Here are 100 books that How to Stay Sane in an Age of Division fans have personally recommended if you like
How to Stay Sane in an Age of Division.
Book DNA is a community of 13,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.
I’ve been passionate about personally and professionally lifting women up throughout my career. Today, it is how I spend my time and energy – in a way that makes a difference to those individuals and the greater world. Books have always filled my insatiable desire to continuously learn and explore mysterious, unknown worlds. As a writer, I read books to expand my understanding and push my comfort zones. I also read them so that I can share with others what I have learned in the hopes they will have a positive impact on them – a pay-it-forward of sorts. I hope you enjoy the books on this list as much as I have!
For too long emotions have been systematically suppressed at work.
In today’s highly competitive workplace where culture and leadership matters, embracing emotions is a competitive advantage for leaders and companies alike.
Maria’s book demonstrates why businesses should cultivate empathy and shares the winning traits of empathetic leaders who foster greater productivity and loyalty.
Furious customers? Missed deadlines? Failed products? The problems your business faces may stem from a single issue: lack of empathy.
Being empathetic at work means seeing the situation from another's perspective, and using that vantage point to shape your leadership style, workplace culture, and branding strategy. Pairing her knowledge as a branding expert with proven research and fascinating stories from executives, change-makers and community leaders, Maria Ross reveals exactly how empathy makes brands and organizations stronger and more successful.
Ross shows why your business needs to cultivate more empathy now, and shares the habits and traits of empathetic leaders who…
Wild Freedom is a smart, vulnerable, and metafictional fairy tale. While celebrating self-authentication and reclamations of name, desire, and agency, it also explores the important Jungian psychoanalytical themes of toxic family dynamics, entanglement, and individuality.
When someone experiences tremendous loss or betrayal, an important way to navigate that hurt is…
I wholeheartedly believe that kindness is the single most powerful thing that we can teach our children. One of the best ways to instil kindness in children is by talking to them about it, and one of the most effective ways to start the conversation is through stories that highlight kindness. These stories don’t just get kids talking—they also help shape the values of the next generation.
This has been such a wonderful book to read with my kids! It was first introduced to us through my daughter's school. It’s not only a sweet story but also helps teach important lessons about kindness, community, and friendship.
It is great for prompting conversations about feelings, and the illustrations are incredibly well done, making it even more enjoyable!
Teachers do so much more than just teach academics. They build a sense of community within their classrooms, creating a home away from home where they make their students feel safe, included, and loved.
With its heartfelt message and colorfully whimsical illustrations, “Our Class is a Family” is a book that will help build and strengthen that class community. Kids learn that their classroom is a place where it’s safe to be themselves, it’s okay to make mistakes, and it’s important to be a friend to others. When hearing this story being read aloud by their teacher, students are sure…
I remember experiencing a true nervous breakdown once in high school. I had to leave campus in tears, filled with familiar sorrows and emotions I didn’t recognize as my own. Something was happening and I couldn’t put my finger on it, and it was utterly disorienting. Luckily, a spiritual mentor lived right down the street. She was quickly able to diagnose my experience. “You’re a very strong empath,” she said. I had to learn what that meant, so I devoted many years to learning as much as I could about the empathic experience from psychological, physiological, anthropological, and metaphysical lenses alike.
Oh boy, this monumental book certainly expanded my empathetic mind! The greatest lesson? The fact that true empathy requires a compassionate response. That was an eye-opener! This book has really stuck with me. I remember being entrenched and enthralled with every page while on a writing retreat. I can’t thank the author enough for helping me fine-tune my own books about the empathic experience!
Similar in tone to her well-known The Language of Emotions, this book doesn’t dive too deeply into metaphysical perspectives. Instead, this book is primarily grounded in psychology, history, and science. That is the very reason why we highly sensitive souls benefit from books like these; we are admittedly gullible and easy to manipulate if our empathy is uncontrolled! Understanding our abilities through a grounded psychological lens such as this is crucial for our emotional understanding.
What if there were a single skill that could directly and radically improve your relationships and your emotional life? Empathy, teaches Karla McLaren, is that skill. With The Art of Empathy, she teaches us how to perceive and feel the experiences of others with clarity and authenticity-to connect with them more deeply and effectively.
Informed by current insights from neuroscience, social psychology, and healing traditions, this book explores:
Why empathy is not a mystical phenomenon but a natural, innate ability that we can strengthen and develop * How to identify and regulate our emotions and boundaries * The process of…
Wild Freedom is a smart, vulnerable, and metafictional fairy tale. While celebrating self-authentication and reclamations of name, desire, and agency, it also explores the important Jungian psychoanalytical themes of toxic family dynamics, entanglement, and individuality.
When someone experiences tremendous loss or betrayal, an important way to navigate that hurt is…
As a youth, I was very athletic and always aspired to be the captain of the team. I worked hard and was very driven to earn this right. As a business person, I have continued that passion for leadership. In addition, due to my sports experience, I am passionate about coaching others. I feel that with the right direction, the right motivation, and the right information, anyone can be successful. All of the authors for the leadership books I have recommended are also giving back to society in their own way. I hope you all enjoy the books on your journey to becoming a great leader!
I recommend this book because Pete clearly understands that empathetic leadership is a way to connect emotionally with your team. I really like how Pete focuses on inspiring his team to do their best and the contribution that makes to the businesses they represent. Pete uses real-world examples to inspire his readers.
**Winner of the #1 Best New Management Audiobook of 2024 by BookAuthority.org!**
Discover the Future of Leadership in Pete Srodoski's "Lead With Empathy"
In the dynamic world of modern business, success hinges on more than just strategies and goals; it's about the profound impact of leadership. Pete Srodoski's "Lead With Empathy" emerges as a transformative guide, redefining the essence of effective leadership for today's managers and executives.
Why This Book is a Must-Read:
Revolutionize Your Leadership Style: Unlock the potential of empathetic leadership to create a more engaged, productive, and loyal team. Master the Art of Navigating Crises: Learn to…
I’m a little bit obsessed with children’s books. I have an extensive personal library of books from my own childhood as well as my kids'. I’m also a person who has become increasingly, shall we say, concerned about the deepening of the culture wars in our society and the ways in which children’s libraries end up being the battleground for those wars. Children’s books matter; if they didn’t, no one would be trying to censor them. And I’d argue that children’s books about ethics and morality might matter even more than most. The five books I’ve recommended here are, in my opinion, truly among the best.
One of the key elements of being kind, maybe the key element, is simply being present in hard moments.
That’s what this book is about. When the child in this book is going through something difficult, the other animals do their best to help him feel better, but only Rabbit gets it right—and all Rabbit does is listen. It’s a profound message, one that grownups need as much as kids.
With its spare, poignant text and irresistibly sweet illustrations, The Rabbit Listened is a tender meditation on loss. When something terrible happens, Taylor doesn't know where to turn. All the animals are sure they have the answer. The chicken wants to talk it out, but Taylor doesn't feel like chatting. The bear thinks Taylor should get angry, but that's not quite right either. One by one, the animals try to tell Taylor how to process this loss, and one by one they fail. Then the rabbit arrives. All the rabbit does is listen, which is just what Taylor needs. Whether…
I have been an educator for over 20 years teaching elementary-aged children. The environment is a passion of mine. After reading the book Plastic Ocean and meeting the author Charles Moore, I realized that the issues facing our environment are going to be best solved by the upcoming generation of children. They understand how important it is to preserve our planet. Combining my love of writing with my education background, I started writing books to teach children about the environment and inspire them to make lasting changes. I love recommending books that have the same mission. Small actions equal great changes!
We’re all looking for ways to teach our children to care for each other as well as our planet. This is a wonderful way to engage kids and get them thinking about the greater good. Filled with fun ideas, children are empowered to make a difference. I love the discussion questions to prompt thinking and the place for children to write down their own ideas.
This engaging book provides over 40 powerful ideas on how kids and the people who love them can make a difference. Using kid-friendly text and beautiful illustrations, the focus is on three key areas: empathy and kindness, racial and gender equality, and caring for the environment. We know from research that ‘doing good is good for you’. The participant benefits both mentally and physically. Encouraging a mindset of giving and being part of positive change when a child is young, benefits both the child and their future. The aim of this book is to introduce kids to the many positive…
I’m a former reading specialist/educational specialist who still enjoys reading aloud to students, helping kids learn to read, and introducing them to quality literature. I love reading picture books...and I write them to entertain and empower kids.
This book inspires happiness and laughter. I used to throw my voice when I read it aloud to students. I’d stop reading halfway through the story and ask students to make a few predictions. Where could the dog be going? Why is he dressed up? Why is he sneaking out of the house at night? What could be going on inside the building?
A story which looks at what dogs do at night when their owners are asleep, featuring a dog who runs a nightclub for stressed dogs. Illustrated in colour by the author.
In my writing and in my life, I look at life and relationships in terms of what is and isn’t expected or acceptable. I’ve been fascinated by how pleasure itself has become a dirty word and how it can be exploited and used. Women have so much more potential and are so much more complex than what is given to us by media and social constructs. I write to expose the underside of identity, beliefs, and especially how past encounters color and shape our ability to experience pleasure.
I loved this book because it challenged ideas about relationships and motherhood.
For me, the issues around guilt and feelings of self-worth came through strongly. I loved this book because the writing was lyrical and clear, and made me suspend my disbelief to the point where I totally believed the premise that one could inhabit another’s body—and made me wonder if the burden of guilt can actually cause such dire consequences.
A New York Times Book Review Editor's Choice One of Kirkus Reviews' Best Books of 2017
"[A] supernatural domestic thriller and a crackling tour de force." ―The New York Times
Thunderstorms are rolling across the summer sky. Every time one breaks, Rose Bowan loses consciousness and has vivid, realistic dreams about being in another woman's body.
Is Rose merely dreaming? Or is she, in fact, inhabiting a stranger? Disturbed yet entranced, she sets out to discover what is happening to her, leaving the cocoon of her family’s small repertory cinema for the larger, upended world of someone wildly different from…
Having studied literature at university and been a closet nerd, coding at night in a dank basement room, I've always been intrigued by the interface between human and machine. Then, as a senior executive in a large multinational, I was acutely aware of the value of empathy as a leadership skill. In a world that is increasingly divided and divisive, I’ve become an empathy activist. I believe that the business world can be a force for positive change, but as a society we will need to engage in a much more meaningful and rigorous debate about the ethics involved in the opportunities offered by using artificial intelligence and robots in the workplace.
With business conditions and prospects looking so difficult, we will need to be ever more strategic in the use of our resources. In this light, Michael Ventura’s practical approach to inserting empathy into leadership and how businesses should function with a higher degree of empathy is a tremendous read. Ventura uses a host of case studies based on the work he’s done with his company, Sub Rosa. As such, the material is real life and the book is packed with a host of great and practical exercises. While it’s all about empathy in business, the book is also a good reminder of how empathy can be useful in our private lives, our intimate relationships and in society in general.
Michael Ventura, entrepreneur and CEO of award-winning strategy and design practice Sub Rosa, shares how empathy - the ability to see the world through someone else's eyes - could be what your business needs to innovate, connect, and grow.
Having built his career working with iconic brands and institutions such as Google and Nike, and also The United Nations and the Obama Administration, Michael Ventura offers entrepreneurs and executives a radical new business book and way forward.
Empathy is not about being nice. It's not about pity or sympathy either. It's about understanding - your consumers, your colleagues, and yourself…
We are social epidemiologists trying to understand how the societies we live in affect our health. Together, we try to communicate our scientific research to politicians and policy-makers, but even more importantly to everyone who is curious about how our worlds shape our wellbeing and who want to work together for positive change. We co-founded a UK charity, The Equality Trust, to build a social movement for a more equal society, and we are Global Ambassadors for the Wellbeing Economy Alliance, an international collaboration of organisations and individuals working to transform economic systems.
Often, when we talk to people about the need for more egalitarian societies, we get push back.
People say, “Oh, there will always be inequality because humans are only interested in their own survival and their own interests, they will always be out for themselves – you can’t fight human nature."
Primatologist Frans de Waal turns that argument on its head, showing the survival value of empathy, cooperation, and a sense of fairness for animals and humans alike.
'Kindness and co-operation have played a crucial role in raising humans to the top of the evolutionary tree ... We have thrived on the milk of human kindness.' Observer
BY THE AUTHOR OF ARE WE SMART ENOUGH TO KNOW HOW SMART ANIMALS ARE?
'There is a widely-held assumption that humans are hard-wired for relentless and ruthless competition ... Frans de Waal sees nature differently - as a biological legacy in which empathy, not mere self-interest, is shared by humans, bonobos and animals.' Ben Macintyre, The Times
Empathy holds us together. That we are hardwired to be altruistic is the result…
