Here are 100 books that Aftershock fans have personally recommended if you like Aftershock. Book DNA is a community of 13,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

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Book cover of A Beginner's Guide to the End: Practical Advice for Living Life and Facing Death

Susannah Fox Author Of Rebel Health: A Field Guide to the Patient-Led Revolution in Medical Care

From my list on defend yourself U.S. health care system.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m not a clinician, but friends often ask for my advice when they get sick or need help caring for a loved one. I’ve spent nearly 25 years mapping the terrain created by innovative patients, survivors, and caregivers, the rebels of medical care. I’m also a caregiver to elders. Along the way, I’ve collected books to loan when someone facing a health challenge asks me, “What do I do now?” Each of these five books was written for when you find yourself in the healthcare maze and need to borrow courage, sharpen your senses, and navigate as best you can.

Susannah's book list on defend yourself U.S. health care system

Susannah Fox Why Susannah loves this book

My mom and I are competing to see who can give away more copies of this book; we love it that much. Both of us have been bedside caregivers for dying relatives and have seen firsthand how beautiful that process can be if people are prepared.

I love how the book is designed with nice, large print, lovely illustrations, and little snacks of insight sprinkled throughout in boxes and “fast facts.” This book is the essential What to Expect When You’re Expecting–but for death.

By Bj Miller , Shoshana Berger ,

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked A Beginner's Guide to the End as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

“A gentle, knowledgeable guide to a fate we all share” (The Washington Post): the first and only all-encompassing action plan for the end of life.

“There is nothing wrong with you for dying,” hospice physician B.J. Miller and journalist and caregiver Shoshana Berger write in A Beginner’s Guide to the End. “Our ultimate purpose here isn’t so much to help you die as it is to free up as much life as possible until you do.”

Theirs is a clear-eyed and big-hearted action plan for approaching the end of life, written to help readers feel more in control of…


If you love Aftershock...

Book cover of Aggressor

Aggressor by FX Holden,

It is April 1st, 2038. Day 60 of China's blockade of the rebel island of Taiwan.

The US government has agreed to provide Taiwan with a weapons system so advanced that it can disrupt the balance of power in the region. But what pilot would be crazy enough to run…

Book cover of The Long COVID Survival Guide: Stories and Advice from Twenty Long-Haulers and Experts

Susannah Fox Author Of Rebel Health: A Field Guide to the Patient-Led Revolution in Medical Care

From my list on defend yourself U.S. health care system.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m not a clinician, but friends often ask for my advice when they get sick or need help caring for a loved one. I’ve spent nearly 25 years mapping the terrain created by innovative patients, survivors, and caregivers, the rebels of medical care. I’m also a caregiver to elders. Along the way, I’ve collected books to loan when someone facing a health challenge asks me, “What do I do now?” Each of these five books was written for when you find yourself in the healthcare maze and need to borrow courage, sharpen your senses, and navigate as best you can.

Susannah's book list on defend yourself U.S. health care system

Susannah Fox Why Susannah loves this book

The COVID-19 virus swept across the world like a hurricane, and 20 survivors of the storm gathered to share the lessons they had learned.

I love how this book centers on the experiences of people living with Long Covid who not only point out the inequities of our health systems but also give practical advice about getting a diagnosis, navigating care, asking for help, and contributing to research.

You don’t have to have Long Covid to benefit. Their wise advice applies to everyone.

By Fiona Lowenstein (editor) ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Long COVID Survival Guide as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The first patient-to-patient guide for people living with Long COVID - with expert advice and an afterword by the leading research scientist.

For people living with Long COVID, navigating the uncharted territory of this new chronic illness can be challenging. With over two hundred unique symptoms, and with doctors continuing to work toward a cure, people experiencing Long COVID are often left with more questions than answers.
A support group in book form, The Long COVID Survival Guide is here to help. Twenty contributors - from award-winning journalists, neuroscientists, and patient-researchers to corporate strategists, activists, and artists - share their…


Book cover of The Caregiver's Encyclopedia: A Compassionate Guide to Caring for Older Adults

Susannah Fox Author Of Rebel Health: A Field Guide to the Patient-Led Revolution in Medical Care

From my list on defend yourself U.S. health care system.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m not a clinician, but friends often ask for my advice when they get sick or need help caring for a loved one. I’ve spent nearly 25 years mapping the terrain created by innovative patients, survivors, and caregivers, the rebels of medical care. I’m also a caregiver to elders. Along the way, I’ve collected books to loan when someone facing a health challenge asks me, “What do I do now?” Each of these five books was written for when you find yourself in the healthcare maze and need to borrow courage, sharpen your senses, and navigate as best you can.

Susannah's book list on defend yourself U.S. health care system

Susannah Fox Why Susannah loves this book

Caring for an aging relative is an incredible honor and, let’s be honest, an incredible burden. When I became the caregiver for an elder cousin, this book gave me the information and tools I needed to get him the best care possible and then, in the end, to spring him from the hospital so he could die at home, as he wished.

This is very much a medical guide written by a physician specializing in geriatrics and palliative care, and I love the detail she provides on both chronic and acute illnesses, as well as how to choose a care facility. 

By Muriel R. Gillick ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Caregiver's Encyclopedia as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

An indispensable, comprehensive reference for family caregivers.

Caregivers hold the key to the health, well-being, and happiness of their aging relatives, partners, or friends. The Caregiver's Encyclopedia provides you with all of the information you need to take the best care of your loved one-from making major medical decisions to making sure you don't burn out.

Written by Muriel R. Gillick, MD, a geriatrician with more than 30 years' experience caring for older people, this book highlights the importance of understanding your friend's or family member's overall health. With compassion and expertise, this book will help you "think like a…


If you love Jessie Gruman...

Book cover of The Warhog Paladins

The Warhog Paladins by Jer Patch,

Mia Lark is running out of options. There is only one way to change the score: the fantasy planet Revivium. 

Armed with the powerful magic in the helm and the friendly AI, Hex that goes with it, Mia throws caution out the window. It’s time to find the main guildhall…

Book cover of Josie's Story: A Mother's Inspiring Crusade to Make Medical Care Safe

Susannah Fox Author Of Rebel Health: A Field Guide to the Patient-Led Revolution in Medical Care

From my list on defend yourself U.S. health care system.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m not a clinician, but friends often ask for my advice when they get sick or need help caring for a loved one. I’ve spent nearly 25 years mapping the terrain created by innovative patients, survivors, and caregivers, the rebels of medical care. I’m also a caregiver to elders. Along the way, I’ve collected books to loan when someone facing a health challenge asks me, “What do I do now?” Each of these five books was written for when you find yourself in the healthcare maze and need to borrow courage, sharpen your senses, and navigate as best you can.

Susannah's book list on defend yourself U.S. health care system

Susannah Fox Why Susannah loves this book

Speak up. Ask questions. Be the squeaky wheel. Your life or the life of someone you love may depend on it. That’s the message of Josie’s Story. I could not put this book down even as I had to steel myself to turn the page sometimes, knowing that a tragedy caused by a medical error was at the heart of it.

Grief, the unreleased love for a child, compelled the author to demand–and accomplish–systemic change that has saved lives. Read it, weep, and know that you, too, have the power to shift the axis of medical care.

By Sorrel King ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Josie's Story as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Ninety-eight thousand people die every year from medical errors, making it a leading cause of death in the United States, but the subject has long been taboo. All that changed with Josie. Sorrel King's eighteen-month-old daughter was badly burned by a faulty water heater in the family's new home, but was taken to the world-renowned Johns Hopkins Hospital, where she made a remarkable recovery. But as she was preparing to leave, the hospital's system of communication broke down and Josie was given a fatal shot of methadone, sending her into cardiac arrest. Within forty-eight hours, the King family went from…


Book cover of Creating Great Choices: A Leader's Guide to Integrative Thinking

Michael Bungay Stanier Author Of The Coaching Habit: Say Less, Ask More & Change the Way You Lead Forever

From my list on unexpectedly useful books about coaching.

Why am I passionate about this?

Coaching is a wonderful technology that can help people be a force for change… and is often wrapped up in mystic and woo-woo and privilege that makes it inaccessible and/or unattractive to too many. I want being more coach-like—by which I mean staying curious a little longer, and rushing to action and advice-giving—to be an everyday way of being with one another. Driven by this, I’ve written the best-selling book on coaching this century (The Coaching Habit) and have created training that’s been used around the world by more than a quarter of a million people. I’m on a mission to unweird coaching.

Michael's book list on unexpectedly useful books about coaching

Michael Bungay Stanier Why Michael loves this book

My mentor Peter Block taught me that the ultimate act of being an adult, the ultimate act of taking responsibility for your own freedom, was making choices. Some choices of course are easyI’ll have a double espresso, pleasebut plenty are difficult. You don’t have all the data, it’s too close to call, and you can feel the combination of anxiety and guilt that can come with committing. This book adds some structure and discipline to how to make the best possible choice, and by doing so makes it easier to be more courageous and bold.

By Jennifer Riel , Roger L. Martin ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Creating Great Choices as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Move Beyond Trade-Off Thinking

When it comes to our hardest choices, it can seem as though making trade-offs is inevitable. But what about those crucial times when accepting the obvious trade-off just isn't good enough? What do we do when the choices in front of us don't get us what we need? In those cases, rather than choosing the least worst option, we can use the models in front of us to create a new and superior answer. This is integrative thinking.

First introduced by world-renowned strategic thinker Roger Martin in The Opposable Mind, integrative thinking is an approach to…


Book cover of Creative Confidence: Unleashing the Creative Potential Within Us All

Muhammad Mashhood Alam Author Of Transforming an Idea Into a Business with Design Thinking: The Structured Approach from Silicon Valley for Entrepreneurs and Leaders

From my list on design thinking, innovation, and entrepreneurship.

Why am I passionate about this?

I've been driving innovation in various capacities with world’s leading companies and start-ups for the last 23 years in Silicon Valley. I've been granted six US patents, won two prestigious design awards including the Red Dot award, and published a book on transforming an idea into a business using Design Thinking. What I've learnt is that at the core of any successful business lies the value to the end user who uses the solutions. As I got exposed to Design Thinking earlier on in my career, I realized its immense power in delivering human-centered innovations. I regularly speak at several industry & entrepreneurial events and various business schools around the world. 

Muhammad's book list on design thinking, innovation, and entrepreneurship

Muhammad Mashhood Alam Why Muhammad loves this book

Creative Confidence is a book that explores the idea that everyone has the ability to be creative, and that creativity can be a powerful tool for innovation and problem-solving.

Kelley argues that many people believe that creativity is a rare and elusive talent that only a select few possess, but in reality, everyone can develop their creative abilities with practice and effort.

Kelley provides numerous examples of individuals and organizations that have successfully used creativity to solve complex problems and create innovative solutions.

He also offers practical strategies and exercises for developing creative confidence, such as embracing failure, challenging assumptions, and experimenting with new ideas.

I have personally seen the benefits of creative confidence in my work and the work of others around me.

By Tom Kelley , David Kelley ,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Creative Confidence as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A powerful and inspiring book from the founders of IDEO, the award-winning design firm, on unleashing the creativity that lies within each and every one of us.

Too often, companies and individuals assume that creativity and innovation are the domain of the 'creative types'. But two of the foremost experts in innovation, design and creativity on the planet show us that each and every one of us is creative.

In an entertaining and inspiring narrative that draws on countless stories from their work at IDEO, and with many of the world's top companies and design firms, David and…


If you love Aftershock...

Book cover of A Last Serenade for Billy Bonney

A Last Serenade for Billy Bonney by Mark Warren,

Winner of the 2024 New Mexico - Arizona Book Award.

In this deeply researched novel of America's most celebrated outlaw, Mark Warren sheds light on the human side of Billy the Kid and reveals the intimate stories of the lesser-known players in his legendary life of crime. Warren's fictional composer…

Book cover of Blind Spots: Why We Fail to Do What's Right and What to Do about It

Robert A. Prentice Author Of Behavioral Ethics in Practice: Why We Sometimes Make the Wrong Decisions

From my list on ethics explaining why good people do bad things.

Why am I passionate about this?

It might be a stretch to call me an expert in ethics, but I have taught ethics for more than 30 years and I’ve read deeply in the field of behavioral ethics. I'm proud of the work I’ve done with the Ethics Unwrapped video project, though most of the credit goes to filmmakers Cara Biasucci (co-author of Behavioral Ethics in Practice: Why We Sometimes Make the Wrong Decisions) and Lazaro Hernandez (producer of Ethics Unwrapped). My passion for this topic is driven largely by the fact that I want my two daughters to live in a world where most people are trying to do the right thing most of the time. 

Robert's book list on ethics explaining why good people do bad things

Robert A. Prentice Why Robert loves this book

Love this book! This is a foundational behavioral ethics book, written by two giants in the field—psychologists Bazerman of Harvard Business School and Tenbrunsel of Notre Dame.

It is research-based, yet very accessible to the novice, directly addressing, as the title indicates, why people sometimes mess up and how they can avoid it. It introduces the reader to cognitive biases and other influences that can fool people’s brains into making poor moral choices.

Blind Spots was an invaluable resource for Cara Biasucci and me for many of the 150 or so videos we have produced for Ethics Unwrapped.

By Max H. Bazerman , Ann E. Tenbrunsel ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Blind Spots as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

When confronted with an ethical dilemma, most of us like to think we would stand up for our principles. But we are not as ethical as we think we are. In "Blind Spots", leading business ethicists Max Baseman's and Ann Tenbrunsel examine the ways we overestimate our ability to do what is right and how we act unethically without meaning to. From the collapse of Enron and corruption in the tobacco industry, to sales of the defective Ford Pinto, the downfall of Bernard Madoff, and the Challenger space shuttle disaster, the authors investigate the nature of ethical failures in the…


Book cover of QBQ! The Question Behind The Question: Practicing Personal Accountability at Work and in Life

Michael J. Marquardt and Bob Tiede Author Of Leading with Questions: How Leaders Discover Powerful Answers by Knowing How and What to Ask

From my list on asking questions that will change you and the world.

Why are we passionate about this?

Michael Marquardt is Professor Emeritus of Human and Organizational Learning at George Washington University, where he directed the Global Certificate and Executive Leadership Programs. He's a Co-founder and first President of the World Institute for Action Learning. Dr. Marquardt has authored 27 books and his publications has sold over a million copies. Bob Tiede is on the U.S. Leadership Development Team at Cru, an interdenominational Christian parachurch organization. His blog, LeadingWithQuestions.com is in its 11th year and followed by Leaders in over 190 countries. Bob is the author of Great Leaders ASK Questions, Little Book of Big Leading With Questions Quotes, and 262 Questions Paul the Apostle of Christ Asked.

Michael's book list on asking questions that will change you and the world

Michael J. Marquardt and Bob Tiede Why Michael loves this book

Too often, too many of us, ask “Victim Questions” like “When are they going to train me?” or “When are they going to tell us what’s going on?”

Instead of asking “Victim Questions” John teaches us to ask “QBQs” (The Question Behind the Question). For example, “What could I do to get trained?” or “How could I find out what is going on? Asking QBQ’s has consistently moved me from being stuck to having a way forward! 

By John G. Miller ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked QBQ! The Question Behind The Question as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

No one can successfully achieve goals and new objectives, provide outstanding service, engage in exceptional teamwork, make change in their community or lead other people without personal accountability.

After decades of working with organisations and individuals, John G. Miller knows that the troubles that plague them cannot be solved by pointing fingers and blaming others. Rather, the real solutions are found when each of us recognizes the value of our own accountability. In this book, Miller explains how negative, ill-focused questions like "Who dropped the ball?" harm rather than help. Conversely, when we begin to ask better questions - QBQs,…


If you love Jessie Gruman...

Book cover of Ramón Ramirez's Dog: Reflections on Then and Now

Ramón Ramirez's Dog by David J. Dunford,

Ramon Ramirez’s Dog is a collection of essays written over the years about the adventures and misadventures, mostly outside but occasionally inside the diplomatic career of a U.S. ambassador. Common threads weaving the stories together are a desire for a life well-lived, balancing career with family and friends, keeping physically…

Book cover of Farsighted: How We Make the Decisions That Matter the Most

Rick Szostak Author Of Making Sense of the Future

From my list on the future.

Why am I passionate about this?

I have read the future studies literature for decades. A few years ago an alumnus suggested that my university should create a course about the future. My dean encouraged me to look into it. On reading Bishop and Hines, Teaching About the Future, I was struck by the maturity of the field, the strength of their program that they describe, and the fact that they bemoan the lack of a book that could introduce newcomers to the field. I decided that I could write such a book, combining the latest research in the field with my own understandings of interdisciplinarity, world history, economics, and political activism.

Rick's book list on the future

Rick Szostak Why Rick loves this book

This is a pleasure to read and full of good ideas.

Most of the book deals with errors in how people make future-oriented decisions, and how we can overcome these errors. Yet the author also has good advice about how we should go about predicting plausible futures. He notes that experts with a flexible worldview make better predictions than those who follow a narrow belief or ideology.

By Steven Johnson ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Farsighted as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Plenty of books offer useful advice on how to get better at making quick-thinking, intuitive choices. But what about more consequential decisions, the ones that affect our lives for years, or centuries, to come? Our most powerful stories revolve around these kinds of decisions: where to live, whom to marry, what to believe, whether to start a company, how to end a war.

Full of the beautifully crafted storytelling and novel insights that Steven Johnson's fans know to expect, Farsighted draws lessons from cognitive science, social psychology, military strategy, environmental planning, and great works of literature. Everyone thinks we are…


Book cover of A Beginner's Guide to the End: Practical Advice for Living Life and Facing Death
Book cover of The Long COVID Survival Guide: Stories and Advice from Twenty Long-Haulers and Experts
Book cover of The Caregiver's Encyclopedia: A Compassionate Guide to Caring for Older Adults

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Interested in decision making, health care, and French travel?

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