Science of People Book Club: 31 Must-Read Books

My mission is to read more! For my New Year’s Resolution I decided to start a Science of People book club because it’s always more fun to read together. We read one book each month and put together action-packed summaries.

I’m super excited about this because I hope I get to learn from you as we read, find some fun new books and connect with you. Most importantly I want to GROW together. If we read a book at the same time and we have discussion to look forward to then we all have accountability. We get motivated to read together and we can challenge each other on learning.

Science of People Book | Captivate: The Science of Succeeding with People

Do you wish you could decode people? Do you want a formula for charisma? Do you want to know exactly what to say to your boss, your date or your networking partner? You need to know how people work.

Buy Captivate

Here are all of the books we have read so far:

#1: Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion

by Robert B. Cialdini

Influence, the classic book on persuasion, explains the psychology of why people say “yes”—and how to apply these understandings. Dr. Robert Cialdini is the seminal expert in the rapidly expanding field of influence and persuasion. His thirty-five years of rigorous, evidence-based research along with a three-year program of study on what moves people to change behavior has resulted in this highly acclaimed book.

You’ll learn the six universal principles, how to use them to become a skilled persuader—and how to defend yourself against them. Perfect for people in all walks of life, the principles of Influence will move you toward profound personal change and act as a driving force for your success.

Read our full summary of Influence

#2: The Power of Now

by Eckhart Tolle

Eckhart Tolle, spiritual teacher and the New York Times bestselling author of A New Earth, delves deep into the profound significance of living in the present moment in his transformative book: The Power of Now.

From the constant distractions of our digital age to the persistent yearning for a better future, our present moment often remains overlooked and undervalued. Yet, in this very moment lies the key to true peace and happiness.

Drawing on a blend of ancient wisdom, personal anecdotes, and practical exercises, akin to works like The Four Agreements, The Alchemist, and Siddhartha, Tolle illuminates the path to living a life free from the tyranny of the mind, leading readers towards a state of enlightenment and a profound connection to the universe.

#3: The Happiness Advantage

by Shawn Achor

Our most commonly held formula for success is broken. Conventional wisdom holds that if we work hard we will be more successful, and if we are more successful, then we’ll be happy. If we can just find that great job, win that next promotion, lose those five pounds, happiness will follow. But recent discoveries in the field of positive psychology have shown that this formula is actually backward: Happiness fuels success, not the other way around.

When we are positive, our brains become more engaged, creative, motivated, energetic, resilient, and productive at work. This isn’t just an empty mantra. This discovery has been repeatedly borne out by rigorous research in psychology and neuroscience, management studies, and the bottom lines of organizations around the globe.

Read our full summary of Happiness

#4: Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less

by Greg McKeown

The Way of the Essentialist isn’t about getting more done in less time. It’s about getting only the right things done. It is not a time management strategy, or a productivity technique. It is a systematic discipline for discerning what is absolutely essential, then eliminating everything that is not, so we can make the highest possible contribution towards the things that really matter.

By forcing us to apply a more selective criteria for what is Essential, the disciplined pursuit of less empowers us to reclaim control of our own choices about where to spend our precious time and energy – instead of giving others the implicit permission to choose for us.

Read our full summary of Essentialism

#5: Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think

by Brian Wansink Ph.D.

I know this is not our typical kind of people science book. But I just started reading it and realized it is a gold-mine of interesting human behavior research. How we eat speaks to some of the larger emotional issues of who we are. Eating is also a fundamental part of being human. The Science of People is about studying and optimizing all kinds of human behavior, even snacking!

Read our full summary of Mindless Eating

#6: Elite Minds: Creating the Competitive Advantage

by Dr. Stan Beecham

Most people don’t reach their full potential because of their body, training, or physical talent. It is their mind that is the deterrent. They may or may not consider how their thoughts and beliefs are actually hindering performance. “Elite Minds” gives insight into the process of developing a world-class mind in both business and sport, where the principles of performance are the same, despite the activity.

#7: The Moral Molecule: How Trust Works

by Paul J. Zak

Paul J. Zak’s proclivity for taking blood samples has earned him a nickname as the “vampire economist.” But his sanguinary habit is backed by his scientific quest: What if there was a master switch for human behavior? On, and people are loving and generous. Off, and they revert to violence and greed. By studying thousands of blood samples, Zak has pinpointed just such a switch: a brain chemical called oxytocin.

Read our full summary of The Moral Molecule

#8: How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci

by Michael Gelb

Genius is made, not born. And human beings are gifted with an almost unlimited potential for learning and creativity. Now you can uncover your own hidden abilities, sharpen your senses, and liberate your unique intelligence—by following the example of the greatest genius of all time, Leonardo da Vinci.

Read our full summary of How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci

#9: Snoop: What Your Stuff Says About You

by Sam Gosling

Do the things on your desk betray the thoughts on your mind? Does your dining room décor carry clues to your character? Award-winning psychologist Sam Gosling has dispatched teams of scientific investigators to poke around bedrooms and offices, check out iPods, and peek at personal websites—to see what can be learned about us simply from looking at our belongings.

What he has discovered is intriguing: When it comes to the most essential components of our personality—from friendliness and flexibility to openness and originality—the things we own and the way we arrange them can say more about who we are than even our most intimate conversations.

Read our full summary of Snoop

#10: Team Genius: The Science of High-Performing Organizations

by Rich Karlgaard and Michael S. Malone

A groundbreaking book that sheds new light on the vital importance of teams as the fundamental unit of organization and competition in the global economy.

Teams—we depend on them for both our professional success and our personal happiness. But isn’t it odd how little scrutiny we give them? The teams that make up our lives are created mostly by luck, happenstance, or circumstance—but rarely by design.

Read our full summary of Team Genius

#11: Being Wrong: Adventures in the Margin of Error

by Kathryn Schulz

In the tradition of The Wisdom of Crowds and Predictably Irrational comes Being Wrong, an illuminating exploration of what it means to be in error, and why homo sapiens tend to tacitly assume (or loudly insist) that they are right about most everything.

Read our full summary of Being Wrong

#12: The Willpower Instinct

by Kelly McGonigal

Based on Stanford University psychologist Kelly McGonigal’s wildly popular course “The Science of Willpower,” The Willpower Instinct is the first book to explain the new science of self-control and how it can be harnessed to improve our health, happiness, and productivity.

Informed by the latest research and combining cutting-edge insights from psychology, economics, neuroscience, and medicine, The Willpower Instinct explains exactly what willpower is, how it works, and why it matters.

Read our full summary of The Willpower Instinct

#13: The Culting of Brands

by Douglas Atkin

At first glance, companies like Apple and Nike have little in common with organizations like the Hell’s Angels and the Unification Church. But in reality, they all fulfill the main definition of a cult: They attract people who see themselves as different from the masses in some fundamental way.

Marketing expert Douglas Atkin has spent years researching both full-blown cults and companies that use cult-branding techniques. He explains exactly how brands like Harley-Davidson, Saturn, JetBlue, and Ben & Jerry’s make their customers feel unique, important, and part of an exclusive group.

Read our full summary of The Culting of Brands

#14: Smartcuts

by Shane Snow

Entrepreneur and journalist Shane Snow analyzes the lives of people and companies that do incredible things in implausibly short time.

How do some startups go from zero to billions in mere months? How did Alexander the Great, YouTube tycoon Michelle Phan, and Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon climb to the top in less time than it takes most of us to get a promotion? They employ what psychologists call “lateral thinking” to rethink convention and break “rules” that aren’t rules.

Read our full summary of Smartcuts

#15: Social Intelligence

by Daniel Goleman

Far more than we are consciously aware, our daily encounters with parents, spouses, bosses, and even strangers shape our brains and affect cells throughout our bodies—down to the level of our genes—for good or ill. In Social Intelligence, Daniel Goleman explores an emerging new science with startling implications for our interpersonal world. Its most fundamental discovery: we are designed for sociability, constantly engaged in a “neural ballet” that connects us brain to brain with those around us.

Read our full summary of Social Intelligence

#16: Blink

by Malcolm Gladwell

In his landmark bestseller The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell redefined how we understand the world around us. Now, in Blink, he revolutionizes the way we understand the world within. Blink is a book about how we think without thinking, about choices that seem to be made in an instant-in the blink of an eye-that actually aren’t as simple as they seem.

Why are some people brilliant decision makers, while others are consistently inept? Why do some people follow their instincts and win, while others end up stumbling into error?

#17: Linchpin

by Seth Godin

This book is different. It’s about you – your choices, your future, and your potential to make a huge difference in whatever field you choose.

There used to be two teams in every workplace: management and labor. Now there’s a third team, the linchpins. These people invent, lead (regardless of title), connect others, make things happen, and create order out of chaos. They figure out what to do when there’s no rule book.

Read our full summary of Linchpin

#18: To Sell is Human

by Daniel Pink

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, one in nine Americans works in sales. Every day more than fifteen million people earn their keep by persuading someone else to make a purchase.

But dig deeper and a startling truth emerges: Yes, one in nine Americans works in sales. But so do the other eight. Whether we’re employees pitching colleagues on a new idea, entrepreneurs enticing funders to invest, or parents and teachers cajoling children to study, we spend our days trying to move others.

Read our full summary of To Sell is Human

#19: Never Eat Alone

by Keith Ferrazzi

Do you want to get ahead in life? Climb the ladder to personal success? The secret, master networker Keith Ferrazzi claims, is in reaching out to other people. As Ferrazzi discovered in early life, what distinguishes highly successful people from everyone else is the way they use the power of relationships—so that everyone wins.

Read our full summary of Never Eat Alone

#20: The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership

by John C. Maxwell

If you’ve never read The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, you’ve been missing out on one of the best-selling leadership books of all time. Internationally recognized leadership expert, speaker, and author John C. Maxwell has taken this million-seller and made it even better.

Read our full summary of The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership

#21: Steal the Show

by Michael Port

An inspiring program full of essential advice for spotlight lovers and wallflowers alike that will teach readers how to bring any crowd to its feet.

Every day there are moments when you must persuade, inform, and motivate others effectively. Each of those moments requires you, in some way, to play a role, to heighten the impact of your words, and to manage your emotions and nerves.

Read our full summary of Steal the Show

#22: Rules for Revolutionaries

by Guy Kawasaki

Guy Kawasaki, CEO of garage.com and former chief evangelist of Apple Computer, Inc., presents his manifesto for world-changing innovation, using his battle-tested lessons to help revolutionaries become visionaries.

Read our full summary of Rules for Revolutionaries

#23: The Lean Startup

by Eric Ries

Most startups fail. But many of those failures are preventable. The Lean Startup is a new approach being adopted across the globe, changing the way companies are built and new products are launched.

Eric Ries defines a startup as an organization dedicated to creating something new under conditions of extreme uncertainty. This is just as true for one person in a garage or a group of seasoned professionals in a Fortune 500 boardroom.

Read our full summary of The Lean Startup

#24: Built to Last

by Jim Collins

Drawing upon a six-year research project at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business, James C. Collins and Jerry I. Porras took eighteen truly exceptional and long-lasting companies and studied each in direct comparison to one of its top competitors.

Read our full summary of Built to Last

#25: Shark Tales

by Barbara Corcoran

The inspiring true story of Shark Tank star Barbara Corcoran–and her best advice for anyone starting a business. After failing at twenty-two jobs, Barbara Corcoran borrowed $1,000 from a boyfriend, quit her job as a diner waitress, and started a tiny real estate office in New York City. Using the unconventional lessons she learned from her homemaker mom, she gradually built it into a $6 billion dollar business.

#26: Daring Greatly

by Brené Brown

Every day we experience the uncertainty, risks, and emotional exposure that define what it means to be vulnerable or to dare greatly. Based on twelve years of pioneering research, Dr. Brené Brown dispels the cultural myth that vulnerability is weakness and argues that it is, in truth, our most accurate measure of courage.

#27: Crush It!

by Gary Vaynerchuk

Do you have a hobby you wish you could indulge in all day? An obsession that keeps you up at night? Now is the perfect time to take that passion and make a living doing what you love. In Crush It! Gary Vaynerchuk shows you how to use the power of the Internet to turn your real interests into real businesses.

Read our full summary of Crush It!

#28: Big Magic

by Elizabeth Gilbert

Readers of all ages and walks of life have drawn inspiration and empowerment from Elizabeth Gilbert’s books for years. Now this beloved author digs deep into her own generative process to share her wisdom and unique perspective about creativity.

Read our full summary of Big Magic

#29: The One Thing

by Gary Keller with Jay Papasan

YOU WANT LESS. You want fewer distractions and less on your plate. The daily barrage of e-mails, texts, tweets, messages, and meetings distract you and stress you out.

AND YOU WANT MORE. You want more productivity from your work. More income for a better lifestyle. You want more satisfaction from life, and more time for yourself, your family, and your friends.

Read our full summary of The One Thing

#30: The Upside of Stress

by Kelly McGonigal, Ph.D.

You hear it all the time: stress causes heart disease; stress causes insomnia; stress is bad for you! But what if changing how you think about stress could make you happier, healthier, and better able to reach your goals? Combining exciting new research on resilience and mindset, Kelly McGonigal proves that undergoing stress is not bad for you; it is undergoing stress while believing that stress is bad for you that makes it harmful.

Read our full summary of The Upside of Stress

#31: The Power of Habit

by Charles Duhigg

In The Power of Habit, Pulitzer Prize–winning business reporter Charles Duhigg takes us to the thrilling edge of scientific discoveries that explain why habits exist and how they can be changed. At its core, The Power of Habit contains an exhilarating argument: The key to exercising regularly, losing weight, being more productive, and achieving success is understanding how habits work.

Read our full summary of The Power of Habit