Which books can teach you how to be the best you?

how-to-be-the-best-you

What will teach you how to be the best you?

There’s been an explosion in social psychology and neuroscience books.

That’s great — but many of them are too focused on theory, trivia, or are too general to be useful.

And many that are legitimate just aren’t an easy read for the average person.

Which books can really teach you how to be the best you?

What if you’re an introvert?

What to read:

Quiet by Susan Cain

What did I learn from it?:

Introverts aren’t broken extroverts. They don’t need to “learn to be more social” or “come out of their shell.” Our society loves extroversion but introverts have special skills that often go unrecognized.

Check out this great animated video that reviews some of the research in the book:

Check the book out here.

What if you’re not as happy as you like?

What to read:

Happy Money by Elizabeth Dunn and Michael Norton

What did I learn from it?:

Money can buy happiness if you spend it the right way. And it’s probably not the way that you think.

Buy experiences, not things. Buy for friends, not yourself. You can learn more by checking out Mike Norton‘s TEDx talk on the subject:

Check the book out here.

What if you’re not, um, always as ethical as you’d like?

What to read:

The Honest Truth About Dishonesty: How We Lie to Everyone–Especially Ourselves by Dan Ariely

What did I learn from it?:

Good people do bad things and bad people do good things. And you and I do both.

We’re more easily tempted than we’d like to admit but we can just as easily coax ourselves and others to do the right thing with just a few easy tricks.

Here’s Dan explaining it:

Check the book out here.

What if you want to be more charismatic?

What to read:

The Charisma Myth by Olivia Fox Cabane

What did I learn from it?:

Charisma is something you can learn. The book explains what charisma is, the component parts and how to develop them.

Here’s Olivia talking about it at Stanford:

Check the book out here.

What if you don’t always make the best choices?

What to read:

The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less by Barry Schwartz

What did I learn from it?:

We always want more choices but more often makes us unhappier and doesn’t always lead to better choices. But there are ways to overcome our natural biases toward more options.

Here’s Barry Schwartz’s TED talk on the subject: