“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)