Reading list

Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle by Emily Nagoski and Amelia Nagoski

Separates the stressor from the stress response, with simple ways to finish the cycle at the end of a hard day.

Rest: Why You Get More Done When You Work Less by Alex Soojung-Kim Pang

A historian looks at how productive people built deliberate rest into their days, and why it is a skill.

Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman

A calm argument against the endless to-do list, and for choosing what to neglect on purpose.

Slow Productivity: The Lost Art of Accomplishment Without Burnout by Cal Newport

Three principles for knowledge workers: do fewer things, work at a natural pace, obsess over quality.

Can't Even: How Millennials Became the Burnout Generation by Anne Helen Petersen

A cultural reporter traces how work, debt and always-on phones made burnout feel normal.

Why Has Nobody Told Me This Before? by Julie Smith

A clinical psychologist's short, practical chapters on low mood, anxiety, stress and self-criticism.

Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy by David D. Burns

The classic self-help introduction to cognitive behavioral therapy, with exercises for anxious and low moods.

The Upward Spiral by Alex Korb

A neuroscientist explains the small changes (sleep, movement, decisions, gratitude) that can shift a low mood.

Maybe You Should Talk to Someone by Lori Gottlieb

A therapist writes about her clients and her own therapy. A gentle way to see what therapy is actually like.

Lost Connections by Johann Hari

A journalist's look at the social causes of depression and anxiety, including meaningless work.

The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk

A psychiatrist explains how trauma is held in the body and the range of approaches used to treat it.

Self-Compassion: The Proven Power of Being Kind to Yourself by Kristin Neff

The researcher behind self-compassion studies on how to treat yourself as you would a struggling colleague.

Dare to Lead by Brené Brown

Courage, trust and hard conversations for managers, from a researcher who studies vulnerability.

The Fearless Organization by Amy C. Edmondson

The Harvard researcher who defined psychological safety on how leaders build teams where people speak up.

Radical Candor (revised edition) by Kim Scott

How managers can care personally while challenging directly, so feedback lands as help rather than threat.

The Culture Code by Daniel Coyle

What close, high-trust teams do differently, told through stories from classrooms, kitchens and special forces.

Dare to Lead by Brené Brown

Courage, trust and hard conversations for managers, from a researcher who studies vulnerability.

Deep Work by Cal Newport

A case for protected, uninterrupted blocks of focus, and practical ways to win them back from email and chat.

Slow Productivity: The Lost Art of Accomplishment Without Burnout by Cal Newport

Three principles for knowledge workers: do fewer things, work at a natural pace, obsess over quality.

Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman

A calm argument against the endless to-do list, and for choosing what to neglect on purpose.

Unmasking Autism by Devon Price

Written for autistic adults who mask at work, with practical ideas for unmasking and recovering from burnout.

Driven to Distraction (Revised) by Edward M. Hallowell and John J. Ratey

The long-standing guide to adult ADHD by two psychiatrists who have it, updated in the revised edition.

Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker

A sleep scientist on what sleep does for mood, memory and health, and why shift patterns and late nights cost so much.

Atomic Habits by James Clear

Small, repeatable changes and how to make them stick, without relying on willpower or a fresh start in January.