01 Feb GET READING AND GET EDUCATED – A LIST OF BOOKS FROM ME TO YOU

A blog that’s a little left of field but I this year I plan on reading a book a month – after all I have heard that the best of them read books. So, I thought I would compile a list of books that I have read already or that I plan on reading that educate, inspire and encourage a growth mindset. If you’re looking for something new, add one of these to your list:

1. Stealing Fire – Steven Kotler and Jamie Wheal

They’re harnessing rare and controversial states of consciousness to solve critical challenges and outperform the competition. New York Times bestselling author Steven Kotler and high performance expert Jamie Wheal spent four years investigating the leading edges of this revolution-from the home of SEAL Team Six to the Googleplex, the Burning Man festival, Richard Branson’s Necker Island, Red Bull’s training center, Nike’s innovation team, and the United Nations’ Headquarters. And what they learned was stunning: In their own ways, with differing languages, techniques, and applications, every one of these groups has been quietly seeking the same thing: the boost in information and inspiration that altered states provide. Today, this revolution is spreading to the mainstream, fueling a trillion dollar underground economy and forcing us to rethink how we can all lead richer, more productive, more satisfying lives. Driven by four accelerating forces-psychology, neurobiology, technology and pharmacology-we are gaining access to and insights about some of the most contested and misunderstood terrain in history. Stealing Fire is a provocative examination of what’s actually possible; a guidebook for anyone who wants to radically upgrade their life

2. The end of overeating – David A Kessler

Uncover the truth behind our food addiction – and learn how to break the cycle Many of us find ourselves powerless in front of a bag of crisps, a packet of biscuits, the last slice of pizza. Why is it that we simply can’t say no?In The End of Overeating David Kessler, the man who took on the tobacco industry, exposes how modern food manufacturers have hijacked the brains of millions by turning our meals into perfectly engineered portions of fat, salt and sugar, turning us into addicts in the process. The result is a ticking time-bomb of growing obesity, heart conditions and a mass of health problems around the globe. Examining why we’re so often powerless in the face of such food, Kessler reveals how our appetites have been and are increasingly hijacked by hyper-palatable foods that encourage us to keep eating – all the time.

3. What am I supposed to eat? – Dr Libby Weaver

Making sense of food confusion

4. The second brain – Michael D Gershon

This “second brain” can control our gut all by itself. Our two brains — the one in our head and the one in our bowel — must cooperate. If they do not, then there is chaos in the gut and misery in the head — everything from “butterflies” to cramps, from diarrhea to constipation. Dr. Gershon’s work has led to radical new understandings about a wide range of gastrointestinal problems including gastroenteritis, nervous stomach, and irritable bowel syndrome. The Second Brain represents a quantum leap in medical knowledge and is already benefiting patients whose symptoms were previously dismissed as neurotic or “it’s all in your head.”

5. The Good Gut – Justin Sonnenburg and Erica Sonnenburg

The microbiota has always been with us, and in fact has coevolved with humans, entwining its functions with ours so deeply, the Sonnenburgs show us, humans are really composite organisms having both microbial and human parts. But now, they argue, because of changes to diet, antibiotic over-use, and over-sterilization, our gut microbiota is facing a mass extinction event, which is causing our bodies to go haywire, and may be behind the mysterious spike in some of our most troubling modern afflictions, from food allergies to autism, cancer to depression. It doesn t have to be this way. The Good Gut offers a new plan for health that focuses on how to nourish your microbiota, including recipes and a menu plan. In this groundbreaking work, the Sonnenburgs show how we can keep our microbiota off the endangered species list and how we can strengthen the community that inhabits our gut and thereby improve our own health.

6. Find Your Why – Simon Sinek

Achieving that fulfillment starts with understanding exactly WHY we do what we do. As Start With Why has spread around the world, countless readers have asked me the same question: How can I apply Start With Why to my career, team, company or nonprofit? Along with two of my colleagues, Peter Docker and David Mead, I created this hands-on, step-by-step guide to help you find your WHY. With detailed exercises, illustrations, and action steps for every stage of the process, Find Your Why can help you address many important concerns, including: * What if my WHY sounds just like my competitor’s? * Can I have more than one WHY? * If my work doesn’t match my WHY, what should I do? * What if my team can’t agree on our WHY? Whether you’ve just started your first job, are leading a team, or are CEO of your own company, the exercises in this book will help guide you on a path to long-term success and fulfillment, for both you and your colleagues. Thank you for joining us as we work together to build a world in which more people start with WHY. Inspire on! —

7. Start with Why – Simon Sinek

Why are some people and organisations more inventive, pioneering and successful than others? And why are they able to repeat their success again and again?In business, it doesn’t matter what you do, it matters WHY you do it.Start with Why analyses leaders like Martin Luther King Jr and Steve Jobs and discovers that they all think in the same way – they all started with why.Simon Sinek explains the framework needed for businesses to move past knowing what they do to how they do it, and then to ask the more important question-WHY?Why do we do what we do? Why do we exist? Learning to ask these questions can unlock the secret to inspirational business. Sinek explains what it truly takes to lead and inspire and how anyone can learn how to do it.

8. The Way of the Seal – Mark Divine

A practical guide for businesspeople or anyone who wants to be an elite operator in life, this book will teach you how to: Lead from the front, so that others will want to work for you Practice front-sight focus, the radical ability to focus on one thing until victory is achieved Think offense, all the time, to eradicate fear and indecisiveness Smash the box and be an unconventional thinker so you’re never thrown off-guard by chaotic conditions Access your intuition so you can make “hard right” decisions Achieve twenty times more than you think you can and much more Blending the tactics he learned from America’s elite forces with lessons from the Spartans, samurai, Apache scouts, and other great warrior traditions, Divine has distilled the fundamentals of success into eight powerful principles that will transform you into the leader you always knew you could be. Learn to think like a SEAL, and take charge of your destiny at work, home and in life

9. A New Earth – Eckhart Tolle

Tolle provides the spiritual framework for people to move beyond themselves in order to make this world a better, more spiritually evolved place to live. Shattering modern ideas of ego and entitlement, self and society, Tolle lifts the veil of fear that has hung over humanity during this new millennium, and shines an illuminating light that leads to happiness and health that every reader can follow.

10. How to Win Friend and Influence People – Dale Carnegie

In his book, Carnegie explains that success comes from the ability to communicate effectively with others. He provides relatable analogies and examples, and teaches you skills to make people want to be in your company, see things your way, and feel wonderful about it. For more than eighty years his advice has helped thousands of successful people in their business and personal lives.

11. MADE TO STICK Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Fail – Chip Heath and Dan Heath

It’s a fast-paced tour of success stories (and failures): the Nobel Prize-winning scientist who drank a glass of bacteria to prove a point about stomach ulcers; the charities who make use of the Mother Teresa Effect; the elementary-school teacher whose simulation actually prevented racial prejudice.   Provocative, eye-opening, and often surprisingly funny, Made to Stick shows us the vital principles of winning ideas—and tells us how we can apply these rules to making our own messages stick

12. Let Them Eat Dirt – B Brett Finlay and Marie-Claire Arrieta

Let Them Eat Dirt is a ground-breaking book which explains how the millions of microbes that live in and on our bodies influence childhood development and how an imbalance in those microbes can lead to obesity, diabetes, asthma and reactions to vaccines, among other chronic conditions. Taking you from conception to pregnancy, to birth and beyond and packed with simple and practical advice on what parents can do to positively impact their children’s gut health including sections on birth options, breastfeeding, the use of antibiotics and the importance of good bacteria and diet, this is a must read for parents everywhere

13. Sex, Lies and Menopause – T.S Wiley

In Sex, Lies, and Menopause, T. S. Wiley, Julie Taguchi, M.D., and Bent Formby, Ph.D., offer strong evidence that the use of synthetic hormones leads to cancer and advise women to turn to natural hormone-replacement therapy — derived from plants, not drugs — to help them elevate their estrogen level for greater energy, libido, and intellectual capacity. Provocative, empowering, and scientifically sound, Sex, Lies, and Menopause addresses the inherent benefits of natural progesterone, reveals the lies advanced by the medical and drug establishments, and challenges women to demand a medical future where their health comes first. The research presented in Sex, Lies, and Menopause will at last allow women to create their own plan of action to put themselves safely on the path to better health and hormonal balance at any stage of life

14. How Champions Think – Bob Rotella

It explores how to keep the mind from holding you back, whatever your physical gifts or other talents. It’s about how to make a commitment, how to persevere, how to deal with failure–and how to train your mind to create a self-image that promotes confidence and accomplishment. Any successful life starts with how you see yourself. And with these pearls of wisdom from the nation’s preeminent sports psychologist, you can learn to achieve the success of your dreams.

15. Levels of Leadership – John C Maxwell

The five levels include:1. Position – People follow because they have to.2. Permission – People follow because they want to.3. Production – People follow because of what you have done for the organization.4. People Development – People follow because of what you have done for them personally.5. Personhood – People follow because of who you are and what you represent. Through in-depth explanations and examples, Maxwell describes each stage and shows readers how they can move to the next level to become more influential, respected, and successful leaders.