Recommended Readings

What made Pixar the creative juggernaut of the early to mid 2000s? How was the studio able to maintain such high standards and inspire their team to go above and beyond what was expected of them?

Creativity Inc. follows the story of Ed Catmull and how he cultivated the environment necessary for Pixar’s success

Tasked with a top-secret mission by the highest-ranking Japanese officials, Hiroo Onada finds himself thrust into the harsh jungles of Lubang, an island of the Philippine archipelago. He was taught to fight until the bitter end, but what if the end never came?

Hiroo Onada recalls, with intense detail his hardships throughout his thirty years of guerilla warfare in the jungle. How did he motivate himself to continue fighting all those years? What finally convinced him to return home?

The Midnight Library follows the story of a woman named Nora Seed, a brilliant individual who stumbles upon the midnight library where she reads autobiographical recounts of different lives she could have lived.

How does Nora respond to these stories? How does the Midnight Library change her perspective moving forward?

The Martian is a story of one man’s survival on the red planet. A planet that is inhospitable to life must now be conquered by NASA’s greatest botanist if he wants to live.

Mark Watney struggles with his own mortality as he musters up the motivation to make it back home.

This book is real funny — go read it.

What makes high achievers successful?

Angela Duckworth dives into the minds of these “high achievers” and posits that success may not be inborn talent but instead a special blend of resilience and unrelenting single-mindedness.

She pushes her hypothesis to its limits to determine if grit can be learned or cultivated.