As an optimistic citizen of the world, I travelled the globe to witness famine in Africa and seaweed farming in Asia. Having worked on food systems for twenty-five years and being the father of three children, I was looking for solutions to feed the coming generation with hopes instead of fears! That’s how I ended up working for a visionary charity (Lloyd’s Register Foundation) and leading a “Seaweed Revolution” for United Nations Global Compact as well as writing book to spread the gospel of neglected Ocean Based Solutions. The books I have recommended here all give hope through examples from the past and present and provide readers with practical toolkits for creating positive change.
I wrote
The Seaweed Revolution: How Seaweed Has Shaped Our Past and Can Save Our Future
This book is an inspirational call to get a sense of the real state of our world through facts, by Hans Rosing, a WHO leader with an amazing international experience.
Hans started writing this book as a legacy when he learned about his cancer and finished it just before passing away. It highlights the positive progress that has been made in the world, showing how our perspective is biased by our morbid attraction to bad news.
The book starts with the most mind-blowing quiz in book history, featuring basic questions that everyone fails. It shows how misguided we are about the word, regardless of how educated we think we are. The book is full of anecdotes that give clear guidance about how to switch to a more factual and positive vision of our world and why this is so important for shaping a positive future…
'A hopeful book about the potential for human progress when we work off facts rather than our inherent biases.' BARACK OBAMA
'One of the most important books I've ever read - an indispensable guide to thinking clearly about the world.' BILL GATES
*#1 Sunday Times bestseller * New York Times bestseller * Observer 'best brainy book of the decade' * Irish Times bestseller * Guardian bestseller * audiobook bestseller *
Factfulness: The stress-reducing habit of only carrying opinions for which you have strong supporting facts.
When asked simple questions about global trends - why the world's population is increasing; how…
I chose this amazing book because fungi are the “other” greatest untapped resource that can help save the world.
I was approached by fungi specialists after releasing the French edition of The Seaweed Revolution because there are quite a lot of similarities and expectations around those two forgotten resources that encompass an incredibly wide range of organisms.
While there is much we still don’t know about fungi, it is a fundamental part of our ecosystem. Edited by the fungi “guru”, Paul Stamets, the book explains how fungi create a network that covers the entire planet that are crucial for land and the life forms that depend on it to exist.
This network shows astonishing similarities to the Internet, to the neural arrangement of our brain, and even to the structure of the entire universe. It is a spiritual and remarkable book, which also introduces a wide range of beneficial applications, from pharmacology to environmental solutions to new levels of consciousness.
“Louie Schwartzberg’s lightly informative, delightfully kooky documentary, “Fantastic Fungi,” offers nothing less than a model for planetary survival.” –Jeannette Catsoulis, The New York Times
“Gorgeous photography! Time-lapse sequences of mushrooms blossoming forth could pass for studies of exotic flowers growing on another planet.” –Joe Morgenstern, The Wall Street Journal
The Life-Affirming, Mind-Bending Companion Book to the Smash Hit Documentary FANTASTIC FUNGI
Viewed in over 100 countries and selling hundreds of thousands of tickets on the way to finishing 2019 with a rare 100% Tomato meter rating on Rotten Tomatoes, Schwartzberg’s documentary Fantastic Fungi has brought the…
After his great book Utopia for Realists, which called for a Universal Basic Income, Rutger advances his brilliant and uncommonly optimistic theories with a book that demonstrates, using a lot of historical and scientific evidence, that people are fundamentally decent by nature.
According to him, the evil side of our nature is a deviation created by our modern social and political systems. It demonstrates that our current leaders are highly dependent on that deviation to continue in order to thrive. Bregman provides some fascinating insights on how some of our history has been entirely rewritten in a negative way to make humankind look worse than it is…
The book gives so much hope and advocates a “provocative solidarity” with our fellow human beings. After reading this, you’ll never look at others the same way…
THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER A Guardian, Daily Telegraph, New Statesman and Daily Express Book of the Year
'Hugely, highly and happily recommended' Stephen Fry 'You should read Humankind. You'll learn a lot (I did) and you'll have good reason to feel better about the human race' Tim Harford 'Made me see humanity from a fresh perspective' Yuval Noah Harari
It's a belief that unites the left and right, psychologists and philosophers, writers and historians. It drives the headlines that surround us and the laws that touch our lives. From Machiavelli to Hobbes, Freud to Dawkins, the roots of this belief have…
This book is an optimistic narration about one of the most amazing and important achievements in medical history.
It is written by Donald Henderson, the doctor who led the eradication campaign against the arguably most severe and incurable disease in history. Smallpox killed or disabled hundreds of millions of people and remains so far the only virus to have been deliberately eradicated globally.
This story is an ode to the unlimited power of science, education, and multilateralism. It shows how, led by a few people and a lot of positive stamina, the world got together and overcame all hurdles despite technical challenges and political division in a highly fragmented post-war world.
Echoing recent events with Covid – and hopefully providing a blueprint for tackling climate change – it shows how we can stand together when circumstances require it and achieve what seemed for ages completely impossible. An inspiring example for our Seaweed Revolution!
For more than 3000 years, hundreds of millions of people have died or been left permanently scarred or blind by the relentless, incurable disease called smallpox. In 1967, Dr. D.A. Henderson became director of a worldwide campaign to eliminate this disease from the face of the earth.
This spellbinding book is Dr. Henderson's personal story of how he led the World Health Organization's campaign to eradicate smallpox-the only disease in history to have been deliberately eliminated. Some have called this feat "the greatest scientific and humanitarian achievement of the past century."
In a lively, engrossing narrative, Dr. Henderson makes it…
This is another book that can inspire you in your daily life and change your perspective. A call for happiness!
Despite what we believe, happiness breeds success, and not the other way around… quite an important distinction. This very well-researched book by a specialist from Harvard University also argues that our brain is flexible enough to change whatever our age, and that it is always possible to mitigate our negative perception of reality.
This leads to a more positive way of thinking that will create the conditions to achieve what we want and lead an exciting life! After reading this book, you’ll be able to make happiness contagious and promote the cause like an activist! A must-read for the next generation.
Most people want to be successful in life. And of course, everyone wants to be happy. When it comes to the pursuit of success and happiness, most people assume the same formula: if you work hard, you will become successful, and once you become successful, then you'll be happy. The only problem is that a decade of cutting-edge research in the field of positive psychology has proven that this formula is backwards. Success does not beget happiness.
Based on the largest study ever conducted on happiness and human potential (a survey conducted by the author of more than 1,600 students),…
Seaweed is the greatest untapped resource we have to address our most pressing crises. Incredibly diverse, seaweed could contribute to bringing back balance in our ecosystems through a wide range of applications. It could contribute to better feeding human beings and animals, replace plastic and fertilizers, boost medical innovations, mitigate global warming, repair biodiversity, and support economies in coastal communities where fishing resources are declining.
Although seaweed has supported our development for millions of years, we have lost our connection with it and focused our efforts purely on land cultivation. Today a fast-growing global population, combined with climate, social and environmental crises, gives us compelling reasons to reconsider this forgotten treasure. The book describes what a seaweed revolution could look like, with lots of practical examples and anecdotes from history.
I’ve always been fascinated by group dynamics, large and small. Why things functioned well, why they didn’t. It’s possible my ability to empathize and use humor as a consensus-builder is the reason I was elected president of a homeowners association, a music production association, and even an agricultural group. Books were not particularly involved in this fascination! But in recent years, experiencing the breakdown of civility and trust in our political and cultural discourse, I’ve taken a more analytical view of the dynamics. These books, in their very different ways, have taught me lessons about life, understanding those with different beliefs, and finding ways to connect and move forward.
We’ve all experienced the overwhelming level of political and social divisiveness in our country. This invisible “virus” of negativity is, in part, the result of the name-calling and heated rhetoric that has become commonplace among commentators and elected leaders alike.
My book provides a clear perspective on the historical and modern-day causes of our nation's divisive state. It then proposes easy-to-understand solutions—an action plan for our elected leaders and citizens as well. Rather than a scholarly treatment of a complex topic, the book challenges us to take the obvious steps required of those living in a free democracy. And it…
Uniting the States of America: A Self-Care Plan for a Wounded Nation
Lyle Greenfield's "Uniting the States of America―A Self-Care Plan for a Wounded Nation" is a work of nonfiction and opinion. Incorporating the lessons of history and the ideas and wisdom of many, it is intended as both an educational resource and a call-to-action for citizens concerned about the politically and culturally divided state of our Union. A situation that has raised alarm for the very future of our democracy.
First, the book clearly identifies the causes of what has become a national crisis of belief in and love for our country. How the divisiveness and hostility rampant in our political…
