This excellent book is subtitled How to be strong and positive in a changing world: it’s a short, practical primer on techniques to raise your personal resilience. William’s books inspire me by their skill in presenting ideas which are potentially complex or strange, in common sense mainstream language. Here, he explores the physiology of resilience, … Read more
This is published by Action for Happiness, probably the biggest UK network focussed on happiness. It may be stretching things to call it a book; it’s a 28-page free download from their website, www.actionforhappiness.org. Along with the ten keys, all helpful, the book suggests ways to use them, for example creating a local group, or … Read more
What we think about when we try not to think about global warming By Per Espen Stoknes
Guest Blog by Jane Sanders
There’s a Permaculture principle called the ‘edge effect’ which describes the incredible richness and diversity that is to be found where two habitats meet … for example the edge of a forest. This book brought this to mind as I experienced the weaving together of psychology and climate science, Per espen stokneseconomics, and deep ecology. As a reader it invited me to stretch my edges too, venturing into new territories. Per offers an integrated holistic approach to the diagnosis and the ‘treatment’ of the earth’s malaise like a holistic medicine practitioner who looks deeper than symptomatic treatment to heal the body.
Testimony of Light by Helen Greaves
Is there an afterlife beyond this human one? What is it like? If we knew more about the afterlife, could that guide our human life here and now? This book offers some of the most convincing answers to these questions that I have found.
If you’re wondering what a book on this theme has to do with resilience and wellbeing, read on. The book points out that a new level of snobbery has developed as inequality of various kinds has increased. Class judgements at all levels of society are even more derogatory. And it’s clear that relative position, and … Read more
Colin Tudge thinks big, positive and practical. His main expertise is in food and farming: he helped start the Campaign for Real Farming, whose annual conference is now bigger than the NFU’s. His ideas for positive change could be a blueprint for many other sectors too. I heard Colin speak recently at a session hosted … Read more
The value of resilience, and purposeful instability… The focus of this well-written book is creating successful, innovative organisations, and the personal skills to enable this. The authors are co-founders of Relume, a small team who have helped top businesses for many years. Claire Genkai Breeze draws heavily on her Zen Buddhist training in her approach. … Read more
If you do a web search for books on personal resilience, this one comes up as well rated. It is a clear, common-sense self-help guide to the basics of the topic.
The book is easy to use, with a mix of checklists, exercises, anecdotes, and resources guides at the back. It handles such issues as dealing with strong emotions in a sensible style which avoids New Age jargon.
Don’t Even Think About It: why our brains are wired to ignore climate change. This book is an eloquent explanation of the issue in the title: well-researched, and refreshingly written. It is serious, but not a depressing lecture: the book is entertaining and engaging, partly through its use of stories and interviews as a way of getting past our hard-wired resistance. The table below gives a summary of the major issues covered in the book, and Marshall’s suggested antidotes.
Rosemary Randall is a psychotherapist and group facilitator who has been involved in the environmental movement for many years. She writes and lectures widely on the psychological aspects of climate change. Andy Brown is an engineer with a background in the social sciences. He works in research for the built environment and has been a … Read more