Last year I wrote about how I discovered Audible, how it made it so easy for me to consume books and 2018 has been somewhat crazy for the number of books I’ve read. I’ve read history, fiction, books about emotional intelligence and a few looking at the future.
My longest book was 15 hours and the shortest 3 hours. If you say to me you never have time to read a book, think again.
Here are my top three books of 2018.
What books are your top three? Let me know.
Sapiens — A Brief History of Humankind
Opening up a controversial topic with spirit and thoroughness, Sapiens will challenge your preconceptions, provoke discussion and, most importantly, push you to think for yourself.
Earth is 4.5 billion years old. In just a fraction of that time, one species among countless others has conquered it. Us.
We are the most advanced and most destructive animals ever to have lived. What makes us brilliant? What makes us deadly? What makes us sapiens?
In this bold and provocative audiobook, Yuval Noah Harari explores who we are, how we got here, and where we’re going.
Sapiens is a thrilling account of humankind’s extraordinary history from the Stone Age to the Silicon Age and our journey from insignificant apes to rulers of the world.
Why We Sleep — The New Science of Sleep and Dreams
The Top Ten Sunday Times Best Seller
TLS, Observer, Sunday Times, FT, Guardian, Daily Mail and Evening Standard Books of the Year 2017
Sleep is one of the most important aspects of our life, health and longevity and yet it is increasingly neglected in twenty-first-century society, with devastating consequences: every major disease in the developed world — Alzheimer’s, cancer, obesity, diabetes — has very strong causal links to deficient sleep.
Until very recently, science had no answer to the question of why we sleep, or what good it served, or why its absence is so damaging to our health. Compared to the other basic drives in life — eating, drinking, and reproducing — the purpose of sleep remained elusive.
Now, in this book, the first of its kind written by a scientific expert, Professor Matthew Walker explores twenty years of cutting-edge research to solve the mystery of why sleep matters. Looking at creatures from across the animal kingdom as well as major human studies, Why We Sleep delves in to everything from what really happens during REM sleep to how caffeine and alcohol affect sleep and why our sleep patterns change across a lifetime, transforming our appreciation of the extraordinary phenomenon that safeguards our existence.
21 Lessons for the 21st Century
Sapiens showed us where we came from. Homo Deus looked to the future. 21 Lessons for the 21st Century explores the present.
How can we protect ourselves from nuclear war, ecological cataclysms and technological disruptions? What can we do about the epidemic of fake news or the threat of terrorism? What should we teach our children?
Yuval Noah Harari takes us on a thrilling journey through today’s most urgent issues. The golden thread running through his exhilarating new book is the challenge of maintaining our collective and individual focus in the face of constant and disorienting change. Are we still capable of understanding the world we have created?
