Books like You Learn by Living — picked by fans

I’ve spent my career exploring how people think, learn, and respond to challenges. I was raised as a Humanist, but my journey into behavioral psychology began in college while training dolphins in Hawaii. I learned firsthand how behavior is shaped through reinforcement and response. It’s easy to see how my humanism combined with behavioral psychology has fed a lifelong passion for understanding how to master our minds so we can navigate life with clarity and purpose. As an author, speaker, and behavioral science expert, I teach people how to manage change, deal with difficult people, and lead with integrity. I’m excited to share these books to help you live life fully.

I’ve spent my career exploring how people think, learn, and respond to challenges. I was raised as a Humanist, but my journey into behavioral psychology began in college while training dolphins in Hawaii. I learned firsthand how behavior is shaped through reinforcement and response. It’s easy to see how my humanism combined with behavioral psychology has fed a lifelong passion for understanding how to master our minds so we can navigate life with clarity and purpose. As an author, speaker, and behavioral science expert, I teach people how to manage change, deal with difficult people, and lead with integrity. I’m excited to share these books to help you live life fully.

I’ve spent my career exploring how people think, learn, and respond to challenges. I was raised as a Humanist, but my journey into behavioral psychology began in college while training dolphins in Hawaii. I learned firsthand how behavior is shaped through reinforcement and response. It’s easy to see how my humanism combined with behavioral psychology has fed a lifelong passion for understanding how to master our minds so we can navigate life with clarity and purpose. As an author, speaker, and behavioral science expert, I teach people how to manage change, deal with difficult people, and lead with integrity. I’m excited to share these books to help you live life fully.

I’ve spent my career exploring how people think, learn, and respond to challenges. I was raised as a Humanist, but my journey into behavioral psychology began in college while training dolphins in Hawaii. I learned firsthand how behavior is shaped through reinforcement and response. It’s easy to see how my humanism combined with behavioral psychology has fed a lifelong passion for understanding how to master our minds so we can navigate life with clarity and purpose. As an author, speaker, and behavioral science expert, I teach people how to manage change, deal with difficult people, and lead with integrity. I’m excited to share these books to help you live life fully.

I learned about Stoicism through its connection to Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy, whose founder, Albert Ellis, was influenced by Stoic philosophy. Since I had an interest in philosophy, I decided to look more into Stoicism, and—to my surprise—I learned that philosophy could be practical (who knew?!), and that others were trying to put Stoicism into practice today! This led me to try to find other Stoics by founding the New York City Stoics in 2013, followed by co-founding a non-profit—The Stoic Fellowship—to help other people do the same in 2016. I’ve now given talks on Stoicism worldwide in addition to co-writing a book on Stoic practice.

Eleanor Roosevelt loved to teach history and she must have been really good at it. As a historian with a specialty in U.S. women’s history, I love exploring the life and impact of Eleanor Roosevelt. It's a rewarding way to experience the early decades of the 20th century, to gain familiarity with the culture, issues, and politics of the 1930s, 40s, and 50s, and, while so doing, to meet up with an astonishingly talented group of writers and scholars who have made their own inquiries into Eleanor Roosevelt’s life and works. Studies of ER now constitute a thriving subfield in scholarship and publishing; it's a privilege to be part of it.

I was born into a family and community of hardworking, service-oriented people with attraction to abundance, entertaining friends, and giving gifts. To earn money, I started selling gift wrap and greeting cards around eight years old, babysitting most of the kids in my small Iowa town at some point, and working summers in the fields at age 12.

As my career unfolded, I had a great seat at the table in multinational corporations, global business teams, private-equity-sponsored growth companies, and a disruptive innovation venture. My effectiveness as a colleague and a leader has been dramatically enhanced by the stories great writers share, and I only hope someone else is helped by the stories I’ve captured in Love Works.

I’m Jackie Kurtz, author of Kindness Heroes and founder of Matt’s Kindness Ripples On, a nonprofit I created after losing my son, Matt, in 2017. Matt lived with a natural, effortless kindness that touched so many lives, and after he died, I knew I had to carry that forward. What began as a way to honor him became a mission to recognize and encourage kindness in others. Through sharing stories, giving grants, and now writing this book, I’ve seen how even the smallest acts can create powerful ripple effects. That’s why I’m so passionate about kindness—it changes lives, often in ways we may never fully see.

A dozen years ago or so, I started teaching climate change instead of consumer culture. That’s because the very same Marxist critique of capitalism helped explain both the problems of unsustainable consumption and climate catastrophe. I did this work for my students, and I did it for me – and it "woke me from my dogmatic slumber," a term Kant used when he was shocked out of complacency by Hume.  Because once I really understood the seriousness of climate change, I realized that nothing about the way we live – and think – will remain the same as before. So I addressed it in a 2019 book and in the new one.

The central theme connecting the books on my list is the idea that our personal growth comes from creativity, straight talk, and honest reflection. All of these books are first-person accounts, which gives them credibility and authority, and they are quite inspiring. They encourage bravery, curiosity, resilience, and healing. 

I wrote Morning Leaves as a way of processing the loss of my younger sister. I leaned into creativity and writing as a way of clarifying my thoughts, prioritizing, and ultimately healing from the grief. This collection of books taught me to trust my instincts, nurture my creative impulses, and find a path to joy.