Books like The Art of Stillness — picked by fans

This 1970 novella transported me into a world of seagulls, how they live and how they fly, and one, Jonathan, who decides to be different, to defy conformity, to go further and faster, like my own striving for something more, for experiences beyond the mundane.

I never thought I’d identify with a seagull, but this wonderful bird’s world view is exactly the same as that of anyone who sees more than what’s just in front of them.

I bought this because 1) I loved Le Petit Prince, 2) I had no idea that de Saint-Exupery was a pilot and disappeared over the Mediterranean in 1944, and 3) I thought it might give me a window into what my own late dad found in flight and that it might bring me closer to him in a way.

I was not prepared for the excruciating, almost sacred, tenderness of his thoughts on the nature of earth and sea, war, life, death, and the entire human enterprise. If your spirit has ever yearned or fluttered at such thoughts, there is salvation in these essays. Wow! His final essay on Barcelona and Madrid is luxurious beyond words. It took forever to finish it because I regaled myself on every sentence.

At age 15, I was captivated by Ernest Hemingway and his depiction of Paris in the 1920s. This book today reignites the enchantment of those years. Hemingway's profound influence shaped my aspirations as a writer. Through his eyes, I can vividly see Paris's cafés, salons, and vibrant social scenes, which ultimately became the backdrop of my dreams.

This book, rich with lovemaking, drinking, writing, betting at the track, and the bohemian lifestyle of so many young artists in Paris, reawakens my desire to immerse myself in that world. Hemingway's narrative voice and his novels continue to speak to me in a language that feels intimately mine, reminding me of the undying impact of his work on my life and aspirations.

After you remind yourself that this story is taking place in 1872, you can just sit back and have fun with it as you will come to see that it is a very clever story and true to the time period it is set in.

I advise that you should let your mind wander, and you will very easily fall in love with the well-defined characters and the suspense of the story. Have we not all raced against time in our own lifetime? It is a really fun read, especially if you use your imagination to join in, and that is why I believe that everybody should read this classic story at least once in their lifetime.

Palfrey is not just a known authority on internet law and emerging media, but also the former head of the prep school Phillips Academy, Andover; the former executive director of Harvard’s Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society, a research center that studies cyberspace and internet-related legal issues; the head of the MacArthur Foundation; and, I learned before speaking with him, a great-great-grandson of Teddy Roosevelt. This book, newly updated, delves into the myriad permutations of what it means to grow up in a digital world, with your every move captured and publicized. Yes, it focuses on children growing up digital, but it will be of interest to anyone who has questions and concerns about the future of privacy—meaning, just about all of us. 

Most of my work experiences have been with startups, but that statement is a bit misleading. To be more accurate, I worked at early-stage companies, since the smallest company I worked for was already 35 people. Chaos Monkeys conveys both the excitement and drudgery of founding a real start-up (Antonio starts with two other co-founders).

Antonio’s book takes us from his cushy job on Wall Street to making the leap to running his own venture. Antonio’s flavorful style is the perfect voice as he takes you into those meetings at which money is exchanged, contracts are signed, and options are handed out. His company’s exit and his summation of what was gained and lost are the bread and butter conversations of anyone who’s ever worked in a high-tech startup. This is an illuminating and insightful book.

Brian Merchant is a journalist known for his critical coverage of the tech industry. This is a book about the first Luddite uprising, which took place two hundred years ago in England in response to machines being used to replace human jobs. It’s a captivating read that immerses you in an important moment in history, one that is often neglected or misunderstood.

In our current era, this book makes for crucial reading, as it gives us a historical precedent that helps us understand both the driving forces behind the current threat of automation as well as possibilities for resistance. This book made me ask myself whether the Luddites might have been right, after all.

Is tech a science? Close enough.

I was on my way home from the grocery store, and I heard Naomi Alderman in an interview about this, her latest book, on NPR’s All Things Considered. It's a good thing I didn’t buy ice cream that day because I sat in the car in the driveway, listening until the end. Hearing her, I knew I had to read the book. And when I did, I couldn’t put it down (the reading equivalent of sitting in the driveway listening to the radio?).

Populated with extraordinary characters, from genuinely good to incredibly greedy, this book both frightened me and gave me hope, but it never let me go until, well, after the last page (yeah, there’s a little bit of a trick at the end).

Philip Kotler, “The Father of Modern Marketing,” credited with developing the 4 Ps of the marketing mix is still contributing to the field. In this book with his co-authors, he builds upon the foundations he helped to set up decades ago to show us how the practice of marketing has evolved and where it is headed. You’ll learn the challenges marketers face in a digital world, new strategies for tech-powered marketing, and new tactics for leveraging marketing tech. What I really learned from this book is the practice of human-centric marketing where brands behave like humans treating customers as friends. It’s all about POV where value proposition messages become useful and valuable content.

This book is all about Macaulay's incredible draftsmanship, almost like Leonardo Davinci's.

It's full of wit and wisdom and has had to be constantly revised as new technologies emerge (I don't think we had VR Goggles in 1988). So, it's a bit like science itself.