If you’re having a hard time getting fired up about what’s going on outside, you’ll find plenty of sparks inside my top new books to start 2022.
Emotions and Happiness
1. The Power of Regret by Dan Pink
My favorite writer on work and life shatters the myth that you should live with no regrets—and reveals how to make missed opportunities and foregone identities work to your advantage.
2. Toxic Positivity by Whitney Goodman
In a culture where too many people suppress unpleasant emotions and silence the suffering of others, a thoughtful therapist walks you through strategies for sitting with your own painful feelings and making space for friends, family, and colleagues to express their struggles.
3. The Power of Fun by Catherine Price
A joyful journalist offers a road map for making your days less dull, putting play on your to-do list, and moving from languishing to flourishing.
Motivation and Attention
4. I Didn’t Do the Thing Today by Madeleine Dore
Productivity guilt is no match for the wit and wisdom of this beloved blogger, who’s ready to free you from the pressure you put on yourself to squeeze output out of every minute.
5. Get it Done by Ayelet Fishbach
But for all the times when you do need to do the thing… a leading social psychologist offers surprising and useful insights for closing the gap between your intentions and your actions.
6. Stolen Focus by Johann Hari
A thoughtful critic of our modern malaise explains why we’ve lost the capacity to concentrate, and how we can win the war on distraction.
Thinking and Reasoning
7. Making Numbers Count by Chip Heath and Karla Starr
This cure for statistical illiteracy couldn’t come at a better time or from a better team—a psychologist and a journalist present remarkably practical techniques for comprehending and communicating the math that really matters.
8. The Eye Test by Chris Jones
A journalist convincingly illuminates when the patterns of the past don’t always predict the future, why we need people in the analytics equation, and how data can inform human judgment rather than replacing it.
9. Raising Critical Thinkers by Julie Bogart
In a world where too many people think they know what isn’t so, an influential educator delivers a guide to teach your kids to become thoughtful consumers of information.
Influence and Change
10. The Revenge of Power by Moises Naim
A foreign policy expert explains why authoritarians and autocrats have risen around the globe—and how we can defend democracy in our own backyards.
11. The Black Agenda edited by Anna Gifty Opoku-Agyeman
An award-winning founder and changemaker brings together prominent Black scholars to examine what we can do to fight systemic racism and build a more just world.
12. From Strength to Strength by Arthur Brooks (February 15)
The social scientist who wrote a viral article on middle-age career decline examines how we can reverse that trend to find happiness, meaning, and success in the second half of life.
