As summer winds down and the rhythm of fall approaches, it’s the perfect moment to invest in yourself. Whether you’re eager to sharpen your professional skills, explore a new hobby, boost your productivity or change your mindset, books can be powerful tools for growth. Here are some newish books available with your Livingston Library card, designed to help you step into the new season with inspiration, knowledge, and confidence.
Productivity & Focus
Eat that Frog! : 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time by Brian Tracy
The saying goes, if the first thing you do each morning is eat a live frog, then you’re done with the toughest thing for the day. Eating that frog means tackling your most challenging task-and it’s also the one that can have the greatest positive impact on your life. Productivity and time management coachTracy shows you how to organize each day so you can zero in on these critical tasks and accomplish them efficiently and effectively. The 3 essentials of successful time management are decision, discipline, and determination, and Tracy shows you how to dial in these skills using 21 principles and techniques.
Feel-Good Productivity: How to Do More of What Matters to You by Ali Abdaal
Ali reveals how the science of feel-good productivity can transform your life. He introduces the three hidden “energizers” that underpin enjoyable productivity, the three “blockers” we must overcome to beat procrastination, and the three “sustainers” that prevent burnout and help us achieve lasting fulfillment. He recounts the inspiring stories of founders, Olympians, and Nobel-winning scientists who embody the principles of Feel-Good Productivity. And he introduces the simple, actionable changes that you can use to achieve more and live better, starting today.
Timeboxing : The Power of Doing One Thing at a Time by Marc Zao-Sanders
The gloriously simple practice of choosing one thing to do, when to do it, and getting it done. Every day, a billion knowledge workers wake up, gravitate towards a pixelated screen and process information for eight hours or more, facing an endless and bewildering array of work and life choices. We’re confronted with countless always-on options; untimely, unsolicited notifications; and a constant competition for our attention. This depletes our faculty for choosing the right things to do, leading millions to become perplexed, frazzled, anxious, or depressed. Zao-Sanders provides a comprehensive guide to carefully and intentionally selecting what to do, specifying start and finish times, focusing solely on that single activity, and getting it done to an acceptable standard within that timeframe.
Uptime : A Practical Guide to Personal Productivity and Wellbeing by Laura Mae Martin
Google’s Executive Productivity Advisor offers insights on how to make the new way of work work for you, providing actionable steps to optimize your productivity, accomplish more, prevent burnout, and cultivate a harmonious work-life balance.
Your Grass is Greener : Use What You Have Get What You Want at Work and in Life by Jason Silver
Whether you’re frustrated at work or simply looking for better ways to do a job you enjoy, Silver offers an actionable guide to improve the work you already do, using skills you already have. Each chapter reframes a common workplace challenge and provides a tangible tactic you can put to work right away.
Personal Growth & Mindset
Aristotle’s Guide to Self-Persuasion : How Ancient Rhetoric, Taylor Swift, and Your Own Soul Can Help You Change Your Life by Jay Heinrichs
Heinrichs helps readers persuade their most difficult audiences-themselves-by using techniques invented by the likes of Aristotle and Cicero and deployed by our culture’s most persuasive characters. With their help, rhetoric can convert the most negative situations into positive ones. Heinrichs brings in examples from history and pop culture-Winston Churchill, Iron Man, Dolly Parton, and the woman who serendipitously invented the chocolate chip cookie-to illustrate the concepts. But the core of the book tests the tools of self-persuasion and asks: Can the same techniques that seduce lovers, sell diet books, and overturn governments help us achieve our most desired goals?
Don’t Say Um : How to Communicate Effectively to Live a Better Life by Michael Chad Hoeppner
Hoeppner has created an entirely new approach to communication, giving people the physical tools to quickly improve their speaking, instead of just the same old speaking coach BS. With exercises like finger-walking to stop using filler words or deeply breathing to fix quivering, Hoeppner teaches readers how to focus on delivery, because how you say something matters more than what you say. Through these exercises, you will be able to talk to a group with complete confidence or just to effectively tell a joke.
Lodestar : Tapping into the 10 Timeless Pillars of Success by Jim McCann
The core tenets of building a better life for yourself are covered here through the best thinking of the last hundred years of self-improvement, plus exclusive interviews with people whose success stories bring it all to life.
Master your Inner World : Overcome Negative Emotions, Embrace Happiness, and Maximize Your Potential by Earl Nightingale
Nightingale offers robust tools and strategies to help you navigate the complexities of your emotional world, teaching you how to replace negativity with positivity, fear with courage, and anxiety with peace.
The Power of the Only : Own your Voice, Thrive in Any Environment by Angela Chee
In this interactive coaching book, Angela Chee-renowned media and communication coach, keynote speaker, and host of the acclaimed podcast-shares her journey as a pioneering Asian American woman in the media alongside empowering stories of others who have embraced the power of being the “only” in a room. Through research studies, actionable strategies, and heartfelt insights from trailblazing leaders-including CEOs, founders, filmmakers, and her everyday clients-Angela demonstrates being an “Only” is not a weakness, but your greatest strength.
Hobbies/New Skills/Creativity
Co-Intelligence : Living and Working with AI by Ethan Mollick
Mollick urges us not to turn away from AI, and instead to invite AI tools to the table. He demonstrates how AI can amplify our own capacities, acting in roles from brainstorming partner to cowriter to tutor to coach, and assesses its surprising, positive impact on business and organizations. Marshalling original research from workers and teams who are leading the rest of us in embracing and leveraging AI, Mollick cuts through the hype to make a frank and eye-opening case for the real value of AI tools.
Creative Abstract Watercolor : The Beginner’s Guide to Expressive and Imaginative Painting by Kate Rebecca Leach
Discover tips and tricks to create your own vibrant art, letting the watercolor flow to form your composition and inspire embellishment. Through a variety of projects, you’ll learn to use color, texture, and contrast to create stunning abstract art.
Crochet Now : A Beginner’s Guide to Essential Stitches and Techniques + 7 Easy Patterns by Salena Baca
All you need to start crocheting are yarn, a crochet hook, and step-by-step instructions from an expert teacher. Baca brings her years of experience teaching novice crocheters to this instructional guide, presenting the stitches and techniques of crochet in easy-to-understand terms and illustrative photos that will have you making your first stitches within a few minutes.
The Essential Book of Succulents : A Guide to the 250 Best Varieties for Beginners by Kentaro Kuroda
This book is the beginning gardener’s best friend, covering the 250 succulent and cacti varieties most commonly found at your local nursery or home improvement centre and the ones that are easiest to grow and to keep healthy.
Everyday Knitting : The Complete Beginner’s Guide by Megan Goodacre
Learn how to knit with simple, easy-to-follow guides and over 20 cute and cozy project patterns! This book offers simple, step-by-step tutorials geared toward beginning knitters. Master the basics of knitting and improve your technique with clear, comprehensive instructions for casting on, binding off, knit and purl stitches, and more.
Get a Hobby : 365 Things to Do for Fun (Not Work!) by Jasmine Cho
Picking up a hobby is one of the best ways to eliminate stress, improve any mood, and make a network of new friends. Whether it’s a physical activity like pickleball or martial arts; a creative pursuit like knitting or painting; or a skill to challenge the mind like sudoku or learning a language, a hobby can improve your life in so many ways. Jasmine Cho, a devoted baker whose off-the-clock passion took her from the kitchen to Food Network and beyond, presents this compendium of stuff you can do for fun in an easy-to-peruse graphic reference guide.
How to Grow Your Own Flowers : An Illustrated Beginner’s Guide to Container and Small Space Gardening by Stephanie Walker
Features 40 beautiful flowers (from smaller pincushion flowers to towering lilacs) that can all be grown in containers or small spaces. Along with detailed care instructions and beautiful illustrations of each plant, you’ll also find everything you need to know for your floral garden to flourish, including: how to establish a garden bed (no matter the size!); how to determine which flowers are best grown from seeds or from transplants; how to turn those blooms into a beautiful home-grown bouquet; and much more!
—Archana, ASA Librarian