Books that caught my interest in 2023 to read with my team

I love to learn when I read so this year, you’ll see, my list includes biographies, books about behaviour change, science and technology – and a bit of cooking!?

Taste by Stanley Tucci: I loved Stanley Tucci’s CNN series?which followed him as he explored the food of Italy so I was immediately interested in Taste, which is a reflection on the intersection of food and life. It takes you on a journey through good times and bad, five-star meals and burned dishes – each as heartfelt and delicious as the last.

Rassie, Stories of life and rugby by Rassie Erasmus: What better way could there be to relive the glory of our Rugby World Cup than to read Rassie’s personal story? Rassie talks about his adventures and misadventures as he looks back on his childhood and exceptional career, in which his innate rugby instincts, ability to read a game, and appetite for hard work set him apart.

Elon Musk by Walter Isaacson: Walter Isaacson is one of the great biographers of our time and I’ve gifted several of his previous works over the years. Combine his brilliant insights with the life-story of Elon Musk and the result is a revealing book of triumphs and turmoil, and how Musk has lead the world into the era of electric vehicles and private space exploration, among many other innovations.

Hidden Potential, the science of achieving greater things by Adam Grant: Serena Williams, 23-time Grand Slam singles tennis champion, said “This brilliant book will shatter your assumptions about what it takes to improve and succeed. I wish I could go back in time and gift it to my younger self. It would’ve helped me find a more joyful path to progress.” You can’t get a much better endorsement and this book lives up to it by providing insights, and vivid storytelling to show that progress depends less on how hard you work than on how well you learn.

The Four Workarounds by Paulo Savaget: This is brain food for entrepreneurs. Award-winning researcher, Paulo Savaget, shows how the most valuable lessons about problem-solving can be learned from small organisations dedicated to social action. He identified four workarounds and demonstrate how each one works to address various challenges.?

The Coming Wave by Mustafa Suleyman: This Financial Times?Best Book of the Year?explains that AI will organise our lives and operate businesses and core government services. As co-founder of the pioneering AI company DeepMind, Mustafa Suleyman shows how it will create immense prosperity but also potentially threaten the foundation of order. This book establishes the task of maintaining control over powerful technologies – it’s a uniquely complex ethical dilemma which will define our time.

Outlive by Dr Peter Attia: For anybody familiar with Discovery, Dr Attia’s research will hopefully resonate. This book draws on the latest science to deliver innovative nutritional interventions, techniques for optimising exercise and sleep, and tools for addressing emotional and mental health. It shares interesting facts, including why exercise is the most potent pro-longevity intervention, why we need to focus on?nutritional biochemistry to personalise our eating patterns and that ignoring emotional health, could be the ultimate enemy of longevity.?

Tiny Habits by BJ Fogg: A habit expert from Stanford University, Fogg shares his method for building habits quickly and easily. Based on twenty years of research and coaching more than 40,000 people,?Tiny Habits?shows you how to feel good about your successes instead of bad about your failures and how to make habits stick through positive emotion. This will be brain food for anybody interested in behavioural economics and habit formation.? ?

Collision of Power: Trump, Bezos, and the Washington Post by Martin Baron: Baron took charge of?The Washington Post newsroom in 2013. Seven months in, he received news that Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, would buy the?Post, marking an end of 80-year family ownership. Two years later, Donald Trump won the presidency. In?Collision of Power, Baron recounts this time and explores the nature of power in the 21st century. This is perfect for any students of history, journalism and politics.

The World as I see it by Albert Einstein: Einstein is probably best-known for his theory of relativity but he had a wide range of interests. Einstein's opinions on the?meaning of life,?ethics,?science,?society,?religion, and?politics are captured in articles, addresses, letters, and interviews in The World as I See It. The preface of the first English edition stated: “Albert Einstein believes in humanity, in a peaceful world of mutual helpfulness, and in the high mission of science.” Perfectly relevant even today. ?

For other books that Hylton has recommended over the past two years, visit LinkedIn.

2022: https://discv.co/BestReads2022

2021: https://discv.co/HolidayReading2021