Ladies and Gentlemen,
“Truly, each new book is like a ship that bears us away from the fixity of our limitations into the movement and splendors of life’s infinite ocean.” - Helen Keller
Following a year of living in unfamiliar surroundings, we have been focusing on essential matters which endeavors us to become a more knowledgeable and enlightened society. In this vein, we are steadfast in our quest for knowledge and with regard to this we are pleased to present to you our winter reading list 2021-2022.
At August One, being active in thought, opportunity and knowledge is a core value that binds us. As a team of avid readers and ‘perpetual learners,’ we are constantly recommending books to each other. With our mantra of 'Investing in together for good' we are starting a new tradition of sharing some great books that have inspired, informed and motivated us this past year.
The following is a selection from our annual reading list. Featuring 10 titles ranging from personal development and leadership to historical fiction, biographies and self-help. This is a diverse collection of topics and authors that inspire us as individuals and as a team.
We would love to discuss these with you. Please also feel free to write to us or send an audio, text or video message with any book recommendations you might have for us.
Sacred Economics, by Charles Eisenstein. Charles Eisenstein is a teacher, speaker, and writer focusing on themes of civilization, consciousness, money, and human cultural evolution. Sacred Economics traces the history of money from ancient gift economies to modern capitalism, revealing how the money system has contributed to alienation, competition, and scarcity, destroyed community, and necessitated endless growth.
Human Kind, by Rutger Bregman. Rutger Bregman is a Dutch historian, author and journalist at The Correspondent, and one of Europe's most prominent young thinkers.
Human Kind - A Hopeful History by Rutger Bregman takes the reader on a journey that dismantles the assumptions of classic research on human nature that positions humans as self-interested, instead exploring how humans can use our inherently good nature to build a better society. Utopia for Realists by Rutger Bregman is also a good pick.
Candide, by Voltaire. Candide by Voltaire, a philosopher of the age of enlightenment, is the story of a gentle man who, though pummeled and slapped in every direction by fate, clings desperately to the belief that he lives in "the best of all possible worlds." On the surface a witty, bantering tale, this eighteenth-century classic is actually a savage, satiric thrust at the philosophical optimism that proclaims that all disaster and human suffering is part of a benevolent cosmic plan.
The Obstacle is the way, by Ryan Holiday. Ryan Holiday is a media strategist and a director of marketing at American Apparel. The Obstacle is the way, a book which offers individuals a framework to flip obstacles into opportunities, an approach crafted by Holiday. There is a formula for success that’s been followed by the icons of history—from John D. Rockefeller to Amelia Earhart to Ulysses S. Grant to Steve Jobs—a formula that let them turn obstacles into opportunities. This book reveals that formula for the first time—and shows us how we can turn our own adversity into advantage.
7 Secrets to Investing like Warren Buffet, by Mary Buffett and Sean Seah. 7 Secrets to Investing Like Warren Buffett, by Mary and Sean Seah provide a complete guide for beginning investors who want to understand how to invest like Warren Buffett. Mary and Sean walk readers through the process of assessing and buying stocks step-by-step. Their friendly and direct style and concrete examples make it easy to understand how to avoid common pitfalls and prosper in the stock market.
12 Rules to Life: An Antidote to Chaos, by Jordan B. Peterson. 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos is a 2018 self-help book by Canadian clinical psychologist and psychology professor Jordan Peterson. It provides life advice through essays in abstract ethical principles, psychology, mythology, religion, and personal anecdotes.
The Power of Habit, by Charles Duhigg. The Power of Habit, by award-winning New York Times business reporter Charles Duhigg takes us to the thrilling edge of scientific discoveries that explain why habits exist and how they can be changed. With penetrating intelligence and an ability to distill vast amounts of information into engrossing narratives, Duhigg brings to life a whole new understanding of human nature and its potential for transformation.
No One Writes to the Colonel, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. García Márquez, familiarly known as "Gabo" in his native country, was a Colombian novelist, short-story writer, screenwriter and journalist. No one writes to the colonel is a collection of short stories. The novel and other eight stories all take place in small Colombian villages, and Macondo, a Colombian town invented by Márquez. The stories take place during La Violencia, a time of political instability, extreme violence, and civil war between the Conservative and Liberal Parties in Colombia, which spanned from 1948 to 1958.
Test Gods: Virgin Galactic and the Making of a Modern Astronaut, by Nicholas Schmidle. Test Gods is a story about bravery and sacrifice, and the thin line between lunacy and genius. But most of all is it a story about how we all search for meaning in pursuit and fulfillment of our dreams.
Feeling and Knowing: Making Minds Conscious, by Antonio Damasio. In recent decades, many philosophers and cognitive scientists have declared the question of consciousness unsolvable, but Antonio Damasio is convinced that recent findings in neuroscience, psychology and artificial intelligence have given us the necessary tools to solve its mystery.
In Feeling & Knowing, Damasio elucidates the myriad aspects of consciousness and presents his analysis and new insights in a way that is faithful to our own intuitive sense of the experience.
With best regards to you and your families,
August One
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