Books, books, books.
Where would we be without books? I know that my life is so much richer because of them. And I am deeply grateful to the people who bravely put their pen to paper and let us into their world.
In honour of World Book Day 2023, and inspired by a newsletter from the lovely Antonia Taylor this morning, here are three recommendations of books I’ve recently read. They are practical books covering three topics close to my heart: numbers, writing and people.
Making Numbers Count: The Art and Science of Communicating Numbers by Chip Heath and Karla Starr is a great guide to presenting numerical information in a user-friendly way. Numbers have a story to tell and the secret seems to lie in not using any numbers to tell the story! And if you must use some numbers
this book does a great job at demonstrating ways to make them relatable. And one of my favourite lines “Our brains were designed to juggle 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. After that, it’s just “lots.”
Exploratory Writing: Everyday Magic for Life and Work by Alison Jones is an indispensable guide to exploring our own thoughts and thinking - a way to write for ourselves so we can figure out what it is we want to say. And the secret to this is 3Ps: paper, pen(cil) and prompt. And a line I revisit in
this book “…when your thoughts are going round in pointless circles, you can hijack your own brain simply by writing a good question as the prompt for an exploratory writing session.”
The Jerk’s Guide To Happiness: Practical Ways to Change While Still Being You by Alyn Mitlyng. This is not, as Alyn puts it, to ‘help you to cure the jerks in your life’ but if you have jerk-like tendencies this might help you overcome them. “But what if people don’t know they are a jerk?“ - Alyn says this is the question she was asked most and is sure you know if you are. She bravely shares her own transformation. I found it an inspiring insight into taking responsibility for your own behaviour. So, even if you have no jerk-like tendencies
this book will add value to your interactions with others.
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Susan
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