The Best Books of the Last Five Years

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What a year for books 2021 has been! It seems like authors, editors and publishers have all been working overtime this year to bring us some incredible new content. Books that have challenged our beliefs, calmed our anxieties and transformed our habits.

To help us with the mammoth job of summarizing the best behavioral science books from 2021, we are joined by the incredible Louise Ward, who has read over 100 books this year! Louise is the co-host of the Behavioural Science Club, a LinkedIn group established in June 2020 now with over 5,000 members. If you haven’t yet joined the club, you definitely should. Today. Alongside co-host Prakash Sharma, the Behavioural Science Club interviews top authors each week about fascinating new insights in human behavior.

In our discussion with Louise, we noticed some trends among our favorite books. One is that we are moving past the presumption that humans are flawed and irrational. Books such as Useful Delusions and Nudge focus instead on the evolutionary usefulness of our biases and heuristics. In addition, we loved that after reading books on heavy topics such as suffering (The Sweet Spot), racial inequalities (The Person You Mean to Be) or conspiracy theories (How to Talk to a Science Denier), we were still left with a feeling of hope and optimism.

And if you’re new to behavioral science and wondering how to get started or underestimating the impact you can make as an individual, there was an empowering theme to this year’s books too. Dive into You Have More Influence Than You Think to recognize how you can make an impact on people, You’re Invited to reflect on the connections you make in your life or Non Obvious Megatrends to start noticing more of the world around you.

We would LOVE to hear your favorite books of 2021. Did your favorites overlap with ours? Please send us an email at info@behavioralgrooves.com, or connect with us on social media with your top reads of the year.

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Behavioural Science Club Links

Join over 5000 members in the LinkedIn Group: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/13871707/

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Our Favorite Books of 2021 Louise

Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know, by Adam Grant: https://amzn.to/3pNXdvE
Brandsplaining: Why Marketing is (Still) Sexist and How to Fix It, by Jane Cunningham and Philippa Roberts: https://amzn.to/33Fltsu
Think Big: Take Small Steps and Build the Future You Want, by Grace Lordan: https://amzn.to/3mo3JZ6
What We Owe Each Other: A New Social Contract for a Better Society, by Minouche Shafik: https://amzn.to/3eiJOXj
Subtract: The Untapped Science of Less, by Leidy Klotz: https://amzn.to/3JaOqwY
The Sleeping Beauties: And Other Stories of Mystery Illness, Suzanne O’Sullivan: https://amzn.to/3IHnuV5
Noise: A Flaw In Human Judgement, by Daniel Kahneman, Olivier Sibony and Cass Sunstein: https://amzn.to/3eiHgZf
This is Your Mind On Plants, by Michael Pollan: https://amzn.to/3Ekqd3p
Nudge: The Final Edition, by Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein: https://amzn.to/3edkHFe
Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals, by Oliver Burkeman: https://amzn.to/3qiyFv9

Tim

The Person You Mean to Be: How Good People Fight Bias, by Dolly Chugh: https://amzn.to/3rSsEHQ
Anxiety at Work: 8 Strategies to Help Teams Build Resilience, Handle Uncertainty, and Get Stuff Done, by Chester Elton And Adrian Gostick: https://amzn.to/3EMgofA
Useful Delusions: The Power and Paradox of the Self-Deceiving Brain, by Shankar Vedantam and Bill Mesler: https://amzn.to/3rVh8Ma
The Unconscious: Theory, Research, and Clinical Implications, by Joel Weinberger: https://amzn.to/3H5P5xA
How to Not Die Alone: The Surprising Science That Will Help You Find Love, by Logan Ury: https://amzn.to/3GC8VR3
Non Obvious Megatrends: How to See What Others Miss and Predict the Future, by Rohit Bhargava: https://amzn.to/3phL4jv

Kurt

You Have More Influence Than You Think: How We Underestimate Our Power of Persuasion, and Why It Matters, by Vanessa Bohns: https://amzn.to/3dCEKgb
You're Invited: The Art and Science of Cultivating Influence, by Jon Levy: https://amzn.to/3ydBtgF
How To Talk To a Science Denier, by Lee McIntyre: https://amzn.to/3lVT4Vk
Subtract: The Untapped Science of Less, by Leidy Klotz: https://amzn.to/3JaOqwY
The Sweet Spot: The Pleasures of Suffering and the Search for Meaning, by Paul Bloom: https://amzn.to/3piFKwr

A couple of non-2021 favorites:

Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers, by Robert Sapolsky: https://amzn.to/3H5ALp6 (Kurt)
The Hype Machine: How Social Media Disrupts Our Elections, Our Economy, and Our Health--and How We Must Adapt, by Sinan Aral: https://amzn.to/3EgsSLv (Louise)