What successful women read: 15 books for inspiration and growth

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Classics and non-fiction, memoirs and business literature - in this collection you will find options for every taste.

1. "Past and Thoughts", Alexander Herzen

Herzen worked on this autobiographical novel for almost 16 years. And as a result, he got a real encyclopedia, reflecting the life, customs and social life of Russia in the middle of the 19th century.

“In Past and Thoughts, there is a junction of documentary and artistry that has always worried me. It seems to me that just fiction is no longer so interesting,”Aleksievich told the Gorky edition. - I'm not saying that there can be no brilliant fiction books. But today people are reading more nonfiction.

Readers trust not fiction, but documentary prose, in which the witness of the event becomes a full-fledged hero. Life itself is insanely interesting, why should you invent anything else?"

Oprah Winfrey American TV presenter, producer, public figure.

2. "Night", Elie Wiesel

Elie Wiesel is a writer, philosopher, and Nobel Peace Prize laureate. "Night" is his autobiographical story about a boy who survived the hell of Auschwitz, Birkenau and Buchenwald.

And although the book tells about the most difficult events, it reflects the victory of the human spirit over cruelty and evil. Winfrey says she is energized by the protagonist's courage.

3. "East of Eden" by John Steinbeck

This novel has been called Steinbeck's most ambitious work. He tells about the life of two families in California at the beginning of the 20th century - about love, betrayal, the confrontation between good and evil.

Winfrey recommended this book in the Book Club section of her talk show and called it the best book she's ever read.

Chulpan Khamatova Theater and film actress, public figure. One of the founders of the Gift of Life charity foundation.

4. "Case history", Irina Yasina

The book of publicist and human rights activist Yasina is practically a diary that tells about life with multiple sclerosis. Khamatova mentioned this work at the recital.

“[The book] describes in great detail and progressively the ordinary life of the average person who goes through all the stages of their serious illness,” she said. - Together with her, you understand what happiness it is when she could walk into the kitchen with her own feet and put the coffee pot with her own hands.

And what a happiness it was when she could just turn her neck and look out the window. After reading this book, something clicked inside me. I realized how happy it is to be just a healthy person."

5. "Demons", Fyodor Dostoevsky

The actress calls this work about radical revolutionaries of the 19th century "the first shock in my life." And this is one of Dostoevsky's best novels: it contains politics, thriller, and controversial characters.

“I read the novel in the 9th grade and suddenly lost my footing: those who made the revolution suddenly turned out to be devils,” Khamatova said in an interview with Vokrug TV. "Imagine how difficult it is to come to terms with the fact that, writhing and writhing in terrible agony, your idols are dying, which Lenin and Stalin were for me then, and that the red flag is turning from a symbol of freedom, goodness and light into a symbol of evil."

Maria Sharapova Tennis player, former number one in the world, has been a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Development Program for nine years.

6. “Say Yes to Life”, Viktor Frankl

Austrian psychiatrist Viktor Frankl survived imprisonment in concentration camps and described his experiences in this book. In his opinion, a person with a goal can endure almost anything. He himself never gave up and even in the camp created an organization of psychological assistance to prisoners.

“I've read this book many times,” Sharapova told The Guardian.- One of the best places says that when gas fills a room, no matter how big or small, the gas will fill it anyway. Frankl writes that the same is true when we think of unhappiness. It fills every part of life. We don't think 'Oh, I'm a little sad right now.' When something like this happens, we face a harsh reality."

Sheryl Sandberg Facebook COO, entrepreneur, Fortune magazine's 50 Most Powerful Women in Business.

7. “Get the best. Employee Strengths in the Service of Business, Marcus Buckingham and Donald Clifton

This book describes the theory of personal strengths. It will be of interest to executives and HR managers, as well as anyone interested in self-development. Sandberg named it the best business book in recent years.

“Marcus and his colleagues have interviewed employees for 25 years to find out what factors determine high productivity,” Sandberg told The New York Times. “They found that the main indicator of the future success of a company or department is how many employees answer“Are you able to do what you do best every day?”

This is logical. But more often than not, when evaluating someone's work, they focus on weaknesses, not strengths. Employees are asked to work on them and get better, but people don't have to be good at everything. At Facebook, we try first of all to take into account the strengths, that is, to make sure that the tasks are adjusted to the person, and not the person to them."

8. “Business from scratch. Lean Startup Method, Eric Rees

Eric Rees is an American entrepreneur and pioneer of the Lean Startup movement. In his book, he describes a methodology that helps startups survive. Its essence is in the rapid testing of new products with real consumers and the constant adjustment of the business model.

“Eric Rees described how the tech industry builds products and businesses,” continues Sandberg. “Traditionally, companies have relied on detailed business plans and rigorous research to deliver the 'perfect' product. Rees argues that it is better for tech companies to bring a product to market and refine it to perfection using customer feedback."

Lyudmila Ulitskaya Writer, translator and screenwriter. First woman winner of the Russian Booker Prize.

9. “Sapiens. A Brief History of Humanity ", Yuval Noah Harari

“The last book I read, which I really liked, was Yuval Harari's A Brief History of Mankind,” Ulitskaya shared in an interview with Eksmo magazine. "But usually I read books related to biology and anthropology - this is an area that I understand more."

Harari shows how the course of history has shaped human society and the reality around it. In the book, he traces the connection between the events of the past and the problems of our time and forces the reader to reconsider all the established ideas about the world around him.

10. "The Captain's Daughter", Alexander Pushkin

“There are several books that I reread endlessly and experience fresh happiness every time. And in the first place is the Captain's Daughter,”says the writer.

This historical novel describes the peasant uprising of Yemelyan Pugachev and tells a touching love story that unfolds against his background.

J. K. Rowling Writer, screenwriter, author of the Harry Potter books.

11. "Emma" by Jane Austen

This novel in a humorous manner tells the story of a young woman who woo her friends and neighbors, while getting into funny situations. Rowling calls Austen his favorite writer and Emma her favorite of her books.

“I've read her books so many times that I've lost count,” says Rowling. The writer read Emma at least 20 times.

Natalia Vodianova Supermodel, actress, philanthropist. Founder of the Naked Heart Foundation, created for the construction of playgrounds in Russia and abroad.

12. "The Power of the Present," Eckhart Tolle

This iconic book on self-discovery explains why we suffer and how to live in the moment. Its author, Eckhart Tolle, is called the main spiritual authority of our time.

In his opinion, only in the present do we find our true essence, as well as joy and understanding that integrity and perfection is not a goal, but a reality that is already available to us now.

“For me, this is a life-changing book. When I just broke up with my husband and it was very difficult, she helped me a lot,”Vodianova told Vogue Russia.

Emma Watson Actress and Goodwill Ambassador for UN Women.

13. The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

This dystopia tells the story of a world in which women are not allowed to own property, work, love, read and write. They have only one function - to give birth to children.

"Margaret Atwood wrote The Handmaid's Tale more than 30 years ago, but this book never ceases to delight readers because it vividly reflects how a woman feels when she loses control over her own body," Watson wrote in her book club on Goodreads, where she recommends other works and discusses them with readers.

Asya Kazantseva Science journalist, popularizer of science, author of the book "Someone is wrong on the Internet!" Winner of the Enlightener Prize.

14. "Inner Fish", Neil Shubin

Shubin is a professor of anatomy and paleontologist who discovered the intermediate link between fish and land animals. In this book, the reader together with him will go on a fascinating journey to the origins of evolution in order to understand how the human body was formed and changed.

“This book about evolution operates on a large scale of time,” says Kazantseva. - She talks not even about the traits that we inherited from the ancestor-monkey 6 million years ago, but about those that we inherited from the ancestor-fish 400 million years ago.

Many mysteries of the structure of our body, from the structure of the auditory ossicles to the bizarre interlacing of the cranial nerves, become much clearer if, together with the author, we figure out where they came from”.

15. "The Origins of Altruism and Virtue" by Matt Ridley

This book is an overview and synthesis of everything that has become known about human social behavior over the past 30 years. In it, Ridley criticizes the well-known model, which claims that in the formation of human behavior, culture almost completely supplants biology.

“Relatively little attention has been paid to man here. Matt Ridley is interested in altruism as a universal property common to amoebas, social insects, and computer programs designed to solve the prisoner's dilemma. Harsh, cynical evolutionary logic: Mathematical models show that being good - under certain conditions - is beneficial. Here we are good."