Best books...chosen by Arianna Huffington
Below, HuffingtonPost.com founder Arianna Huffington recommends six books that provide refuges amid an overscheduled life.
Below, HuffingtonPost.com founder Arianna Huffington recommends six books that provide refuges amid an overscheduled life. All six works are cited in Thrive, Huffington’s new book about alternate paths to success and happiness.
Catching the Big Fish by David Lynch (Tarcher, $14). “Ideas are like fish,” writes director David Lynch, who is also a longtime meditator. “If you want to catch the big fish, you’ve got to go deeper. Down deep, the fish are more powerful and more pure. They’re huge and abstract. And they’re very beautiful.”
Memories, Dreams, Reflections by Carl Jung (Vintage, $17). I have long been captivated by Jung’s emphasis on dreams and archetypes. This autobiographical work, one of my favorite books, helped me explore the possibility that our nighttime dreams, far from shutting us off from “the real world,” actually open up another reality—a timeless place that allows us to listen to our souls.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Mindfulness by Mark Williams and Danny Penman (Rodale, $16). Williams and Penman suggest a variety of quick and easy ways to practice mindfulness, including taking something we’ve placed on autopilot—brushing our teeth, drinking our morning coffee—and putting it back on the list of things we pay attention to.
Being With Dying by Joan Halifax (Sham-b-hala, $17). Halifax is a Zen Buddhist priest, an anthropologist, and a hospice worker. She writes that treating death as a “drugged-up, tube-entangled, institutionalized” final stage denies us valuable life lessons. She argues that the practice of giving care to the dying “enjoins us to be still, let go, listen, and be open to the unknown.”
Give and Take by Adam Grant (Penguin, $16). Grant, a Wharton professor, cites studies that show that those who give their time and effort to others end up achieving more success than those who don’t. It’s true for salespeople, engineers, and medical students: Nice guys don’t finish last!
Search Inside Yourself by Chade-Meng Tan (HarperOne, $27). One of the most popular classes Google offers to its employees is called “SIY,” for “Search Inside Yourself.” The class was started by Tan, an engineer and Google employee No. 107, who eventually wrote this book about his principles. The course is divided into three parts: attention training, self--knowledge, and building useful mental habits.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Critics' choice: Reimagined Mexican-American fare
Feature A shape-shifting dining experience, an evolving 50-year-old restaurant, and Jalisco-style recipes
-
Here We Are: Stephen Sondheim's 'utterly absorbing' final musical
The Week Recommends The musical theatre legend's last work is 'witty, wry and suddenly wise'
-
The Trial: 'sharp' legal drama with a 'clever' script
The Week Recommends Channel 5's one-off show imagines a near future where parents face trial for their children's crimes
-
Marya E. Gates' 6 favorite books about women filmmakers
Feature The film writer recommends works by Julie Dash, Sofia Coppola, and more
-
Laurence Leamer's 6 favorite books that took courage to write
Feature The author recommends works by George Orwell, Truman Capote and more
-
Amor Towles' 6 favorite books from the 1950s
Feature The author recommends works by Vladimir Nabokov, Jack Kerouac, and more
-
Susan Page's 6 favorite books about historical figures who stood up to authority
Feature The USA Today's Washington bureau chief recommends works by Catherine Clinton, Alexei Navalny, and more
-
Ione Skye's 6 favorite books about love and loss
Feature The actress recommends works by James Baldwin, Nora Ephron, and more
-
Colum McCann's 6 favorite books that take place at sea
Feature The National Book Award-winning author recommends works by Ernest Hemingway, Herman Melville, and more
-
Max Allan Collins’ 6 favorite books that feature private detectives
Feature The mystery writer recommends works by Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, and more
-
John McWhorter’s 6 favorite books that are rooted in history
Feature The Columbia University professor recommends works by Lyla Sage, Sally Thorne, and more