Archives de catégorie : Nonfiction

HOW TO BE GOOD AT LIFE de Ben Meer

From the creator of “System Sunday,” one of the fastest-growing personal development newsletters, HOW TO BE GOOD AT LIFE is an approach to living intentionally using systems thinking.

HOW TO BE GOOD AT LIFE
by Ben Meer
Avery, Spring 2027
(via Writers House)

Author Ben Meer discovered the power of systems when he was struggling to find direction and purpose after business school. He’d succeeded academically but in areas like relationships and fitness, he was a mess. He did take something valuable away from a one-credit course in Operations, though; he learned how a single root cause could generate an array of problems across seemingly unrelated areas. He learned how fixing the right thing could fix nearly anything, and this insight changed his life.

Named “The Systems Guy” by Forbes, Meer writes at the intersection of systems, technology, and conscious living. He has 1.82M+ social media followers and has been recognized as the #4 ranked creator on LinkedIn worldwide and #1 for personal growth.

Ben Meer writes about technology, systems thinking, and conscious living. Tired of non-actionable life advice, Ben started System Sunday to teach people how to use tech-enabled and data-driven systems to accelerate personal growth.

RADICAL DOUBT de Bidhan (Bobby) Parmar

The neuroscience-backed guide to making tough decisions in a complex world.

RADICAL DOUBT:
The Secrets to Choosing Wisely
by Dr. Bidhan (Bobby) Parmar
Diversion Books, Summer 2025
(via Sterling Lord Literistic)

Everywhere from school to work we’re focused on “getting the right answer”. But as we take on more complex tasks in leadership and management, we’re faced with ever more uncertainty about what the “right answer” looks like. There are competing priorities, ethics, and values, and conflicting interpretations. Applying the simple frameworks most decision-making books tout just doesn’t work.

Dr. Parmar has spent his entire career researching these types of problems – the ones that cause dread, anxiety, and panic – bringing together a mix of neuroscience, cognitive psychology and moral philosophy (ethics), to turn doubt from an Achilles Heel into a superpower. It’s what separates the captain from the four-star general, the middle manager from the CEO, and by the end of the book you’ll have the blueprint to go from cold sweats to confidence in the face of doubt.

Dr. Parmar is the Shannon G. Smith Bicentennial Associate Professor of Business Administration at the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia. He was named one of the top 40 business school professors under 40 in the world and has won several awards for his teaching and research. Parmar’s scholarship has been published in leading journals such as Organization Science, Psychological Science, Journal of Applied Psychology, Journal of Experimental Psychology, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Organization Studies, Business & Society, and the Journal of Business Ethics. He has co-authored two academic books on stakeholder theory. He is a fellow at the Olsson Center for Applied Ethics and the Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard University.

DAUGHTERS OF THE BAMBOO GROVE de Barbara Demick

The heartrending story of twin sisters torn apart by China’s one-child policy and the rise of international adoption—from the author of the National Book Award finalist Nothing to Envy.

DAUGHTERS OF THE BAMBOO GROVE:
From China to America, a True Story of Abduction, Adoption, and Separated Twins
by Barbara Demick
Penguin Random House, May 2025
(via Sterling Lord Literistic)

On a warm day in September 2000, a twenty-eight-year-old woman named Zanhua gave birth to twin girls in a small hut nestled in bamboo behind her brother’s rural home in China’s Hunan province. The twins, Fangfang and Shuangjie, were welcome additions to her young family but also not her first children. Hidden in the hut, they were born under the shadow of China’s notorious one-child policy. Fearing the ire of family planning officials, Zanhua and her husband decided to leave one twin in the care of relatives, hoping each toddler on their own might stay under the radar. But, in late 2002, Fangfang was violently snatched away from her aunt’s care. The family worried they would never see her again, but they didn’t imagine she could be sent to the United States. She might as well have been sent to another world.

Following her stories written as the Beijing bureau chief for the Los Angeles Times, Barbara Demick, author of National Book Award finalist Nothing to Envy, embarks on a journey that encompasses the origins, shocking cruelty, and long term impact of China’s one-child rule; the rise of international adoption and the religious currents that buoyed it; and the exceedingly rare phenomenon of twin separation. Today, Esther—formerly Fangfang—is a photographer in Texas, and Demick brings to vivid life the Christian family that felt called to adopt her, having no idea that she was kidnapped. Through Demick’s indefatigable reporting and the activist work to find these lost children, will these two long-lost sisters finally find each other, and if they do, will they feel whole again?

A remarkable window into the volatile, constantly changing China of the last half century and the long-reaching legacy of the country’s most infamous law, DAUGHTERS OF THE BAMBOO GROVE is also the moving story of two sisters torn apart by the forces of history and brought together again by their families’ determination and one reporter’s dogged work.

Barbara Demick is author of Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea; Logavina Street: Life and Death in a Sarajevo Neighborhood, and Eat the Buddha: Life and Death in a Tibetan Town, published by Random House in July 2020. She was bureau chief for the Los Angeles Times in Beijing and Seoul, and previously reported from the Middle East and Balkans for the Philadelphia Inquirer.

STAY CALM, IT’S JUST YOUR BRAIN de Richard S. Gallagher

Start your 7-week journey to managing anxiety.

STAY CALM, IT’S JUST YOUR BRAIN:
A 7-Week Journal for Rewiring Your Anxiety
by Richard S. Gallagher
Callisto/Sourcebooks, December 2024

When anxiety strikes, there are proven tools to help you keep calm and manage your feelings―but they only work if you’re in the habit of using them. This journal shows you how to build that habit, with therapeutic exercises and guidance that make working through anxiety easier.

  • A 7-week plan ― Each week you’ll focus on a different aspect of anxiety, how it affects you, and simple ways to work through it―like noticing your anxiety triggers, practicing mindfulness, and facing your fears.

  • Expert advice ― Find advice and reassurance from therapist Richard Gallagher, who specializes in treating anxiety disorders.

  • Positive change ― As you record your thoughts, read encouraging affirmations, and practice each technique, you’ll learn to stop anxiety before it starts.

Richard S. Gallagher, LMFT is a psychotherapist based in upstate New York who specializes in treating anxiety disorders. A former customer service executive and public speaker, he is the author of numerous communications skills books including What to Say to a Porcupine, The Customer Service Survival Kit, and Stress-Free Small Talk.

THE LAST PARENTING BOOK YOU’LL EVER READ de Meagan Francis

From the co-host of the hit podcast The Mom Hour, here is your guide to the last stage of « active » parenting as your teenagers prepare to step into the world and you prepare to step back into yourself.

THE LAST PARENTING BOOK YOU’LL EVER READ:
How We Let Our Kids Go and Embrace What’s Next
by Meagan Francis
Sourcebooks, May 2025

We read the parenting books. We sign our kids up for the activities. We cheer from the sidelines. And then… they get ready to leave. We know it’s coming (and sometimes, when things are really rough, we look forward to it!). But when your kids are on their way to being functional adults, what does it mean for your identity as mom? The Last Parenting Book You’ll Ever Read is your guide to the last stage of « active » parenting, as your teenagers prepare to step into the world and you prepare to step back into yourself.

Author Meagan Francis has been blogging and podcasting about motherhood for more than 25 years, going from five kids under her roof to just two. By offering midlife mothers a roadmap to reinventing their relationships with themselves, their kids, and the world around them, Francis helps readers to harness some of the mothering energy they’ve been directing toward their children and redirect toward nurturing themselves in order to use this unique life stage as an opportunity for personal transformation.

From the co-host of the hit podcast The Mom Hour, The Last Parenting Book You’ll Ever Read is your guide to the last stage of « active » parenting as your teenagers prepare to step into the world and you prepare to step back into yourself, for moms getting ready to launch their almost-adult kids and enter the empty nesting stage of their lives.

Meagan Francis is a mother of five and a blogger, writer and expert on being a happier, more productive mom. She’s the author of five books and the co-host of The Mom Hour podcast.