2025: Tired of pretending everything’s fine.
As if holding on were enough.This year, the books that truly matter don’t comfort—they confront. They shatter the toxic myths of disconnected growth and performance (Shatterproof, L’Entreprise robuste, The Frugal Economy), point out the absurdity of systems that exploit under the guise of care (Moss, Dasgupta, Sibony), and demand radical reinvention—ecological, social, human (Watson, Lizarralde). They remind us that collective intelligence, emotion, and human connection aren’t soft skills—they’re strategic levers (Goleman, Budden, Morris).
That resilience isn’t a luxury—it’s urgent. That change is no longer a choice.
Shaterproof
You were taught to endure. To hold on. To grit your teeth and wait for the storm to pass.
Tired of the resilience myth? Shatterproof breaks down the pressure to “stay strong” and takes apart feel-good wellness clichés. Tasha Eurich doesn’t promise inner peace—she offers something better: a plan to rebuild while the storm is still raging. Sharp, honest, and necessary. A must-read if you’re done smiling your way through survival.
L’Entreprise robuste
Business was built on one core belief: performance. Faster, leaner, more efficient—always. But in a world in flux, this model turns into a trap. Crisis after crisis, we see that over-optimized companies can’t absorb shocks. Nature teaches us a different path: resilience through robustness. A must-read if you’re done with short-term fixes.
For those who want real resilience in all this.
The Frugal Economy. A Guide to Building a Better World With Less
Fewer resources, more ideas? Radjou, the mind behind Jugaad Innovation, turns crises into engines of innovation—doing more with less, without giving up on impact. Somewhere between purpose-driven marketing and a genuine search for meaning, this hybrid, inspiring, and clear-eyed manifesto calls for a new kind of growth—one that reconnects efficiency with humanity. Essential reading for rethinking what growth should mean.
Environment and Development Challenges – The Imperative to Act
Climate, biodiversity, inequality—everything is connected, and everything is accelerating. In this collective wake-up call, leading scientists make one thing clear: progress is impossible without systemic disruption. Tweaks and minor fixes won’t cut it. As long as our economic, political, and social systems rely on endless resource extraction and structural injustice, every isolated solution will be swallowed by a global crisis. We don’t need adjustment—we need a deep, radical reprogramming. No wishful thinking allowed.
Debating Disaster Risk: Ethical Dilemmas in the Era of Climate Change
Disaster risk reduction? Yes—but not at any cost. Lizarralde dismantles top-down techno-humanitarian solutions that often ignore local inequalities. His core argument: risk can’t be managed without social justice and genuine community engagement. A hard-hitting essay that challenges the legitimacy of standardized interventions and pits ethical complexity against operational shortcuts.
For those looking for meaning in all this.
Why Are We Here ?
Work has become a disillusionment machine—it’s broken. Moss lays bare the absurdity of the system and calls out the empty rhetoric of workplace happiness. Instead, she offers real ways to rebuild around what truly matters: meaning, safety, and clarity. Tangible, measurable, fixable. A sharp guide to creating a healthy culture without the empty slogans. At times a bit too polished, but a powerful tool to break free from the era of fake caring.
Change the Wallpaper
What if bias doesn’t come from individuals—but from the environments that shape them? Dasgupta shows how context determines who speaks up, learns, and leads. No vague talk about diversity here—just hard data, actionable levers, and a compelling case for transforming systems instead of “fixing” people. Clear, dense, occasionally dry, but powerfully useful for tackling the real roots of exclusion—without finger-pointing.
La diversité n’est pas ce que vous croyez !
Lack of diversity isn’t a glitch—it’s the outcome of a system that rewards some profiles and sidelines others. Forget the corporate slogans: Sibony takes down lazy thinking on diversity with sniper-like precision. Behind good intentions lie deep-rooted biases. Sharp, witty, and unsettling, this book doesn’t pander to HR departments or activists. At long last, a stance that shakes things up.
For those who believe we’re better together.
Accelerating Innovation
Trying to drive innovation solely from within—inside a company, a team, or a closed organization—is like running with a ball and chain. That model is outdated. Today’s most powerful innovation comes not from silos, but from engaging with a rich, connected, well-orchestrated ecosystem. Nothing revolutionary—but a timely and necessary reminder.
The Emotionally Intelligent Team
Team performance isn’t just about individual talent—it’s about collective emotional intelligence. The central idea: emotional intelligence isn’t “nice-to-have,” it’s structural. The best teams manage emotions, tensions, and invisible dynamics. Slightly prescriptive at times, but a powerful, inspiring read for anyone ready to move beyond shallow team-building exercises.
Tribal
Tribalism is one of today’s most misunderstood buzzwords. It’s blamed for everything from political polarization to workplace discrimination. Michael Morris flips the script: our tribal instincts aren’t flaws—they’re humanity’s secret weapon. Instead of dismissing them as irrational, he argues we should harness them as powerful drivers of growth and connection.
We couldn’t leave this one out.
The Ministry for the Future
Legendary sci-fi author Kim Stanley Robinson delivers a climate narrative like no other. The Ministry for the Future is a masterwork of imagination—a novel built on fictional testimonies that capture the human impact of climate change. It’s not set in a desolate post-apocalyptic world, but in a near future that feels all too real. Picked by Barack Obama as one of his favorite books of the year, this extraordinary novel is bound to change the way you see the climate crisis.
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