reading list

There are only a few weeks left in sum­mer, and TEDx Salem 2015 is less than two months away! If you’re look­ing for some read­ing sug­ges­tions for that last camp­ing trip, road trip, or lazy stay-in-bed week­end before school starts, look no fur­ther!

Here are some staff-rec­om­mend­ed picks that are sure to please. In keep­ing with this year’s theme, these books explore what “fear­less” means to each of us…

 

Into Thin Air – Jon Krakauer

Saerom Yoo: “[The book] is about the dead­liest ascent to Mt. Ever­est [before the 2014 climb­ing sea­son] and tells the sto­ry of peo­ple who pur­sued a dream, risk­ing their lives. Read­ing it puts you on the edge of your seat and puts you right in the shoes of the climbers, who some­times can­not think straight due to their ambi­tions and delir­i­um. You don’t think, WHY DIDN’T THEY TURN BACK? You get it because you feel empa­thy for the char­ac­ters, even if you’re not a dare­dev­il at all.”

Stephanie Knowl­ton: “I think it shows the some­times thin line between fear­less and reck­less.”

 

Dar­ing Great­ly: How the Courage to Be Vul­ner­a­ble Trans­forms the Way We Live, Love, Par­ent, and Lead – Brené Brown

Deb  Vaugh­an: “As the par­ent of a three year old, the con­cept of being vul­ner­a­ble with feel­ings in our house is a pow­er­ful way to approach con­ver­sa­tions as she learns how to process and express big­ger and big­ger feel­ings. And the idea that I am enough – Tell me that wouldn’t change most people’s lives. The quote I have on my desk at work is: “Quick and dirty wins the race. Per­fec­tion is the ene­my of done. Good enough is pret­ty effin’ good!” I quote it to my cowork­ers all the time!!!”

 

The Rise of Super­man: Decod­ing the Sci­ence of Ulti­mate Human Per­for­mance – Steven Kotler

Bri­an Hart: “This book fea­tures some of the most amaz­ing high adven­ture ath­letes in the world and how they have over­come fear to reach “flow” states on a reg­u­lar basis. One of the best parts of the book is also one of the dark­est, and explains the dan­gers of being fear­less. In short, their addic­tion to being in the flow state, which is sci­en­tif­i­cal­ly proven to fire the same trig­gers in the brain as cocaine, hero­in and pot com­bined, end up lit­er­al­ly killing many of them. They become fear­less of just about every­thing…”

 

Born to Run: A Hid­den Tribe, Super Ath­letes, and the Great­est Race the World Has Nev­er Seen – Christo­pher McDougall

Saerom: “Born to Run is close to my heart because I’m one of those peo­ple who nev­er con­sid­ered her­self a run­ner. But this book is so inspir­ing because it looks at a tribe of fel­low humans in a remote part of our world, run­ning for DAYS with­out any of the fan­cy run­ning equip­ment and no injuries. It explores the his­to­ry and sci­ence behind humans’ rela­tion­ship with run­ning, and you real­ize that WE’RE ALL RUNNERS. I read it while train­ing for my first half marathon, which was a very scary goal for me. It left me inspired and feel­ing strong. I still think back to it from time to time, when I’m daunt­ed by the phys­i­cal chal­lenge of run­ning. Oh, and I total­ly rocked the marathon, by the way. :-)”

 

Face the Music: A Life Exposed – Paul Stan­ley

Jay Shenai: “A some­what sur­pris­ing­ly infor­ma­tive auto­bi­og­ra­phy, quite intro­spec­tive for an indi­vid­ual so strong­ly iden­ti­fied with aggres­sive self-pro­mo­tion and masked, macho rock-and-roll. Along with the glam­our and glitz of this “back­stage pass,” Stan­ley also shares the anx­i­ety and trau­ma of his chaot­ic upbring­ing in New York City before join­ing Gene Sim­mons to form the band KISS.

Putting the group’s own efforts at mythol­o­giz­ing aside – How did some­one born with an ear defor­mi­ty (micro­tia), ren­dered deaf in one ear from birth, decide he could and would make such an impact on music? My favorite image comes rel­a­tive­ly ear­ly on, when an awk­ward pre-teen Stan­ley Bert Eisen sits on a bench wait­ing for his appoint­ment with his ther­a­pist, and unwraps a Blimpie sand­wich to eat in the park, alone. I like how he describes the soli­tude and the sand­wich. Imag­ine the feel­ing, of being ready to take on the world despite all the evi­dence to the con­trary, and all the doubters; not sure how, but just wait­ing for the oppor­tu­ni­ty to come.”

 

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ALSO RECOMMENDED:

 

The Har­ry Pot­ter series – J. K. Rowl­ing

Saerom: “Har­ry Pot­ter and his friends con­stant­ly face the risk of death fight­ing the evil Death Eaters and Volde­mort. Har­ry some­times does cross into reck­less ter­ri­to­ry, though. I’m read­ing it for the first time cur­rent­ly and I’m on book 6 (Har­ry Pot­ter and the Half-Blood Prince). I’m con­stant­ly amazed at the adult themes dis­cussed in the books.”

Edi­tor’s Note: If you see Saerom around, please don’t talk about the end­ing. We’re try­ing not to spoil it for her.

 

The Cen­ter Can­not Hold: My Jour­ney Through Mad­ness – Elyn R. Saks

Bri­an: “It’s an incred­i­ble auto­bi­og­ra­phy about how [the author] strug­gles to main­tain a ‘nor­mal’ life while strug­gling with schiz­o­phre­nia every day.”

 

Their Eyes Were Watch­ing God – Zora Neale Hurston

Stephanie: “Both the author and main char­ac­ter were fear­less at a time when women had lit­tle if any voice.”

 

Man’s Search for Mean­ing – Vik­tor E. Fran­kl

Bri­an: “…hands down one of the most inspir­ing books I have ever read.”

 

 

- To get your tick­ets to TEDx Salem 2015, click here!