Think

How do we think? What do experts think about? What information do I need to pay attention to, consider, disregard? Thinking is that intellectual process that goes on in the brain, and creates the ‘mind’.

The Power of Habit: Charles Duhigg’s well researched book looks at how much of our thinking and decisions are ‘automatic’ – and where our leverage and power is to be aware of and change those patterns when we chose to.

Thinking Fast and Slow: Daniel Kahneman is a Nobel Memorial Prize winner in economics – because he has spent his life trying to understand the way we think – where our power is – and where we most commonly ‘fool ourselves’. This BBC interview is a great starting point – and if you are intrigued by his interview his book is fabulous!

Flow: Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi spent his academic career in the US researching and writing about happiness and creativity (120 books!) Flow is a great starting point to read and understand how happiness is often created in that fantastic feeling of ‘lost in the moment’ – how fulfilling total absorption can be. Bringing your whole self to the moment – matching skill and challenge – and fully motivated.

Top Dog: Po Bronson has taken a fascinating look into how we compete, and our drives and personal dynamics so important for success. What does teamwork require? How defeat can (or doesn’t) build character? How does competition drive innovation? Using great stories, Po illustrates some counter-intuitive findings about what drives us.

The Upside of Irrationality: Dan Ariely is another researcher who weaves some great stories and examples around some important science. His blog, and his books look at procrastination, dishonesty, irrationality and other important thinking patterns we share. He is in the midst of crowdfunding a movie – smashing many of our beliefs about dishonesty – in ourselves and others.