New Year Reading Recommendations for 2025: Insights About Design, Italian Culture, Mindset, and Rest
Gino Perrotte, M.A.
Reimagining how we teach and learn | Nurturing the things that make us human | Conscious Communication Creator and Speaker | Public Speaking Expert | Travel Educator | Award-winning Lecturer | Advocate for Rest
In this month's newsletter,?I present the books that I've read over the past six months and encourage you to add them to your reading list, too. These offer insights for:
In addition to enjoying my next stack of books (I'll share those recommendations towards the end of the spring semester), I'm also putting the final plans together for my January 2025 Sabbatical.
For this journey, I'll be going back in time more than 500 years ago to take a deeper look at the rise of Humanism -- a movement that emphasized human potential, creativity, and the study of classical antiquity which reshaped the Western worldview and led to an explosion of art, science, and innovation.
Based on these clues, any guesses as to where I'll be going for this Sabbatical? This city is home to one of the most famous statues in the world and the largest masonry dome ever built.
What's my goal? I'm going to have conversations with the old masters. By viewing their works and listening to them speak through their creations, I hope that they have lessons that I can glean to better understand the social and cultural impacts of Humanism.
I want to know. Why? Simply put -- AI.
By better understanding what people experienced 500 years ago during those massive shifts in technology, knowledge, and worldview, I hope to gain insights to help us navigate our rapidly changing times now in the age of AI and remember what makes us irreplaceable as people -- the essence of being human.
I'll share what I discovered during this January Sabbatical in an upcoming newsletter. Be sure to subscribe and follow!
Wishing you a wonderful, fun, and restful holiday season. And a happy New Year. Cheers to 2025!
Recommended Reading
Note: All book summary quotes below are from Amazon.com.
Burnout and rest
"Why do some people in the world’s most stressful careers avoid burnout while countless others are overwhelmed by the demands of ordinary jobs? What can we learn from these resilient role models who seem to be naturally resistant to the psychological hazards of work?
After extreme stress caused a life-threatening health crisis in her own life, Dr. Kandi Wiens left a lucrative career in management consulting and enrolled in a doctoral program at the University of Pennsylvania to understand why work was leaving millions of us sick, exhausted, unmotivated, and feeling stuck and ineffective. In her research, she discovered something remarkable: Despite dangerous levels of work-related stress, some people seemed to be naturally 'immune' to burnout.
So what did these people have that Dr. Wiens and millions of others did not? In digging further, she uncovered one key difference: Regardless of their role, industry, or experience, all these professionals exhibited a high degree of emotional intelligence (EI)."
"The good news is that everyone can build and boost emotional intelligence and use EI-based skills to manage workplace stress before it leads to breaking down or burning out. Burnout Immunity shows listeners how to develop and master the EI skills, principles, and strategies Dr. Wiens uncovered in her research..."
"Americans across all demographics, industries, and socioeconomic levels report exhaustion, burnout, and the wish for more meaningful lives. This full-system failure in our structure of work affects everything from gender inequality to domestic stability, and it even shortens our lifespans.
Drawing on years of research, Schulte traces the arc of our discontent from a time before the 1980s, when work was compatible with well-being and allowed a single earner to support a family, until today, with millions of people working multiple hourly jobs or in white-collar positions where no hours are ever off duty.
She casts a wide net in search of solutions, exploring the movement to institute a four-day workweek, introducing Japan’s Housewives Brigade—which demands legal protection for family time—and embedding with CEOs who are making the business case for humane conditions. And she demonstrates the power of a collective and creative demand for change, showing that work can be organized in an infinite number of ways that are good for humans and for business."
"Much of value has been written about sleep, but rest is different; it is how we unwind, calm our minds and recharge our bodies. The Art of Rest draws on ground-breaking research Claudia Hammond collaborated on: 'The Rest Test', the largest global survey into rest ever undertaken, completed by 18,000 people across 135 different countries. The survey revealed how people get rest and how it is directly linked to your sense of wellbeing.
Counting down through the top ten activities which people find most restful, Hammond explains why rest matters, examines the science behind the results to establish what really works and offers a roadmap for a new, more restful and balanced life."
"Despite our constant search for new ways to optimize our bodies and minds for peak performance, human beings are working more instead of less, living harder not smarter, and becoming more lonely and anxious. We strive for the absolute best in every aspect of our lives, ignoring what we do well naturally and reaching for a bar that keeps rising higher and higher. Why do we measure our time in terms of efficiency instead of meaning? Why can’t we just take a break??
In Do Nothing, award-winning journalist Celeste Headlee illuminates a new path ahead, seeking to institute a global shift in our thinking so we can stop sabotaging our well-being, put work aside, and start living instead of doing. As it turns out, we’re searching for external solutions to an internal problem. We won’t find what we’re searching for in punishing diets, productivity apps, or the latest self-improvement schemes. Yet all is not lost—we just need to learn how to take time for ourselves, without agenda or profit, and redefine what is truly worthwhile.?
Pulling together threads from history, neuroscience, social science, and even paleontology, Headlee examines long-held assumptions about time use, idleness, hard work, and even our ultimate goals. Her research reveals that the habits we cling to are doing us harm; they developed recently in human history, which means they are habits that can, and must, be broken. It’s time to reverse the trend that’s making us all sadder, sicker, and less productive, and return to a way of life that allows us to thrive."
"We live in the age of speed. We strain to be more efficient, to cram more into each minute, each hour, each day. Since the Industrial Revolution shifted the world into high gear, the cult of speed has pushed us to a breaking point. Consider these facts: Americans on average spend seventy-two minutes of every day behind the wheel of a car, a typical business executive now loses sixty-eight hours a year to being put on hold, and American adults currently devote on average a mere half hour per week to making love.
Living on the edge of exhaustion, we are constantly reminded by our bodies and minds that the pace of life is spinning out of control. In Praise of Slowness traces the history of our increasingly breathless relationship with time and tackles the consequences of living in this accelerated culture of our own creation. Why are we always in such a rush? What is the cure for time sickness? Is it possible, or even desirable, to slow down? Realizing the price we pay for unrelenting speed, people all over the world are reclaiming their time and slowing down the pace -- and living happier, healthier, and more productive lives as a result. A Slow revolution is taking place."
Communication and design?
"Communication is a superpower and the best communicators understand that whenever we speak, we’re actually participating in one of three conversations: practical (What’s this really about?), emotional (How do we feel?), and social (Who are we?). If you don’t know what kind of conversation you’re having, you’re unlikely to connect.?
Supercommunicators know the importance of recognizing—and then matching—each kind of conversation, and how to hear the complex emotions, subtle negotiations, and deeply held beliefs that color so much of what we say and how we listen. Our experiences, our values, our emotional lives—and how we see ourselves, and others—shape every discussion, from who will pick up the kids to how we want to be treated at work.?In this book, you will learn?why some people are able to make themselves heard, and to hear others, so clearly.
With his storytelling that takes us from the writers’ room of The Big Bang Theory to the couches of leading marriage counselors, Duhigg shows readers how to recognize these three conversations—and teaches us the tips and skills we need to navigate them more successfully."
"Do we still need physical places like grocery stores, restaurants, and office buildings? Or will the 'Replacement Economy' led by the tech titans and retail giants wipe out these venues in their rapid ascent to unicorn status?
What about museums, universities, and performing arts venues? Considering the power of technology today, can’t we replace these relics with faster, cheaper, and more efficient online tools, apps, and AI?
Through engaging storytelling, human behavior insights, and proven design techniques, Kevin Kelley—an attention architect and cofounder of Shook Kelley, a strategic design firm that pioneered the field of 'convening'—unfolds why physical places are essential to civil society, business, and community."
"Irreplaceable offers a welcomed antidote to the anti-human digital future crushing our main streets and infiltrating every corner of our lives. It provides a comprehensive roadmap for creating human experiences that have the power to convene and bring friends, neighbors, and strangers together in prosocial environments in ways the digital replacements can’t replicate."
Italian culture and society
"How did a nation that spawned the Renaissance also produce the Mafia? And why does Italian have twelve words for coat hanger but none for hangover??
John Hooper’s entertaining and perceptive new book is the ideal companion for anyone seeking to understand contemporary Italy and the unique character of the Italians. Fifteen years as a foreign correspondent based in Rome have sharpened Hooper’s observations, and he looks at the facts that lie behind the stereotypes, shedding new light on everything from the Italians’ bewildering politics to their love of life and beauty. Hooper persuasively demonstrates the impact of geography, history, and tradition on many aspects of Italian life, including football and Freemasonry, sex, food, and opera. Brimming with the kind of fascinating—and often hilarious—insights unavailable in guidebooks, The Italians will surprise even the most die-hard Italophile."
"This book is a gorgeous, photographic ode to the magic of southern coastal Italy in the summer by renowned travel, fashion, and lifestyle photographer Lucy Laucht.
A languorous August afternoon. That brilliant light and those impossible Mediterranean blues. The touch of sun on hot skin. And everywhere, the sounds of laughter and lighthearted conversation. Captured by photographer Lucy Laucht, these lyrical scenes of Naples, Ischia, the Amalfi Coast, Capri, Puglia, Sicily, and the Aeolian and Egadi Islands are an ode to the Italian way of summer and that distinctly Italian art of sweet idleness."
Mindset and decision-making
"In Build the Life You Want, Arthur C. Brooks and Oprah Winfrey invite you to begin a journey toward greater happiness no matter how challenging your circumstances. Drawing on cutting-edge science and their years of helping people translate ideas into action, they show you how to improve your life right now instead of waiting for the outside world to change.
With insight, compassion, and hope, Brooks and Winfrey reveal how the tools of emotional self-management can change your life―immediately. They recommend practical, research-based practices to build the four pillars of happiness: family, friendship, work, and faith. And along the way, they share hard-earned wisdom from their own lives and careers as well as the witness of regular people whose lives are joyful despite setbacks and hardship.
Equipped with the tools of emotional self-management and ready to build your four pillars, you can take control of your present and future rather than hoping and waiting for your circumstances to improve. Build the Life You Want is your blueprint for a better life."
"For decades the practice of manifestation has been widely dismissed as self-involved, materialistic pseudoscience. But as neuroscientist and recognized compassion leader Dr. James Doty reveals, manifestation introduces us to different possibilities, and it lays the groundwork for a kinder, better world.
Doty grounds us in the practices that change our brain structures: attention, meditation, visualization, and compassion. This mind magic allows us to move through the world in ways that help us see clearly—reclaiming our agency, realizing our dreams, and reaching out to help others along the path.
Where previous works about manifestation have focused narrowly on outward success and individual benefit, Mind Magic delivers an openhearted call to make manifestation part of a deeper contribution to healing the problems we face today."
"In his mega bestseller, Thinking, Fast and Slow, Daniel Kahneman, world-famous psychologist and winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics, takes us on a groundbreaking tour of the mind and explains the two systems that drive the way we think.
System 1 is fast, intuitive, and emotional; System 2 is slower, more deliberative, and more logical. The impact of overconfidence on corporate strategies, the difficulties of predicting what will make us happy in the future, the profound effect of cognitive biases on everything from playing the stock market to planning our next vacation―each of these can be understood only by knowing how the two systems shape our judgments and decisions.
Engaging the reader in a lively conversation about how we think, Kahneman reveals where we can and cannot trust our intuitions and how we can tap into the benefits of slow thinking. He offers practical and enlightening insights into how choices are made in both our business and our personal lives―and how we can use different techniques to guard against the mental glitches that often get us into trouble. Topping bestseller lists for almost ten years, Thinking, Fast and Slow is a contemporary classic, an essential book that has changed the lives of millions of readers."
Let me know what you think.
If you read any of these recommended books, I'd love to know which insights you found most interesting and helpful. Leave a comment on this newsletter or send me a message here on LinkedIn.
Happy Holidays!
About this newsletter:
Conscious Communication is a tool that connects us to ourselves and to others in meaningful ways. As with any tool, the more skillful we are at using it, the better the results we achieve. Communication is an important tool because when we do it well it leads to better relationships.
As an award-winning educator, speaker, and study abroad program leader, my goal with this newsletter is to educate, empower, and inspire us (most often through travel) to increase our conscious communication skills so that we can better connect with ourselves and others in confident, meaningful, and heartful ways.
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2 个月Thanks Gino - I gotta check the one about burnout, it's that time of the year when that's super important to stay on top of!
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2 个月Amazing recommendations, Gino! You can probably guess I'll pick 'The Italians' and 'Il Dolce Far Niente'... I'm so curious!!!