8 Books That Shifted My Perspective This Month (Nonfiction + Fiction Picks)
July 2025 Book Recommendations
“Books are not only a conversation with another, but also with oneself.”
I love books that make an impression—not just on my reading list, but on how I think, write, and live. This mix of books stirred deeper reflections as I was reading and afterward, challenging some old assumptions.
If you’re searching for books about AI, happiness without toxic positivity, creative discipline, cultural wake-ups, or simply more joy, you might find one of these books helpful to add to your own stack.
Here are 7 nonfiction books and 1 novel that I’m recommending from my recent reads.
[See previously recommended books here]
Nonfiction That Changed How I Think
1. Co-Intelligence
Living and Working with AI
by Ethan Mollick
5 stars! This is the book I’ll recommend for those wanting to know more about AI. It’s not too complicated or technical, but is thorough enough to encourage us to think thoughtfully about how we want to use AI in real life and what kind of boundaries we hope will be set around it.
After reading it, I’m both more excited and more scared about our future with AI. Ready or not, AI is here among us already. And expanding more every year.
2. The Antidote
Happiness for People Who Can’t Stand Positive Thinking
by Oliver Burkeman
Toxic positivity is a real turnoff for me. So I appreciate Burkeman writing this book for us questioners. He reminds us that finding happiness is sometimes counterintuitive and includes:
“learning to enjoy uncertainty, embracing insecurity, stopping trying to think positively, becoming familiar with failure, even learning to value death.”
Excellent book!
Burkeman—who also wrote the fantastic book Four Thousand Weeks as well as Meditation for Mortals—is an author I want to hear more and more from. (He has a wonderful newsletter, The Imperfectionist; you can sign up for it here.)
3. Everybody Writes
Your New and Improved Go-To Guide to Creating Ridiculously Good Content
by Ann Handley
This is very much a how-to book on writing. And as the title says, everybody writes. Whether or not you call yourself a writer, you likely write something most days, even if it’s just texts or emails.
But not only is this guide full of helpful information, it’s also organized and displayed attractively (Handley is a fan of white space). It was a joy to read her writings about writing. And incorporate her suggestions into my own words.
4. We Have Never Been Woke
The Cultural Contradictions of a New Elite
by Musa al-Gharbi
Ouch. This book about woke culture pokes holes in some of the ways I’d been thinking about (and practicing) activism. Deeply researched, this book by Al-Gharbi prompts you to think deeper about the typical arguments we use for and against common culture war topics.
“Our sincere commitments to social justice often blind us to the role we play in contributing to social problems.”
Don’t give up on the book, though, if you find it too slow at the beginning. I almost stopped reading after the first chapter because I couldn’t get into it. But then the pace really picked up and I found it fascinating.
5. 1000 Words
A Writer’s Guide to Staying Creative, Focused, and Productive All Year Round
by Jami Attenberg
I did a quick read of this book for writers when I stumbled across the #1000WordsofSummer challenge last month. For 14 days straight, Jami Attenberg encourages you to write 1,000 words a day (about anything!) and report in to the community. I participated and loved it! (She does it yearly so watch for it next year at Jami’s substack.)
The book provides good advice about writing in general, with lots of guest essays from other writers. Attenberg says:
“You don’t know what you have to say until you say it. . . . My mantra for a few years now has been this: Stay in it.”
6. Inciting Joy: Essays
by Ross Gay
My online group is focusing on finding glimmers of joy during June, so our book club selection was this book about joy. This is my first encounter with Ross Gay, a lovely human being who pulled me into his poetic, everyday encounters, even when I initially resisted them.
“What if joy and pain are fundamentally tangled up with one another? Or even more to the point, what if joy is not only entangled with pain, or suffering, or sorrow, but is also what emerges from how we care for each other through those things?”
Each essay is a stand-alone, and some pulled me in more than others. But overall it’s a vulnerable and beautiful collection of words, reminding me that joy can be an act of survival and solidarity.
7. How to Break Up with Your Phone
The 30-Day Plan to Take Back Your Life
by Catherine Price
“I regret that I didn’t spend more time on my phone.”
—No one on their deathbed, ever
If you want to use your phone less often, this is the book you’ll want. It guides you through all things regarding our phone addictions. Price doesn’t berate you, but she does gently nudge you to look at exactly how often you’re picking up your phone throughout the day. And why.
I’ve been loosely working through her 30 day plan. I don’t consider myself a heavy phone user (um, because I’m on my laptop so much instead?), but I was still appalled when I looked at my screen time hours every week. Yikes.
“I am grateful for all that my phone allows me to do. But I’m also aware of all that it does to me and, as a result, I remain constantly on guard.”
Fiction That Moved Me
8. The Last Voyage
by Brian D. McLaren
This novel surprised me. It’s science fiction (not my usual genre), but it’s also thoughtfully spiritual and philosophical. I shouldn’t have been surprised by that since it’s by Brian McLaren, a spiritual leader I’ve been listening to for years.
Set in 2056, the plot is about a small international group making a final trip to Mars to join a few hundred people already there setting up a long-term colony. It’s book 1 of a trilogy.
[Read my full review about The Last Voyage here, “Who Do We Need to Go to Mars?”]
WHAT I’M READING NOW
Two of the books on my current shelf (marked with an *) are from Daniel Pink’s list of 21 books that changed his life. See the list here.
- Algospeak
How Social Media Is Transforming the Future of Language
by Adam Aleksic - How to Fall in Love with Humanity
16 Life-Changing Practices for Radical Compassion
by James ‘Fish’ Gill - Big Feelings
How to Be Okay When Things Are Not Okay
by Liz Fosslien and Mollie West Duffy - The Sports Gene *
Inside the Science of Extraordinary Athletic Performance
by David Epstein - Thinking in Bets *
Making Smarter Decisions When You Don’t Have All the Facts
by Annie Duke - Dream State: A Novel
by Eric Puchner
Final Thoughts
I didn’t plan for these books I read last month to have a theme, but looking back, they all ripple outward from one idea: how we live, create, and connect—especially in uncertain times.
If you’ve read any of these, I’d love to hear your thoughts. Or recommend a book that’s shaped you this year. Please share in the comments.
Read more:
- Who Do You Trust With Your To-Read List?
Why I’m following this book list (and maybe you should too)
- On the Blog – June 2025
- What the Dalai Lama Taught Me About Responsibility, Kindness, and Connection
That book about AI sounds like one we should all read, Lisa. This concept alarms me, too. Thanks, as always, for your recommendations!
The AI book was both encouraging AND alarming. I’m still trying to wrap my head around it, but I’m sure I’ll never be able to. ha.
Checking out these books, thanks for sharing!
I’m always happy to share book recommendations. 🙂 Thanks for stopping by, Jenn.
Hi, Lisa – These all sounds like great selections. I haven’t read any of them yet, but I did recently download ‘Smartphone Nation’ from Netgalley. I look forward to reading it!
Smartphone Nation sounds like a book I would want to read, too. I have made a few healthy changes to my phone habits after reading How to Break Up With Your Phone. Time will tell if I stick to them though. 😉
Citing Joy is going on my wish list as soon as I finish this comment! Thanks for the review of these books, Lisa!
I hope it will be a book you will enjoy, Dianna! My library also had the audiobook (which I highly recommend), so sometimes I read, and sometimes I listened. The author was the narrator so I could hear his joy also.
You always find such thought provoking books to read and share!
Thanks for providing the linkup to share our books at your place, Joanne!
I’m interested in Co-Intelligence! I’m a nurse practitioner, and we are using AI charting at work. I like it for some of my visits, but not all. I don’t like that the notes don’t sound like me.
I feel like Jami Attenberg is always a win!
That sounds interesting that you’re using AI charting at work, Wendy. I can imagine having mixed feelings about it too. I hope the kinks continue to get sorted out where it will sound more like you.
This was my first intro to Jami Attenberg, but I’ll follow her work now!
Thank you for sharing these book titles, Lisa.
I’m always happy to talk about books! 🙂
love a good list, Just finished my probably one and only fiction book of the year. One I almost quit at the beginning ( I am not a fiction reader) but one once I did complete I was happy to know and enjoy the lesson and the walk with the characters and their story. Something about getting inside other’s souls, even fictional ones and walking with them for awhile is delightful…
I totally get that, Jean. My ratio of fiction to non-fiction books is also low. I’m curious what novel got your attention! I just finished Dream State, and it was fine, but also not great. When I commit to a novel, I want it to be fantastic. ha.
Hey Lisa, some of these definitely caught my eye. I’m going to have to check them out. I always appreciate whe you share book reviews and recommendations with Sweet Tea & Friends.
xo
I’m happy to share book recommendations, Paula. 🙂 Thanks for your faithful hosting at Sweet Tea & Friends. I’m glad the linkup is doing so well!
There’s some interesting books here. Might check out the woke one. I’m getting a jacket made with Global Wokerati on it after the Boris Johnson quote (as an avid Negroni drinker, I thought it was hilarious, even tho it was meant as an insult…hehehe) #WeekendCoffeeShare
I had to look up the quote…Google can find most anything. For better or worse! ha. I did find it. Hope your jacket turns out well! 🙂
I tend to use my laptop a lot, instead of my phone. Probably because I am a good typist and the phone slows me down. But then my laptop has become my everything. Cookbooks, banking, reading, blogging, planning, etc.
I signed up for that newsletter.
Same here – I agree with you that my laptop “has become my everything.” It froze on me one day last week and I almost panicked. ha. I keep SO many things on it; it keeps my life organized. Thankfully I tried a few tricks and got it working again. And then backed it up. 🙂
Thanks for all the reviews. Lots of titles to help us make sense of this era.
I’m grateful for books who help me sort out the world…and my little section of it, too.
These books sound interesting, Lisa. I haven’t read any of them yet and have a big TBR pile. Thank you for your weekend coffee share.
My TBR is out of control. ha. I’m not sure there’s a point in keeping it anymore because there are more books on it than I’d ever have time to read. Sometimes I think about scrapping it and just starting fresh.
I don’t read much non-fiction so it has been interesting to see your thoughts on these books!
I get it; that’s how I feel when I see suggestions for novels. 🙂 I do love fiction, but because I don’t read as many novels as others do, I’m always interested to hear what fiction readers are recommending.
Great reading. I sort of don’t think about AI but your book suggestion sounds like a worthwhile read.
I set myself a little mini-goal this year to learn more about AI, so I’ve been reading a bit more about it. And using it more too. So far, this book Co-Intelligence has been my favorite that I would recommend!
Wow, these look like some great books.
Some reading months are better than others. This was an especially good one. 🙂
The books you read all sound wonderful, Lisa. I agree: AI is wonderful and scary. I use it, but wonder how crazy it could get. I should grab Handley’s book. Thanks for sharing.
Yeah, I’m a little nervous at how unpredictable things may get with AI in a short amount of time. But hopefully it will be more good than bad. I view it like the internet; it can be used for good and can be used for bad. Setting up better guardrails for AI would be advantageous to keep it more helpful than harmful!
A whole new stack of fresh reads! I love the variety of genres you pursue and I appreciate the way you enlarge my sometimes limited borders, Lisa. Thank you, friend.
What are friends for if not to enlarge our to-read lists? 🙂 I’m glad we share a common love for books, Linda.
Lisa, I love this list of books you shared with us. I’m going to look into reading some of these! Thank you for sharing with us at The Crazy Little Lovebirds link party.
Really thoughtful list of recommendations. Without having done a lot of research, I already feel both scared and excited about the possibilities and pitfalls of AI. I’m very interested in Everybody Writes and am going to check that out. Stopping by from BookWorms Monthly today – Happy Reading!
I enjoy Adam Aleksic from “Etymology Nerd” — I follow his Youtube channel and his Substack. His book is on my TBR list.
Interesting reads Lisa.
Visiting today from Share Your Shelf
Hi Lisa, I’m always impressed with the books you select and you inspire me to try to read more non fiction. I think I’m up for the 1,000 words challenge although I’m not sure what I would write. I suppose that is the idea – just start writing. Thanks for joining us for #WOYBS? See you next month. Sue L x
Hi Lisa, what a great selection of thought provoking topics you’ve shared with us this month! I love how you find and devour these books and then share them with us. Thanks for joining us for #WOYBS, I always enjoy seeing your reviews and the way you weave your WOTY Ripple into it all!
Hi Lisa! I am loving Co-Intelligence! I am also reading Brave New Words by Salman Khan (the Khan Academy guy) and it describes how AI is and will transform education and learning. Thanks for this list, adding a few to my TBR.
I never read non-fiction as I want my reading to be an escape from everyday life, but this is an interesting list. Like you, I don’t like toxic positivity, so The Antidote sounds like a particularly intriguing read.
Popping over from Book Worms Monthly.