Do Less: The Unexpected Strategy for Women to Get More of What They Want in Work and Life


Kate Northrup - 2019
    As opposed to focusing on "fitting it all in," time management, and leaning in, as so many books geared at ambitious women do, this book embraces the notion that through doing less women can have--and be--more. The addiction to busyness and the obsession with always trying to do more leads women, especially working mothers, to feel like they're always failing their families, their careers, their spouses, and themselves. This book will give women the permission and tools to change the way they approach their lives and allow them to embrace living in tune with the cyclical nature of the feminine, cutting out the extraneous busyness from their lives so they have more satisfaction and joy, and letting themselves be more often instead of doing all the time.Do Less offers the reader a series of 14 experiments to try to see what would happen if she did less in one specific way. So, rather than approaching doing less as an entire life overhaul (which is overwhelming in and of itself), this book gives the reader bite-sized steps to try incorporating over 2 weeks!

The XX Brain


Lisa Mosconi - 2020
    Lisa Mosconi, director of the Women's Brain Initiative at Weill Cornell Medical College, provides women with the first plan to address the unique risks of the female brain.Until now, medical research has focused on "bikini medicine," assuming that women are essentially men with breasts and tubes. Yet women are far more likely than men to suffer from anxiety, depression, migraines, brain injuries, and strokes. They are also twice as likely to end their lives suffering from Alzheimer's disease, even when their longer lifespans are taken into account. But in the past, the female brain has received astonishingly little attention and was rarely studied by medical researchers-- resulting in a wealth of misinformation about women's health.The XX Brain confronts this crisis by revealing how the two powerful X chromosomes that distinguish women from men impact the brain first and foremost and by focusing on a key brain-protective hormone: estrogen.Taking on all aspects of women's health, including brain fog, memory lapses, depression, stress, insomnia, hormonal imbalances, and the increased risk of dementia, Dr. Mosconi introduces cutting-edge, evidence-based approaches to protecting the female brain, including a specific diet proven to work for women, strategies to reduce stress, and useful tips for restorative sleep. She also examines the controversy about soy and hormonal replacement therapy, takes on the perils of environmental toxins, and examines the role of our microbiome. Perhaps best of all, she makes clear that it is never too late to take care of yourself.The XX Brain is a rallying cry for women to have full access to information regarding what is going on in their brains and bodies as well as a roadmap for the path to optimal, lifelong brain health.

Adrenal Fatigue: The 21st Century Stress Syndrome


James L. Wilson - 2001
    Dr. Wilson explains that healthy functioning of your adrenal glands is essential to virtually all aspects of your health as well as to your ability to handle stress. For this reason, stress and adrenal function often also play a role in many health conditions, such as frequent infections, chemical sensitivities, allergies, autoimmune diseases like fibromyalgia and rheumatoid arthritis, menopause and PMS, thyroid function imbalances, chronic fatigue syndrome, low libido, chronic anxiety, and mild depression. All of these problems and more may be aggravated by the effects stress can have on your adrenal glands.Under certain circumstances, stress can fatigue your adrenals. It is estimated that most North Americans experience some form of stress-related adrenal fatigue at some time. Although many people realize that stress is a problem in their lives, few understand the actual physical ways stress acts on the body and mind through the adrenal glands – or more importantly, what to do about it. Unfortunately, even most doctors still do not recognize the common health picture produced by adrenal fatigue. This leaves a lot of people suffering without anywhere to turn for help. That's where Adrenal Fatigue: The 21st Century Stress Syndrome comes in.In Adrenal Fatigue: The 21st Century Stress Syndrome, Dr. Wilson explains not only how stress affects your health but what you can do to un-fatigue your adrenals, protect your health and become more stress hardy. He has written this book in an entertaining, easy-to-follow style that is designed to guide you through everything you need to know about stress, adrenal fatigue and your health. It contains the questionnaire Dr. Wilson developed and used in his practice plus simple self-tests to help you determine if you are experiencing adrenal fatigue and how much it may be affecting you. Dozens of cartoons, illustrations, charts and fascinating case histories from Dr. Wilson's files make this book hard to put down. From beginning to end it will take you step-by-step to reclaim your life from the negative effects of stress.

Limitless: Upgrade Your Brain, Learn Anything Faster, and Unlock Your Exceptional Life


Jim Kwik - 2020
    In Limitless, readers will learn Jim's revolutionary strategies and shortcuts to supercharging their brains, with simple, actionable tools to sharpen the mind, enhance focus, and fast-track their fullest potential. "No matter your age, background, or level of education, you can learn new ways to use your brain. If you've been searching for better ways of coping and growing, I'm here to help you fall in love with learning again." -- Jim Kwik

10% Human: How Your Body's Microbes Hold the Key to Health and Happiness


Alanna Collen - 2015
    For every one of the cells that make up the vessel that you call your body, there are nine impostor cells hitching a ride. You are not just flesh and blood, muscle and bone, brain and skin, but also bacteria and fungi. Over your lifetime, you will carry the equivalent weight of five African elephants in microbes. You are not an individual but a colony.Until recently, we had thought our microbes hardly mattered, but science is revealing a different story, one in which microbes run our bodies and becoming a healthy human is impossible without them.In this riveting, shocking, and beautifully written book, biologist Alanna Collen draws on the latest scientific research to show how our personal colony of microbes influences our weight, our immune system, our mental health, and even our choice of partner. She argues that so many of our modern diseases—obesity, autism, mental illness, digestive disorders, allergies, autoimmunity afflictions, and even cancer—have their root in our failure to cherish our most fundamental and enduring relationship: that with our personal colony of microbes.Many of the questions about modern diseases left unanswered by the Human Genome Project are illuminated by this new science. And the good news is that unlike our human cells, we can change our microbes for the better. Collen's book is a revelatory and indispensable guide. It is science writing at its most relevant: life—and your body—will never seem the same again.

Discipline Equals Freedom: Field Manual


Jocko Willink - 2017
    In Discipline Equals Freedom, the #1 New York Times bestselling coauthor of Extreme Ownership describes how he lives that mantra: the mental and physical disciplines he imposes on himself in order to achieve freedom in all aspects of life. Many books offer advice on how to overcome obstacles and reach your goals—but that advice often misses the most critical ingredient: discipline. Without discipline, there will be no real progress. Discipline Equals Freedom covers it all, including strategies and tactics for conquering weakness, procrastination, and fear, and specific physical training presented in workouts for beginner, intermediate, and advanced athletes, and even the best sleep habits and food intake recommended to optimize performance.Within these pages discover the keys to becoming stronger, smarter, faster, and healthier. There is only one way to achieve true freedom: The Way of Discipline. Read this book and find The Way.

Peak Performance: Elevate Your Game, Avoid Burnout, and Thrive with the New Science of Success


Brad Stulberg - 2017
    Whether someone is trying to qualify for the Olympics, break ground in mathematical theory or craft an artistic masterpiece, many of the practices that lead to great success are the same. In Peak Performance, Brad Stulberg, a former McKinsey and Company consultant and journalist who covers health and the science of human performance, and Steve Magness, a performance scientist and coach of Olympic athletes, team up to demystify these practices and demonstrate how everyone can achieve their best.The first book of its kind, Peak Performance combines the inspiring stories of top performers across a range of capabilities - from athletic, to intellectual, to artistic - with the latest scientific insights into the cognitive and neurochemical factors that drive performance in all domains. In doing so, Peak Performance uncovers new linkages that hold promise as performance enhancers but have been overlooked in our traditionally-siloed ways of thinking. The result is a life-changing book in which readers will learn how to enhance their performance by a myriad of ways including: optimally alternating between periods of intense work and rest; developing and harnessing the power of a self-transcending purpose; and priming the body and mind for enhanced productivity.In revealing the science of great performance and the stories of great performers across a wide range of capabilities, Peak Performance uncovers the secrets of success, and coaches readers on how to use them. If you want to take your game to the next level, whatever "your game" may be, Peak Performance will teach you how.

The Myth of the Nice Girl: Achieving a Career You Love Without Becoming a Person You Hate


Fran Hauser - 2018
    If women are nice, they are seen as weak and ineffective, but if they are tough, they are labeled a bitch.Hauser proves that women don’t have to sacrifice their values or hide their authentic personalities to be successful. Sharing a wealth of personal anecdotes and time-tested strategies, she shows women how to reclaim “nice” and sidestep regressive stereotypes about what a strong leader looks like. Her accessible advice and hard-won wisdom detail how to balance being empathetic with being decisive, how to rise above the double standards that can box you in, how to cultivate authentic confidence that projects throughout a room, and much more. The Myth of the Nice Girl is a refreshing dose of forward-looking feminism that will resonate with smart, professional women who know what they want and are looking for real advice to take their career to the next level without losing themselves in the process.

Mini Habits: Smaller Habits, Bigger Results


Stephen Guise - 2013
    When I accidentally started my first mini habit—and the changes I made were actually lasting—I realized the prior strategies I relied on were complete failures. When something works, that which doesn't work is exposed. The science in Mini Habits exposes the predictably inconsistent results of most popular personal growth strategies, and reveals why mini habits are consistent. A mini habit is a very small positive behavior that you force yourself to do every day; a mini habit's "too small to fail" nature makes it weightless, deceptively powerful, and a superior habit-building strategy. Mini Habits will better equip you to change your life than 99% of the people you see walking around on this globe. People so often think that they are the reason they can't achieve lasting change; but the problem isn't with them—it's with their strategy. You can achieve great things without the guilt, intimidation, and repeated failure associated with such strategies such as "getting motivated," resolutions, or even "just doing it.” To make changes last, you need to stop fighting against your brain. When you start playing by your brain's rules—as mini habits show you how to do—lasting change isn't so hard.

The Science of Yoga: The Risks and the Rewards


William J. Broad - 2012
    He reveals what is real and what is illusory, in the process exposing moves that can harm or even kill. Five years in the making, The Science of Yoga draws on a hidden wealth of discovery, drama, and surprising fact to cut through the fog that surrounds contemporary yoga and to show—for the first time—what is uplifting and beneficial and what is delusional, flaky, and dangerous. At heart, it illuminates the risks and rewards.Broad describes yoga as a burgeoning global industry that attracts not only curious scientists but millions of true believers and charismatic hustlers. He takes the reader on a whirlwind tour of unknown yoga that goes from old archives in Calcutta to world capitals of medical research, from storied ashrams to spotless laboratories, from sweaty yoga studios with master teachers to the cozy offices of yoga healers. In the process, he shatters myths, lays out unexpected benefits, and offers a compelling vision of how the discipline can be improved.

The 5 Love Languages: The Secret to Love that Lasts


Gary Chapman - 1990
    Staying in love—that’s the challenge! How can you keep your relationship fresh and growing amid the demands, conflicts, and just plain boredom of everyday life? In the #1 New York Times bestseller The 5 Love Languages, you’ll discover the secret that has transformed millions of relationships worldwide. Whether your relationship is flourishing or failing, Dr. Gary Chapman’s proven approach to showing and receiving love will help you experience deeper and richer levels of intimacy with your partner—starting today. The 5 Love Languages is as practical as it is insightful. Updated to reflect the complexities of relationships today, this new edition reveals intrinsic truths and applies relevant, actionable wisdom in ways that work. Includes the Couple's Personal Profile assessment so you can discover your love language and that of your loved one.

13 Things Mentally Strong People Don't Do: Take Back Your Power, Embrace Change, Face Your Fears, and Train Your Brain for Happiness and Success


Amy Morin - 2014
    That resilience inspired her to write 13 Things Mentally Strong People Don't Do, a web post that instantly went viral, and was picked up by the Forbes website.Morin's post focused on the concept of mental strength, how mentally strong people avoid negative behaviors--feeling sorry for themselves, resenting other people's success, and dwelling on the past. Instead, they focus on the positive to help them overcome challenges and become their best.In this inspirational, affirmative book, Morin expands upon her original message, providing practical strategies to help readers avoid the thirteen common habits that can hold them back from success. Combining compelling anecdotal stories with the latest psychological research, she offers strategies for avoiding destructive thoughts, emotions, and behaviors common to everyone.Like physical strength, mental strength requires healthy habits, exercise, and hard work. Morin teaches you how to embrace a happier outlook and arms you to emotionally deal with life's inevitable hardships, setbacks, and heartbreaks--sharing for the first time her own poignant story of tragedy, and how she summoned the mental strength to move on. As she makes clear, mental strength isn't about acting tough; it's about feeling empowered to overcome life's challenges.

The Brain that Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science


Norman Doidge - 2007
    Psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, Norman Doidge, M.D., traveled the country to meet both the brilliant scientists championing neuroplasticity and the people whose lives they’ve transformed - people whose mental limitations or brain damage were seen as unalterable. We see a woman born with half a brain that rewired itself to work as a whole, blind people who learn to see, learning disorders cured, IQs raised, aging brains rejuvenated, stroke patients learning to speak, children with cerebral palsy learning to move with more grace, depression and anxiety disorders successfully treated, and lifelong character traits changed. Using these marvelous stories to probe mysteries of the body, emotion, love, sex, culture, and education, Dr. Doidge has written an immensely moving, inspiring book that will permanently alter the way we look at our brains, human nature, and human potential.

The Daily Stoic: 366 Meditations for Clarity, Effectiveness, and Serenity


Ryan Holiday - 2016
    Today, people of all stripes are seeking out Stoicism’s unique blend of practicality and wisdom as they look for answers to the great questions of daily life.Where should they start? Epictetus? Marcus Aurelius? Seneca? Which edition? Which translator? Presented in a page-per-day format, this daily resource combines all new translations done by Stephen Hanselman of the greatest passages from the great Stoics (including several lesser known philosophers like Zeno, Cleanthes and Musonius Rufus) with helpful commentary.Building on the organizational structure in Ryan Holiday’s cult classic The Obstacle is the Way, this guide also features twelve monthly themes (and helpful glossary) for clarifying perception, improving action, and unlocking the power of will. Aimed at the high-octane, action-oriented doers of our wired world, this book brings new daily rituals and new perspectives to produce balanced action, insight, effectiveness, and serenity.

Real Food for Gestational Diabetes: An Effective Alternative to the Conventional Nutrition Approach


Lily Nichols - 2015
    Imagine easily managing your blood sugar, effortlessly gaining the right amount of weight during your pregnancy, and giving birth to a beautiful, healthy baby. This can be you! Real Food for Gestational Diabetes offers an alternative to the conventional nutrition approach that embraces nutrient-dense and delicious foods that nourish you and baby without causing high blood sugar. With the wrong information (or no information at all), far too many women are left alone struggling with erratic blood sugar and excessive weight gain, often leading them to high doses of insulin or medications and difficult births. Sadly, this often happens despite these moms dutifully following the dietary advice given to them by well­-meaning clinicians; a restrictive diet that leaves them feeling unsatisfied, unhappy, and confused about ever­ increasing blood sugar numbers. In Real Food for Gestational Diabetes, prenatal nutritionist and diabetes educator, Lily Nichols, RDN, CDE, CLT, sets the record straight, offering revamped carbohydrate recommendations and exercise guidelines based on the latest clinical research. You can have gestational diabetes and have a healthy baby. Lily will show you how. With this book, you have the tools to turn this diagnosis into a blessing in disguise. You’ll learn: - Why conventional diet therapy often fails and what to do instead - How the right prenatal nutrition can reduce the likelihood you’ll need insulin by 50% - Exactly which foods raise your blood sugar (and more importantly, which foods DON’T raise your blood sugar) - How to customize a meal plan with the right amount of carbohydrates for YOU (there’s no one-size-fits-all plan, despite what you may have been told) - The truth about ketosis during pregnancy (and why checking urine ketones isn’t useful) - Information on insulin and blood sugar-lowering medications used in pregnancy - Which foods to emphasize to provide your baby with the right nutrients for optimal development (these real foods have a long history of producing strong, healthy babies) - The best prenatal exercises to control your blood sugar and prepare for labor - What to do after delivery to prevent type 2 diabetes