It Didn't Start with You
Mark Wolynn
Explore the groundbreaking approach to understanding and resolving inherited family trauma. Discover how patterns of anxiety, depression, and other emotional challenges can be traced back through generations, and learn practical tools to break free from these cycles and reclaim your life.
The Choice
Edith Eger
In this memoir, a Holocaust survivor and therapist shares her story of resilience and healing, offering insights into overcoming trauma and finding freedom from the prisons of our own minds. From Auschwitz to a fulfilling life helping others, this book is a testament to the power of choice and the human spirit.
Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents
Lindsay C. Gibson
Discover how to heal from the pain and confusion of having emotionally immature parents. This book provides insights and practical advice for understanding these toxic relationships and creating healthier paths to healing, helping you break free from old patterns and connect more deeply with yourself and others.
Blindspot
Mahzarin R. Banaji
An exploration of hidden biases that affect our judgment and behavior, even among well-intentioned people. Using the Implicit Association Test (IAT) and other methods, the authors reveal how unconscious feelings and beliefs about social groups can influence our actions in everyday life, leading to unintended damages to both others and ourselves. Discover the mindbugs that shape our perceptions and learn how to outsmart the machine.
Divergent Mind
Jenara Nerenberg
Divergent Mind explores the experiences of neurodivergent women, including those with ADHD, autism, sensory processing disorder, and high sensitivity. It challenges societal norms and offers insights into thriving in a world not designed for them, advocating for the recognition and celebration of neurodiversity.
The Body Keeps the Score
Bessel van der Kolk
"The Body Keeps the Score" is a landmark work that revolutionized the understanding of trauma treatment. Written by Dr. Bessel van der Kolk, one of the world’s leading experts on traumatic stress, the book challenges the traditional view that trauma is merely a "mental" problem best treated by talk therapy or medication alone. Van der Kolk presents decades of research to prove his central thesis: trauma literally reshapes both the body and the brain. It alters the brain's wiring—specifically areas dedicated to pleasure, engagement, control, and trust—leaving survivors stuck in a state of hypervigilance. The "rational brain" often cannot talk the "emotional brain" out of its panic because the body itself is holding onto the visceral memory of the event. Crucially, the book offers a hopeful roadmap for recovery. Van der Kolk argues that to heal, we must "re-own" our bodies. He explores innovative treatments that activate the brain's natural neuroplasticity, including neurofeedback, meditation, theater, and yoga. By moving beyond the "talking cure" to therapies that integrate the body, this book provides a compassionate, scientifically rigorous guide to reclaiming one's life.
Livewired
David Eagleman
Explore the fascinating world of the human brain and its remarkable ability to adapt and rewire itself in response to experience. Discover how our brains are constantly changing, shaping who we are and influencing our futures. From the story of a child with half a brain to the latest research in neuroplasticity, this book unveils the secrets of our ever-changing minds.
The Extended Mind
Annie Murphy Paul
"The Extended Mind" is a transformative guide to cognition that shatters the age-old assumption that thinking happens only within the confines of our skulls. Science writer Annie Murphy Paul draws on cutting-edge research in neuroscience and psychology to argue that the brain is not an isolated computer, but a biological organ evolved to think with the world around it. Paul introduces the concept of "thinking outside the brain" through three key pillars: embodied cognition (thinking with our bodies, sensations, and gestures), situated cognition (thinking with the spaces and environments we inhabit), and distributed cognition (thinking through our relationships and social networks). The book critiques our modern obsession with "brainbound" productivity—forcing ourselves to sit still and stare at screens—and offers a liberating alternative. By intentionally managing our physical movements, workspaces, and social interactions, Paul shows how we can offload mental processing to the world around us. The Extended Mind provides a practical framework for anyone looking to harness these external resources to become smarter, more creative, and more resilient.