Range: How Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World by David Epstein

This great read finally gave me permission to stop feeling guilty about not specialising. It’s a rip-snorting read that takes you through a range of examples about how people who traverse multiple disciplines and fields of endeavour make a massive contribution to our collective journey as a species.

Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari

Not a light read, by any stretch, but a deeply thought provoking one. I’m a late-comer to this book, which many people read ages ago, but the thing that captured my attention was this podcast interview between Russell Brand and the author. So if you want to whet your appetite before taking the plunge, start there! Harari essentially strips our ‘narrative’ of the history of human beings, and tries to capture the essence of what actually happened… rather than our compelling stories (designed to make humans look very clever and heroic. A great, but sometimes disturbing, read.

Metahuman: Unleashing Your Infinite Potential by Deepak Chopra

What if the things you take for granted only exist because enough people believe that they do? What if changing the way you think could enable you to creatively and imaginatively design the world around you?

My own small understanding of the topic limits my ability to take this too far, I did find some real merit in actively engaging with the idea that leadership enables change because of the capacity for people to believe in what might be possible.

Sounds far-fetched when I say it, but trust me… read this book and some of the things you take for granted may seem a little less certain.

Not light, but worth the effort.