Summer Reading List 2016: Part 1

Carol Dweck's Mindset: The New Psychology of Success

WHY THIS BOOK? I've come to a point in my life where I've come in close contact with decisions to potentially "throw the baby out with the bathwater." I don't want to do that. I would prefer to grow and learn; I do not believe I have an inherently "fixed" mindset.

I'd like to read this because it might give me some insight about the strategies I can use while I'm making such life-changing decisions. I'd like to see a "growth mindset" model and try to apply it to my relationships.

Harriet Braiker's The Disease to Please: Curing the People-Pleasing Syndrome

WHY THIS BOOK? As I noted a couple posts ago, I wouldn't be surprised if I suffer from a degree of "people-pleasing syndrome." I don't think it's extreme—I'm good at saying "no" to too much responsibility—but my desire to please everybody has certainly not boded well for some of the decisions I've made over the last year.

Daniel Goleman's Emotional Intelligence

WHY THIS BOOK? I have struggled to assess whether I have any emotional intelligence at all. I don't seem to respond to events like I'm supposed to and I feel like I can't empathize with people as much as I could. Perhaps a primer in emotional intelligence is in order.

Love, Dishonor, Marry, Die; Cherish, Perish: A Novel by David Rakoff

​WHY THIS BOOK? Because it looks amazing. Rakoff's couplets, as much as I've heard, are astoundingly dense and entertaining. I'd love to read a novel's worth of them.