⚠️📚 Don't turn 30 without reading these 13 books
Plus . . . smart AI advice, a moving finale, bad news for introverts, and 7 quick ways to read better.
1. NEW VIDEO: 13 life-changing books to read before you turn 30 📚🧠✨
What you read matters. When you read it can matter even more.
The right book at the right time doesn’t just inform. It transforms. It can permanently reshape your perspective, sharpen your decisions, and deepen your relationships.
So, in time for back-to-school week, we just released a new video that reveals — and summarizes — the 13 books everyone should read before they turn 30. Among them:
Getting to Yes by Roger Fisher and William Ury
Range by David Epstein
Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott
Animal Farm by George Orwell
The Coddling of the American Mind by Jonathan Haidt and Greg Lukianoff
You’re Not Listening by Kate Murphy
Share the video with a youngish person in your life. And if you’re over 30, and missed any of these books the first time around, pick one up this week.
Remember the old proverb: The best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago; the second best time is today.
2. PINK RECOMMENDS. This week’s top picks
🎧 LISTEN: How to AI-Proof Your Job
How will artificial intelligence affect our work? Most predictions swing between the apocalyptic (hundreds of millions of unemployed people roaming a charred landscape!) and the utopian (3-hour workweeks comprised of thinking great thoughts and drinking fine wine!) For a more sensible take on AI’s impact on employment and skills, check out this interview with Harvard economist David Deming on the Solutions podcast. It’s one of the smartest discussions of this topic I’ve heard.
🎬 WATCH: Democracy, Education, and Saying Goodbye
In 2023, Robert Reich — the former U.S. Labor Secretary and my old boss — retired after 40 years of teaching. Now a new documentary chronicles his final semester. The Last Class is a moving, and often quite funny, examination of the purpose of education, the state of democracy, and the arc of a life. Find a screening near you. And look for Bob’s new book, Coming Up Short: A Memoir of My America.
📊 COUNT: Want more joy? Do things with others.
Here’s some jarring news for us solitude-seeking introverts. A new paper from Dunigan Folk and Elizabeth Dunn at the University of British Columbia examined which activities are more satisfying done alone and which are more satisfying done with others. The verdict? Participants rated every single daily activity — cleaning the house, reading, grocery shopping, working out — more enjoyable when done with others. Every damn one! Grab a friend, then squint at the chart below to see the full results.
3. FINAL THOUGHTS: 7 ways to get more out of what you read 📘🧩🔍
Back to reading for our final item . . .
How you read also matters.
That’s the idea animating another video, which offers a bushel of actionable techniques to help you:
Retain more of what you read
Know when to quit a book
Connect what you’re reading now to what you’ve already read
Decide which books to ignore and which to read again.
Hit play on the 9-minute video by clicking the image below.