Make the Most of Lockdown: A Coronavirus Reading List

During this time of shelter-in-place and social-distancing, some of us find ourselves with more free-time and are searching for at home entertainment. Others of us feel lost and upset at how much is changing. I personally have always found books valuable in times like these. They help me engage with the world through attaining a better understanding of it, and sometimes they help me escape the world by stepping into another. In this post, I’ve included some commentary on books I recommend ranging from healthcare, behavioral economics, cognitive psychology, entrepreneurship, international relations, and everything in between. The common theme is that these are books that I love that are especially relevant during this COVID-19 pandemic.  For those who don't have the time right now to start a new book, I included personal reflections and my favorite quotes, so hopefully reading this post on its own will still help you find something meaningful!

For understanding pandemics

Crisis in the Red Zone: The Story of the Deadliest Ebola Outbreak in History, and of the Outbreaks to Come by Richard Preston

This is truly an eye-opening look at the frontlines of the most recent Ebola epidemic. It provides a solid overview of pandemics: how they start, how they spread, and what we can do to stop them. It also portrays how real heroes battled a deadly outbreak amidst vast misinformation, while making sacrifices and practicing compassion throughout. Warning: this book is definitely intense and portrays graphic scenes of loss.

Favorite quote: “Ebola virus moves from one person to the next by following the deepest and most personal ties of love, care, and duty that join people to one another and most clearly define us as human. The virus exploits the best parts of human nature as a means of travel from one person to the next. In this sense the virus is a true monster.”

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For making a difference in times of crisis 

We Fed an Island: The True Story of Rebuilding Puerto Rico, One Meal at a Time by José Andrés

One of my favorite books recounting how tragedy can spur positive action. It describes how, in the wake of the devastation from Hurricane Maria, chefs (including celebrity chef José Andrés) fed hundreds of thousands of Puerto Ricans who were cut off from the rest of the world. The book is specifically focused on food-relief for humanitarian crises, though many of the insights can be applied to responding to COVID-19 and understanding how we can step up and make a difference in our own way. It also exceptionally chronicles the hardships that Puerto Ricans unfortunately had to overcome - from being disconnected from the rest of the world for months, to not being able to access clean water.

Favorite quote: “They were exhausted but they never stopped working. We all were driven by the need to feed an island whose suffering we were still only beginning to understand. I went to the hotel rooftop and lit a cigar, accompanied only by the buzzing of the city’s air-conditioning units and generators. As I looked up to the stars, I began to cry. I thought the one star that was missing was the Puerto Rican star on the American flag.”

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For protecting your mental health 

Maybe You Should Talk to Someone by Lori Gottlieb

The anxiety over COVID-19’s future and mandates for self-isolation are fueling a mental health pandemic. The book’s aim is not simply to get you to make a counseling appointment, but rather to help you confront the feelings you have and understand what to do with them. For me, this book really helped break down a lot of stigmas around mental health and understand how vital it is for me to prioritize mine. As important as it is to wash our hands (20 seconds folks!), please don’t ignore your mental health either! More resources on how to protect your mental health can be found here.

Favorite quote: “When the present falls apart, so does the future we had associated with it. And having the future taken away is the mother of all plot twists.”

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For preventing the next global disaster 

The Great Derangement: Climate Change and the Unthinkable by Amitav Ghosh

Hopefully one silver lining of the terrible COVID-19 outbreak is that we will start listening to science and proactively prevent the next disaster before it reaches its tipping point. While there are a few books I recommend on climate change (The Ice at the End of the World and This Changes Everything), there is none that I recommend more than the Great Derangement. It’s a beautifully written, non-fiction work on why we don’t talk about climate change, why we cannot comprehend its impact, but how we can, going forward, weave it into our politics, literature, and daily thoughts.

Favorite quote: “I suspect that human beings were generally catastrophists at heart until their instinctive awareness of the earth’s unpredictability was gradually supplanted by a belief in uniformitarianism—a regime of ideas that was supported by scientific theories and also by a range of governmental practices that were informed by statistics and probability.”

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For discovering the next big thing 

Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future by Peter Thiel

Despite the tragedy of the COVID-19 pandemic, an upside is that there is certainly no shortage of opportunity and room for innovation. One of my classmates makes a compelling case that there is no better time than right now to start a business. While Thiel casts serious doubt on the value of higher education, (which may be disappointing or off putting to my MBA peers), this book will help you explore your strengths, turn them into ideas, and find value in the unexpected. For those not looking to start a company, it provides a solid foundation for how to evaluate opportunities and understand value capture and value creation in the startup ecosystem … but who knows, after reading this book, you mght just start something! 

Favorite quote: “Brilliant thinking is rare, but courage is in even shorter supply than genius.”

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For motivating you to get off your couch 

The Joy of Movement: How Exercise Helps Us Find Happiness, Hope, Connection, and Courage by Kelly McGonigal

While the best thing most of us can do right now is stay home, that does not mean that we should not leave our bed or sofa. Especially with this lockdown, we could all use a little motivation to get moving, and this book provides precisely that. For those who don’t recall the last time you worked out, this book will provide science-backed arguments for why you should exercise and what deeper benefits it can provide you. And for the self-described “exercise junkies,” this book provides so much more, like how to push yourself to your limits. You’ll also learn the science behind why Eminem’s “Till I Collapse” is such a good workout song! 

Favorite quote: “Their experiences paint a portrait of how humans maintain hope and momentum in the darkest moments. We endure by taking it one step at a time, by making space for suffering and joy to coexist, and with the help of others.”

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For escaping into an alternate reality

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

COVID-19 will change the world as we know it, so why not get a taste of this by exploring alternate realities through a dystopian novel? Station Eleven takes place after the Swine Flu pandemic led to a collapse of civilization, wherein a group of actors and musicians travel in an attempt to keep their art alive. The only fiction book to make this list has taught me how to piece together your world when it has seemingly fallen apart. 

Favorite quote: “Jeevan found himself thinking about how human the city is, how human everything is. We bemoaned the impersonality of the modern world, but that was a lie, it seemed to him; it had never been impersonal at all. There had always been a massive delicate infrastructure of people, all of them working unnoticed around us, and when people stop going to work, the entire operation grinds to a halt. No one delivers fuel to the gas stations or the airports. Cars are stranded. Airplanes cannot fly. Trucks remain at their points of origin. Food never reaches the cities; grocery stores close. Businesses are locked and then looted. No one comes to work at the power plants or the substations, no one removes fallen trees from electrical lines. Jeevan was standing by the window when the lights went out.”

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For acting amidst uncertainty 

Thinking in Bets: Making Smarter Decisions When You Don't Have All the Facts by Annie Duke

It seems that the only certainty with the COVID-19 outbreak is that nothing is certain. And making decisions with uncertainty is really difficult. The author, who reasons that a bet is just a decision about an uncertain future, utilizes her background as a former World Series Poker Champion to provide a toolset to make better decisions amidst uncertainty. P.S. if you read a lot of behavioral and cognitive psychology books, you might find this book too cursory. But if not, it's a great primer on the field with actionable takeaways!

Favorite quote: “The implications of treating decisions as bets made it possible for me to find learning opportunities in uncertain environments. Treating decisions as bets, I discovered, helped me avoid common decision traps, learn from results in a more rational way, and keep emotions out of the process as much as possible.” 

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For adapting to remote work and learning

Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning by Peter C. Brown

Millions of students will be embarking on online learning as schools and colleges across the country are now shifting to virtual classes. This book taught me not only how to learn, but also how to demonstrate mastery of concepts. I am planning to use what I’ve learned as I try to adapt to the new experience of Stanford’s virtual classes. It will also help working professionals step in the minds of their audiences to better understand how to convey ideas to teams and audiences.

Favorite quote: “We are poor judges of when we are learning well and when we’re not. When the going is harder and slower and it doesn’t feel productive, we are drawn to strategies that feel more fruitful, unaware that the gains from these strategies are often temporary.”

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For safeguarding your bank account 

The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham

Many are predicting that the COVID-19 outbreak will lead to the worst global recession we've seen in our lifetime. For a privileged few, this recession might provide an opportunity to invest more to see positive gains when the market eventually recovers. However, there is no doubt that for most, difficult times are ahead. Regardless of what position you are in, this is a classic, accessible book that teaches the fundamentals of investing to help us weather the imminent economic storm. I also recommend The Big Short for an in-depth look at the forces that led to our last recession.

Favorite quote: “Investing is a unique kind of casino—one where you cannot lose in the end, so long as you play only by the rules that put the odds squarely in your favor.”

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For establishing new routines

The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business by Charles Duhigg

During this lockdown, many of us have had more time to do things that too often fall off our lists, such as learning new skills, connecting with old friends, and starting new projects. Since we are adjusting to new routines and ways of life, there is no better time to start forming new habits. This book provides a scientific narrative of how we can transform our lives with small, every-day changes. Hopefully, we can each find a silver lining in this tragedy by changing bad habits and creating new ones!

Favorite quote: “Champions don’t do extraordinary things. They do ordinary things, but they do them without thinking, too fast for the other team to react. They follow the habits they’ve learned.”

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For emerging from a national crises

Upheaval: Turning Points for Nations in Crisis by Jared Diamond

The author of “Guns, Germs, and Steel,” Diamond, provides a historical review of countries that have successfully recovered from crises. Instead of just focusing on the U.S.’s past, this book has taught me that we should be learning from other countries as well. He also presents an interesting argument as to why America’s unique inability to compromise politically might be the source of our demise if a big crisis were to hit. Learnings from this book will help us mobilize and communicate in ways such that we don’t fall prey to the same mistakes we’ve made in the past.

Favorite quote: “It’s neither possible nor desirable for individuals or nations to change completely, and to discard everything of their former identities. The challenge, for nations as for individuals in crisis, is to figure out which parts of their identities are already functioning well and don’t need changing, and which parts are no longer working and do need changing.”

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For determining a global solution

The Education of an Idealist: A Memoir by Samantha Power 

Power’s insights on global cooperation and the U.S.’s role on the global stage are so relevant to today's pandemic. More than ever, we will need international cooperation and individuals to emerge as global leaders to fight this outbreak and establish new ways of living. Through a close examination of defining moments in her life from an immigrant to a journalist, and an activist to the U.N. Ambassador, Power persuasively makes the case for why each of us has the opportunity to step up and make an impact. This book recently became #1 on my list of favorite memoirs!

Favorite quote: “People who care, act, and refuse to give up may not change THE world, but they can change many individual worlds.”

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For feeling alone

The Lonely City: Adventures in the Art of Being Alone by Olivia Laing 

In the age of COVID-19, without many of the in-person meetups with friends, family, classmates, and co-workers, we are likely to feel alone, a lot. For me, maintaining connections virtually is something I’m still trying to figure out, and in the meantime, I sometimes find myself feeling isolated and lonely. I first read this book when I moved to a new city after graduating college, as the author did, so found it incredibly relatable. It’s an interesting study of loneliness and all its paradoxes that she discovers through her personal experiences, as well as through exploring art and the city around her.

Favorite quote: “So much of the pain of loneliness is to do with concealment, with feeling compelled to hide vulnerability, to tuck ugliness away, to cover up scars as if they are literally repulsive. But why hide? What's so shameful about wanting, about desire, about having failed to achieve satisfaction, about experiencing unhappiness? Why this need to constantly inhabit peak states, or to be comfortably sealed inside a unit of two, turned inward from the world at large?”

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For overarching global healthcare reform

The Health Gap: The Challenge of an Unequal World by Michael G. Marmot

There has been a lot of outrage recently over why asymptomatic high-profile celebrities, athletes, and politicians are able to get their hands on COVID-19 tests, while many average U.S. citizens showing symptoms are denied access. Unfortunately, this is just one example of the healthcare inequities that will be perpetuated with the diagnosis and treatment of COVID-19 over the next few years. This book dives into certain healthcare inequities that exist, not only in the U.S., but on a global scale. For example, currently the world’s unhealthiest country has an average lifespan of forty years shorter than the world’s healthiest country. In America as well, just a few miles separate groups with life expectancies decades apart. It's a shocking view of differences in health outcomes and the social determinants that cause them, told through individual stories and extensive data. It also provides a look into what can be done to address them. 

Favorite quote: “So close is the link between the nature of society and health that you can use it both ways. By which I mean the level of health, and the magnitude of the social gradient in health, tell us about how well the society is doing. And if you are concerned about improving health, then the conditions of society that influence health - its social determinants - loom large.

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For accepting change

The Five Things We Cannot Change: And the Happiness We Find by Embracing Them by David Richo

Of course, we know that things won’t always go our way. But with everything up in the air due to COVID-19, this unfortunately seems to be happening much too often. This book is a reminder of why a mindset shift, such as accepting there are things that we cannot change and instead focusing on what can be changed, is so helpful. For me, revisiting this book has changed my attitude in approaching all the things that I am bummed to have to miss this spring (including international travel, in-person classes, and social events). Certain excerpts, like that below, have provided me much-needed solace in these uncertain times. 

Favorite quote: “There are five unavoidable givens, five immutable facts that come to visit all of us many times over: Everything changes and ends. Things do not always go according to plan. Life is not always fair. Pain is part of life. People are not loving and loyal all the time. These are the core challenges that we all face. But too often we live in denial of these facts. We behave as if somehow these givens aren’t always in effect, or not applicable to all of us. But when we oppose these five basic truths we resist reality, and life then becomes an endless series of disappointments, frustrations, and sorrows [….] Each of the givens or conditions of existence evokes a question about our destiny. Are we here to get our way or to dance with the flow of life? Are we here to make sure everything goes according to our plans or to trust the surprises and synchronicities that lead us to new vistas? Are we here to make sure we get a fair deal or are we here to be upright and loving? Are we here to avoid pain or to deal with it, grow from it, and learn to be compassionate through it? Are we here to be loyally loved by everyone or to love with all our might?”

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For distracting humor 

Egghead: Or, You Can't Survive on Ideas Alone by Bo Burnham

The outbreak we are facing is serious, but I believe that humor is incredibly important in difficult times. If you are in the mood for a light, hilarious, and absurd read, then I recommend Egghead! It’s a collection of short poems, essays, and illustrations on random topics from coffee to religion…truly quite a range. Many laugh out loud moments with an astonishing amount of social commentary packed in.

Favorite quote: “I'll do that tomorrow. Then tomorrow comes and it's still today. Tomorrow is a relative term… Makes Annie a lot more depressing.”

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For spending your new-found free time  

How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy by Jenny Odell

There's no better time than the current COVID-19 pandemic to reevaluate how we are spending our time and what competes for our attention. Odell provides an examination of different things that pull our attention and solid guidance of how to connect with our environment. This is *not* a doctrine for laziness as the title may suggest, but rather an encouragement to refocus on other aspects of life. I would probably rename it a less-catchy "How to do Something…else." Be prepared for some philosophical musings on art, value, and “the self.” But regardless of how much of the book's teachings you enact, the perspective is unique and worth a read!

Favorite quote: "To do this means recognizing and celebrating a form of the self that changes over time, exceeds algorithmic description, and whose identity doesn't always stop at the boundary of the individual."

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And finally… for when social distancing comes to an end

The Art of Gathering: How We Meet and Why It Matters by Priya Parker 

From dinner parties to business meetings and conferences to music festivals, we spend a lot of our life gathering…and that’s never been more top-of-mind than with the absence of in-person gatherings due to the COVID-19. This book highlights the importance of gatherings and provides tactical steps to help hosts focus on the purpose rather than mechanics of such meetups. I have learned how to design and attend gatherings to form deeper human connections and spend time meaningfully. And during social-distancing, this book may be even more relevant to help us foster genuine connections from our virtual interactions!

Favorite quote: “Think of what you want to be different because you gathered, and work backward from that outcome.”

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Parting thoughts

I have linked each book to Amazon as well as IndieBound, a community of local, independent bookstores. Independent bookstores are really taking a hit now, so if you can, please try and support them while staying safe. Information for how you can support them here!

Thank you for taking the time to read this. I hope you found something that peaked your interest and would love to hear what you thought about any of these books. Please reach out with any questions or additional recommendations!

I would like to close out with another excerpt from the first book on this list, Crisis in the Red Zone: “It is to say that history turns on unnoticed things. Small, hidden events can have ripple effects, and the ripples can grow. A child touches a bat…a woman riding on a bus bumps against someone who isn’t feeling well…an email gets buried…a patient isn’t found…and suddenly the future arrives.” What we do matters, and I hope everyone stays safe and healthy and that we move on from this stronger, together!