The book you choose to read makes a great difference in what you gain. You can choose a murder mystery or romance to get you to relax, but do they help you in gaining knowledge? What if I say there are books eight books that will make you smarter that are enjoyable too?
Books that will make you smarter
Here are my top eight choices for books that will make you smarter. Let us start shall we?
1) What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions
Author: Randall Munroe
Randall Munroe of xkcd.com fame (a former physicist and NASA robotics employee turned brilliant comics artist) provides scientific answers for absurd questions in his book What if.
With his trademark humor and illustrations, What if is perfect for anyone who wants to know the answers for the hypothetical questions.
2) Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
Author: Yuval Noah Harari
Change the way you think of history of humankind by reading Sapiens. What could have made us, the way we are as a society? Could the fictions we spin helped us to behave better as a group?
Harari makes us realize everything we have read about pre-historic world, in our schools and beyond, is just a sample on what could have happened. Sapiens is a must read if you are curious (and you should be) about the history of mankind.
3) Thinking, Fast and Slow
Author: Daniel Kahneman
This book has its place in every list of must read non fiction and rightly so. The Nobel prize winning author talks about human thinking that is of two types – one like it is on an auto pilot and the more conscious thinking.
With real life examples on how these different cognitive abilities affect real life decision making, Thinking, Fast and Slow is an interesting read that can make you smarter!
4) Train Your Brain: 60 Days to a Better Brain
Author: Dr. Ryuta Kawashima
Designed specifically for adults who want to stay sharp, the book is a bestseller in Japan since it was published.
With daily 5 minute exercise with simple mathematics problems, this is a great work book to help you become sharper and smarter soon.
5) Stuff Matters
Author: Mark Miodownik
Stuff matters takes us on a brilliant tour of various materials that we see and use in life (like concrete, chocolate and glass) and tells why these materials have a specific characteristic.
Why do some materials have an odor? Why some glass shatter and others are bullet proof? In his own witty and anecdotal way makes us think and enjoy his tour through material science.
6) A Short History of Nearly Everything
Author: Bill Bryson
This is one of those book that everyone should read as soon as possible. Bryson offers a crash course on all your existential crisis and provides answers to them with his wry humor.
From UFOs to bacteria to radioactivity this book nearly covers everything that a smart person should know. And the writing is pretty fun too.
7) The Art of War
Author: Sun Tzu
Considered as one of the text book guide on competing in the modern business world, The art of war talks about the psychology and strategy for the warfare.
But the principles of the ancient Chinese warfare could be applied to any competitive situation and/or conflict resolution or just to understand the human psychology.
It is a must read for CEO and wanna be high executives alike.
8) A Brief History of Time
Author: Stephen Hawking
Written in a plain language without too many scientific terms, this book shot the author as pop cultural icon. This book talks about black holes, universe and antimatter and answers profound questions, in a way anyone could understand it.
A perfect book that will make you smarter with a little bit of effort.
That’s it for now folks, these are my top eight choice of books to make you smarter.
So what do you think about my choice of books that will make you smarter? Have you read any of them? Suggest your favorite non fiction book. Let me know in the comments.
Are you a new reader who wants to kick start the reading habit? Or you may be returning to reading books for pleasure after a long gap? Either way if you are looking for book recommendations, I got you covered.
My criteria for this starter pack for new readers would be books that are
short
currently relevant
funny and romantic
thrillers and horrors
adapted into Series/movies
Non fiction / self help books
Books to kick start the reading habit
Let us get on with my recommendations, shall we?
1) A Man called Ove by Fredrik Backman
This is one of those heartwarming books that would bring a smile to your cold heart.
Ove is a mean, grumpy and opinionated old man, who looks forward to the day he would join his late wife, Sonja. What happens to this grumpy old man when he unwillingly meets his messy neighbors, forms the rest of the story.
Red, White & Royal Blue is such a cute, sweet and funny LGBTQA romance that will definitely keep your lock down sorrows go away.
The sons of the first families of The USA and the UK hate each other dislike each other and the world knows it. The first families and their PRs decide to intervene and stage a fake Instagram relationship. What starts as a fake friendship between them blossoms into something more.
Satoru and his feral cat Nana, have settled into a comfortable companionship. But Satoru suddenly decides to give away Nana and they embark on a journey to find a suitable home among his friends. Read The Travelling Cat Chronicles to join the duo on their travel through Japan and Satoru’s childhood memories!
The Travelling Cat Chronicles is a feel good book, with a bittersweet ending. Be prepared to cry, laugh and snicker throughout!
Maddy led a very sheltered life all through her life due to her illness. She has never stepped out of her house in years and her mother and her nurse are the only one she interacts with. Them and her book blog. Until a new family moves to their neighborhood.
You might like this short YA romance with a twist you wouldn’t see coming!
To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before is one of those rare movie adaptation that was as good as the book. The story revolves around Lara Jean, an introvert who writes letters to her crushes to get it out of her system. Unexpectedly those get delivered to all those boys and hilarity ensues.
This Young Adult book and its movie adaptation took everyone by a storm. You will love it if you are looking for a cute romance with teenage angst!
Dimple Shah has ambitious plans for her life and has been accepted to Stanford. But her parents have other plans for her. Dimple ambushed by her parents hates Rishi even before she gets a chance to know him. Does her opinion about Rishi changes after she knows him better?
When Dimple Met Rishi is a cute YA contemporary romance that would make you grin in all the right places.
One of us is lying begins at detention with five students that fit the popular stereotypes (the Breakfast Club?)
Things go haywire when one of them dies of an allergic reaction right in front of them at the detention center. The police suspect foul play and the other four teens are brought under spotlight.
Did the fact that Simon was going to publish their secrets on his website the next day had anything to do with his death? You will have to read One of us is lying to know more.
One of us is lying is definitely an easy to read book and I finished reading it in a few hours. And needless to say it was un-put-down-able. Perfect to start your reading habit!
Dr. Anna Fox’s daily routine includes drinking a lot of wine while being highly medicated, watching retro movies and peeking into her neighbours’ house through their windows.
But when she sees something untoward happening at her neighbors’ she has no grounds to report about it. How she proves that she did not hallucinate and finds out the culprit form the rest of the story in The Woman in the Window.
The Woman in the Window will keep you occupied and might even turn to be unputdownable. With the movie version coming before the end of the year, you might wanna read it already.
Stuck between the two worlds and parents who have different views about their lives, Starr feels an outsider in both places. Starr understands her lives are universes apart and has never had to choose between them – until the fateful night, her unarmed friend Khalil gets shot by a cop in front of her eyes.
Should she remain silent, as her mother and uncle want her to be, and save herself from the wrath of the public and her own peers at school? Or should she put her life in danger, give a voice to the cause that may lead nowhere?
The Hate U Give is essentially a coming of age story in the present American scenario, dealing with racism, bullying and violence. It is inspired by the ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement, obviously but is much more than that.
It is an honest account of a strong black family that has nothing to do with the gangs or drugs but is put to trial because of their skin colour.
Set in not so distant dystopian future, women have lost all that they won in the recent past, at least partially – the ability to chose what they wore, what they did for life or even handle money. They are forbidden from reading, writing and even speaking freely.
Their existence is based on their functionality – the wives (in charge of the household), the helps (Marthas), the teachers (Aunts), the wombs (Handmaids), the sexual toys ( Jezebels) and the outcasts (Unwoman) are sent to Colonies where they are left to harvest cotton or clean up the radioactive waste.
Offred, our narrator, a handmaid belongs to Fred, who is on her third and final attempt to conceive a child with a government appointed ‘Commander.’
Offred falls for Nick, the Guardian for the commander, a crime that could lead them both to be publicly hung. Was the risk worth taking? Did she learn anything about her family? Read to know more.
The Handmaid’s Tale might be a little hard to get into, yet once you are into it, you can not stop it. You can not read The Handmaid’s Tale as a breeze through the weekend. You can not unsee once you have been to the Republic of Gilead and not relate it to the real world.
The book follows the journeys of a young shepherd boy on his search for ancient treasure. The philosophical theme that ‘the universe conspires to help us achieve things we want’ is well written and shines through.
This simple and brief fable took the world by storm when it came out. The message is still relevant today. And perfect for someone who wants to kick start the reading habit.
The book is divided into two parts, a short story and then the relevant message. The basic theme of the books is how to deal with change and the importance of the right attitude in life.
While it is usually classified as a business subject, it is equally possible for anyone if us to implement them in our life.
What do you think about my choices? Would you recommend these books to someone who wants to start the reading habit? If you are someone who is starting the reading habit just now, let me know what you choose. Let us talk.
With almost 25% of the countries in the world have imposed a lock down due to the Corona virus pandemic, staying in seems the only way to go. And that might be a bit too convenient for us bookworms, right? If you were one of those introverts, you would have preferred to stay in with a cuppa.
For others staying in might be hard and can quickly become too much. But when there is literally no other safe way to get away from it, why not make the best use of the downtime?
Things to do without leaving the house
So, let us talk about the things to do inside the house during the lock down time aka “don’t leave your house if you value it” time, shall we?
3. Try one of the virtual museum tours if you are into culture and art. Museums of Amsterdam, London,South Koreaand even the Vaticanat your fingertips.
4. Learn a new language or more realistically, learn to say hello in different languages. Duolingo might interest you!
5. Can you name all the countries in the world. Learn with the World Geography games site.
6. Now you got all the time, and there is no excuse to not do those at home workouts. Keep fit!
9. Bring out those board games and play with your family or friends, whoever is around.
Clean up around the house
1. Do a fashion show and try every one of your dress. Discard or donate anything that do not fit or “spark joy”, Marie Kondo style.
2. Clean up your media folder on your phone and PC. Delete those duplicates and let your phone breathe a bit.
3. Are you one of those oldies that still has music stored on your PC or even CDs? Welcome to 2020, clean that up! I bet Media Monkey is still going strong.
4. Match all your Tupperware lids to the containers. In addition, the desi version of this is pick all the polythene covers lying around the house and collect them in a huge one.
5. Make a budget and check your finance. We need to ride out this tough times!
6. Get your taxes done early this year! Even though the governments would probably move the deadlines to pay the taxes.
7. Also ,why not catch up on the 8 hours sleep or how much ever you want to finally?
8. Throw out your old and expired make up stuff and clean the vanity table.
Bookish things to do
1. Start by making a list of the books that you wanna read during the Corona virus shut down.
2. Write reviews on Goodreads for the books that you loved. Authors need you!
3. Clean up your Goodreads virtual shelves. Remove the ones that you no longer wish to read and remove duplicates.
4. And update your wishlist. Soon this will be over and you will be treating yourself with book hauls.
5. Pick up a classic that you have been dreading to start. Read 20 or 100 pages, as you choose, everyday and finish the mighty book. War and peace, anyone?
6. It is a good time to do those Bookstagram shoots that you have been postponing for a while.
7. Do a virtual book club meeting. Maybe with some chai. Or wine!
8. Join readathons and read with others to keep your mind distracted from everything else.
9. Finally, dust your book shelf, and those on your night stand, the coffee table, and pretty much everywhere else.
Tidy up your blog
1. Ensure your posts are all on brand. Do they follow the same color scheme and format?
2. Begin by cleaning up your tags and categories on your blog.
3. Next, add Alt text tag information to all the images in your posts.
4. Add a Pinterest sized image to all your posts, or at least the most visited ones.
5. In addition, once you have done adding one Pinterest image to the important posts, add one more Pinterest sized image to them and maybe hide them inside your post. Thank me when the traffic improves!
