Welcome to the Library!

• Top Recommendations:
  
  

  • Watching The English - Kate Fox - a brilliant, and funny, anthropological study of Englishness.
  • Thinking Fast & Slow, Daniel Kahneman - the classic, by the Nobel prizewinner
  • Misbehaving, by Richard H. Thaler - another classic, from another Nobel prizewinner.
  • Behavioural Economics, the basics, by Philip Corr & Anke Plagnol - a great introduction by two of my professors at City University  
  • Nudge, by Richard H. Thaler & Cass Sunstein - another classic, on (unsurprisingly!) the use of nudging.  
  • The Little Book of Economics, by Shaun Rusk - a short and easy introduction to Economics  
  • The Truth About Pricing: How to Apply Behavioral Economics So Customers Buy, by Melina Palmer  
  • Never Split the Difference: Negotiating as if Your Life Depended on It, by Chris Voss, Michael Kramer et. al.  
  • The 7 Habits Of Highly Effective People, by Stephen R. Covey  
  • How to Win Friends & Influence People, by Dale Carnegie - somewhat dated, now, but an absolute classic  
  • Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping, by Paco Underhill - the book that started it all! I read this back in the 1990s and have been fascinated by behaviour ever since.  
  • The Happy Index: The Sunday Times bestseller packed with management tools and leadership advice for a happier, healthier workforce, by James Timpson - I used to look after part of the Timpsons pension fund and have always had enormous respect for their culture and ability to understand and get the best out of their people.  
  • Bad Science, by Ben Goldacre - one of those books that everyone should read - exploring the problems of pseudoscience - a lot of which are marketed with Baits and Sludges.  
  • Did You Spot the Gorilla?: How to Recognise the Hidden Opportunities in Your Life, by Richard Wiseman - titled for a famous psychology experiment, and a great read.  
  • Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything, by Steven Levitt - one of the early, and classic explorations of oddities and behaviour in economics.  
  • The Chimp Paradox: The Mind Management Programme to Help You Achieve Success, Confidence and Happiness, by Dr Steve Peters - a slightly different take on the System 1 vs System 2, introducing the "computer" of unconscious habit.  
  • 59 Seconds: Think a little, change a lot, by Richard Wiseman - moving thinking from System 1/chimp/subconscious/ to System 2/human/cognitive by introducing a short delay.  
  • Feel the Fear and Do it Anyway: How to Turn Your Fear and Indecision into Confidence and Action, by Susan Jeffers - another behavioural classic.  
  • Influence: Psychology of Persuasion, by Robert Cialdini - another absolute classic  
  • I Think You'll Find It's a Bit More Complicated Than That, by Ben Goldacre - a brilliant rant on the misuse of science and statistics - a must read.  
  • Building a Story Brand, by Donald Miller  
  • Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions - Dan Ariely - a behavioural economics classic.  
  • How Emotions Are Made: The Secret Life of the Brain - Lisa Feldman Barrett - brilliant!  
  • Start With Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action, by Simon Sinek  
  • The Undercover Economist, by Tim Harford  
  • Factfulness: Ten Reasons We're Wrong About The World - And Why Things Are Better Than You Think - Hans Rosling  - everyone should read this book!
• 
  Investment & Behavioural Finance:
  
  

  • Beyond Greed and Fear Understanding Behavioral Finance and the Psychology of Investing, by Hersh Shefrin  
  • Behavioural Investing: A Practitioner's Guide to Applying Behavioural Finance, by James Montier  
  • The Little Book of Behavioral Investing: How not to be your own worst enemy, by James Montier  
  • The Psychology of Money: Timeless Lessons on Wealth, Greed, and Happiness, by Morgan Housel
  • Mind over Money: Why understanding your money behaviour will improve your financial freedom, by Evan Lucas  
  • The Seven Stages of Money Maturity: Understanding the Spirit and Value of Money in Your Life, by George Kinder - interesting money mindset perspectives  
  • The Money Game - Adam Smith - great on stockmarkets, investing and the psychology involved.  
  • The Laws of Wealth (paperback): Psychology and the secret to investing success - Daniel Crosby - good on behavioural risks in investment  
  • Investment Psychology Explained: Classic Strategies to Beat the Markets - Martin J. Pring  
  • The Power Law: Venture Capital and the Art of Disruption - Sebastian Mallaby - great examples of irrationality & bias in a world that thinks its being logical & unbiased.  
  • The Psychology of Investing - John R. Nofsinger - a serious textbook  
  • The Internet of Money - Andreas Antonopoulos
• 
  Behavioural Risk:
  
  

  • Humanizing Rules: Bringing Behavioural Science to Ethics and Compliance, by Christian Hunt  
  • Behavioural Risk Management - Rene Doff   Behavioral Risk Management: Managing the Psychology That Drives Decisions and Influences
  • Operational Risk - Hersh Shefrin - great book on operational risk management.  
  • Pre-Emptive Strike Leadership: Neutralizing Behavioral Threats That Are Infiltrating Your Organization  - Arlene Battishill & Michael Levitt - over-dramatic title, but interesting insights.
• 
  Communication:
  
  

  • Listen: A powerful new book about life, death, relationships, mental health and how to talk about what matters – Kathryn Mannix - becuase talking about difficult topics really matters.  
  • Born Liars: Why We Can't Live Without Deceit, by Ian Leslie - lying is usually seen as negative, but surprisingly important, and even necessary.  
  • You Talkin' To Me?: Rhetoric from Aristotle to Obama, by Sam Leith - the persuasive power of words, and styles of delivery  
  • What Every Body Is Saying: An Ex-FBI Agent's Guide to Speed-reading People, by Joe Navarro - some of this is now under debate, but still interesting.  
  • Difficult Conversations: How to Discuss What Matters Most - Bruce Patton - a great book  
  • The Art of Conversation: Change Your Life with Confident Communication, by Judy Apps - communication is something we can always improve.  
  • Switchwords: How to Use One Word to Get What You Want, by Liz Dean - although any claim that one word will get you what you want is something of a Bait...  
  • I Can't Believe You Just Said That: The truth about why people are SO rude - Danny Wallace  
  • You're Not Listening: What You're Missing and Why It Matters - Kate Murphy - a great book on the importance (and difficulty! of really listening.  
  • How to Listen: Tools for opening up conversations when it matters most - Katie Colombus & The Samaritans - a seriously important book for talking to people who are struggling.  
  • OBSERVE to UNMASK: 100 Small Things to Know People Better - Pushpendra Mehta - interesting, also for demonstrating the cultural perspective probably inherent in all similar books, but which can be invisible to the reader when it's from your own culture.    
  • Read People Like a Book: How to Analyze, Understand, and Predict People’s Emotions, Thoughts, Intentions, and Behaviors - Patrick King - a good book to go with a classic title!  
  • How to Talk to Anyone About Anything: Improve Your Social Skills, Master Small Talk, Connect Effortlessly, and Make Real Friends - James W. Williams  
  • How to Listen with Intention: The Foundation of True Connection, Communication, and Relationships - Patrick King  
  • Magic Words - Jonah Berger - love this book!  
  • The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs: How to Be Insanely Great in Front of Any Audience, by Carmine Gallo - great on effective communication  
  • Would They Lie To You?: How to Spin Friends and Manipulate People Robert Hutton & Matthew Parris - a tongue in cheek title, thankfully!
• 
  Change:
  
  

  • Flip it: How to Get the Best Out of Everything, by Michael Heppell  
  • The Inside-Out Revolution: The Only Thing You Need to Know to Change Your Life Forever - Michael Neill  
  • Antifragile: Things that Gain from Disorder - Nassim Nicholas Taleb  
  • Exponential: Order and Chaos in an Age of Accelerating Technology - Azeem Azhar - a great book, by a friend from university!    
  • Who Says You Can't? You Do: empowering people around the world to live an extraordinary life - Daniel Chidiac  
  • 50 Self-Help Classics: 50 Inspirational Books to Transform Your Life from Timeless Sages to Contemporary Gurus  - Tom Butler-Bowdon  
  • Start Now. Get Perfect Later - Rob Moore - a modern self-help classic  
  • The Rules of Contagion: Why Things Spread - and Why They Stop - Adam Kucharski - improving predictions of future events by understanding human behaviour.  
  • The Evolution of Everything: How Small Changes Transform Our World - Matt Ridley - looks at how little of major changes in the world are actually ever planned or directed, but rely on behaviour.  
  • Why the F*ck Can't I Change? : Insights from a neuroscientist to show that you can - Dr. Gabija Toleikyte - great book  
  • Catalyst - Jonah Berger - another great book.  
  • Free Your Mind: how to identify techniques to influence you and how to resist them - Laura Dodsworth & Patrick Fagan - great on spotting sludges & baits  
  • The Tools - Phil Stutz & Barry Michels - self help techniques  
  • Mindset - Updated Edition: Changing The Way You think To Fulfil Your Potential - Carol S. Dweck - great book from the mindset legend.  
  • The Courage To Be Disliked: A single book can change your life - Ichiro Kishimi & Fumitake Koga - interesting perspective  
  • The Answer is a Question: The Missing Superpower that Changes Everything and Will Transform Your Impact as a Manager and Leader - Laura & Dominic Ashley-Timms - great book on effectively using coaching inside companies.  
  • Hyperfocus: How to Work Less to Achieve More - Chris Bailey - better results from reducing overwhelm.  
  • How to Change: The Science of Getting from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be - Katy Milkman - using impulses to change  
  • The Little Book of Big Coaching Models: 83 ways to help managers get the best out of people - Bob Bates - quick summaries of major models of behaviour change, learning etc.  
  • How Women Rise: Break the 12 Habits Holding You Back - Sally Helgesen & Marshall Goldsmith  
  • The Success Myth: Our obsession with achievement is a trap. This is how to break free - Emma Gannon - particularly good on comparisonitis & the hedonic treadmill.  
  • Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard, by Chip & Dan Heath
• 
  
  Happiness & Emotion:
  
  

  • The Book of Human Emotions: An Encyclopedia of Feeling from Anger to Wanderlust - Tiffany Watt Smith - may contain feelings you've never identified before!  
  • Sweet Distress: How our love affair with feelings has fuelled the current mental health crisis (and what we can do about it) - Bridge - are we turning inconveniences into much bigger issues?  
  • The School of Life: An Emotional Education - Alain de Botton - simply brilliant  
  • The Good Life: Lessons from the World's Longest Study on Happiness - Robert Waldinger & Marc Schulz - evidence based, full of useful tips  
  • Happiness: A Guide to Developing Life's Most Important Skill, Matthieu Ricard - a book worth reading on a skill worth developing  
  • Unwind!: 7 Principles for a Stress-Free Life - Michael Olpin et. al.  
  • Building Happiness, Resilience and Motivation in Adolescents: A Positive Psychology Curriculum for Well-Being - Ruth MacConville  
  • How To Have A Good Day: The essential toolkit for a productive day at work and beyond - Caroline Webb  
  • So You've Been Publicly Shamed, by Jon Ronson - public shaming has rocketed in the internet age - an important exploration of the life changing effects it has on real people who make mistakes.  
  • Happy: Finding joy in every day and letting go of perfect - Fearne Cotton  
  • The Happy Life Handbook: A Short Guidebook For Living A Life You Never Dreamed Possible - Martyn Dawes  
  • Happy by Design: How to create a home that boosts your health & happiness - Victoria Harrison - You can't ignore the impact of physical surroundings on happiness and mental clarity.  
  • The Happiness Hypothesis: Putting Ancient Wisdom to the Test of Modern Science - Jonathan Haidt - great book  
  • Happy Moments: How to Create Experiences You’ll Remember for a Lifetime - Meik Wiking - some great tips.  
  • The Happiness Project: Or, Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun, by Gretchen Rubin - a great, real world take on how realistic some of the "how to be happier" strategies are.  
  • The Architecture of Happiness - Alain de Botton - the links between physical surroundings & happiness.
• 
  Psychology & other sciences:
  
  

  • Pocket Guide to Interpersonal Neurobiology: An Integrative Handbook of the Mind - Daniel Siegel  
  • Inventing Ourselves: The Secret Life of the Teenage Brain - Sarah-Jayne Blakemore - the neuroscience of the teenage brain.  
  • 30-Second Brain: The 50 most mind-blowing ideas in neuroscience – Anil Seth - a great summary.  
  • Wilful Blindness: Why We Ignore the Obvious - Margaret Heffernan - essential reading on groupthink, confirmation bias & other blindnesses.  
  • Range: How Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World - David Epstein - brilliant book.  
  • The Incredibly Interesting Psychology Book, by David Webb - lives up to its name!  
  • Queuing for Beginners: The Story of Daily Life From Breakfast to Bedtime, by Joe Moran - the history and anthropology of everyday life.  
  • Think Like a Psychologist: How to Analyze Emotions, Read Body Language and Behavior, Understand Motivations, and Decipher Intentions - Patrick King  
  • 5 Minute Therapy: A Therapist’s Guide to Navigating Life’s Highs and Lows - Sarah Crosby - simple, straightforward, and recommended.  
  • The Little Book of Colour: How to Use the Psychology of Colour to Transform Your Life- Karen Haller, Karen - I love the psychology of colour!  
  • Games People Play: The Psychology of Human Relationships - Eric Berne - another all time classic on behaviour.  
  • The Wisest One in the Room: How To Harness Psychology’s Most Powerful Insights - Thomas Gilovich & Lee Ross  
  • The Student's Guide to Social Neuroscience - Jamie Ward - fascinating.  
  • Evolutionary Psychology: A Beginner's Guide - Robin Dunbar et. al. - absolutely worth reading.  
  • A Mind of Its Own: How Your Brain Distorts and Deceives - Cordelia Fine  
  • The Devil You Know: Looking out for the psycho in your life  - Kerry Daynes & Jessica Fellowes - how to identify & deal with the approximately 3% of the population with strong psychopathic tendencies - whose brains work differently, and can have a disproportionate effect on those around them.  
  • Testosterone Rex: Unmaking the Myths of Our Gendered Minds - Cordelia Fine  
  • Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst - Robert M. Sapolsky - not an easy read, but fascinating explanations of the biological causes of behaviour.  
  • The Madness of Crowds: Gender, Race and Identity; - Douglas Murray - a perspective on freedom of speech, the necessity of persuasion rather than imposition, and forgiveness.  
  • The Laws of Human Nature - Robert Greene - great book.  
  • The Gendered Brain: The new neuroscience that shatters the myth of the female brain - Gina Rippon – fascinating  
  • Anthro-Vision: How Anthropology Can Explain Business and Life - Gillian Tett - not the easiest read, but worth it.  
  • Neuro-Discipline: Everyday Neuroscience for Self-Discipline, Focus, and Defeating Your Brain’s Impulsive and Distracted Nature - Peter Hollins   Dark Psychology - Joseph Griffin  
  • The Social Leap: The New Evolutionary Science of Who We Are, Where We Come From, and What Makes Us Happy - William von Hippel - good book on evolutionary psychology & the development of social behaviour.  
  • Dopamine Nation: Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence - Anna Lembke - how an over-reliance on dopamine highs causes longer term problems  
  • Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds (Harriman Definitive Edition): The classic guide to crowd psychology, financial folly and surprising superstition - Charles MacKay -150 years old and still fascinating!  
  • The Little Book of Psychology: An Introduction to the Key Psychologists and Theories You Need to Know - Emily Ralls & Caroline Riggs - a good primer  
  • Seven and a Half Lessons About the Brain - Lisa Feldman Barrett - includes a great explanation of why ideas like the chimp, or lizard brain are metaphors rather than literal concepts.  
  • Explaining Humans - Camilla Pang - learning about behaviour from biology  
  • Social Psychology: A Complete Introduction - Paul Seager - good overview  
  • A Degree in a Book: Anthropology: Everything You Need to Know to Master the Subject - in One Book! - Julia Morris  
  • Your Brain Is Playing Tricks On You: How the Brain Shapes Opinions and Perceptions - Albert Moukheiber - understanding how much of what we think its real is actual constructed by our brains is a real eye-opener!  
  • The Experience Machine: How Our Minds Predict and Shape Reality - Andy Clark - on how the brain predicts and then filters accordingly.  
  • Therapy Culture: Cultivating Vulnerability in an Uncertain Age, by Frank Furedi - an alternative view on resilience  
  • The Challenge of Pain, by Patrick Wall, Ronald Melzack - Chronic Pain affects a huge percentage of people and is an increasing issue for society  
  • Living Successfully with Screwed-up People, Elizabeth B. Brown - we're all screwed up sometimes though.  
  • The Epigenetics Revolution: How Modern Biology is Rewriting our Understanding of Genetics, Disease and Inheritance, by Nessa Carey - helpful on the nature vs nurture debate  
  • A Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Workbook, by Bob Stahl - Mindfulness and MBSR are a great  (& clinically proven in RCTs) stress reduction technique  
  • Full Catastrophe Living: How to cope with stress, pain and illness using mindfulness meditation, by Jon Kabat-Zinn - the mindfulness classic (long!)  
  • The Universe Inside You: The Extreme Science of the Human Body from Quantum Theory to the Mysteries of the Brain, by Brian Clegg - as our understanding of the brain-body connection continues to grow, its good to understand more of the body part as well as the brain  
  • Sane New World: Taming the Mind, by Ruby Wax - a great read  
  • Explain Pain 2nd Edition, by David Butler & Lorimer Moseley - another great book on chronic pain, especially on treatment using mirror neurons among other strategies  
  • Painful Yarns, by Lorimer Moseley - great analogies to understand the brain/body connection  
  • The Polyvagal Theory: Neurophysiological Foundations of Emotions, Attachment, Communication, and Self-regulation, by Stephen Porges - definitely not an easy read, but worth it on autonomic regulation and its impact on emotion.  
  • The Brain's Way of Healing: Stories of Remarkable Recoveries and Discoveries, by Norman Doidge, Norman - a doctor's insights into neuroplasticity  
  • The Idiot Brain: A Neuroscientist Explains What Your Head is Really Up To, by Dean Burnett - a great read.  
  • Brain Maker: The Power of Gut Microbes to Heal and Protect Your Brain - for Life, by David Perlmutter  
  • The Body Keeps the Score: Mind, Brain and Body in the Transformation of Trauma - Bessel van der Kolk - again looking at the brain body connection  
  • Why We Sleep: The New Science of Sleep and Dreams - Matthew Walker - simply fascinating about the importance of sleep for brain & behaviour.  
  • With the End in Mind: Dying, Death and Wisdom in an Age of Denial - Kathryn Mannix - a beautiful book about a difficult but universal human experience - highly recommended  
  • Radical Acceptance: Awakening the Love that Heals Fear and Shame - Tara Brach - tough to do, but very rewarding - an interesting approach to life & others'  behaviour  
  • It's All in Your Head: Stories from the Frontline of Psychosomatic Illness - Suzanne O'Sullivan  
  • Reaching Down the Rabbit Hole: Extraordinary Journeys into the Human Brain - Allan Ropper et.al.  
  • Blame My Brain: the Amazing Teenage Brain Revealed - Nicola Morgan  
  • Making Evil: The Science Behind Humanity's Dark Side - Dr Julia Shaw - interesting on the dark side of psychology.  
  • Physical Intelligence: Harness your body's untapped intelligence to achieve more, stress less and live more happily - Claire Dale & Patricia Peyton - a different approach to increase confidence, resilience and endurance.  
  • The Guilty Feminist: From our noble goals to our worst hypocrisies - Deborah Frances-White - interesting perspective  
  • Lifespan: Why We Age - and Why We Don't Have To - Dr David Sinclair - ageing as a curable disease (which brings up all sorts of other issues in itself!).  
  • The Beautiful Cure: The New Science of Immune Health - Daniel M Davis - fascinating on the immune system.  
  • Invisible Women: exposing the gender bias women face every day - Caroline Criado Perez - eye opening and important.  
  • The Brain That Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science - Norman Doidge - fascinating on positive thinking.  
  • Burn: The Misunderstood Science of Metabolism - Herman Pontzer - particularly important if you're interested in behaviour change for health & diet.  
  • The Tyranny of Merit: What's Become of the Common Good? - Michael J. Sandel - a great perspective on how we risk judging the less successful, underplaying the role of luck and the importance of humility.  
  • Failures of State: The Inside Story of Britain’s Battle with Coronavirus - Calvert & Arbuthnott - lots of nudging & behaviour change strategies were used in Covid - an interesting insight into many of them  
  • The Sociopath Next Door: The Ruthless versus the Rest of Us - Martha Stout - a top read!  
  • The Authority Gap: Why women are still taken less seriously than men, and what we can do about it - Mary Ann Sieghart - may cause anger!  
  • How to Argue With a Racist: History, Science, Race and Reality - Adam Rutherford PhD - great book  
  • Men Who Hate Women: From incels to pickup artists, the truth about extreme misogyny and how it affects us all - Laura Bates - scary.  
  • Unwell Women: A Journey Through Medicine and Myth in a Man-Made World - Elinor Cleghorn - assumptions & biases galore!  
  • Into the Abyss: A neuropsychiatrist's notes on troubled minds - Anthony David - fascinating stories about when the brain goes wrong, and the balance between biological and psychological causes.  
  • The Devil You Know: Encounters in Forensic Psychiatry - Gwen Adshead - how understanding the roots of even horrific behaviour makes the case for rehabilitation & compassion.  
  • Emotional Sensitivity and Intensity: How to manage intense emotions as a highly sensitive person - Imi Lo - how to increase resilience.  
  • My Stroke of Insight - Jill Bolte Taylor - fascinating perspective on the damage & recovery to a stroke on one side of the brain.  
  • Of Boys and Men: Why the modern male is struggling, why it matters, and what to do about it - Richard V. Reeves - another important perspective.  
  • Hysterical: Exploding the Myth of Gendered Emotions - Pragya Agarwal - a great book exposing the myth that women are more emotional than men. If you don't agree - read it!  
  • The Ten Types of Human: A New Understanding of Who We Are, and Who We Can Be - Dexter Dias  
  • The Rational Male - Rollo Tomassi - interesting perspective & explanation of the "manosphere".  
  • The Psychopath Test: A Journey Through the Madness Industry - Jon Ronson - informative and amusing.
• 
  Motivation & Habits:
  
  

  • Instant Motivation: The surprising truth behind what really drives top performance, by Chantal Burns  
  • No Bullsh*t Leadership: Why the World Needs More Everyday Leaders and Why That Leader Is You, by Chris Hirst & Peter McGovern  
  • Atomic Habits: An Easy and Proven Way to Build Good Habits and Break Bad Ones, by James Clear  
  • Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Take Hold and Others Come Unstuck, by Dan & Chip Heath  
  • The Marshmallow Test: Understanding Self-control and How To Master It - Walter Mischel - willpower & brain techniques to reduce reliance on it.    
  • Get It Done: Surprising Lessons from the Science of Motivation - Ayelet Fishbach  
  • Better Than Before: Mastering the Habits of Our Everyday Lives, by Gretchen Rubin
  • You Are the Placebo: Making Your Mind Matter, by Dr Joe Dispenza - some of his claims are controversial, but the placebo effect is phenomenal and worth understanding.  
  • Make Your Bed: Small things that can change your life... and maybe the world - William H. McRaven - habits & brain clearing
• 
  Self-help (personal):
  
  

  • Barking Up the Wrong Tree: The Surprising Science Behind Why Everything You Know About Success Is (Mostly) Wrong - Eric Barker   
  • Reinventing Your Life: The Breakthrough Program To End Negative Behaviour And Feel Great Again, by Jeffrey E. Young - another self-help classic  
  • Reconnect Your Life: 30 days to rediscover your real self - Ali Moore  
  • Relationships - The School of Life - I love The School of Life, for thoughtful, sensible & balanced  approaches to many of life's issues.  
  • The Science of Meditation: How to Change Your Brain, Mind and Body - Daniel Goleman & Richard Davidson - cuts through the fluff, very practical.  
  • How to Be Human: The Manual - Ruby Wax  
  • The Little Book of Stoicism: Timeless Wisdom to Gain Resilience, Confidence, and Calmness - Jonas & Nils Salzgeber - a great introduction to stoicism.  
  • My 31 Practices: Release the power of your values for authentic happiness - Alan Williams & Steve Payne - identifying & implementing your values.  
  • The Four Thoughts That F*ck You Up ... and How to Fix Them - Daniel Fryer - rational emotive behaviour therapy  
  • The Seven Principles For Making Marriage Work- John Gottman - emotional intelligence for relationships from a legendary researcher and therapist.  
  • Heaven and Hell: The Psychology of the Emotions - Neel Burton  
  • Relentless: From Good to Great to Unstoppable, by Tim Grover & Shari Wenk  
  • Against Empathy: The Case for Rational Compassion The Case for Rational Compassion - Paul Bloom - interesting perspective.  
  • Trauma is Really Strange – Steve Haines - hugely accessible, with simple, practical strategies.  
  • Living Like You Mean it: Use the Wisdom and Power of Your Emotions to Get the Life You Really Want, by Ronald J. Frederick    
  • The Paranoia Switch: How Terror Rewires Our Brains and Reshapes Our Behavior--and How We Can Reclaim Our Courage - Martha Stout - brilliant on the impact of living with fear.  
  • How to Make People Like You: 19 Science-Based Methods to Increase Your Charisma, Spark Attraction, Win Friends, and Connect Effortlessly - James W. Williams - who wouldn't want that?!  
  • The Four Tendencies: The Indispensable Personality Profiles That Reveal How to Make Your Life Better - Gretchen Rubin - not sure of the long term validity of the profiles, but a useful way to think about people & how to influence them.  
  • Secrets of the Stoics: How to Live an Undefeatable Life - Jason Hemlock - I do like stoicism - this is a great guide.  
  • Dangerous Minds: A Forensic Psychiatrist's Quest to Understand Violence - Taj Nathan - interesting on violence & impulsiveness.  
  • The Science of Social Intelligence: 45 Methods to Captivate People, Make a Powerful Impression, and Subconsciously Trigger Social Status and Value - Patrick King - interesting ideas  
  • Hidden Potential: The Science of Achieving Greater Things - Adam Grant - sees growth based on how well we learn, rather than innate talent or even hard work.  
  • How To Be F*cking Awesome, by Dan Meredith - explicit but honest!  
  • Psy-Q: You know your IQ - now test your psychological intelligence, by Ben Ambridge - interesting!  
  • Captivate: The Science of Succeeding with People - Vanessa Van Edwards - a fun read.  
  • How to Own the Room: Women and the Art of Brilliant Speaking - Viv Groskop - practical & useful insights  
  • Conspiracy: A History of Boll*cks Theories, and How Not to Fall for Them - Tom Phillips & Jonn Elledge - the psychology of conspiracy theories and defences to them.  
  • You Are Awesome: Find Your Confidence and Dare to be Brilliant at (Almost) Anything - Matthew Syed  
  • The Confidence Kit: Your Bullsh*t-Free Guide to Owning Your Fear - Caroline Foran  
  • Moral Tribes: Emotion, Reason and the Gap Between Us and Them, by Joshua Greene - the concept of "othering" people, making it "us" vs "them" is so important.
  • The Little Book of Self-Care - Mel Noakes    
  • The Self-Care Project: How to let go of frazzle and make time for you - Jayne Hardy
  • Mindsight  - Daniel Siegel
• Self-help (business oriented):
  
  

  • The 4-Hour Work Week: Escape the 9-5, Live Anywhere and Join the New Rich - Timothy Ferriss  
  • Brand You: Turn Your Unique Talents into a Winning Formula (Financial Times Guides) - John Purkiss & David Royston-Lee
  • What They Don't Teach You At Harvard Business School, by Mark McCormack  
  • Ten Interesting Things About Human Behavior, by Suzanne Davis - does exactly what it says on the tin!  
  • System1 - Unlocking Profitable Growth - Kearon, Ewing & Wood - quite technical, but good.  
  • Game Theory at Work: How to Use Game Theory to Outthink and Outmaneuver Your Competition - James D. Miller - quite technical, but interesting if you like game theory!  
  • Find Your Why: A Practical Guide for Discovering Purpose for You and Your Team - Simon Sinek - practical & useful.  
  • The Business of Expertise: How Entrepreneurial Experts Convert Insight to Impact -  David C. Baker  
  • Give and Take: A Revolutionary Approach to Success - Adam Grant - how and why giving to others helps us.  
  • The Behaviour Business: How to apply behavioural science for business success, by Richard Chataway  
  • Alchemy: The Surprising Power of Ideas That Don't Make Sense - by Rory Sutherland - a great book from one of the legends of the advertising world.  
  • Developing Coaching Skills: A Concise Introduction - Dietmar Sternad - valuable primer  
  • HOW TO GET PR: The Essential Guide For Small Businesses, Start-Ups & Solopreneurs - Laura Perkes
• 
  Critical Thinking, Creativity & Rationality:
  
  

  • Super Thinking: Upgrade Your Reasoning and Make Better Decisions with Mental Models - Gabriel Weinberg & Lauren McCann - self-help focused, but with good problem-solving techniques.  
  • Rationality: What It Is, Why It Seems Scarce, Why It Matters  –  Steven Pinker - a great book.  
  • Upside of Irrationality: The Unexpected Benefits of Defying Logic at Work and at Home - Dan Ariely - always an easy read.  
  • How To Be Right: ... in a world gone wrong - James O'Brien - talking to people to expose errors in thinking.  
  • Seeing What Others Don't: The Remarkable Ways We Gain Insights - Gary Klein  
  • Irrationality (Polity Key Concepts in Philosophy) - Lisa Bortolotti - clear & straightforward.  
  • Games for Thinking, by Robert Fisher - interesting ways to encourage creative and innovative thinking  
  • How Spies Think: Ten Lessons in Intelligence - David Omand - great on self deception & critical thinking  
  • Irrationality: A History of the Dark Side of Reason – Justin E. H. Smith - how too much focus on rationality can lead to irrationality.  
  • Predatory Thinking: A Masterclass in Out-thinking the Competition - Dave Trott - I don't agree that life is a zero sum game, but its an interesting perspective and some useful insights.  
  • People Hacker - Jenny Radcliffe - fascinating on using assumptions & biases to bypass security measures.  
  • Irrationality: The enemy within – Stuart Sutherland & Ben Goldacre - great book!  
  • Rationality for Mortals : How People Cope with Uncertainty: How People Cope with Uncertainty -Gerd Gigerenzer - a big name in academic circles, but less well known outside - a different perspective, focusing on behaviour as adaptation to circumstances.  
  • Skin in the Game: Hidden Asymmetries in Daily Life - Nassim Nicholas Taleb - why skin in the game matters  
  • The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable – Nassim Nicholas Taleb - why we cant predict everything and how to use uncertainty.  
  • Truth: 13 Reasons To Question Everything You Are Told - Hector Macdonald - great on thinking & questioning (another university friend)  
  • The Irrational Ape: Why Flawed Logic Puts us all at Risk and How Critical Thinking Can Save the World -David Robert Grimes - an important book.  
  • Critical Thinking: Your Guide to Effective Argument, Successful Analysis and Independent Study - Tom Chatfield - a great read  
  • Critical Thinking In A Nutshell: How To Become An Independent Thinker And Make Intelligent Decisions - Thinknetic - a key skill presented accessibly.  
  • Thinking Better: The Art of the Shortcut - Marcus Du Sautoy - clever ideas
  • One Plus One Equals Three: A Masterclass in Creative Thinking - Dave Trott - great suggestions for innovation.  
  • The Creativity Code: How AI is learning to write, paint and think -- Marcus du Sautoy - fascinating and important.  
  • We Are Bellingcat: An Intelligence Agency for the People - Eliot Higgins - citizen journalism with good tips on critical thinking & information analysis.  
• 
  Perspectives on Neurodiversity:
  
  

  • Unmasking Autism: The Power of Embracing Our Hidden Neurodiversity - Devon Price - a great neurodiverse perpective.  
  • Scattered Minds: The Origins and Healing of Attention Deficit Disorder - Gabor Maté - a controversial hypothesis, but interesting perspective on ADHD.  
  • NeuroTribes - Steve Silberman - great book on autism & neurodivergence  
  • Helping You to Identify and Understand Autism Masking: The Truth Behind the Mask - Emma Kendall - really useful on neurodivergence masking  
  • How To Be Autistic - Charlotte Amelia Poe - a neurodiverse perspective.  
  • The Other Half of Asperger Syndrome (Autism Spectrum Disorder) - Maxine Aston & Anthony Attwood - looks at neurodiverse relationships.  
  • Queen of Distraction: How Women with ADHD Can Conquer Chaos, Find Focus, and Get It All Done -  Terry Matlen - I'm a work in practice with this one!  
• 
  Learning, writing & organising:
  
  

  • Speed Reading for Success: How to Find, Absorb and Retain the Information You Need for Success, by Jane Smith - I think it goes without saying that I needed this one  
  • The Little Dictionary of Big Words You Should Know  - Ian Wilson & Tom Payne  
  • Unlimited Memory: How to Use Advanced Learning Strategies to Learn Faster, Remember More and be More Productive - Kevin Horsley - because learning is something we can forget we need to learn how to actually do.  
  • How to Teach Anything: Break Down Complex Topics and Explain with Clarity, While Keeping Engagement and Motivation - Peter Hollins  
  • Sticky Teaching and Learning: How to make your students remember what you teach them – Caroline Bentley-Davies  - making things easier to remember & use, long-term (another university friend).  
  • Organize Your Digital Life: How to Become a Minimalist "Digitally" - Kai M. Jordan - some great ideas.  
  • Designing Your Life - Bill Burnett & Dave Evans - a "how to" spin-off from Atomic Habits
  • Make Time: How to focus on what matters every day - by Jake Knapp & John Zeratsky - lots of productivity tactics  
  • Building a Second Brain: A Proven Method to Organise Your Digital Life and Unlock Your Creative Potential - Tiago Forte - working on this one!  
  • The Sense of Style: The Thinking Person's Guide to Writing in the 21st Century - Steven Pinker - beautiful writing about how to write better.  
  • Polymath: Master Multiple Disciplines, Learn New Skills, Think Flexibly, and Become an Extraordinary Autodidact - Peter Hollins - more on learning to learn    
  • The Elements of Eloquence: How to Turn the Perfect English Phrase - Forsyth, Mark - just a great book on writing, including our senses & emotions.
• 
  Leadership & larger business issues:
  
  

  • The Four Vs of Leadership (Vision, Values, Value Added, Vitality), by Peter Shaw  
  • Comprehensive Manual of Internal Audit Practice and Guide: The Most Practical Guide to Internal Auditing Practice - Kibreab K Ftaw - bit of a textbook, but lots of good practice even for smaller businesses.  
  • Leadership and Self-Deception: Getting Out of the Box, by The Arbinger Institute  
  • The Psychological Safety Playbook: Lead More Powerfully by Being More Human - Karolin Helbig & Minette Norman - a vital aspect in getting the best out of other people at work.   Counting the dance steps:
  • Rethinking how we measure and change organisational cultures for the good of all - Andrew Cocks - great book on a surprisingly difficult area of change.  
  • The Talent Management Handbook: Creating Organizational Excellence By Identifying, Developing, and Promoting Your Best People, by Lance A Berger  
  • The Mismanagement of Talent: Employability and Jobs in the Knowledge Economy, by Philip Brown  
  • The War For Talent, by Ed Michaels   Becoming an Employer of Choice: Make Your Organization a Place Where People Want to Do Great Work, by Judith Leary-Joyce  
  • Developing Executive Talent: Best Practices from Global Leaders, by Jonathan Smilansky  
  • Wanted: How to Become the Most Wanted Employee Around, by David Freemantle - a different perspective on engagement  
  • The Culture Code: The Secrets of Highly Successful Groups - Daniel Coyle - groups & teams had an identity & behaviour distinct from any (& all) of the participants - another important perspective.  
  • Making Decisions: The new brilliant smart-thinking book to change how you think about leadership, judgement and decision making from a former England cricket selector - Ed Smith - a different perspective - worth a read.  
• 
  Sales, Negotiation & Fundraising:
  
  

  • The Influential Fundraiser: Using the Psychology of Persuasion to Achieve Outstanding Results, by Bernard Ross - Fundraisers and direct marketers were some of the first to refine the use of psychology in marketing.  
  • Contagious: How to Build Word of Mouth in the Digital Age, by Jonah Berger - simply a great book  
  • Fundraising Management: Analysis, Planning and Practice -  Adrian Sargeant  
  • The Zen of Fundraising: 89 Timeless Ideas to Strengthen and Develop Your Donor Relationships, by Ken Burnett - lots of useful ideas for relationship cultivation in marketing as well as fundraising  
  • To Sell is Human: The Surprising Truth About Persuading, Convincing, and Influencing Others: The Surprising Truth about Moving Others, by Daniel Pink - a great read  
  • The Brain Audit: Why Customers Buy (And Why They Don't) - Sean D'Souza - full of insight.  
  • Hidden Persuaders - Vance Packard - the classic expose of the tactics of the advertising world.  
  • Make 'Em Laugh & Take Their Money -  Dan S. Kennedy - using humour to influence.  
  • The Illusion of Choice: 16 1/2 Psychological Biases That Influence What We Buy - Richard Shotton - great book  
  • Marketing: Everything You Need to Know to Master the Subject - in One Book! John Jessup - useful primer  
  • Never Split the Difference: Negotiating as if Your Life Depended on It - Chris Voss & Tahl Raz - classic book on negotiation using behavioural economics.  
  • Secret Tradecraft of Elite Advisors: Covert Techniques for a Remarkable Practice - David C. Baker  
  • Bargaining with the Devil: When to Negotiate, When to Fight - Robert Mnookin - great book on negotiation.  
  • Invisible Influence: The hidden forces that shape behaviour - Jonah Berger – fascinating
  • How To Become A Rainmaker: The Rules for Getting and Keeping Customers and Clients - Jeffrey J Fox  
  • Stalling for Time: My Life as an FBI Hostage Negotiator - Gary Noesner - a perspective on negotiation tactics.    
• 
  Maths & Statistics  
  
  

  • How Not to be Wrong: The Hidden Maths of Everyday Life Jordan Ellenberg - I find some maths pretty scary, but understanding how its used and abused is so important. Fun, and definitely worth a read.  
  • How to Make the World Add Up: Ten Rules for Thinking Differently About Numbers - Tim Harford - another great book making maths & stats accessible.  
  • The Art of Statistics: Learning from Data - David Spiegelhalter - to cut through pseudoscience and media spin, understanding statistics is absolutely essential and this book makes it easy - a top read.
• 
  Textbook-type books:
  
  

  • Marketing: A Complete Guide, by Christopher Martin  
  • Inefficient Markets: An Introduction to Behavioral Finance, by Andrei Schliefer  
  • Financial Management for Decision Makers, by Dr Peter Atrill  
  • Foundations of Corporate Success: How Business Strategies Add Value, by John Kay  
  • The Meaning of Company Accounts, by Walter Reid  
  • The Cambridge Handbook of Personality Psychology - Philip J. Corr - personality is probably one of the most fluff-filled topics - this is a text book, but uses the actual evidence.  
  • Operations Management, by Prof Nigel Slack  
  • Essentials of Organizational Behavior, by Stephen Robbins  
  • Project Workout: A Toolkit for Reaping the Rewards from all your Business Projects, by Robert Buttrick  
  • Real World Research: A Resource for Users of Social Research Methods in Applied Settings - Kieran McCartan & Colin Robson - OK, this one is pretty niche, but brilliant if you need it!  
  • Company Law: Fundamental Principles, by Stephen Griffin  
  • Economics of Organisations and Strategy, by Sean Rickard - one of our lecturers at Cranfield  
  • Microeconomics and Behaviour - Cartwright & Frank - one for the specialists!
  • An Introduction to Social Psychology, 7th Edition -  Miles Hewstone & Wolfgang Stroebe - a full-on textbook!  
  • Workouts in Intermediate Microeconomics – Intermediate Microeconomics with Calculus - Hal R. Varian - very technical.  
  • Economics –  N. Mankiw & Taylor - a serious textbook. Research Methods for Business and Social Science Students - John Adams - relatively accessible explanation of methodologies  
  • Quantitative Social Science Data with R: An Introduction - Brian J. Fogarty - useful if using R for data analysis.  
  • Statistics without Maths for Psychology - Christine Dancey  - without maths is a bit of a stretch, but a useful textbook if you want more detail.  
  • How to Design and Report Experiments - Andy Field & Graham Hole - behavioural economics is all about testing ideas to see what works, but a well designed experiment is vital for reliable results.  
  • Strategy in Practice, by Cliff Bowman - another Cranfield professor  
  • Principles of Macroeconomics, by Joe Nellis - another brilliant Cranfield professor  
    
    

  
  Other just plain interesting books which also have relevance for behaviour:
  
  

  • The Great Crash 1929, by JK Galbraith - because the human aspects of history tend to repeat themselves!  
  • Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race – Reni Eddo-Lodge – a very valuable perspective  
  • Singled Out: How Two Million Women Survived Without Men after the First World War, by Virginia Nicholson - a fascinating study of one of the fastest moving periods of social history for women.  
  • Estates: An Intimate History, by Lynsey Hanley - social history about social housing and its impact on families and society  
  • At Home, by Bill Bryson - always funny, and an exceptional observer of everyday life in the UK  
  • Emotional Unavailability : Recognizing It, Understanding It, and Avoiding Its Trap, Bryn Collins - a useful perspective  
  • Is Your Boss Mad?: The Definitive Guide to Coping with Your Boss, by Jill Walker - nothing should be inferred about any of my previous bosses!    
  • Pandemics: Our Fears and the Facts, by Sunetra Gupta - although pre-COVID a useful look at the facts of pandemics generally - behaviour change is key to controlling them in most circumstances  
  • The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment, by Eckhart Tolle - another classic book, even if its not your personal perspective  
  • Death from the Skies!: The Science Behind the End of the World, by Philip Plait Ph.D. - science based, but lighthearted - good if you've ever wondered how likely the disaster movie scenarios actually are!  
  • Are You Smart Enough to Work at Google?, by William Poundstone - interesting take on the difficult problem of how to make recruitment effective  
  • An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth, by Chris Hadfield - because we love different perspectives!  
  • The Drugs Don't Work: A Global Threat, by Professor Dame Sally Davies et.al. - why NOT to ask for antibiotics, unless you really, really need them. Widespread resistance would be a game-changer, globally.  
  • Superheroes: The Best of Philosophy and Pop Culture, by William Irwin - using reflections of behavioural expectations represented in superheroes - lighthearted & fun  
  • Treblinka: A Survivor's Memory, by Chil Rajchman, Samuel Moyn,  & Solon Beinfeld - sometimes we need to remember the worst behaviours humans are capable of to learn how to try to prevent them being repeated.  
  • Gin: The Much Lamented Death of Madam Geneva - The Eighteenth Century Gin Craze, by Patrick Dillon - interesting study of large group behaviour, addiction & choice architecture  
  • A Life in Secrets: Vera Atkins and the Lost Agents of SOE, by Sarah Helm - remarkable people, remarkable motivations & actions  
  • The Knowledge: How to Rebuild our World from Scratch, by Lewis Dartnell - a title like this is catnip to the insatiably curious!  
  • The Rise of Islamic State: ISIS and the New Sunni Revolution, by Patrick Cockburn - because understanding where a perspective comes from has to help counter it.  
  • Being Mortal: Illness, Medicine and What Matters in the End, by Atul Gawande - a fascinating perspective on life and death.  
  • Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science, by Atul Gawande - another great perspective on life, responsibility and uncertainty  
  • Nothing is True and Everything is Possible: Adventures in Modern Russia, by Peter Pomerantsev - for a non WEIRD perspective  
  • The Dark Net, Jamie Bartlett - I probably need to update my knowledge in this area as this was 8 years ago - scary and enlightening  
  • The French Intifada, by Andrew Hussey - to better understand religious & cultural tensions in the French-speaking world  
  • If Walls Could Talk: An intimate history of the home, by Lucy Worsley - our homes are a huge part of our identity - examining them more closely can help us understand ourselves  
  • The Year of Living Danishly: Uncovering the Secrets of the World's Happiest Country, by Helen Russell - another perspective on both happiness and culture.    
  • The English and their History: The First Thirteen Centuries, by Robert Tombs - although less social history than I usually like, another perspective. Its a long time ago, but pretty much yesterday in evolutionary/biological development terms.  
  • Chasing the Scream: The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs Johan Hari - hugely thought-provoking, thoroughly recommended  
  • Modern Romance: An Investigation, by Aziz Ansari - an investigation into dating & relationships in the internet age - with significant cultural shifts happening right now.  
  • Prisoners of Geography: Ten Maps That Tell You Everything You Need To Know About Global Politics, Tim Marshall - exemplifying how a different perspective changes understanding - why some neighbours go to war, and others don't...  
  • The Emperor of All Maladies, by Siddhartha Mukherjee - a history of Cancer  
  • The Great War for Civilisation: The Conquest of the Middle East, by Robert Fisk - another "understand the past to better understand today" book  
  • Men Explain Things to Me: And Other Essays, by Rebecca Solnit - the book that inspired the term "mansplaining" - a perspective on aspects of patriarchy that are so ingrained they've become invisible.  
  • A Briefer History of Time, by Stephen Hawking & Leonard Mlodinow - I wasnt one of the estimated 6.6% (Hawking Index) of people who managed to finish the original, but I did manage to get through this. With quantum theory now being used at the cutting edge of cognitive theory, it might be worth a try.  
  • The Philosophy Book (Big Ideas), by Will Buckingham et. al. - I'm a big fan of this series of books - concise explanations of most of the main theories in a sensible & approachable format.   A Million Years in a Day: A Curious History of Daily Life, by Greg Jenner   The Elephant in the Room: A Journey into the Trump Campaign and the "Alt-Right", by Jon Ronson - plenty of cognitive dissonance, "othering" and other cognitive biases (as you'd see in many political parties & other strong groupings, to be fair).  
  • Beyond the High Blue Air: A Memoir, by Lu Spinney - a heartrending perspective of life you wish no-one ever went through.  
  • What Young India Wants, by Chetan Bhagat - another great perspective to illustrate differences & similarities between cultures & individuals  
  • Why We Love Serial Killers: The Curious Appeal of the World's Most Savage Murderers, by Scott Bonn & Diane Dimond - a look at the psychology that underpins the appeal of the horrific.  
  • Human Universe, by Prof Brian Cox & Andrew Cohen - a great book, although the TV series was much easier going.  
  • Hidden History: An Exposé of Modern Crimes, Conspiracies, and Cover-Ups in American Politics, by Donald Jeffries & Roger Stone - one for the conspiracy theorists - and those who want to understand the theories & how they spread.  
  • Everyday Sexism, by Laura Bates - may cause anger.  
  • The Science Book (Big Ideas)  
  • The History Book (Big Ideas)  
  • Blitzed: Drugs in Nazi Germany, by Norman Ohler & Shaun Whiteside - eye opening!
  • Gut, by Julia Enders - the gut brain connection continues to emerge, with serotonin in particular being produced in the gut as well as the brain - worth understanding.  
  • Why the Dutch are Different: A Journey into the Hidden Heart of the Netherlands - Ben Coates - another different, but European perspective  
  • Against Elections: The Case for Democracy - David Van Reybrouck - interesting!
  • PostCapitalism: A Guide to Our Future - Paul Mason - looking at the potential of IT to change the structures of society  
  • Humans: A Brief History of How We F*cked It All Up - Tom Phillips  
  • Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art - James Nestor  
  • The Journey of Humanity: And the Keys to Human Progress - Oded Galor – fascinating  
  • Africa Is Not A Country: Breaking Stereotypes of Modern Africa - Dipo Faloyin - great perspectives  
  • Mother of Invention: How Good Ideas Get Ignored in a World Built for Men: How Good Ideas Get Ignored in an Economy Built for Men - Katrine Marçal - great book  
  • Who Cooked Adam Smith's Dinner?: A Story About Women and Economics - Katrine Marçal - Id never before noticed some of the inbuilt assumptions in economics!  
  • The Patriarchs: How Men Came to Rule - Angela Saini  
  • Divided: Why We're Living in an Age of Walls - Tim Marshall  
  • Surely You're Joking Mr Feynman: Adventures of a Curious Character as Told to Ralph Leighton - Richard Feynman & Edward Hutchings  
  • The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying: A simple, effective way to banish clutter forever - Marie Kondo  
  • 50 Politics Classics: Your shortcut to the most important ideas on freedom, equality, and power - Tom Butler-Bowdon  
  • How To Lose A Referendum: The Definitive Story of Why The UK Voted for Brexit - Jason Farrell & Paul Goldsmith  
  • Borderland: A Journey Through the History of Ukraine - Anna Reid  
  • Crisis? What Crisis?: Britain in the 1970s Alwyn Turner  
  • What We Talk About When We Talk About Rape Sohaila Abdulali  
  • Natives: Race and Class in the Ruins of Empire – Akala  
  • Top Five Regrets of the Dying: A Life Transformed by the Dearly Departing - Bonnie Ware - different perspectives on life from the other end of it.  
  • Bird Therapy  - Joe Harkness - birdwatching as observation of their societies & as therapy.  
  • Nazi Wives: The Women at the Top of Hitler's Germany - James Wyllie - insights into the banality of evil and plenty of cognitive dissonance too.  
  • Essays in Humanism - Albert Einstein  
  • Untamed: Stop pleasing, start living Stop pleasing, start living - Glennon Doyle - an interesting perspective on life.  
  • The Hidden Life of Trees - Peter Wohlleben - a very different perspective on life & interconnectedness.  
  • The Remarkable Life of the Skin: An intimate journey across our surface - Monty Lyman - we don’t tend to think about skin unless it has a problem, but touch and appearance are both hugely important to perception.  
  • 101 Essays That Will Change The Way You Think - Brianna Wiest - interesting.  
  • Twilight of Democracy: The Failure of Politics and the Parting of Friends - Anne Applebaum - on the fall and rise of nationalism & extremism.  
  • Unexplained Deaths: How one woman changed homicide investigation forever - Bruce Goldfarb - by thinking & approaching problems differently.  
  • On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century - Timothy Snyder - important!  
  • Fake Law: The Truth About Justice in an Age of Lies - The Secret Barrister - highlighting media spin & misinformation.  
  • The War of Nerves: Inside the Cold War Mind -  Martin Sixsmith - life and decision-making against a backdrop of constant fear.  
  • This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends - Nicole Perlroth - scary, about the race for cyber supremacy in the world.  
  • Divide: The relationship crisis between town and country - Anna Jones - another different perspective on life & behaviour.  
  • I May Be Wrong - Björn Natthiko Lindeblad - a wise perspective fron a forest monk.  
  • Fractured: Why our societies are coming apart and how we put them back together again - fascinating anecdotes & perspectives Jon Yates  
  • Irreversible Damage: Teenage Girls and the Transgender Craze - Abigail Shrier - controversial perspective  
  • Winners: And How They Succeed - Alastair Campbell - the wisdom of a crowd of winners  
  • Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media - Edward S. Herman & Noam Chomsky - highlighting double standards & bias in the media.  
  • Putin’s People: The Story of Russia’s History and Politics - Catherine Belton  
  • The Social Distance Between Us: How Remote Politics Wrecked Britain - Darren McGarvey - why "othering" affects public service provision.  
  • Help Me I'm A Hypochondriac!: From Headache to Hypochondria - How I Beat Health Anxiety - Philip Martins - great book on anxiety  
  • Bitch: A Revolutionary Guide to Sex, Evolution and the Female Animal - Lucy Cooke - fascinating.  
  • Material Girls: Why Reality Matters for Feminism - Kathleen Stock - controversial - but well-argued  
  • Bloodlands: THE book to help you understand today’s Eastern Europe - Timothy Snyder - different cultural perspectives  
  • Designing the Mind: The Principles of Psychitecture - Ryan Bush - pretty intense...  
  • Lady Sapiens: Breaking Stereotypes About Prehistoric Women - Thomas Cirotteau, Kerner & Pincas - really interesting from an evolutionary psychology perspective.  
  • Perfect Wives in Ideal Homes: The Story of Women in the 1950s - Virginia Nicholson - interesting historical perspectives.  
  • A Natural History of the Future: What the Laws of Biology Tell Us About the Destiny of the Human Species - Rob Dunn  
  • If Nietzsche Were a Narwhal: What Animal Intelligence Reveals About Human Stupidity - Justin Gregg - amusing perspectives on behaviour.  
  • Do Humankind's Best Days Lie Ahead? - Steven Pinker, Matt Ridley, Alain de Botton & Malcolm Gladwell - thought-provoking  
  • Control: The Dark History and Troubling Present of Eugenics - Adam Rutherford PhD - scary, including the evolution & contagion of ideas.  
  • The Science of Attraction: What Behavioral & Evolutionary Psychology Can Teach Us About Flirting, Dating, and Mating - Patrick King  
  • Inferior: The true power of women and the science that shows it - Angela Saini - great summary of several of the biggest experiments on sex differences.  
  • Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic, David Quammen - the COVID pandemic saw so many examples of cognitive bias, as well as huge use of nudges to change behaviour. Logical fallacies and cognitive biases probably played a particularly significant role in not stopping the spread early - as this pre-COVID book shows, animal spillover was and remains a key risk.  
  • Utopia for Realists: And How We Can Get There, by Rutger Bregman - a vision of a Basic Income driven future to ameliorate the impact of generative AI on jobs & incomes  
  • The Better Angels of Our Nature: The Decline of Violence In History And Its Causes - Steven Pinker - fascinating - although we tend to think of "the good old days", violence globally seems to be falling, and looks at why.  
  • Poverty Safari: Understanding the Anger of Britain's Underclass - Darren McGarvey
  • Information is Beautiful, by David McCandless - a greta book and even better website (of the same name) for the importance of data visualisation in getting a message across.  
  • Live It!: Achieve Success by Living with Purpose - Jairek Robbins  
  • Reasons to Stay Alive - Matt Haig  
  • Rising Strong - Brene Brown