Adult

A friend gifted four of Brilliant’s books of Pot Shots to me, and I’m hungry for more. These brilliant cartoons with wise sayings of 17 words or less are sure to bring a smile to your face – or at least make you think.

A fictional collage of stories dreamed by Albert Einstein in 1905, about time, relativity and physics. As the defiant but sensitive young genius is creating his theory of relativity – a new conception of time – he imagines many possible worlds. In one, time is circular, so that people are fated to repeat triumphs and failures over and over. In another, there is a place where time stands still, visited by lovers and parents clinging to their children. In another, time is a nightingale, sometimes trapped by a bell jar. Poetic tale connecting the art and science of Einstein.

One September afternoon in 1999, teenagers Matthew, Zoe and Duncan Lang are walking home from school when they discover a boy lying in a field, bloody and unconscious. Thanks to their intervention, the boy’s life is saved. In the aftermath, all three siblings are irrevocably changed in this gripping novel.

I have been a fan of Sivers’s TED talks for years, and this quick read made me a disciple! I dog-earred so many pages, as this book is loaded with practical wisdom that will serve anyone. The perfect holiday gift! Oh - and don't follow the Amazon link on this one. Buy it at https://sive.rs/a, and all the money goes to charity.

A spare yet eloquent, bittersweet yet inspiring story of a man and a woman who, in advanced age, come together to wrestle with the events of their lives and their hopes for the imminent future. This book will resonate with anyone who has ever fought loneliness.

I know Steve Martin doesn’t need me promoting his book, but I just devour anything he produces. One of my favorite comedians, Martin chronicles his life in movies with hilarious effect.

A hilarious and moving story of one girl’s fight for freedom of expression, filled with nuggets for grammatical nerds like me.

Cast out of the royal court by Eleanor of Aquitaine, deemed too coarse and rough-hewn for marriage or courtly life, seventeen-year-old Marie de France is sent to England to be the new prioress of an impoverished abbey, its nuns on the brink of starvation and beset by disease. The son/brother/husband/father of strong women, I’m always looking for strong female protagonists who change the world. Wonderfully written.

Guilty pleasure: Karate Kid and Cobra Kai. I must confess that I am a huge Ralph Macchio fan (he is awesome in My Cousin Vinny, too). This autobiography provides red meat for fans like me, as the book mostly centers on the original Karate Kid film itself, focusing on the reason that the characters and themes have endured in such a powerful way and how these personal experiences have impacted Macchio's life. Easy, satisfying reading.

This book will literally change the way you think about habit formation. While written about food, the book’s themes apply more broadly to all human psychology. Wansink, a food psychologist (yes, there is such a thing), revolutionizes our awareness of how much, what and why we’re eating – often without realizing it. His findings will astound you. Among the questions he examines: Can the size of your plate really influence your appetite? Why do you eat more when you dine with friends? What “hidden persuaders” are used by restaurants and supermarkets to get us to overeat? How does music or the color of the room influence how much – and how fast – we eat? How can we “mindlessly” lose – instead of gain – up to twenty pounds in the coming year? Starting today, you can make more mindful, enjoyable and healthy choices at the dinner table, in the supermarket, at the office – wherever you satisfy your appetite. And you will be a more educated consumer and understand why you do the things you do and how vendors get you to do them.

Why do our headaches persist after we take a one-cent aspirin but disappear when we take a fifty-cent aspirin? Why do we splurge on a lavish meal but cut coupons to save twenty-five cents on a can of soup? When it comes to making decisions in our lives, we think we're making smart, rational choices. But are we? In this amazing page-turner, Ariely refutes the common assumption that we behave in fundamentally rational ways. From drinking coffee to losing weight, from buying a car to choosing a romantic partner, we consistently overpay, underestimate and procrastinate. Yet these misguided behaviors are neither random nor senseless. They're systematic and predictable – making us predictably irrational.

Time is our most valuable, precious and limited commodity – and the key to lasting happiness and success. Griffith’s proven system shows you how to do more, get more and be more by changing your relationship with time and getting back 20 hours a week or more of your free time as a result. Learn how you can squeeze every drop of productivity out of each hour of your day so you can gain the freedom to do what you want when you want! 

Cialdini, one of the seminal experts in the fields of influence and persuasion, explains the psychology of why people say yes and how to apply these insights ethically in business and everyday settings. Using memorable stories and relatable examples, he makes this crucially important subject surprisingly easy. With Cialdini as a guide, you don’t have to be a scientist to learn how to use this science in this modern-day masterpiece.

What separates effective communicators from truly successful persuaders? With the same rigorous scientific research and accessibility that makes Influence essential reading, Cialdini explains how to prepare people to be receptive to a message before they experience it. Optimal persuasion is achieved only through optimal pre-suasion. In other words, to change “minds,” a pre-suader must also change “states of mind.” Amazing book.

Every day we make choices. Coke or Pepsi? Save or spend? Stay or go? Whether mundane or life-altering, these choices define us and shape our lives. Iyengar asks the difficult questions about how and why we choose: Is the desire for choice innate or bound by culture? Why do we sometimes choose against our best interests? How much control do we really have over what we choose? Her research reveals that the answers are surprising and profound. In our world of shifting political and cultural forces, technological revolution and interconnected commerce, our decisions have far-reaching consequences.