Recommendations based on Humans: A Brief History of How We F*cked It All Upby Tom Phillips

* statistically, based on millions of data-points provided by fellow humans

  1. Factfulness: Ten Reasons We're Wrong About the World – and Why Things Are Better Than You Think

    by Hans Rosling
    A data-driven book that challenges common misconceptions about the world and presents a more accurate, optimistic view of global progress.

    Factfulness:, The stress-reducing habit of only carrying opinions for which you have strong supporting facts. When asked simple questions about global trends— what percentage of the world’s ... (Goodreads)

  2. The Education of an Idealist: A Memoir

    by Samantha Power
    A memoir of Samantha Power's journey from an immigrant to a war correspondent to a diplomat, and her efforts to promote human rights and democracy.

    Pulitzer Prize winner Samantha Power, widely known as a relentless advocate for promoting human rights, has been heralded by President Barack Obama as one of America's "foremost thinkers on foreign ... (Goodreads)

  3. Trillion Dollar Coach: The Leadership Playbook of Silicon Valley's Bill Campbell

    by Eric Schmidt
    The story of Bill Campbell, a legendary coach and mentor to some of Silicon Valley's biggest names, and his leadership philosophy.

    The team behind How Google Works returns with management lessons from legendary coach and business executive, Bill Campbell, whose mentoring of some of our most successful modern entrepreneurs has ... (Goodreads)

  4. Glitter and Glue

    by Kelly Corrigan
    A memoir of a daughter's travels with her mother, exploring the complexities of their relationship and the lessons learned along the way.

    NEW YORK TIMES, BESTSELLER,From the author of, The Middle Place, comes a new memoir that examines the bond—sometimes nourishing, sometimes exasperating, occasionally divine—between mothers and ... (Goodreads)

  5. The Man Who Loved Books Too Much: The True Story of a Thief, a Detective, and a World of Literary Obsession

    by Allison Hoover Bartlett
    A non-fiction account of a notorious book thief and the bibliophile detective who pursued him. A fascinating exploration of the world of rare book collecting.

    Set within the world of rare-book collecting: the true story of an infamous book thief, his victims, and the man determined to catch him. Rare-book theft is even more widespread than fine-art theft. ... (Goodreads)

  6. From the Ashes: My Story of Being Métis, Homeless, and Finding My Way

    by Jesse Thistle
    A memoir of Jesse Thistle's journey from a difficult childhood to homelessness and addiction, and his eventual path to recovery and reconciliation with his Métis heritage.

    In this extraordinary and inspiring debut memoir, Jesse Thistle—once a high school dropout and now a rising Indigenous scholar—chronicles his life on the streets and how he overcame trauma and ... (Goodreads)

  7. Blowout: Corrupted Democracy, Rogue State Russia, and the Richest, Most Destructive Industry on Earth

    by Rachel Maddow
    Investigative journalism on the oil and gas industry's impact on democracy, corruption, and the environment.

    In 2010, the words “earthquake swarm” entered the lexicon in Oklahoma. That same year, a trove of Michael Jackson memorabilia—including his iconic crystal-encrusted white glove—was sold at auction ... (Goodreads)

  8. Seven Days in the Art World

    by Sarah Thornton
    An inside look at the contemporary art world, exploring its various facets and players.

    A fly-on-the-wall account of the smart and strange subcultures that make, trade, curate, collect, and hype contemporary art., The art market has been booming. Museum attendance is surging. More ... (Barnes & Noble)

  9. The Five Love Languages for Singles

    by Gary Chapman
    Practical guide for finding lasting love, based on understanding and expressing love.

    Simple ways to strengthen any relationship With more than 10 million copies sold,, The 5 Love Languages,® continues to transform relationships worldwide. And though originally written for married ... (Barnes & Noble)

  10. Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind: How to Be Seen and Heard in the Overcrowded Marketplace

    by Al Ries
    A guide to using marketing strategies to stand out in today's competitive marketplace.

    The first book to deal with the problems of communicating to a skeptical, media-blitzed public, Positioning describes a revolutionary approach to creating a "position" in a prospective customer's ... (Goodreads)

  11. Weird Things Customers Say in Bookshops

    by Jen Campbell
    Lighthearted collection of humorous conversations between bookshop customers and staff.

    A simple Twitter question posed by John Cleese—“What is your biggest pet peeve?”—inspired Jen Campbell to start a blog collecting all the ridiculous conversations overheard in her bookstore. “Did ... (Barnes & Noble)

  12. The Uninhabitable Earth: Life After Warming

    by David Wallace-Wells
    A stark warning of the catastrophic consequences of climate change and the urgent need for action to prevent them.

    It is worse, much worse, than you think. If your anxiety about global warming is dominated by fears of sea-level rise, you are barely scratching the surface of what terrors are possible. In ... (Goodreads)

  13. Lying

    by Sam Harris
    Examination of the morality of deception, exploring its implications in modern society.

    As it was in Anna Karenina, Madame Bovary, and Othello, so it is in life. Most forms of private vice and public evil are kindled and sustained by lies. Acts of adultery and other personal betrayals, ... (Goodreads)

  14. The Diary of a Bookseller

    by Shaun Bythell
    A humorous and insightful account of life in a small bookshop.

    Shaun Bythell owns The Bookshop, Wigtown - Scotland's largest second-hand bookshop. It contains 100,000 books, spread over a mile of shelving, with twisting corridors and roaring fires, and all set ... (Goodreads)

  15. The Coaching Habit: Say Less, Ask More & Change the Way You Lead Forever

    by Michael Bungay Stanier
    Strategies for effective leadership, emphasizing the power of asking questions.

    Look for Michael’s new book,, The Advice Trap, which focuses on taming your Advice Monster so you can stay curious a little longer and change the way you lead forever. In Michael Bungay Stanier's The ... (Barnes & Noble)

  16. Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products

    by Nir Eyal
    A guide to creating products that form habits, using psychology and technology to keep users coming back.

    How do successful companies create products people can’t put down? Why do some products capture widespread attention while others flop? What makes us engage with certain products out of sheer habit? ... (Goodreads)

  17. Pastrix: The Cranky, Beautiful Faith of a Sinner Saint

    by Nadia Bolz-Weber
    A frank exploration of faith and religion, reconciling the divides between the sacred and the profane.

    Now a, New York Times, bestseller, Nadia Bolz-Weber takes no prisoners as she reclaims the term "pastrix"(pronounced "pas-triks," a term used by some Christians who refuse to recognize female ... (Barnes & Noble)

  18. The Doors of Perception

    by Aldous Huxley
    An exploration of altered states of consciousness and their implications for understanding reality.

    The Doors of Perception is a philosophical essay, released as a book, by Aldous Huxley. First published in 1954, it details his experiences when taking mescaline. The book takes the form of Huxley's ... (Goodreads)

  19. Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents

    by Lindsay C. Gibson
    Understanding and healing from the effects of growing up with emotionally immature parents.

    If you grew up with an emotionally immature, unavailable, or selfish parent, you may have lingering feelings of anger, loneliness, betrayal, or abandonment. You may recall your childhood as a time ... (Barnes & Noble)

  20. No More Mr. Nice Guy

    by Robert A. Glover
    A journey to reclaim lost masculinity and create healthier relationships with emotions and women.

    Originally published as an e-book that became a controversial media phenomenon, No More Mr. Nice Guy! landed its author, a certified marriage and family therapist, on The O'Reilly Factor and the Rush ... (Goodreads)

  21. Blitzed: Drugs in Nazi Germany

    by Norman Ohler
    Examines the Nazi regime's widespread use of drugs to fuel its war machine.

    In this highly original book, a bestseller in Germany, Norman Ohler investigates the murky, chaotic world of drug use in the Third Reich. There have been other books on Dr Morell's cocktail of ... (Goodreads)

  22. Tramp for the Lord

    by Corrie ten Boom
    A woman's story of faith and courage, traveling to share her message of hope around the world.

    For the past twenty years Corrie ten Boom has crisscrossed the globe, slept in more than a thousand different beds, and lived out of suitcases...all to fulfill her God-given mission to tell people ... (Goodreads)

  23. The Conquest of Happiness

    by Bertrand Russell
    Philosophical exploration of the secrets to achieving true and lasting happiness.

    “Should be read by every parent, teacher, minister, and Congressman in the land.”―The Atlantic, In, The Conquest of Happiness, iconoclastic philosopher Bertrand Russell attempted to diagnose the ... (Barnes & Noble)

  24. The Geography of Bliss: One Grump's Search for the Happiest Places in the World

    by Eric Weiner
    A humorous exploration of the pursuit of happiness, through visits to different countries.

    Weiner spent a decade as a foreign correspondent reporting from such discontented locales as Iraq, Afghanistan, and Indonesia. Unhappy people living in profoundly unstable states, he notes, inspire ... (Goodreads)

  25. The Power of Full Engagement: Managing Energy, Not Time, Is the Key to High Performance and Personal Renewal

    by Jim Loehr
    Strategies to reduce stress and improve performance through managing energy, rather than time.

    “Combines the gritty toughmindedness of the best coaches with the gentle-but-insistent inspiration of the most effective spiritual advisers” (,Fast Company,). This groundbreaking, New York Times, ... (Goodreads)

  26. Everybody Lies: Big Data, New Data, and What the Internet Can Tell Us About Who We Really Are

    by Seth Stephens-Davidowitz
    An exploration of how digital data can uncover the truth about humanity.

    Foreword by Steven Pinker Blending the informed analysis of The Signal and the Noise with the instructive iconoclasm of Think Like a Freak, a fascinating, illuminating, and witty look at what the ... (Goodreads)

  27. Poetics

    by Aristotle
    A philosophical treatise on the nature of tragedy and its effects on audiences.

    ‘The plot is the source and the soul of tragedy’ In his near-contemporary account of Greek tragedy, Aristotle examines the dramatic elements of plot, character, language and spectacle that combine to ... (Goodreads)

  28. The Virtue of Selfishness: A New Concept of Egoism

    by Ayn Rand
    A philosophical exploration of the concept of egoism, advocating for rational self-interest.

    Ayn Rand here sets forth the moral principles of Objectivism, the philosophy that holds human life–the life proper to a rational being--as the standard of moral values and regards altruism as ... (Goodreads)

  29. Brief Answers to the Big Questions

    by Stephen Hawking
    Stephen Hawking's final thoughts on the biggest questions in science and humanity, from the existence of God to the future of AI.

    Stephen Hawking was recognized as one of the greatest minds of our time and a figure of inspiration after defying his ALS diagnosis at age twenty-one. He is known for both his breakthroughs in ... (Goodreads)

  30. Catch and Kill: Lies, Spies, and a Conspiracy to Protect Predators

    by Ronan Farrow
    Investigative journalist Ronan Farrow exposes the cover-up of sexual misconduct allegations against powerful men in media and politics.

    In 2017, a routine network television investigation led Ronan Farrow to a story only whispered about: one of Hollywood's most powerful producers was a predator, protected by fear, wealth, and a ... (Goodreads)