June is here! Summer is here! (Maybe not officially, but meteorologically.) I am a summer baby, both by birthright and by disposition. I wish I could always be in short sleeves and Birkenstocks. Unfortunately, I live in Saskatchewan, where it’s winter for 3/4 of the year. But I think it’s made me appreciate summer even more.
I have fond memories of childhood summers. I lived within biking distance from both the local library and the public pool — what more could a kid need? And while it’s been years since I held a pool pass, my library card is still one of my most treasured possessions. I only wish I could still spend all summer with my nose in a book.
On Saturday, the NYT Morning newsletter was about summer reading. The author suggests making a plan for summer reading — a checklist or reading challenge or some type of specific goal to guide you and hold you accountable.
Personally, I’m more of a “mood reader.” I rarely make much of a plan for what to read because I want to pick the perfect book for the moment, when the moment arrives. Of course, I do have lists of books I want to read — my “to read” list on Goodreads has more than 750 titles on it, and my wishlist on Libby has more than 500. I love fiction, especially romance, but I tend to read more nonfiction these days.
In my Honest Business Book Reviews series, I shared my honest opinions of work-related books, and I didn’t hold back — I gave two stars to Cal Newport’s bestseller, Deep Work, and I stand by that. I tend to be a bit harsh and cynical about business books because many of them read like bloated blog posts.
However, I have read (and even reread!) some genuinely good ones. If you’re a reader and/or a list person, here are some “business” books I recommend you add to your summer reading roster:
This book is about productivity and time management, but it offers an alternative to the typical "hustle culture" approach to cramming as much into each day as you possibly can and burning yourself out. In fact, the main thesis is that time is finite, and we truly DON'T have time to do many things each day — or even throughout our entire lives. It encourages readers to really think about what is important and to make very conscious decisions about how to spend their time.
I love this book. The first time I read it, I immediately restarted the audiobook and listened to it again. I’ve since read it a third time, and I plan to read it many more times.
Further Reading: Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown is very similar in theme and thesis, but it is definitely worth a read as well. There is so much excellent advice in this book, particularly on boundaries, saying no, protecting the asset (you are the asset), cutting your losses, and having a routine.
In this book, each chapter is centered on a different person's story, and the lifestyle/career paths represented are varied and fascinating. I found it well-researched and well-reported, and it touches on so many facets of the work/life balance and workism issue.
FYI: I have seen some critiques that the author focuses on relatively wealthy, privileged individuals who have chosen to work less. This is a fair assessment, but I still found a lot of interesting and valuable insights that felt relevant to my life.
Further Reading: Work Won’t Love Your Back by Sarah Jaffe offers a slightly more diverse and intersectional look at work and work/life balance. It also focuses more on work reform, unions, and activism. I really loved how the different chapters looked at different types of careers and the unique struggles workers face, including teaching, non-profit work, athletics, caregiving, tech, and art.
This book was sort of my “gateway drug” into the world of progressive ideas about work and wealth and life. The author reflects on the progress humanity has made in the past century or so, and he looks to the future, giving compelling arguments and citing a LOT of research to back up his ideas about universal basic income, a 15-hour workweek, and open borders.
He encourages readers to question the status quo when it comes to welfare, capitalism, consumption, labor, leisure, and immigration. We're also reminded that things like women's suffrage and the abolition of slavery once sounded radically progressive and unfeasible...
Further Reading: Give People Money by Annie Lowry offers a deeper look at the topic of UBI and reports on various UBI experiments and pilot programs across the world. Overtime: Why We Need A Shorter Working Week by Will Stronge and Kyle Lewis is a short but dense book that makes the case for a shorter workweek.
Here are some books I really want to read in the coming months — let me know if you’ve read any of these! Maybe I should do a book club 👀
See you next week,
Kara
Out of Office
What I do when I’m not at my desk
Reading: I finished Making Art and Making a Living, yet another book I recommend. I’m now reading a memoir by a Saskatchewan author: The Way of the Gardener.
Watching: I’m rewatching Heated Rivalry 🤭
Doing: I helped* plant the garden at my in-laws’ farmyard!
*sat in a lawn chair and recorded notes about what we planted while also wrangling my puppy
Kara Detwiller is a writer and creative based in small-town Saskatchewan. She specializes in long-form content writing for enterprise SaaS, cybersecurity, and manufacturing clients. She is also working on her first novel, among other creative pursuits. To connect, reply to this email or find Kara on LinkedIn.
Why Wishful Working? I want to help people thrive in a world obsessed with work and productivity. Together, we’re expanding the definition of productivity, rediscovering life balance, and exploring the many kinds of work that make life possible.
