BOOK STACKING

BOOK STACKING
tlmbookclub invited me for the #bookstackchallenge ✨, where you have to stack your 10 favourite books. Which is of course a pain in the arse: how to choose 10 of the many wonderful books out there 😵? So here’s a compilation of some of my favourite books (out of many others). Read on to know WHY I like these....

The Social Animal - Elliot Aronson
This is the only book I’ve kept from my years at uni, because it was the only text books that didn’t read like a stuffy text book. 😆 It’s about social psychology: how individuals behave in groups. Very relevant right now, e.g. to understand why people start hoarding…
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​Company of One - Paul Jarvis
I started freelancing in 2017 and have no aspiration to grow into a company with employees. This is not always seen as ambitious to others. 🤔 Paul’s book showed me there are more of us out there, that are very comfortable in not scaling up. It provides a lot of valuable business advice that does not center on growing in size.

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​On Ageing & Friendship - Cicero
In high school I learned ancient Greek and Latin. 👩🏻‍🏫 The most fascinating to me were not the grammar rules but the stories of the political orators and philosophers. Cicero was one of the most influential ones. In his writing he touches upon universal topics that are still relevant today, like getting older and the value of friendship.
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​Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind - Shunryu Suzuki
In my early thirties I got interested in meditation and tried out various methods. 🙌🏻 One of them was Zen; the Japanese Buddhist variant. This book is a good introduction to the foundations of Zen. I especially love the concept of Shoshin: keeping a beginner’s mind.
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​The Tipping Point - Malcolm Gladwell
This book has been very helpful in popularising one of the backbones of trend theory: the spread of innovation 📈. I love how Gladwell takes real-life examples and dissects these using knowledge from social studies. A must read for anyone interested in the spread of trends.
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Torenhoog & Mijlenbreed - Tonke Dragt
This Dutch writer (whom I’m not related to btw) is known for her young adult literature. I loved to read her books as a child and still do. Especially this lesser known title, that’s set in the future and centers about the thoughts and feelings of a young planetary researcher who embarks on a dangerous mission to Venus. One of Dragt’s books has recently been turned into a Netflix 📺 series (Letter for the King).
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The wall - Jean-Paul Sartre
In my twenties I read a lot of French literature, 🥐 like this book by the philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre. I was blown away back then by the way the existentialists perceived life: having no meaning. This might feel depressive 😢, but to me it actually felt liberating. In ‘The Wall’ Sartre shares 5 short stories which all touch upon the meaning of life in very different ways.
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​Walden - Henry David Thoreau
Last year I read this book while camping in the German Black Forest and it became an instant favourite. This American writer from the 1800’s decided to build his own tiny house in the woods 🌲and live a simple life. He recorded this experience in a poetic and practical way: writing prose on the humming of birds to sharing lists on cost of materials for building a house 🏡. Recommended for all aspiring minimalists out there.
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Metamorphosis - Franz Kafka
This short story about a man who turns into a human-sized insect 🐛 seems absurd at the beginning. But the more you get into the storyline, the more it will make your uncomfortable. Especially because of how Kafka describes family and friends of the changed man react to his predicament. Short and not so sweet….
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Anna Karenina - Tolstoj
What I mainly remember from reading this book was that I was amazed by how a male writer could describe female 💁🏻‍♀️ thoughts and feelings in such a recognisable way. The feelings of oppression and exhaustion, of having to fit into what society expects from a woman. This novel also has a lot of parts that are about politics and military stuff, which I admit to have scanned or skipped 😊 just to get to the good parts, the parts about Anna.

BOOKSTACK INVITES
Curious to know what other people love to read? Why not invite your friends, family and colleagues to book stack their 10 favourite books? 
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