100 Books Like Impolite Conversations

This book helped me shift my mindset, and I first picked it up during a stressful phase of my life. I gave myself some time to simply breathe and take it in. It reminded me that the “now” is not just a passing second, but a sacred space where peace and clarity live.

I love how it helped me stop living in the echo of yesterday or the fear of tomorrow. I remember closing my eyes and whispering, “This moment is enough,” and feeling my shoulders relax for the first time in weeks. It helped me feel more connected with myself, my son, my clients, and in doing so, intentionally live every moment with more compassion, stillness, and supremacy.

To truly stay ahead of failure, one must embrace discomfort and avoid becoming stagnant. Life is a constant race, and if you stop running, you cannot win. Who Moved My Cheese? serves as a great example that is easy to read, digest, and a powerful reminder to keep pushing forward in the race of life.

The book highlights the importance of not taking good fortune for granted and avoiding getting too comfortable. It teaches that everything is constantly evolving, and it is essential to remain vigilant and open to new opportunities.

I once used this book to teach a group of high schoolers how to stay alert to opportunities and overcome the fear of discomfort.

Becoming a manager at an early age and now a nonprofit founder, I realize how important the statement ‘Relationship before Task’ is. While this book is used to sustain relationships of love, the lessons on how we invest emotionally in other areas of our life, including the workplace and friendships, is just as impactful. This book encourages me to give guidance, not ultimatums when making my needs known. Overall, this book is a reminder that being relationship-focused will bring us the love and/or significance that we’re looking for. 

This book had me saying, “Finally!” It taught me to let go of the nonsense and focus on what really matters. Mark Manson doesn’t hold back, and I appreciate that. This book is a reality check on how limited our time is—death is coming whether we like it or not—so we better start living right.

It’s not just a book; it’s a guide to cutting the crap and enjoying life before it’s too late.

Whoa! There has been a lot of crazy controversy over this title, so I thought the book would be wild and confrontational. However, it turned out to be kinder and more careful in its claims than its opponents made it out to be. The whole thing began as a multi-media project for the New York Times to commemorate the first arrival of enslaved Africans to North America, and then it took off as a symbol of often manufactured culture wars.

I wanted to check it out for myself and found that this book is full of surprises. Ok: I expected to see essays about our strange American origin story and how race and power were entwined from our nation’s earliest days. But I was enthralled by the short essays (illustrated with gorgeous images and featuring brief works of poetry and fiction) that took on topics like Traffic, Healthcare, Fear, and… show more.

This. Book. 

Wow. 

I felt changed after I read it and talked about it with everyone who would listen. Not only is this book a riveting, fast-paced read, but it’s an important novel about assault, grooming, and the abuse of power.

The protagonist is an aspiring teenaged singer who gets discovered and then manipulated and abused by a much older celebrity R&B artist. When she wakes up with her hands covered in his blood and finds him dead, she realizes she has no memory of what occurred the night before. This novel was enticing as much as it was heartbreaking.

This book is a real joy to read, with a particular story of a particular family but a universal feel to it. It could be my story or yours. The illustrations have the charm of the eighties, but the story doesn’t feel dated, and it is really inspirational to get quilting or think about which pieces of fabric I would use to tell my family’s story.

Gilroy sees in black music a democratic “ethos” embodied in features like “call and response” and improvisation. This ethical sensibility unites disparate parts of the African diaspora, but Gilroy also insists that the music is irrevocably “hybrid” and “Creole,” connecting African-derived cultures with European and other ones as well. Gilroy argues that black music’s connective ability creates an intersubjective, democratic community which he calls an “alternative public sphere.”

This work is not a history book but a collection of Zora Neal Hurston’s writings. Hurston wrote fiction and nonfiction and was a trained anthropologist. Her work taught me that history is oft-times found in the strangest places. This reader did this for me – a writer and anthropologist Hurston was. When I read the reader, I wanted to raise my hand and ask questions. Other times, I remained silent, only talking to myself and thinking.

In my former life as a trial lawyer, I remember quoting her writings in a final argument to explain language and culture. As my voice broke, tears flowed – this was the first time I explained the power of this book. They understood, and some of my jurors cried with me.  

This book taught me that ancestral Intelligence doesn’t have to be “woo-woo.”

All around the world, communities have made magic by simply collaborating to survive. This book defies conventional wisdom by sharing the hidden history of cooperatives, where workers and customers own the businesses that serve them.

For decades, African Americans and other communities have pooled resources to do everything from freeing themselves from slavery, farming for food, and even creating media. I saw this firsthand. 

By creating ways for people to pool and share resources, I saw how community-based platforms can value and defy the laws of economics. I used to think corporate capitalism was unbeatable. This book showed me another way.

How has your community survived in times when resources were scarce?