5 Impactful Books From 2018

When reflecting on the word or phrases that could explain 2018, I’d go with transformation.

Graduating from college, traveling to 8 countries, moving away from home to start my first job out of college. I have had a lot of fun and amazing moments, coupled with a few sad experiences that make me question how I’ve even got here. Books have acted as a positive grounding force among this change, and a few from this past year have taught me valuable lessons for years to come.

Here are a few of my favorite books that I read in 2018, and ones that you can try in 2019 (note that most of these are oldies!):

"Shantaram: A Novel"- Gregory David Roberts

Traveling to India is confusing. The beauty of the palaces, the rampant poverty, the delicious food, the corruption you hear about from the highest levels. It was honestly quite difficult for me to completely contextualize my experience in the country after a month of traveling this past May. Shantaram allowed me understand my own feelings of the trip extremely well and completely had me immersed in this fictional story. I was quite surprised when I walked away with more lessons and learnings from Shantaram than many of the other "non-fiction self-help" books that I've read. For those who think you can't learn from a fiction novel, I encourage you to add this book on your list in 2019!

“There are no mistakes. Only new paths to explore.”

"How Will You Measure Your Life?" - Clayton Christensen

This was recommended to me by my good friend Thenuka, and has been a valuable guide to think about my career and life. Christensen has taught me important lessons on investing in friendships early, and not pushing them off to focus on our careers, which a lot of 20 something year olds will do, and are already doing in my own experience. Highly recommend this book for anyone who is nearing the end of their education or about to begin their careers.

“If you defer investing your time and energy in relationships, when you need them, the chances are it will already be too late.”

"Factfulness: Ten Reasons We're Wrong About The World, and Why Things Are Better Than You Think" - Hans Rosling

I first heard about this book when Bill Gates was giving them away for free to all college students graduating from US schools this past year. If that does not entice you to take interest in a book I'm not sure what will! The premise of Factfulness is that our society, because of its focus on the negativity of the world, does not fully understand how good it has actually been becoming. The perspective I've learned from Rosling is not to not think the problems of the world do not exist, but to realize that we have solved many problems leading up to today, and the world is in fact a better place. This idea inspires me to believe we can continue to solve the issues of the present and the future.

“There's no room for facts when our minds are occupied by fear.”

"The Little Book Of Lykke: The Danish Search For The World Happiest People" - Meik Wiking

I was gifted this book by my sister this holiday break, and have already worked my way through it! Lykke, the Danish word for Happiness, was a fun read that walks through the most recent scientific research on the study of positive thinking and happiness. My favorite lessons here were how policymakers around the world are actively looking to concepts such as the "Gross Happiness Product" to guide decision making on how to support their citizens.

“A developed country is not a place where the poor have cars. It’s where the rich use public transport. It is where the rich walk and where they use bikes. We should create cities where rich and poor meet as equals: in parks, on the sidewalks, on public transport.”

"The Inevitable: Understanding the 12 Technological Trends That Will Shape The Future" - Kevin Kelly.

My initial impression of this book was that Kelly would explain what 12 new trends would be in the future such as blockchain, driver-less cars, AI, etc. What it turned out to be, to my pleasant surprise, was 12 concepts that will shape the world. These concepts allowed me to think about how ideas like "sharing" have been applied in the recent past, and how we can look for opportunities to apply these concepts in the future.

“This is not a race against the machines. If we race against them, we lose. This is a race with the machines. You’ll be paid in the future based on how well you work with robots. Ninety percent of your coworkers will be unseen machines.”

Hope you all enjoyed these recommendations, and please feel free to comment below with any of your favorites from this past year!

Happy Holidays everyone!