As another year draws to a close, the 42courses leadership team got together to chat about their top book recommendations of 2021. Slight caveat - not all (or even, not many) of the books were published in the last year, but they were just the reads that we got round to reading in the last 12 months. Due to the large amount of books we get through for work purposes, the vast majority of our choices are non-fiction. So this is not really a list of top novels… although we do have a couple of excellent fiction recommendations in amongst the selection. By the way, we were having so much fun that we didn’t really notice the time. So we split the podcast into two and the second half will be published tomorrow, where you can discover our top learnings of the year. And we learnt a lot! Plus Chris will talk about the plans for the company in 2022. Best Books of 2021 Podcast In our audio podcast, discover why the books really spoke to us. Spotify version Apple Podcasts version Or if you’re more visual, then grab a coffee (or maybe a sherry at this time of year) and put your feet up, to enjoy the full video version… Jake's Best Books of 2021 Richer, Wiser, Happier: How the World's Greatest Investors Win in Markets and Life by William Green Work the System: The Simple Mechanics of Making More and Working Less by Sam Carpenter Optionality: How to Survive and Thrive in a Volatile World by Richard Meadows ------------------------------------- Irene's Best Books 10 minutes 38 seconds in this strange world by Elif Shafak Blink by Malcolm Gladwell ------------------------------------- Aliza's best books The Spy and The Traitor by Ben Macintyre The Tyranny of Merit: What's become of the common good? by Michael Sandel ------------------------------------- Bren's best books Absolute Pandemonium by Brian Blessed (audiobook) 26.2 Miles to Happiness by Paul Tomkinson (audiobook) How not to plan by Les Binet and Sarah Carter Winning Minds: Secrets from the language of leadership by Simon Lancaster How words kill: You are not human by Simon Lancaster Invisible to Invaluable by Jane Evans and Carol Russell ------------------------------------- Chris' best books No Rules Rules: Netflix and the Culture of Revolution by Reed Hastings and Erin Meyer Brave new work: Are you ready to reinvent your organisation by Aaron Dignan Humankind: A hopeful history by Rutger Bregman Nudge: Improving decisions about health, wealth and happiness by Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein Bomber Mafia by Malcolm Gladwell (Audiobook)