Something magical happens in the spring. After a winter of stillness and reflection, every bit of new movement and color begins to spark anticipation.
Any day now, that tiny green bud poking through the mud will burst open into a beautiful crocus. Soon, others will follow and one morning you’ll wake up to a palette of petals adorning the earth. Or as the creeks and rivers melt, a nightly chorus of frog-tune hums will gradually crescendo till summertime. Every day of spring feels like an ever-growing awakening.
As nature blooms afresh all around, you can mirror that seasonal reset from within. Stir your personal growth into action with these 10 books for refreshing your habits, soul, and resolve.
Tiny Experiments: How to Live Freely in a Goal-Obsessed World
By Anne-Laure Le Cunff
A guide to reawakening our curiosity and drive in a noisy, busy, disaffected world, so that we can discover and pursue our most authentic ambitions while making a meaningful contribution. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Anne-Laure Le Cunff, in the Next Big Idea App or View on Amazon
How to Break Up with Your Phone
By Catherine Price
Packed with tested strategies and practical tips, this book is the essential, life-changing guide for everyone who owns a smartphone. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Catherine Price, in the Next Big Idea App or View on Amazon
Sleep Groove: Why Your Body’s Clock Is So Messed Up and What To Do About It
By Olivia Walch
With a sleep-wonk’s attention to detail tempered by approachable graphs and illustrations, this myth-busting guide to sleep is the perfect introduction to how circadian science can demystify your nights and help reset your days. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Olivia Walch, in the Next Big Idea App or View on Amazon
Talk: The Science of Conversation and the Art of Being Ourselves
By Alison Wood Brooks
A groundbreaking book that reveals the hidden architecture of our conversations and how even small improvements can have a profound impact on our relationships in work and life. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Alison Wood Brooks, in the Next Big Idea App or View on Amazon
The Bright Side: How Optimists Change the World, and How You Can Be One
By Sumit Paul-Choudhury
A fascinating and reassuring look at the philosophy, psychology, and practice of optimism, and why being optimistic is a moral obligation—even in the face of seemingly insurmountable challenges. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Sumit Paul-Choudhury, in the Next Big Idea App or View on Amazon
Lost & Found: 9 Life-Changing Lessons About Stuff from Someone Who Lost Everything
By Helen Chandler-Wilde
Combining personal experience, expert opinion and self-help advice, Lost & Found explains why we buy and keep the things we do, and how we can live a less cluttered life. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Helen Chandler-Wilde, in the Next Big Idea App or View on Amazon
Life in Five Senses: How Exploring the Senses Got Me Out of My Head and Into the World
By Gretchen Rubin
An absorbing, layered story of discovery filled with profound insights and practical suggestions about how to heighten our senses and use our powers of perception to live fuller, richer lives—and, ultimately, how to move through the world with more vitality and love. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Gretchen Rubin, in the Next Big Idea App or View on Amazon
Soul Boom: Why We Need a Spiritual Revolution
By Rainn Wilson
Comedic actor and performer Rainn Wilson, cofounder of the media company SoulPancake, explores the benefits spirituality gives us in creating solutions for an increasingly challenging world. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Rainn Wilson, in the Next Big Idea App or View on Amazon
The Life Brief: A Playbook for No-Regrets Living
By Bonnie Wan
Tried and tested by Bonnie herself as well as thousands of attendees of workshops and lectures, The Life Brief method is the most powerful tool for solving life’s biggest messes and creating a life of meaning. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Bonnie Wan, in the Next Big Idea App or View on Amazon
Building a Second Brain: A Proven Method to Organize Your Digital Life and Unlock Your Creative Potential
By Tiago Forte
A revolutionary approach to enhancing productivity, creating flow, and vastly increasing your ability to capture, remember, and benefit from the unprecedented amount of information all around us. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Tiago Forte, 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 video 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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