Navigating relationships can sometimes feel like a never-ending trust fall—except you’re not always sure who’s behind you. The books on this list help you spot manipulation, set boundaries, and strengthen authentic connections so that when you do lean back, you’ll know exactly who’s worth falling for. Together, these six books offer a roadmap for trust, clarity, and healthier relationships of every kind.
Are You Mad at Me?: How to Stop Focusing on What Others Think and Start Living for You
By Meg Josephson
People-pleasing is not a personality trait. It is part of the trauma response known as fawning. Although it can be a useful mechanism at times, existing in a state of fawning leads to exhaustion and losing touch with oneself: who you are, what you want, and what you need. To heal, it is necessary to learn how to focus less on what other people think for the sake of rediscovering who you are. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Meg Josephson, in the Next Big Idea App or view on Amazon.
Manipulation: What It Is, Why It’s Bad, and What to Do About It
By Cass Sunstein
Hidden forces shape our decisions all the time—whether that comes in the form of peer pressure, marketing strategy, or cultural norms. Manipulation is silent, pervasive, and dangerous. We need to find ways to protect ourselves from influences that guide our actions without giving us a fair shot at making deliberate choices. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Cass Sunstein, in the Next Big Idea App or view on Amazon.
Deep Listening: Transform Your Relationships with Family, Friends, and Foes
By Emily Kasriel
In our hyperconnected world, we’ve forgotten how to truly listen. When we listen in a standard way, we’re preloading our verbal gun with ammunition, ready to fire with our own ideas. We treat the speaker as a resource to extract value from, and we are blind to what’s not being expressed in words. Our speaker is left feeling ignored, used, or dismissed. Deep Listening encourages a profound way to engage by enabling people to feel safer to express themselves, more connected, and more open to re-examining their own attitudes. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Emily Kasriel, in the Next Big Idea App or view on Amazon.
Anatomy of a Con Artist: The 14 Red Flags to Spot Scammers, Grifters, and Thieves
By Johnathan Walton
Little do most people know, scammers are everywhere. Even worse, you probably know some and are only unaware because you haven’t become their target. By learning the red flags that expose a con artist, you can protect yourself from becoming another victim. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Johnathan Walton, in the Next Big Idea App or view on Amazon.
Consent Laid Bare: Sex, Entitlement, and the Distortion of Desire
By Chanel Contos
Modern cultural trends enable sexual abuse. Through education about the ecosystems that set the stage for rape and understanding how victims survive and process a perpetration, we can start to change societal conditions in a way that prevents and protects against these violations. To begin, it is critical that men and women learn about consent, across all contexts. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Chanel Contos, in the Next Big Idea App or view on Amazon.
The Gift of Not Belonging: How Outsiders Thrive in a World of Joiners
By Rami Kaminski
For those who have always felt like the outsider—the satellite, the watcher, the lone thread in a tightly woven fabric—this is your permission. Not to fix yourself. Not to blend in. But to recognize that your difference is not a detour from connection. It’s a different road to it: the path of the otrovert. The Gift of Not Belonging challenges the assumption that belonging is an innate instinct. Not everyone feels safer inside the circle. Not belonging can hurt, but that hurt doesn’t always mean something is wrong. Sometimes it means something in you is awake. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Rami Kaminski, in the Next Big Idea App or view on Amazon.
The Key Ideas in 15 Minutes
“If you are going to get anywhere in life, you have to read a lot of books,” Roald Dahl once famously said. The only trouble is, reading even one book from cover to cover takes hours—and you may not have many hours to spare.
But imagine for a moment: What if you could read a groundbreaking new book every day? Or even better, what if you could invite a world-renowned thinker into your earbuds, where they personally describe the 5 key takeaways from their work in just 15 minutes?
With the Next Big Idea App, we’ve turned this fantasy into a reality. We partnered with hundreds of acclaimed authors to create “Book Bites,” short audio summaries of the latest nonfiction that are prepared and read aloud by the authors themselves. Discover cutting-edge leadership skills, productivity hacks, the science of happiness and well-being, and much more—all in the time it takes to drive to work or walk the dog.
Go Deeper with a Next Big Idea Club Membership
The Next Big Idea App is free for anyone to try—and if you love it, we invite you to become an official member of the Next Big Idea Club. Membership grants you unlimited access to Book Bites and unlocks early-release, ad-free episodes of our LinkedIn-partnered podcast. You also gain entry to our private online discussion group, where you can talk big ideas with fellow club members and join exclusive live Q&A sessions with featured authors.
For a more focused learning experience, we recommend a Hardcover or eBook Membership. Every few months, legendary authors and club curators Malcolm Gladwell, Susan Cain, Adam Grant, and Daniel Pink select two new nonfiction books as the must-reads of the season. We then send hardcover copies straight to your doorstep, or eBook versions to your favorite digital device. We also collaborate with the authors of selected books to produce original reading guides and premium e-courses, 50-minute master classes that take you step by step through their most life-changing ideas. And yes, it’s all available through the Next Big Idea App.
Learn Faster, from the World’s Leading Thinkers
Whether you prefer to read, listen, or watch, the Next Big Idea is here to help you work smarter and live better. Wake up with an always-fresh Idea of the Day, the perfect shot of inspiration to go with your morning coffee. Then dive into one of our Challenges, hand-picked collections of Book Bites that form crash courses in subjects like communication, motivation, and career acceleration. Later, watch the playback of an interview with U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, Stanford psychologist Jennifer Eberhardt, or philosopher John Kaag. And be sure to check the “Events” tab in the app, so that you can join an upcoming live Q&A and personally chat with the next featured thought leader.
If you’re hoping to grow as a person or as a professional, we hope you’ll join us and tens of thousands of others who enjoy the Next Big Idea. Get started by downloading the app today!
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