TED speakers recommend 52 books

If anyone needs any inspiration, here's what TED speakers recommend we should be reading.  For each speaker making a recommendation there's a link to their TED talk and also a link to more of their other favourite books.  I'll be picking from the Creativity, Happiness, Mind & Brain and Work lists.

For yet more inspiration, Brain Pickings offers an eclectic mix of book recommendations on everything from tattoos to religion to collections of letters.

What I read next will depend on whether any of these are in stock at my amazing local library in Exeter. Thankfully in a country withdrawing funding from libraries, mine has just had a multi million pound refurbishment and has its own Fab Lab (more on that later).  

Happy reading!

New beginnings

It's been a while since my last post, but I have been busy wrapping up 8 years of living and working in Sydney and moving back to the UK.  The gems of wisdom picked up from reading some great books have helped make this move feel like the start of an exciting new chapter in life where we can put some of these ideas into practice.

So...what's on the agenda?

1.  Finding fulfilling work

I've had 6 months off and loved having a slower pace of life at home, but I'm ready to get back into it. I'll be going back to Roman Krznaric's wise book How to Find Fulfilling Work to remind myself how to go about this.

2.  My Happiness Project

One of my favourite books, Gretchen Rubin's fantastic Happiness Project, contains what she calls her First Splendid Truth:

"To be happy, I need to think about feeling good, feeling bad, and feeling right, in an atmosphere of growth"

Tonnes of things are making me feel good at the moment - being in the same time zone as my friends and family, writing actual letters to my best friend (which we started doing when we were teenagers) and spending lots of time with my kids. I am loving being in England again despite the bitterly cold weather at the moment, it is my spiritual home!  The growth part is definitely covered by the total change in living circumstances...new people...new places...new things to do.  All that's left is to tackle the "feeling bad" part which for me is about doing the things I avoid...

3.  Finding a home

We have lived in 5 different houses in the year since my last post.  Now we're looking for a home where we can grow things, make things, keep chickens and know our neighbours and we won't want to move again for a very very long time.  Great books  Happier at Home and the Architecture of Happiness will help with the deliberations...otherwise, Homes & Gardens magazine will do for eye candy.

4.  Learning and doing new things

What life's all about really isn't it?  I have gushed about the School of Life before and just found out about The Idler...wow...I wish there was one near me.  Another institution promoting the benefits of making things.  If I knit a tea cosy will it bring my life greater enjoyment and satisfaction? Maybe it will, I had an email today from Radio 4 to say they love knitting and will be celebrating it all next week.  Aaah, it's great to be back in England.