14 Wellbeing Books from 2023 (4 of them freely downloadable) to orbit in the human sphere
“A person who had never listened to nor read a tale or myth or parable or story, would remain ignorant of his own emotional and spiritual heights and depths, would not know quite fully what it is to be human.” ―Ursula K. Le Guin
“Reading without thinking will confuse you. Thinking without reading will place you in danger.” ―Confucius
“Books are the compasses and telescopes and sextants and charts which other men have prepared to help us navigate the dangerous seas of human life.” ―Jesse Lee Bennett
This is already the fourth year that I am writing about books on wellbeing and its inseparable companion: “ill-being” (books of 2022 / 2021 / 2020) and where I will briefly comment on those books of 2023 published in English that word of mouth or chance have led me to read.
The framework in which this article is framed will be defined by this kind of inner “compass” that I have designed.
This is one of a triad of tools (the other two being a hat for responsibly thinking explorers and an exploratory map for action) that can facilitate the exploration and connection of the different points of human society. We live in an economy where, for example, as the alternative economist Manfred Max-Neef said, people are at the service of the economy rather than the economy being at the service of the people. This latter economy, a kind of Wellbeing economy, i.e., a more human economy, differs from the previous one which is largely driven by the compass of GDP, by a search for results that integrate the planet on which we depend, the resilience of societies to the incidences that affect them and the integral health of their inhabitants.
Not far from his actual words is this quote attributed to Einstein, “Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler”. It is possibly a compressed version of these lines from a 1933 lecture: “It can scarcely be denied that the supreme goal of all theory is to make the irreducible basic elements as simple and as few as possible without having to surrender the adequate representation of a single datum of experience”.
So the design of this “compass” is as simple as I could come up with. However, it encompasses a tremendous complexity that is not easy to explain: We are living in VUCA situations (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous) and we are also immersed in a poly-crisis or meta-crisis with personal, social and environmental implications. All of the above makes us feel lost.
As I indicated metaphorically in a previous article, the compass is not the direction, i.e. it does not show us a single path but several. For example, the inertia of the path travelled in our Western society with its current ecosystem of values needs to be changed given the sensitivity to the context of all these environmental (loss of biodiversity, overshoot, pollution…), social (colonialism, inequality, racism…) and personal (mental health, existential crises, disconnection…) crises. This redirection of values can go in two directions indistinctly and paradoxically:
— Establishing paradigm values or visions of past times (Tribal Era) that we use sparsely, but that can be revisited in these circumstances.
— Letting emerge a new ecosystem of values that lead us to a kind of more modern good life (perhaps metamodern and possibly with an imprint of Planetary wellbeing.
Both directions are complementary, causing the past, the present and the future to feed on each other to mark our next steps.
As I have always alluded to in these articles about books, they cannot be summarised in one or two paragraphs, so this post is an invitation to encounter them. Taking the three quotes mentioned above, I hope that if you have a chance to browse through them, they will make you think (and think with them) and you will be able to glimpse fully what it is to be human.
The Evolved Nest: Nature’s Way of Raising Children and Creating Connected Communities by Darcia Narvaez and Gay A. Bradshaw
Darcia Narvaez has done it again. Her previous book (2022), “Restoring the Kinship Worldview” with Wahinkpe Topa was a marvel. This time accompanied by Gay Bradshaw; they leave us with a wonderfully written book in which they take us into the world of the human animal. Through the presentation of different phases of the life of different animals: bears, elephants, parrots, whales, octopuses… we go through certain natural patterns that we humans of this 21st century (mainly westerners) are forgetting. Like a kind of nature documentary, we observe how each species evolved its nest, a set of practices that represent a biology of love, love in action. In my opinion and through the framework of this inner compass, the cultural change that began in the Neolithic and accelerated in the last two centuries, has made us lose this sensitivity to the biological context and made us follow a set of new values that are doing us harm. In this case, to return to the patterns of that path, where more than 95% of the time the human species has survived, is to return home, to our nest.
Right Story, Wrong Story: Adventures in Indigenous Thinking by Tyson Yunkaporta
From Tyson’s perspective and focusing on the wrong path that I mentioned in the book above, we find this book, which I enjoyed very much and made me laugh even more. Tyson’s humour (with a lot of irony) lets us contemplate the paradoxes we live in. In addition to his humour, in his writing he has used other paradoxical tools such as contradictions, inconsistencies, dissonances, anomalies… that we live. This is, in my opinion, what can make us wake up from this erroneous path that has led us to this meta-crisis and get us back on track. My favourite metaphor, life is a journey, is reflected in the book. Firstly, and physically, through the story of the construction of a canoe and secondly in the symbolic journey of the writer/reader through the Anthropocene in which we are living. This is a book that will make you think (and perhaps act) on how to avoid how dangerously we live.
Footmarks: A Journey Into our Restless Past by Jim Leary
One of the experiences I recommend being more aware in our present, as I mentioned in my last article, is to do the Deep Time Walk. It is symbolically about stepping into the shoes of the Earth and experiencing, on a walk, its 4.6 billion years through 4.6 Km. This book makes us walk the last 3.5 meters (3.5 million years) where the last ancestors of the human species started to walk. Archaeologist Jim Leary guides us through this wonderful book where we will discover a part of our past that we didn’t know about. This is a feel-good book that will make us nostalgically remember our past steps. If nostalgia takes us to the past, in the future we are faced with anxiety or uncertainty. How to walk towards it is one of the questions we will see in some of the books at the end of this list.
End Times: Elites, Counter-Elites and the Path of Political Disintegration by Peter Turchin
This is one of the books that has attracted the most attention in the media because it deals with these times of “collapse”. Peter Turchin, through cliodynamics (the study of history as a science) uses vast databases mined from 10,000 years of human activity to display his theory with the interplay of these two fundamental concepts: overproduction of elites, and immiseration of the masses. If the previous books evoked the metaphor of life as a journey and went back to prehistoric times, this one focuses, in my opinion, on the metaphors I use of life as a game and life as a theatre focusing on this Imperial Era of the last 10,000 years. A book that, in my opinion, teaches us like a fish that doesn’t recognise it is in water: that description of the water in which we live, with its cycles of that play and theatre between elites and masses that has been given in history. Perhaps to break those cycles (and this is my theory to reconnect us with a more far-reaching metaphor, “life is a journey”) we have to learn, mostly, from Nature and indigenous peoples to project it into the future (a post-history?) We will see in the following books.
Living Resistance: An Indigenous Vision for Seeking Wholeness Every Day by Kaitlin B. Curtice
This is a book that has produced a kind of “Deja-vu” in me. After finishing my last article on these possible vital, solidarity, responsible and conscious paths and starting to read this book, I found myself within the author’s framework which is also in four realms: integral, communal, personal and ancestral. These last ones are similar to the former ones. If we have to resist and break those cycles of the Imperial era that Turchin tells us about in his book, Curtice offers us, with her local, activist, passionate gaze, an excellent book that fully complements this.
This is a book I will return to, to learn more about these patterns (realms) from the author’s indigenous perspective rather than from the perspective of Western values where I have been acculturated.
Uncertain: The Wisdom and Wonder of Being Unsure by Maggie Jackson
This mind-blowing book brings us to the key element of the inner compass, sensitivity to context. In those moments when the Shakespearean doubt “To be or not to be” arises (To follow the previous path or to change it, which probably implies new values). Human beings want that “security” in certainty (not always possible) and this book turns it on its head. In the style of “embracing the paradoxes of life”, it proposes to embrace the uncertainties. Both perspectives, as Maggie proposes, have their pros and cons, and in this paradoxical balance of having one foot on each side there is a great growth that perhaps makes us rethink the narratives we live and leave the ones that are hurting us. In the face of such uncertain global events (environmental, geopolitical…) this book offers us keys to respond differently to them.
Awe: The Transformative Power of Everyday Wonder by Dacher Keltner
Dacher’s book is along similar lines as the previous book and touches me personally because one of my top strengths is “Appreciation of Beauty and Excellence”. This Strength of Positive Psychology directs us to the virtue of Transcendence. It also brings us closer to that key point of the inner compass, which is sensitivity to context, that awareness of presence to observe those present moments. Among its fruits, apart from its personal wellbeing, it can make us rethink, like the previous book on uncertainty, the narratives (as parts of the Society that we are) that we live, appreciate and reconnect with Nature in order to act accordingly with that sensitivity.
Flight: Explore the secret routes of the skies from a bird’s-eye view… by Mya-Rose Craig and Lynn Scurfield (Illustrator)
This is the first time I recommend a book mostly dedicated to children (but also enjoyable for adults). This is a way for future adults to be sensitive to context, to be curious and to not follow the wrong paths that their preceding generations have taken. This year, among the treasures that I had missed reading each year, I discovered Mya-Rose’s wonderful book, “Birdgirl”, published in 2022. I also discovered and became aware of her outstanding project that she created at the age of 14, Black2Nature for Visible Minority Ethnic (VME). There, she campaigns for equal access to nature for all, but concentrates on VME communities who are currently excluded from the countryside. Connecting with nature not only gives us personal wellbeing, but also reconnects us to not bite the hand that feeds us. Thanks also to Lynn for supporting Mya-Rose’s more scientific work with her beautiful illustrations and connecting us with the aforementioned strength of Awe.
How to Think Like a Philosopher: Essential Principles for Clearer Thinking by Julian Baggini
In my opinion, one of the erroneous paths I observe in the educational systems (of mostly Western societies) is an inclination and greater appreciation for STEM subjects, leaving the Humanities and the Arts a bit on the side-lines. Philosophy as one of the elements framed in the Humanities is an important part not only of our education but also of our social wellbeing. This makes us question (critical thinking) not only the narratives we live in but also the increase of fake news that do not let us distinguish the signs from all the noise. Baggini’s books are a wonderful way to go deeper into the humanities, philosophy and specifically the main principles of this book. I take note of the style of Julian’s book to perhaps consider writing a book that I had already thought about, on what I think are the 10 tenets for a planetary wellbeing society (welcome to the publishers to give me a nudge).
The Creative Act: A Way of Being by Rick Rubin
If Mya’s writing led us to the scientist in us, and Julian’s to the philosopher, then Rick Rubin’s book leads us to bring out the artist in us. An aesthetic book, with beautiful prose that, like the book of the Tao, no matter what page you open, you are sure to find a profound insight. The triad of science, humanities and arts that brings us closer to those 3H’s — Head, Heart and Hands — is necessary for our education in Wellbeing. This arts-focused book takes us towards that fundamental need for creativity that deeply aligned with the needs for meaning and synergy would offer us some answers to the meta-crisis we live in.
Culture and Sustainability: Exploring Stability and Transformation with the Cultures Framework by Janet Stephenson
As an anthropologist who studies such a broad and diffuse concept such as “culture”, I was delighted to discover this book and the work of its author, Janet, transforms our present (Western) narrative through the cultural framework. Moreover, the author follows one of the proposals I always suggest to “Westerners”, to be humble and learn from other cultures. In her case, it is the Māori culture of New Zealand where she lives. As a lover of New Zealand (I lived there for 9 months in 1999), Māori culture also touched me, and who knows if the path-dependency of living there that I mention in the inner compass is behind the fact that a few years later, given my sensitivity to that context, I began to study my degree in Social and Cultural Anthropology. Like the author, I recommend this book to lay readers interested in culture and/or sustainability challenges.
The Barcelona School of Ecological Economics and Political Ecology: A Companion in Honour of Joan Martinez-Alier edited by Sergio Villamayor-Tomás and Roldan Muradian
Like the quote that says that we stand on the shoulders of giants, we often stand on the shoulders of the ones that stand out the most. In this case, this book is a great tribute to the work of the “giant” Joan Martinez-Alier in the discipline of ecological economics. From that place in Barcelona, where Martinez-Alier works, he has brought the attention of numerous educators and activists who, synergistically through their intellectual interactions, have shown us the paradigm in which we live and another, healthier, paradigm. This is a book with different authors who interacted with Martinez-Alier and who through the look at these two paradigms show us both our erroneous past (of Western societies) and a possible future, where this sensitivity to the ecological context in the economy, is considered.
Make Capitalism History: A Practical Framework for Utopia and the Transformation of Society by by Simon Sutterlütti and Stefan Meretz
This is a book that I also identified, and felt a sense of deja-vu with. The three articles that make up “Next 50 years (Back to the Basics): Science with Conscience for a Planetary Wellbeing Society” are also a way of “making capitalism history”. If my proposal had a foundational base in Bariloche (Argentina), the previous book in Barcelona (Spain), this book offers us a view from Germany. Therein lies the interesting paradox of different diversities and pluralities towards something different and the unity of encompassing them with the term “utopia”. As the authors say, “Utopia can show what is within the reach of people; transformation can show how people can turn possibility into reality”. This transformation, depending on the context, has two speeds: a slower one and a sudden one, the first is already happening as the following book shows us.
Living Well in a World Worth Living in for All: Volume 1: Current Practices of Social Justice, Sustainability and Wellbeing edited by Kristin Elaine Reimer, Mervi Kaukko, Sally Windsor, Kathleen Mahon and Stephen Kemmis
The utopia of “Living well in a world worth living in for all” seems distant and unattainable but we are already taking steps towards it as this book shows us where, from different parts of the world, a context-sensitive education offers us that slow but transformative path that gives us hope. This book shows us two sides of utopia: a language of hope and a language of criticism. The latter is immersed in the paradox of education where Baldwin tells us that; as one begins to become conscious one begins to examine the society in which he is being educated. This critique is pointed out in the book by showing us how educational practices are currently stopping us from living well; how educational practices are creating a world of inequity and unmet needs. The hope lies in this educational transformation that we can see happening from different points of view.
The title of this latest book, which could be a slogan for the future reconnects us with the first book “The evolved Nest” about that well living that indigenous peoples of the past tried to balance by following more natural laws than the ones we follow now. Somehow, we still carry that Tribal past that we now identify with our family, our group of friends, our community, or our country. The last step would be the human tribe on this planet. I don’t know if there are other intelligent tribes on other planets, but on this planet, there is a series of tribes of other species such as animals, plants, fungi… on which we depend. Indigenous peoples tried to integrate this in their cosmovision. This inner compass indicates us, not only to look forward, towards our future, but backwards, towards a time where the experience of those people integrated in their culture highlighted the sacredness of Nature and life. To get a more holistic picture of these three tools with which I have guided the last three annual editions of the wellbeing books, the image below integrates the 10 tenets, which I consider necessary for a planetary wellbeing society.
In this human orbit, I also bring to light the 9 human needs that Carlos Mallmman proposed a little more than 50 years ago for his theory of Wellbeing. As stated in the title of my last article “Everything everywhere all at once”, this is my proposal to act vitally, in solidarity, responsibly and consciously in the face of the meta-crisis in which we are immersed.
I thank the authors of the previous books for helping me discover new ideas and new possibilities of wellbeing that orbit in the human sphere. Finally, it would also be interesting to hear from you any recommendations of books published in 2023 that have had an impact on you.
Twitter: @ResWellbeing @BienestarRespon
More:
14 Wellbeing Books from 2022 (1 of them downloadable) to explore our map of a Good Life
14 Wellbeing Books from 2021 (3 of them downloadable) for a responsible thinking
14 Wellbeing Books from 2020 (2 of them downloadable) for a common good & good life
