Three books for your winter reading list
Print Edition
Whether you’re going on holiday or staying in Shanghai this winter holiday, read these books and start the new year with a broader perspective.
1. “Creativity” by Osho
Once relegated to artists and musicians, “creativity” is now the buzzword of CEOs and elite educational institutions.
Written by Osho, a 20th century spiritual teacher, “Creativity” will challenge your ideas about art, life, and creativity.
“Every human being is a born creator,” writes Osho. “Watch children and you will see: all children are creative. By and by, we destroy their creativity. By and by, we force wrong beliefs on them… Nobody is born uncreative, but we make ninety-nine percent of people uncreative.”
This book is number-one on the list for a reason. Read it and learn the importance of living creatively, how to live creatively (no matter what you do), and, more importantly, what you should avoid to preserve your creativity.
2. “Reclaiming Conversation: The Power of Talk in a Digital Age” by Sherry Turkle
The dinner table falls silent as children compete with phones for their parents’ attention. Friends learn strategies to keep conversations going when only a few people are looking up from their phones.
According to MIT researcher Sherry Turkle, we live in a technological universe in which we are always communicating, and yet more and more people report feeling lonely.
In her book, Turkle investigates how the shift away from conversation undermines our relationships, creativity, and productivity, and how reclaiming face-to-face contact can help us regain our lost ground.
A short but elegant read, Turkle’s book is a wake-up call for all of us to prioritize the human over the digital.
3. “Fluent Forever” by Gabriel Wyner
We teach languages, but we don’t teach people how to learn a language. So before you learn any language, read this book.
Written by a professional opera singer who needed to master Italian, Spanish and German within a few months to pursue a professional opportunity in Vienna, “Fluent Forever,” presents the techniques and methods that Wyner used and continues to espouse (he is now 30 years old and fluent in six languages, all learned in the span of a few years).
“A brilliant and thoroughly modern guide to learning new languages. ‘Fluent Forever’ won’t teach you French, or German, or any other language — but it will teach you how to learn whatever language you do want to learn, and to learn it faster, and more efficiently,” writes Gary Marcus, cognitive psychologist and author of the New York Times best-seller “Guitar Zero.”
(Francesca Martens is the founder of College Mindful, an admission consulting firm.)
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