The sun rises at 6 PM: Our book journey for November, 2021

Learning Never Exhausts the Mind. - Leonardo Da Vinci

What Vinci couldn’t find in nature, he found in books. Indeed, there is nothing better than the capacious perspectives books grant us! It is the season of the holidays. So indulge yourselves and enjoy our picks for the month of November.‍

Ask for it‍

Linda Babcock and Sara Laschever

No matter how ‘modern’ we call our world, it is a grim reality that women need to be mindful of the way they communicate to succeed at workplaces. Despite women’s representation in powerful roles all around the globe, the world still finds it difficult to trust women to lead effectively. Deeply tied in the strings of preconceived societal notions, clearly, we are all victims of a patriarchal society. And sadly a book had to be written for women to effectively negotiate. Ask For It devices a plan of action for women to negotiate brilliantly in all aspects of their lives. You need to prepare for a negotiation, so always devise a BATNA or Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement for an upper hand. Putting yourself in the shoes of the opposite party can help you big time. It gives you a better perspective that will help you get better outcomes for yourself. More importantly, whether it’s a raise, an overdue promotion, or even extra help around the house, cooperation is more powerful than the competition. As they say, competition unleashes the ‘beasts’ in us and cooperation brings out the ‘best’ in us.

• It is of utmost importance that women believe in themselves. 
• Prepare your strategy and tackle negotiations in a proactive way. 
• Be informed and do not settle for less.‍

Broadcasting Happiness

Michelle Gielan

Broadcasting Happiness taps into people’s power to broadcast messages to promote positive changes and instill happier mindsets within communities and ourselves. The book highlights the power of encouraging stories. Science shows that talking about good experiences and using uplifting words keeps people high-spirited. In an attempt to deal with the poor graduation at his school, Sunnyside High School superintendent Dr. Richard Cole started sharing success stories and good news whenever and wherever he could, be it notice boards, school announcements, or newsletters. Seven years later, the school’s graduation rate shot up at 89 percent! Creating a positive learning environment, students developed positive memories that served them well, even after school. It’s a mental change that starts with you which gradually expands to your external environment! 

• Create positive memories by consciously creating positive experiences. 
• Workplaces can be transformed if employees start sharing positive thoughts and experiences.
• The bad news is inevitable. And In such situations convey your message keeping the four Cs in mind: Social Capital, Context, Compassion, and Commitment.
  

Death’s Summer Coat

Brandy Schillace

Death is something we all confront and we all have different perspectives on it. In Death’s Summer Coat, Schillace explores various rituals and cultural customs associated with death in contrast to modern science’s definition. While some earlier cultures followed the gruesome practice of necrophagy to beat their griefs, while for some photographs of the deceased in a very life-like pose became a hot trend. Dilemmas on the definition of death sparks conflicts with the discovery of CPRs and ventilators. For instance, a 13 year old girl Juhi McMath suffered from brain failure, and doctors declared her as dead. However Juhi’s parents went to the court to keep her in artificial coma and to this day the doctors and family continue to fight over the definition of death. So is death a stopped heart or a non-functioning brain?

• Encourage loved ones and yourself to open up about their definition of a ‘good death.’ It brings us closer together.

Long Life Learning

Michelle R. Weise

Long Life Learning asserts that the need for education will last a lifetime. Throughout the whole book, Wiese takes her perspective of the future for the workers. This book makes the case that in the future people from all career stages will seek education and develop skills throughout their work lives. The author urges for a disruptive and burgeoning innovation that is needed in the worker education system to adapt in the coming years. Weise also discusses the benefits of AI in education that can envision pathways to new jobs for adult workers. It seems that Weise gives a deliberate focus on adult workers as studies suggest that the number of people aged 80 and over will increase and we’re already seeing workers of 55 and overstaying in the workforce into their 70s.  

• A four-year degree earned at the start is not sufficient to survive the dramatically extended lifespan. Ongoing skills development is the key.
• The work and education system of the future must sync. This is possible by ensuring that they’re navigable, supportive, targeted, integrated, and transparent.
• With the rapid growth of the population of workers over 50, companies need to invest in upskilling their employees to bridge the gap between requirements and skills.

The Work-Life Balance Myth

David J. McNeff

Studies show that 76 percent of employees in the United States report feeling burned out at work! Such numbers keep us wondering if the work-life balance is just another buzzword. Behavioral management consultant David J. McNeff’s New York Times bestseller The Work-Life Balance Myth devices a Seven-Slice Method that breaks down all areas of your life that require daily attention. There are more slices in life to take a bite off, other than just Family and Profession. And mind you, do not neglect those: Personal, Physical, Intellectual, Emotional, and Spiritual slices. Recognize the slices that dominate your life and determine the percentage of time you want to spend on each, every week. If you are overwhelmed with any one of them, then incorporate the smallest steps you can take to spend time on other slices of your life. Ultimately it is the quality of time you spend on different activities and the strength of commitment that holds you together in this maze called life.

• Most of us fail to realize that there’s more slices involved in your existence other than work and life. 
• Prepare a spreadsheet for the seven slices of life and allot time for each, every week.
• You cannot avoid stress, but you can deal with stress.
  

Stay Sexy and Don’t Get Murdered

Karen Kilgariff & Georgia Hardstark

Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstrak responsible for one of the most enduringly successful true-crime podcast My Favorite Murder, comes together again to write this book to shed a light on their formative experiences and the things they learned while making the show. Coming out from a traumatized incident during her late teens, Georgia realized that it’s completely alright to break up with politeness when it comes to one’s wellbeing. When Karen realized that sometimes even closest friends don’t want to listen to you complaining about the same problems over and over again, a good idea is to use a therapist’s perspective. This way, you are not only working through stuff, but you are also developing tools that help you deal with future stuff. Mental health plays an important role in the health of our relationships with others. And it impacts our thoughts, behaviors, and emotions.

• It is okay to say no when it comes to your well-being.
• Self-advocacy is important and mastering it takes time and practice. 
• Stop victim blaming, ask the right questions, and hold the perpetrator accountable. 

Our Wild Calling

Richard Louv

The distinguished voice of our planet Sir David Attenborough said, “Cherish the natural world, because you are a part of it and you depend on it.” In his book, Louv fascinates us with his beautiful encounters with animals and explores our relationships with wild animals. Our relationships with wild animals can have a profound positive effect on our health, spirit, and our sense of inclusiveness in the natural world. The author brings to light the process of co-becoming where we become them and they become us. As we interact, we learn and share the mysteries of each other’s worlds, and these pivotal moments can solidify our trust and love for each other. 

• Embracing the beauty of the wild encourages us to protect them.
• There is an alternative to the depreciating natural world. Technology should cater to mutually beneficial relationships instead of dominating and exploiting the wild. 
• Change starts within you. Think globally and act locally. 

Fault Lines

Karl Pillemer

Family estrangements are painful and isolating. And the impact endures for years. In this thoughtful and compassionate book, Karl Pillemer guides us through strategies to mend broken relationships. Holding on to ego and replaying those ugly events in your mind hinders you from reconciliation. The wiser thing to do here is to let go of past stories about what happened. Rather than seeing it as an isolated incident, it is important to understand the deeper layers of the event. The author tackled this achingly common subject so powerfully and eloquently ending the book with stories of people who have reconciled after advice. 

• It is important to take time to reconcile, for you and the relationship.
• Misunderstandings are often innocuous, but failing to address them immediately can rife a conflict later. 
• You are not alone, and there is hope in healing estrangements. 

The Art of Stillness

Pico Iyer

Seventeenth-century mathematician and philosopher Blaise Pascal said, “All the unhappiness of men arises from one simple fact: that they cannot sit quietly in their chamber.” In this contemporary world where we are constantly on the move, The Art of Stillness helps keep the beauty of slowing things down alive. At the age of 29 when Iyer was at the peak of his career and was living the life of his dreams, he paused for a moment to realize that something was missing. He quit his job as a journalist for Times Magazine and moved to Japan from New York. While people hustle and bustle to get somewhere, Iyer learned that going nowhere is an opportunity to rediscover our passion for the world and revive our excitement and inspiration for life. In a fast-growing world of endless information and evolving technology, it is more important that we practice stillness. Many tech workers in Silicon Valley resort to an ‘internet sabbath’ where they shut down from all devices for a weekend. This way, they take a step back to see the bigger picture and come back with better clarity. 

A Biography of Loneliness

Fay Bound Alberti

In A Biography of Loneliness, cultural historian Fay Bound Alberti addresses the prevalence of loneliness in the modern world. It is fairly a new concept and is experienced by people from all walks of life. At a time when people are influenced by the high standards of soulmates set by the media, the author emphasizes that it’s time to reflect on the fact that there’s more to life than just the tempestuous nature of love between soulmates that are displayed on screens. Social media stoking a loneliness epidemic among Millenials is a common notion. Studies suggest that social media can only heighten feelings of loneliness among them when its usage isn’t supplemented by offline activities. While social media can deter the sociable lives of youngsters, it can also be utilized positively among older age groups to lessen their loneliness. 

• Loneliness is a modern emotion and is experienced in diverse ways among people.
• Social media can have a positive and negative effects on loneliness, depending on your experience online.
• Rather than typecasting loneliness as a disease, think of how we can address them.
  

Eat That Frog!

Brian Tracy

As distasteful as the title sounds, author Brian Tracy talks about confronting and completing the biggest and toughest task (the frog) you may have at hand. The book is a practical guide to establishing your priorities and focusing on them while learning to manage your time. Document your tasks, find a clean workspace and identify your most productive hours to progress through the day. Apart from having a good plan, being productive is also a process of continuous learning. Refine your skills constantly and maximize your potential by asking yourself the right questions. Tracy also asks us to keep in mind the 80/20 Pareto Principle. The principle asserts that every ten tasks should include two tasks (referred to as the ‘frogs’) that are much more important and difficult than others. Focus on your 20 percent ‘frogs’ first, and you get 80 percent of your tasks done!

• Define your goals, write them down, and prioritize them based on the ABCDE method. The A items are the highest priority, and E items are the least important items that could be skipped if you don’t have time. 
• Taking care of your health is as much as important as planning your tasks for the day.
• Be your own motivational source, and don’t forget to believe in yourself. 

The Life Changing Science of Detecting Bullshit

John V. Petrocelli

Experimental social psychologist and author John V Petrocelli conveys that bullshit or rather a communicative climate change as he likes to call it, often appears harmless, yet it is one of the most toxic substances in our interpersonal atmosphere. Bullshit is more dangerous than a lie. People lie to hide the truth, but people who bullshit don’t care about the truth. People falling into faulty schemes or pseudo-profound bullshits due to bad judgments, or poor decision making due to their thinking is a common sight. This is a result of bullibility, an amalgamation of bullshit and gullibility. Identifying the common tactics used by bullshitters, cross-examination, and asking the right questions with a small dose of critical thinking can save you from a crapload of bullshit. 

• Bullshit and lying aren’t the same things.
• Enlighten people against bullshit only with evidence-based reasoning from fact-checking websites and credible resources.
• Keep yourself away from bullshitting by accepting your lack of knowledge.

Get a Life!

Rick Hughes

Maintaining a work-life balance is a common goal that we all dream to have in our daily lives. Get a Life! Is a highly practical guide that helps you to do just that. The first and foremost trick is to understand the dynamics of your company’s work culture and to form beneficial work relationships. Take part in that fun activity and bond with your coworkers. Secondly, adopt Eisenhower’s Principle that touches upon an important aspect of time management: delegation. Rather than trying to do everything, create a plan of action and delegate your workload to get more tasks done effectively. Work-life balance is incomplete without spending time with the right people in the right way. Investing in healthy relationships with ourselves, and with others nurtures our overall wellbeing. As it is easy to get caught up in the vicious cycle of waiting for the perfect job to find us, making a conscious effort to enrich ourselves professionally and personally can create a sense of harmony across all aspects of our life. 

• You can’t do everything yourself. Delegation empowers you and your team and builds trust. 
• Work-life balance is a continuous process, and not an achievement.
• Have a comfortable work environment and the necessary equipment to do your job.

The Art of Rhetoric

Aristotle

In the words of Aristotle, one of the greatest philosophers ever lived, Rhetoric is the art of identifying and using the best available means in a given situation to ethically persuade an audience. The book introduces you to three methods of persuasion: ethos, pathos, and logos. Ethos is based on the credibility of the speaker. People believe you if they perceive you as trustworthy, knowledgeable, and experienced. So do your homework before crafting your speech. In the modern world today, when 95% of the purchasing decision is made subconsciously, Aristotle had comprehended pathos or the art of emotional persuasion much earlier. Tales told authentically evoke relatability and hasten engagement. The third type of persuasion that rhetoricians leverage is logos or logical argument. The key here is to influence people’s thinking with convincing facts and figures. Persuasion is a skill, and whether you have a client pitch coming up or want to improve your speaking generally, The Art of Rhetoric can make you better at this. 

• There is a science behind the art of persuasion and it can be mastered by anyone. 
• Credibility can be based on your moral character, expertise in a particular field, or even past arguments.
• Change people’s minds by moving their hearts. 
  

Hello, My Name is Awesome

Alexandra Watkins

Are you looking for an eye-catchy name for your brand?? Watkin’s Hello, My Name is Awesome would just be the perfect pitstop for you! Watkins gives us two main methods - SMILE, tactics to hold close to while naming your brand, and SCRATCH, the 7 seven deadly sins to abstain from stinky brand names! SMILE stands for Suggestive, Meaningful, Imagery, Legs, and Emotion, while SCRATCH stands for Spelling Changed, Copycat, Restrictive, Annoying, Tame, Curse of Knowledge, and Hard to Pronounce. To find the perfect name, the author urges to draft a creative brief that includes everything from the target audience to words that need to be avoided. From a technical perspective, having the perfect URL address to trying alternative extensions to buying domain names that contain common misspellings of your brand name, securing the right domain name for your brand name is essential. This book is all about coming up with the most awesome names for your brand.

• Making people smile is the key factor for a successful brand name.
• Creative brief is your bible for creating an awesome brand name.
• If your domain name is not available, hire an SEO expert to make your brand visible in search results for your keywords.

Why Startups Fail

Tom Eisenmann

The global startup economy is worth $3.8 trillion today. Despite the huge fancy number and support from various incubators, startups continue to face immense failures. In this book, Professor Tom Eisenmann steps back to understand its root causes. Looking beyond the economy, he identifies a reliable framework of four key factors to check the health of your venture - unique solution that caters to your customers’ needs, technology for seamless operations, solid profit formula to manage cash flows, and effective marketing strategies to build loyal customers. The author kindly reminds us that failure doesn’t mean that all is lost. Process your difficult emotions after a setback, reflect on your mistakes and learn from them, and finally persevere and reenter afresh from a place of experience and wisdom.

• Entrepreneurs who lack industrial knowledge and who do not understand their customers fail.
• Startups without the right senior management fail.
• A complimenting team and analyzing early growth is essential for any startup.

Living Beyond “What If?”

Dr. Shirley Davis

We want to live our best lives. Yet we are all vulnerable to fear of failure and procrastination. Living Beyond “What If” is an empathetic guide that saves you from self-doubt and fears that hinder you from achieving what you want. The author takes you through her life journey of experiencing setbacks, facing insecurities, finally overcoming her difficulties, and attaining her goals. The author reassures us that not everything in life - good or bad - is to last forever. So do your research, balance the pros and cons and bravely take the right risks and never look back. We all have different definitions for fear and it is natural for us to have it. The important thing is to not confide. Instead, make conscious efforts to deal with it and build your self-confidence with positive affirmations about your unique virtues and talents.

• Overcome procrastination by setting attainable goals. 
• Comparison results in resentment. Compare your success with your own goals, and not with the achievements of others. 
• Imagine your future and persevere. Never stop dreaming.

Bored and Brilliant

Manoush Zomorodi

We don’t have enough time for boredom. Lazing around in the bed and scrolling through your phones during weekends after a tiring week, or scrolling through your phones waiting for the bus at a bus stop, we do not have enough time to get fascinatingly bored. And this is zapping us of our creativity. An experimental study showed that humans prefer minor electrocution to the agony of boredom. The author says that this is a shame because boredom is a boon. Did you notice that we get the greatest quips while in the shower? Yes, boredom boosts creativity! Unplugging from technology has a range of other benefits as well. Consulting firm giant BCG learned it the hard way. They found that their consultants burned out in under five years. The company then proposed a program after the recommendation of an economist. No employers would be allowed to work or make any team communications on a specific weekday. This solution had remarkable effects and consultants recovered in their professional and personal lives as well. Zomorodi challenges us with a week-long Bored and Brilliant program for incorporating more creativity in our lifestyles while reflecting on our use of technology.

• Be mindful and regularly review how much time you are spending on your devices.
• Choose your mobile games wisely. There are games that can help you relieve stress and get your mind going.
• Attention span is indeed the new currency and a lot of money is put into technology to manipulate human minds. So learn to budget your attention like money.

Tuesdays with Morrie

Mitch Album

The truth is, once you learn how to die, you learn how to live. - Morrie Schwartz

A memoir to his former professor and mentor, Tuesdays with Morrie is a magical chronicle about embracing life. Each chapter depicts his weekly meetings on Tuesdays with Morrie, and in every chapter, a lesson on the meaning of life. Morrie shares innumerable anecdotes from his life as he walks towards his inevitable disease. The joy of appreciating simple things, the excitement of sky-bound dreams, the calmness in accepting death, the tranquility from detachment, the conveyance in silence. While Mitch learns valuable lessons, Morrie’s health deteriorates.

• Do not let society steer your life. There’s more to life than just a successful career. 
• Live fullest and fearless. Life is short, so live your dreams before you realize it’s late.
• Money can never buy you real happiness. Spending quality time with your family and friends does.

With the End in Mind

Kathryn Mannix

Haruki Murakami famously said, “Death is not the opposite of life, but a part of it.” His words indicate an acknowledgment of the inevitable. Perception of suffering in dying patients is a reason for distress and fear among people. In the book With the End in Mind, palliative medicine pioneer Dr. Kathryn Mannix reflects on her 30-year career of caring for the dying. You will find stories of the grieving and the bereaved; ill and healthy. You will meet Louisa, who found a sense of purpose during her last days; Eric, a strong-willed school principal fighting Motor Neuron Disease; and Holly who danced her heart out until her last day. This is a taboo-breaking book where Mannix eloquently describes questions concerning death. Weaving the details of her own experience as a caregiver, this book acquaints us with why death is less scary than we might think.

• Better awareness helps you approach death with openness, clarity, and understanding. 
• Beat the taboo and discomfort around death with open-ended conversations.
• Remember the end in mind. It provokes your sense of gratitude for small things in life.