My 2023 Top Reads

1. Four Thousand Weeks (Oliver Burkeman)

Four Thousand Weeks is an ingenious book on time management. Unlike most productivity bestsellers, Burkeman takes a philosophical approach to time and confronts the finitude of human life head-on. Instead of endorsing more strategies to fit more tasks into our limited time, Four Thousand Weeks acknowledges the impossibility of it all and sheds light on the meaning that emerges from deliberately choosing what not to do. This book wittily argues that the inability to have enough time for everything is exactly what makes life worth living. Four Thousand Weeks is a personal favorite for the way it alters my relationship with time and “productivity”.

2. Hidden Potential (Adam Grant)

Talent is overrated. We live in a world that pays more attention to where people are rather than how far they’ve come. As a consequence, we miss out on a lot of hidden potential. Filled with delightful anecdotes and compelling research, Adam Grant explores the character skills that enable individuals to thrive — seeking out discomfort, absorbing information like a sponge, and embracing imperfection. Hidden Potential helps us unleash the hidden potential within ourselves and ultimately others.

3. Optimal Illusions (Coco Krumme)

Equally captivating and unorthodox, Optimal Illusions delves into what society gains and loses through our obsession with optimization. Through this book, Krumme explores the challenges of finding meaning in a world that is so connected yet so out of touch. Optimal Illusions forces me to rethink my techno-optimistic worldview and acknowledge the inevitable downsides of progress.

4. How to Know a Person (David Brooks)

Research suggests that the quality of our relationships is the most critical factor of our happiness, yet we seldom have the skills necessary to have meaningful conversations. How to Know a Person is David Brooks’ fascinating exploration of the art of understanding others deeply. Philosophical and practical at once, this book asserts the importance of seeing others as a component of one’s character and offers guidance on seeing another person holistically. How to Know a Person is a manifesto on living a better life and creating a better society through meaningful relationships.

5. The Gift (Edith Eva Eger)

Edith Eger’s Gift is a life-changing book about suffering, healing, and growth. Drawing from the author’s experience in the concentration camp and her deep interactions as a therapist, The Gift examines in full depth the prisons of the mind as the roots of suffering. The Gift is a personal favorite because it reshapes my perspective on mental health.

6. The Dawn of Everything (David Graeber & David Wengrow)

In The Dawn of Everything, Graeber and Wengrow challenge our false assumptions about the progress of our species. This book explores the boundlessness of human creativity in the past 200,000 years and its implications on modern social order. Filled with unconventional insights, The Dawn of Everything pushes us to confront the difficult questions about what freedom truly means and how we end up stuck in our current system.