masterpiece explores the life of a narrator who has completely misunderstood his own life, raising interesting questions about perception, truth, and human character.

Contagious: Jonah Berger
This novel will give you all the insights into why certain products and ideas go viral. Professor Jonah Berger draws on his research and explains the six steps that make products or ideas contagious.

Sapiens: Yuval Noah Harari
This novel is a brief version of the entire human history. It’s a very interesting read which gives insights from the biological, anthropological, paleontological, and economical standpoint.

Homo Deus: Yuval Noah Harari
This second book by Dr. Yuval Noah Harari mixes up science, history, and philosophy to give insights into the dreams and nightmares of the 21^st century. It asks questions such as: where do we go from here, and how will we protect this world?

Brave New World: Aldous Huxley
Brave New World is a dystopian novel which is set in a futuristic World State, inhabited by genetically modified citizen and an intelligence-based social hierarchy. This classic by Aldous Huxley from 1932 reads like it could have been written yesterday.

Go for No! Yes is the Destination, No is How You Get There:
Richard Fenton
This is a must-read if you are working in sales. Richard Fenton describes why to ‘Go for No!’ instead of getting to a yes. This book is written to be intentionally short and to the point. It’s a quick and fun read with valuable sales lessons that can improve your thinking, selling, and living.

Dune: Frank Herbert
This bestselling science fiction novel from 1965 is set in the distant future on the desert planet Arrakis amidst a feudal interstellar society. It’s a classic masterpiece that according to The New Yorker, might even be more relevant now than when it was first published.

Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike: Phil Knight
This memoir about Phil Knight is an incredible story of how he started his very own brand, coming from his passion and the need for a product that was not out there yet.

Talking to strangers – What We Should Know about the People We Don’t Know: Malcolm Gladwell
According to this novel written by Malcolm Gladwell, we don’t know how to talk to strangers, we are inviting conflict, and we are misunderstanding in ways that have a profound effect on our lives and our world. Talking to strangers is a nonfiction book that helps you better understand and accurately judge the people you don’t know while staying patient and tolerant of others.

1984: George Orwell
This classic novel written by George Orwell in 1949 presents a terrifying vision of a totalitarian future. This book was quite ahead of its time and touches on the invasion of privacy and ubiquitous surveillance.

Steve Jobs – The Exclusive Biography: Walter Isaacson
This bestselling biography about Steve Jobs describes the rollercoaster life of the business magnate, industrial designer, investor, and media proprietor. The book was requested by Jobs himself and he gave full access to his life so that you really get to know him as a person.