2020 Reading List

The future we choose
(C.Figueres)

​Humanity is not doomed, and we can and will survive. The future is ours to create: it will be shaped by who we choose to be in the coming years. The coming decade is a turning point - it is time to turn from indifference or despair and towards a stubborn, determined optimism.

The Future We Choose is a passionate call to arms from former UN Executive Secretary for Climate Change, Christiana Figueres, and Tom Rivett-Carnac, senior political strategist for the Paris Agreement.

Practical, optimistic and empowering, The Future We Choose shows us steps we can all take to renew our planet and create a better world beyond the climate crisis: today, tomorrow, this year and in the coming decade.

The path made clear
(O.Winfrey)
In her book, The Path Made Clear, Oprah shares what she sees as a guide for activating your deepest vision of yourself, offering the framework for creating not just a life of success, but one of significance. The book’s ten chapters are organized to help you recognize the important milestones along the road to self-discovery, laying out what you really need in order to achieve personal contentment, and what life’s detours are there to teach us.

Oprah opens each chapter by sharing her own key lessons and the personal stories that helped set the course for her best life. She then brings together wisdom and insights from luminaries in a wide array of fields, inspiring readers to consider what they’re meant to do in the world and how to pursue it with passion and focus. Renowned figures such as Ellen DeGeneres, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Brené Brown, Elizabeth Gilbert, Eckhart Tolle and Jay-Z share the greatest lessons from their own journeys toward a life filled with purpose.

The salt path
(R. Winn)

Just days after Raynor learns that Moth, her husband of 32 years, is terminally ill, their home is taken away and they lose their livelihood. With nothing left and little time, they make the brave and impulsive decision to walk the 630 miles of the sea-swept South West Coast Path, from Somerset to Dorset, via Devon and Cornwall.
Carrying only the essentials for survival on their backs, they live wild in the ancient, weathered landscape of cliffs, sea and sky. Yet through every step, every encounter and every test along the way, their walk becomes a remarkable journey.
The Salt Path is an honest and life-affirming true story of coming to terms with grief and the healing power of the natural world. Ultimately, it is a portrayal of home, and how it can be lost, rebuilt and rediscovered in the most unexpected ways.

The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl 
(I. Rae)

In this universally accessible New York Times bestseller named for her wildly popular web series, Issa Rae—“a singular voice with the verve and vivacity of uncorked champagne” (Kirkus Reviews)—waxes humorously on what it’s like to be unabashedly awkward in a world that regards introverts as hapless misfits and black as cool.

I’m awkward—and black. Someone once told me those were the two worst things anyone could be. That someone was right. Where do I start?

Being an introvert (as well as “funny,” according to the Los Angeles Times) in a world that glorifies cool isn’t easy. But when Issa Rae, the creator of the Shorty Award-winning hit series The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl, is that introvert—whether she’s navigating love, the workplace, friendships, or “rapping”—it sure is entertaining. Now, in this New York Times bestselling debut collection written in her witty and self-deprecating voice, Rae covers everything from cybersexing in the early days of the Internet to deflecting unsolicited comments on weight gain, from navigating the perils of eating out alone and public displays of affection to learning to accept yourself—natural hair and all.


Diversify
(J. Sarpong)

How do we set aside race, colour, creed, class, age, religion, sexual orientation, physicality and all of our perceived differences?
Is it truly possible to live without prejudice?
And why should we want to?
Offering six stories and six simple steps, Diversify explores the value we place on social packaging - how it shapes the way we see ourselves, determines who we become and limits the opportunities available to us.
Most importantly, it offers practical tools, empowering us to challenge those limitations and diversify.
Combining sharp observations, fascinating case studies and interviews with key political, cultural and business leaders, Diversify is a fierce, accessible, credible and proactive guide to how we can beat social division - and reach our potential as a society.
Written by June Sarpong, MBE, with accompanying research from Dr Anthony Heath and Oxford University.

Dreams from my Father
(B.Obama)

The son of a black African father and a white American mother, President Obama recounts an emotional odyssey. He retraces the migration of his mother's family from Kansas to Hawaii, then to his childhood home in Indonesia. Finally he travels to Kenya, where he confronts the bitter truth of his father's life and at last reconciles his divided inheritance.

Becoming
(M.Obama)

In a life filled with meaning and accomplishment, Michelle Obama has emerged as one of the most iconic and compelling women of our era. As First Lady of the United States of America - the first African-American to serve in that role - she helped create the most welcoming and inclusive White House in history, while also establishing herself as a powerful advocate for women and girls in the U.S. and around the world, dramatically changing the ways that families pursue healthier and more active lives, and standing with her husband as he led America through some of its most harrowing moments. Along the way, she showed us a few dance moves, crushed Carpool Karaoke, and raised two down-to-earth daughters under an unforgiving media glare.
In her memoir, a work of deep reflection and mesmerizing storytelling, Michelle Obama invites readers into her world, chronicling the experiences that have shaped her - from her childhood on the South Side of Chicago to her years as an executive balancing the demands of motherhood and work, to her time spent at the world's most famous address. With unerring honesty and lively wit, she describes her triumphs and her disappointments, both public and private, telling her full story as she has lived it - in her own words and on her own terms. Warm, wise, and revelatory, Becoming is the deeply personal reckoning of a woman of soul and substance who has steadily defied expectations - and whose story inspires us to do the same.


The pursuit of Happiness
(C. Gardner)

At the age of twenty, Milwaukee native Chris Gardner, just out of the Navy, arrived in San Francisco to pursue a promising career in medicine. Considered a prodigy in scientific research, he surprised everyone and himself by setting his sights on the competitive world of high finance. Yet no sooner had he landed an entry-level position at a prestigious firm than Gardner found himself caught in a web of incredibly challenging circumstances that left him as part of the city's working homeless and with a toddler son. Motivated by the promise he made to himself as a fatherless child to never abandon his own children, the two spent almost a year moving among shelters, "HO-tels," soup lines, and even sleeping in the public restroom of a subway station.
Never giving in to despair, Gardner made an astonishing transformation from being part of the city's invisible poor to being a powerful player in its financial district.
More than a memoir of Gardner's financial success, this is the story of a man who breaks his own family's cycle of men abandoning their children. Mythic, triumphant, and unstintingly honest, The Pursuit of Happyness conjures heroes like Horatio Alger and Antwone Fisher, and appeals to the very essence of the American Dream.



The joy of work
(B.Daisley)

"This is a warm, wise and funny book which provides a terrific summary of some of the science - and stories - behind what makes work a positive part of people’s lives. From the importance of lunch to the value of laughter, this book gives witty and practical advice. I loved it and I’ve already started changing some of the things I do at work, as a result!" - Professor Sophie Scott
"Don't quit yet! In this book, Bruce shares remarkable advice that may well have you laughing while you work and truly loving your job." - Biz Stone, Twitter co-founder
“Bruce Daisley’s The Joy of Work is a joy to read. It translates the best of workplace psychology research into practical ways of establishing creative and liveable cultures at work―a must read for all of us 9-5ers!” - Professor Sir Cary Cooper, ALLIANCE Manchester Business School, University of Manchester
“Bruce’s The Joy of Work is an important reminder of simple everyday practices to improve how we all work together, which will lead to greater team and individual happiness and performance. Great results will follow.” - Jack Dorsey, CEO of Twitter and Square
"With just 30 changes, you can transform your work experience from bland and boring (or worse) to fulfilling, fun, and even joyful. Bruce Daisley has pulled together threads of research and woven them into a tapestry of strategies that actually work, and that don't depend on the CEO's sign-off for implementation. You can begin changing your work culture today at the individual, team, and organisational levels with these tactics that increase creativity, productivity, and satisfaction.” - Daniel Pink, author of WHEN and DRIVE

A culture of kindness
(N.Summers)

The ideas in A Culture of Kindness are not only important they are imperative for our future. This book discusses and lays out the theory on how we can all make our workplaces enriching and productive environments for employees and leaders alike. It demonstrates that improving the wellbeing of our employees, and therefore the success of the organisation, starts and ends with kindness. To create a more diverse and inclusive world we must never tolerate unkindness and in turn we will reduce stress and anxiety. Making positive impacts on productivity starts with putting kindness on the agenda in every workplace. Interwoven with podcast interviews with thought leaders who themselves embody kindness, and based on research into the history and science of kindness, this book expertly guides you on how to integrate kindness into your professional lives. Ideas are backed up with practical actions that you can take to see rapid change and better team working. About the author:Nahla Summers spent 15 years in the corporate world until in just a moment her life circumstances changed and she had to make a decision whether to thrive or survive. She chose to thrive and in the process discovered that kindness has the power to save peoples lives. She has travelled the world in the search for kindness and its power. She cycled 3000 miles across America and walked 500 miles all in the name of kindness. Being awarded the Point of Light award by the Prime Minister for ‘transforming the concept of sponsorship’.

How to be your best self in a time of crisis
(S. David)

Not a book, but equally expiring. "Life's beauty is inseparable from its fragility," says psychologist Susan David. In a special virtual conversation, she shares wisdom on how to build resilience, courage and joy in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. Responding to listeners' questions from across the globe, she offers ways to talk to your children about their emotions, keep focus during the crisis and help those working on the front lines. (This virtual conversation is part of the TED Connects series, hosted by head of TED Chris Anderson and current affairs curator Whitney Pennington Rodgers. Recorded March 23, 2020).

The Duchess of Cornwall Book recommendations

​'There is no friend as loyal as a book' (E. Hemingway) - this popped up on Instagram, what a great quote and one that is right at the heart of the concept of using books as mentors.

Sky Bound
(R. Loncraine)

The day she flew in a glider for the first time, Rebecca Loncraine fell in love. Months of gruelling treatment for cancer meant she had lost touch with the world around her, but in that engineless plane, soaring 3,000 feet over the landscape of her childhood, with only the rising thermals to take her higher and the birds to lead the way, she felt ready to face life again.
And so Rebecca flew, travelling from her home in the Black Mountains of Wales to New Zealand’s Southern Alps and the Nepalese Himalayas as she chased her new-found passion: her need to soar with the birds. She would push herself to the boundary of her own fear, and learn to live with joy and hope once more.

​The Power of Habit
(C. Duhigg)

We can always change. In The Power of Habit, award-winning New York Times business reporter Charles Duhigg translates cutting-edge behavioural science into practical self-improvement action, distilling advanced neuroscience into fascinating narratives of transformation. Why can some people and companies change overnight, and some stay stuck in their old ruts? The answer lies deep in the human brain, and The Power of Habits reveals the secret pressure points that can change a life. From Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps to Martin Luther King Jr., from the CEO of Starbucks to the locker rooms of the NFL, Duhigg explores the incredible results of keystone habits, and how they can make all the difference between billions and millions, failure and success – or even life and death. The Power of Habit makes an exhilarating case: the key to almost any door in life is instilling the right habit. From exercise to weight loss, childrearing to productivity, market disruption to social revolution, and above all success, the right habits can change everything. Habits aren't destiny. They’re science, one which can transform our businesses, our communities, and our lives.

Reasons to stay Alive
(M. Haig)

Aged 24, Matt Haig's world caved in. He could see no way to go on living. This is the true story of how he came through crisis, triumphed over an illness that almost destroyed him and learned to live again. A moving, funny and joyous exploration of how to live better, love better and feel more alive, Reasons to Stay Alive is more than a memoir. It is a book about making the most of your time on earth. "I wrote this book because the oldest clichés remain the truest. Time heals. The bottom of the valley never provides the clearest view. The tunnel does have light at the end of it, even if we haven't been able to see it . . . Words, just sometimes, really can set you free."

Thinking fast and slow
(D. Kahneman)

• The phenomenal international bestseller - 2 million copies sold - that will change the way you make decisions
• 'A lifetime's worth of wisdom' Steven D. Levitt, co-author of Freakonomics
• 'There have been many good books on human rationality and irrationality, but only one masterpiece. That masterpiece is Thinking, Fast and Slow' Financial Times

Why is there more chance we'll believe something if it's in a bold type face? Why are judges more likely to deny parole before lunch? Why do we assume a good-looking person will be more competent? The answer lies in the two ways we make choices: fast, intuitive thinking, and slow, rational thinking. This book reveals how our minds are tripped up by error and prejudice (even when we think we are being logical), and gives you practical techniques for slower, smarter thinking. It will enable to you make better decisions at work, at home, and in everything you do.