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Great minds are said to think alike – or perhaps they have similar ideas because they observe the same world around them. Each year, as my team and I select the best books of the year, we discover certain themes among the more than 1,000 submissions we review.
We call them themes – and they reflect a combination of the cultural zeitgeist of what’s happening in business today and current issues that concern entrepreneurs and professionals at the moment. Among the books published this year, we read about the importance of calm and overcoming anxiety, climate solutions, prioritizing generosity, reassessing the human condition in the age of AI, power discreet leadership and much more. Read on to discover the trends we’ve spotted and some of our thoughts on how they might be relevant to you as we approach 2025 and beyond.
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1. Calm anxiety and burnout
After a conflicting election year, an increase anxiety and a growing awareness of mental health at work, this year there was a series of books focused on what to do burnout at work. Some advocated working less, while others focused on productivity hacks. From de-stressing to conquering anxiety, the idea of calm at work and in life has become an urgent topic, and this reality has been reflected through books aimed at offering desperately needed help.
2. Mathematical mind
Can mathematics explain the world? This year, mathematical minds took center stage to offer perspectives on everything from how AI actually works to how it powers the world’s most popular games. Geography, geometry, statistics, and even thought patterns received the numbers treatment as this group of books put mathematics back in the spotlight and argued that understanding the world, making new friends, and changing perspectives all boil down to everyone has a better understanding of mathematics.
3. Proper aging
If longevity exploded in 2023, then this year offers a correction to books focused on how we live rather than just techniques for live longer. Along with the theme of longevity, many new books this year offered ideas on how to age successfully. Whether it’s loving your midlife or living a wonderful, purposeful life, the new theme around aging seems to be about enjoying the time you have, whether it lasts a century or less.
4. Rethink higher education
Like the workplace changes and the costs of higher education continue to spark debate, a series of books this year have offered either a commentary on the higher education experience or a suggestion for a compelling alternative to the traditional four-year college experience years. As more young people consider alternative paths to success, the college question is gaining momentum and will likely spark even more divisiveness and discussion in the coming year and beyond.
5. Generosity first
Perhaps in response to a world that seems to reward toxicity, several books this year have brought generosity and the idea of generous leadership to the forefront. Fostering friendly team dynamics, maintaining hope instead of becoming cynical, and living life giving back more were all key themes that stood out this year as the authors offered a more optimistic prescription for how to live and work that reminded us of the power too easily forgotten. about truly caring for each other and why doing so can be the key to prosperity and happiness.
6. Save humanity
Last year, the big theme for AI-focused books was designing AI to be more humane and reducing bias or other potential problems with the technology as it becomes widely adopted. This year, that trend continued, but many books took a significantly more philosophical turn by questioning human existence in a world ruled by AI. Will we exist or will we be needed? Is our disappearance inevitable? As we live in a new technological age, these questions have received a renewed sense of urgency and attention, as many books have helped to reimagine what it will mean to be human in an increasingly automated future.
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7. The female lens
In recent years, a growing number of writers have turned their attention to previously neglected topics. female point of view on many different topics. This year, this women’s lens focused on the history of women on Wall Street, the memoirs of pioneers like Connie Chung, female-focused branding techniques, and exploring the role of women in the creation of crossword puzzles. . In addition to offering a gendered corrective to decades of male-centered historical perspectives, this new line of books showcases the stories of previously overlooked female heroes of history who deserve to be remembered.
8. Find purpose
TThis year, a big topic for many books focused on finding your passion and purpose. Rather than living a rudderless life, people of all ages are seeing reminders to live a life with purpose and leave a legacy they can be proud of. Whether it’s finding your passion or avoiding despair (seasonal, political, environmental, or otherwise), these hopeful books offer to help you rediscover your purpose and live it more intentionally every day.
9. Climate solutionism
In recent years, numerous books on global warming and climate change have chronicled the problem and aimed to propose legislative or advocacy solutions. This year, a new perspective has emerged regarding “solutionism.” In other words, many books have provided us with solutions to solve some of the world’s man-made environmental problems. At least this positivity focuses on what to do next instead of dissecting and blaming how we got here.
10. The citizenship imperative
After a controversy election seasonseveral books last year aimed to help Americans rediscover their democracy and what it means to be a citizen. Whether teaching young people about the latter, explaining topics such as migration or freedom of expression, or more controversially calling for the revision and rethinking of the Constitution itself, the idea that we all need to better understand and perhaps reinvent the core beliefs of our government was timely and urgent. at the center of many headlines last year.
11. Quiet leadership
In what might seem like the ultimate irony, several counterintuitive books have focused this year on the quieter aspect of leadership. Whether it’s embracing silence, increasing cultural intelligence, or focusing on the softer side of management, the bottom line seems to be that the louder the world becomes, the more leaders who oppose to this trend and embracing their calm side could be effective.
12. The antidote of friendship
A year ago, a series of books explored the loneliness epidemic and warned of the negative health and emotional effects of isolation. This year, the antidote took center stage by encouraging people to forge and strengthen more friendships. These books offered encouragement, tactics, and perhaps most importantly, a reminder that having strong friendships requires investing the time to make them work.