Gretchen Rubin's Top Book Recommendations

Patrick CollisonParticularly great. (Source)

Liz Lambert[The author] is a writer and a thinker about architecture and about how we build. (Source)

Gretchen RubinThat’s a book that will make you happy and it’s a quick read. It’s about how two couples come together and what happens when your happiness is bound up with another person’s happiness. (Source)

Gretchen RubinReading novels about happiness or seeing movies about happiness doesn’t necessarily make you feel happy. Sometimes you want to read a book that makes you feel happy and The Enchanted April is just one of the most charming books. It’s about four women who are each unhappy in their own ways and decide to take a break from grey England by renting a house in Italy, and their lives are completely... (Source)

Ella BerthoudAt the beginning of this book, two women in the 1920s are in a club in Hampstead [London] on a rainy day. They see a newspaper advert: “To those who appreciate wisteria and sunshine. Small medieval Italian castle to be let for the month of April.” Both go off into a reverie, and talk themselves into squandering their nest eggs on a month in this castle. They find two other people to join them – a... (Source)

Gretchen RubinI’m not Catholic so I had never heard of St Therese, which is like not knowing about the Beatles. She’s a superstar saint. I had been reading Thomas Merton’s Seven Story Mountain, his own spiritual memoir, and he mentioned “the little flower”. I was so surprised that this macho grouchy guy wrote with reverence about this young woman. She lived in a cloistered convent in France where several of... (Source)

Gretchen RubinSamuel Johnson has such insight into human nature. His devoted fan and friend James Boswell wrote The Life of Samuel Johnson. It’s charming to read. He had so much to say about self-knowledge and what it means to be happy. In the book, he quotes a Spanish proverb that was well known in his time: “He who would bring home the wealth of the Indies must carry the wealth of the Indies with him.” I... (Source)

Peter LilleyThis is the groupies’ biography in that Boswell was a cloying groupie but, nonetheless, he wrote the greatest Johnson biography of all time and the best known. (Source)

Peter KellnerGeorge Orwell was not only an extraordinary writer but he also hated any form of cant. Some of his most widely read works such as 1984 and Animal Farm are an assault on the nastier, narrow-minded, dictatorial tendencies of the left, although Orwell was himself on the left. (Source)

Barack ObamaAs a devoted reader, the president has been linked to a lengthy list of novels and poetry collections over the years — he admits he enjoys a thriller. (Source)

Drew McLellanFavorite non-business book that I would argue can teach you a ton about business leadership — The Harry Potter series by JK Rowling. (Source)

Adam LawrenceI hate reading. I always have. Except for Harry Potter and To Kill A Mockingbird, which I've read dozens of times. (Source)

Gretchen RubinIf you’re intrigued by meditation but don’t know how to begin—or you’ve benefited from meditation in the past but need help to get started again—Dan Harris has written the book for you. Well researched, practical, and crammed with expert advice, it’s also an irreverent, hilarious page-turner. (Source)

Joseph GoldsteinA gold mine of wise guidance for fidgety skeptics and experienced meditators alike . . .With Dan’s humorous, self-revelatory style and incisive questioning and Jeff’s down-to-earth, transforming wisdom, this book addresses the common obstacles people face as they begin and deepen their meditation practice. . . . Highly recommended. (Source)

Mark EpsteinIf your mind has a mind of its own, this is the book for you! With humor, generosity, and devastating candor, Dan Harris makes meditation make sense. This is news we can all use. (Source)

Daymond JohnA Side Hustle isn’t about making a few extra bucks selling lemonade to your neighbors. Chris Guillebeau has created a step-by-step methodology for imagining, building, and launching side projects that can earn real, serious cash. In my years investing on Shark Tank, I’ve seen firsthand how side hustles can take off and grow into some major profits. Whether you want to supplement your pay check,... (Source)

Gretchen RubinChris Guillebeau often says, 'Inspiration is good, but inspiration combined with action is so much better,' and this collection of side hustles is an invaluable resource for both inspiration and action. It’s packed with practical and engaging ideas, tips, strategies, and, most helpful, real-life examples of people who have succeeded. (Source)

Daniel PinkChris Guillebeau is back with another book that will teach you not just how to earn more, but ultimately how to live better. He says we can all benefit from a 'side hustle,' work you we do in addition to our day job. And he shows us how to make it happen. In fact, if you follow Chris's guidance, you can establish your own side hustle in just 5 week. What’s stopping you? (Source)

Ev WilliamsI've seen so many people thrust into management in high-growth companies with so little guidance. From now on, I will hand them this book. Its practical wisdom is immediately useful for the newly minted manager — and us old ones. (Source)

Sam AltmanAt startups, individuals asked to manage are rarely set-up for success. Julie Zhuo gives new managers the tools they need to help their people and company win. (Source)

Gretchen RubinJulie Zhuo had to learn to be a manager fast, as her role kept expanding in the hyper-growth environment of a successful Silicon Valley start-up. In The Making of a Manager, she shares what she learned—often, the hard way. She combines cutting-edge analysis of how organizations work with engaging and accessible examples of how theory plays out in real life, with stories of what she did right and... (Source)

Kiran Millwood HargraveThis is one of my favourite books. Lyra feels like a natural successor to Matilda. She is a character of action. She isn’t sitting in a corner reading. She is out there and she is having a real effect on her story. She isn’t being buffeted by forces and having to rebel against them, she is out there actively seeking an adventure. I read this when I was eleven and starting secondary school. I... (Source)

Simon ColeWe've just loved #HisDarkMaterials #NorthernLights a great book, brought vividly to life Tremendous viewing! ....'and walked into the sky'. #TheSubtleKnife #Lyra https://t.co/FMHFwFmpg1 (Source)

Lewis SmithHis Dark Materials Series by Philip Pullman is my favourite fictional book of all time. I just love this story so much, it's clever and thought provoking, whilst also being accessible and gripping to read. The audiobook version is fantastic too, and narrated by Pullman himself. It's also inspiring because the main characters are just children, but they are so strong and determined. There is... (Source)

Gretchen RubinI copied Franklin in my own book. He believed that we all could determinately sit down and come up with practical steps to make changes in our life. He identified 13 virtues that he wanted to imbue in himself and made a weekly chart to help him track his daily progress. I copied my resolutions chart from him. (Source)

Cory Booker[The author] didn’t mean to write his autobiography. He wanted to write a note to his family about what he’d learned in his experiments. (Source)

Brandon StantonOne of the very first books that I read. (Source)

Gretchen RubinThousands of books explain how we should set priorities, stay focused, and make time for what truly matters—but that advice, however sound, is all too easy to ignore. Laura Vanderkam takes a different approach. By harnessing the irresistible power of story-telling, she makes those aims vivid and compelling in an entirely new way, to show us how and why we can make room for possibilities. (Source)

Chris GuillebeauLaura is my go-to expert for time management and Juliet's School of Possibilities is a delightful book. You can read it in a couple of short sittings, then go away with a lifetime of application. (Source)

Alissa CarpenterOne of my favorite experts on time management and productivity @lvanderkam released a new book, Juliet's School of Possibilities! https://t.co/12kBFrvimV She's also giving away a free time makeover guide and time sheet and I needed to share! https://t.co/fXrE63NHX6 (Source)