26 Books Written by Women Which Changed My Life

While women read books written by men, men do not tend to reciprocate. Research by Goodreads showed that male authors accounted for 90% of men’s 50 most-read titles. This bias seems to happen because men’s experiences are assumed to be universal in a way that women’s aren’t.

I feel that a key purpose of reading is to seek perspectives that I don’t already know. That’s why I always aim to read at least 50% female authors. In my latest LinkedIn article I have shared 26 of my favourite books written by women which have positively changed my life. 

Personal Development: 

1) Fully Connected: Social Health in an Age of Overload: Surviving and Thriving in an Age of Overload, Julia Hobsbawm

In Fully Connected Julia Hobsbawm takes us on a journey - often a personal one, 'from Telex to Twitter' - to illustrate how the answer to the Age of Overload can come from devising management-based systems which are both highly practical and yet intuitive, and which draw inspiration from the huge advances the world has made in tackling other kinds of health, specifically nutrition, exercise, and mental well-being.

2) I Find That Offensive, Claire Fox

In 'I Find That Offensive!' Claire Fox addresses the possible causes of what is fast becoming known as 'Generation Snowflake' head-on (no 'safe spaces' here) in a call to toughen up, become more robust and make a virtue of the right to be offensive.

3) The Defining Decade: Why Your Twenties Matter and How to Make the Most of Them Now, Meg Jay

The Defining Decade weaves the latest science of the twentysomething years with real-life stories to show us how work, relationships, personality, social networks, identity and even the brain can change more during this decade than at any other time in adulthood. Smart, compassionate and constructive, The Defining Decade is a practical guide to making the most of the years we cannot afford to miss.

4) In Defence of Political Correctness, Yasmin Alibhai-Brown

In this powerful new book, Yasmin Alibhai-Brown puts forth a spirited defence of political correctness, forcefully arguing that, in spite of many failures, this movement has led to a more civilised, equal and tolerant world. By tracing the history and definition of the term, Alibhai-Brown looks to clarify the very nature of PC, which is ultimately grounded in human decency, understanding and compassion all of which are essential for a safer and kinder world.

5) How to Be Human: The Manual, Ruby Wax

With a little help from a monk (who tells us how our mind works) and a neuroscientist (who tells us how our brain works), Ruby Wax answers every question you've ever had about: evolution, thoughts, emotions, the body, addictions, relationships, sex, kids, the future and compassion.

6) Grit: Why passion and resilience are the secrets to success, Angela Duckworth

In this must-read for anyone seeking to succeed, pioneering psychologist Angela Duckworth takes us on an eye-opening journey to discover the true qualities that lead to outstanding achievement. Winningly personal, insightful and powerful, Grit is a book about what goes through your head when you fall down, and how that – not talent or luck – makes all the difference.

7) The Squiggly Career: Ditch the Ladder, Discover Opportunity, Design Your Career, by Helen Tupper, Sarah Ellis  

Today, we're living in a world of squiggly careers, where moving frequently and fluidly between roles, industries, locations, and even careers, is becoming the new normal. Squiggly careers can feel stressful and overwhelming, but if you know how to make the most of them, they can be full of opportunity, freedom and purpose.

8) Radical Candor: How to Get What You Want by Saying What You Mean, Kim Scott

Radical Candor offers a guide to those bewildered or exhausted by management, written for bosses and those who manage bosses. Drawing on years of first-hand experience, and distilled clearly to give practical advice to the reader, Radical Candor shows you how to be successful while retaining your integrity and humanity. Radical Candor is the perfect handbook for those who are looking to find meaning in their job and create an environment where people love both their work and their colleagues, and are motivated to strive to ever greater success.

9) The Coaching Manual: The Definitive Guide to The Process, Principles and Skills of Personal Coaching, Julie Starr

Whether you’re new to coaching or already an experienced coach, you’ll find clear guidance and principles to help you coach more effectively and with greater impact

10) Reinvented Lives: Women at Sixty: A Celebration, Elizabeth Handy

Twenty-eight women, ranging from Anita Roddick and Prue Leith to less well-known names, write their own personal stories which are accompanied by Elizabeth Handy's black and white photographs and an introductory essay by Charles Handy. This generation of women is entering the sixties more healthy, more educated and more energetic than most of their mothers. The subjects in this book provide the models for what has become, for the first time, a new age for many women. Released from most of the cares and responsibilities that accompany midlife for women, they are free to reinvent themselves, to give more time to their career or calling, or to luxuriate in the serenity and friendships that few had time for in the past. Some enter new relationships, some start new careers or go back to study, some find that their work is only now reaching its peak. Many have survived traumas and tragedies, but 'the past is just the prologue' as one of them explains.

11) The Secret, Rhonda Byrne

Regarded as a life-changing read by many readers, The Secret by Rhonda Byrne is a self-help book that embarks to motivate the reader about a universal paradigm about success that can be achieved though it remains hidden for most people. The book explores about unveiling this little secret which may transform how people look at things and lead them on to the road of success and true happiness. According to the author, the book makes proper use of the 'law of attraction and shows how positive thinking can open treasure trove of bountiful happiness, health and wealth. The book posits the law of attraction as a primeval law that completes the law of the universe (as well of our lives) through the process 'like attracts like . The author is also of the view that as people think-and-feel, so do they send a corresponding frequency to the universe that in turn attracts events and circumstances of the same frequency. Hence, if one is always able to think positive and think right, naturally, one will obtain the best results always.

12) The Unexpected Joy of Being Sober: Discovering a happy, healthy, wealthy alcohol-free life, Catherine Gray

Much more than a tale from the netherworld of addicted drinking, this book is about the escape, and why a sober life can be more intoxicating than you ever imagined. Whether you're a hopelessly devoted drinker, merely sober-curious, or you've already ditched the drink, you will love this book.

13) The Top Five Regrets of the Dying: A Life Transformed by the Dearly Departing, Bronnie Ware

During the time she spent tending to the needs of those who were dying, Bronnie's life was transformed. Later, she wrote a blog post about the most common regrets that the people she had cared for had expressed to her. 

Society: 

14) Brotopia: Breaking Up the Boys' Club of Silicon Valley, Emily Chang

Silicon Valley holds extraordinary power over our present lives as well as whatever utopia (or nightmare) might come next. --New York Times Silicon Valley is a modern utopia where anyone can change the world. Unless you're a woman. For women in tech, Silicon Valley is not a fantasyland of unicorns, virtual reality rainbows, and 3D-printed lollipops, where millions of dollars grow on trees. It's a Brotopia, where men hold all the cards and make all the rules. Vastly outnumbered, women face toxic workplaces rife with discrimination and sexual harassment, where investors take meetings in hot tubs and network at sex parties. In this powerful expose, Bloomberg TV journalist Emily Chang reveals how Silicon Valley got so sexist despite its utopian ideals, why bro culture endures despite decades of companies claiming the moral high ground (Don't Be Evil] Connect the World])--and how women are finally starting to speak out and fight back.

15) Brit(ish): On Race, Identity and Belonging, Afua Hirsch

We are a nation in denial about our imperial past and the racism that plagues our present. Brit(ish) is Afua Hirsch’s personal and provocative exploration of how this came to be – and an urgent call for change.

16) Invisible Women: Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men, Caroline Criado Perez

From government policy and medical research, to technology, workplaces, and the media. Invisible Women reveals how in a world built for and by men we are systematically ignoring half of the population, often with disastrous consequences. Caroline Criado Perez brings together for the first time an impressive range of case studies, stories and new research from across the world that illustrate the hidden ways in which women are forgotten, and the profound impact this has on us all.

17) Trans Britain: Our Journey from the Shadows, Christine Burns

Trans Britain chronicles this journey in the words of those who were there to witness a marginalised community grow into the visible phenomenon we recognise today: activists, film-makers, broadcasters, parents, an actress, a rock musician and a priest, among many others.

18) Slay In Your Lane: The Black Girl Bible, by Yomi Adegoke, Elizabeth Uviebinené

This honest and provocative book recognises and celebrates the strides black women have already made, while providing practical advice for those who want to do the same and forge a better, visible future.

19) It's About Damn Time: How to Turn Being Underestimated into Your Greatest Advantage, Arlan Hamilton

As much as we wish it weren't so, we still live in a world where being underrepresented often means being underestimated. But as someone who makes her living investing in high-potential founders who also happen to be female, LGBTQ, or people of color, Hamilton understands that being undervalued simply means that a big upside exists. Because even if you have to work twice as hard to get to the starting line, she says, once you are on a level playing field, you will sprint ahead.

20) One Day, All Children: The Unlikely Triumph Of Teach For America And What I Learned Along The Way, Wendy Kopp

From her dorm room at Princeton University, twenty-one-year-old college senior Wendy Kopp decided to launch a movement to improve public education in America. In One Day, All Children... , she shares the remarkable story of Teach For America, a non-profit organization that sends outstanding college graduates to teach for two years in the most under-resourced urban and rural public schools in America. The astonishing success of the program has proven it possible for children in low-income areas to attain the same level of academic achievement as children in more privileged areas and more privileged schools. One Day, All Children, is not just a personal memoir. It's a blueprint for the new civil rights movement- a movement that demands educational access and opportunity for all American children.

Biographies: 

21) Becoming, Michelle Obama

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. 

22) What Happened, Hillary Rodham Clinton

For the first time, Hillary Rodham Clinton reveals what she was thinking and feeling during one of the most controversial and unpredictable presidential elections in history. Now free from the constraints of running, Hillary takes you inside the intense personal experience of becoming the first woman nominated for president by a major party in an election marked by rage, sexism, exhilarating highs and infuriating lows, stranger-than-fiction twists, Russian interference and an opponent who broke all the rules. This is her most personal memoir yet.

23) The Secrets of my Life, Caitlyn Jenner

With poignancy and humour, Caitlyn writes about her confusion growing up, the temporary triumph of the Olympics as Bruce Jenner, and the noose of being endlessly described as the ultimate in manhood. She reveals her sense of shame and deceit she felt as she got older, as she went to great lengths to tell lies to conceal her true self. She also delves into her life in the public eye; her marriages and her troubled relationships with her children; what lead to her decision to becoming Caitlyn, and how the transgender community and the world has embraced her new life. Written with a searing honesty, this books shows you the real and true Caitlyn.

24) The Woman Who Can't Forget: The Extraordinary Story of Living with the Most Remarkable Memory Known to Science, Jill Price

The Woman Who Can't Forget is the beautifully written and moving story of Jill's quest to come to terms with her extraordinary memory, living with a condition that no one understood, including her, until the scientific team who studied her finally charted the extraordinary terrain of her abilities. Her fascinating journey speaks volumes about the delicate dance of remembering and forgetting in all of our lives and the many mysteries about how our memories shape us.

Fiction

25) A Little Life, Hanya Yanagihara

When four graduates from a small Massachusetts college move to New York to make their way, they're broke, adrift, and buoyed only by their friendship and ambition. There is kind, handsome Willem, an aspiring actor; JB, a quick-witted, sometimes cruel Brooklyn-born painter seeking entry to the art world; Malcolm, a frustrated architect at a prominent firm; and withdrawn, brilliant, enigmatic Jude, who serves as their centre of gravity. Over the decades, their relationships deepen and darken, tinged by addiction, success, and pride. Yet their greatest challenge, each comes to realize, is Jude himself, by midlife a terrifyingly talented litigator yet an increasingly broken man, his mind and body scarred by an unspeakable childhood, and haunted by what he fears is a degree of trauma that he'll not only be unable to overcome but that will define his life forever.

26) The Secret History, Donna Tartt

Under the influence of their charismatic classics professor, a group of clever, eccentric misfits at an elite New England college discover a way of thinking and living that is a world away from the humdrum existence of their contemporaries. But when they go beyond the boundaries of morality, their lives are changed profoundly and for ever.