Easy Holiday Reading

With a New Year approaching, here are some timely and light reading recommendations for your downtime this holiday season:

First, Gretchen Rubin's The Happiness Project. Perhaps a more appropriate title for the book would have been "A Year in the Life of Gretchen Rubin as She Strives to be Happier;" nevertheless, it is an interesting peek into one person's attempt at bringing more happiness into their life for reasons that do not involve the vapid "Finding Yourself". It is by no means a great literary accomplishment nor a riveting memoir, nor does it aspire to be, but it does serve well enough to give readers an idea about how to get started on their own variety of "Happiness Project," which author Rubin acknowledges will be unique to each person.

The book's earlier chapters are much stronger than its later ones, where Rubin decides to judiciously rehash reader feedback from her blog (also entitled The Happiness Project). Certainly, it's not a book for everyone; all the same, I think The Happiness Project is a good template to emulate, especially with respect to New Year's Resolutions.

Second, Chris Guillebeau's The Art of Non-conformity. A travel writer with a sizeable and growing online following, Guillebeau has an unconventional personal and professional background that makes for often compelling reading material.

Naturally, later portions that deal specifically with travel and "travel hacking" (i.e., getting good deals on travel arrangements) are of particular interest in AONC, have obvious appeal and probably represent the best chapters. But personal anecdotes throughout the book that convey Guillebeau's philosophy towards life, work and education prove entertaining, interesting, and sometimes even inspiring.

Finally, focus: A Simplicity Manifesto for the Age of Distraction by Leo Babauta. Babauta knows all about the pressures of the modern-day work environment, particularly the need to be "always on". In focus, he gives voice to something that many suspect but are too scared to find out for themselves: the world will not end if we don't check our emails, read through our feeds, or update our social networking profile. Thus, this simplicity manifesto is both a challenge and guidebook to break the habits of always staying connected in order to achieve greater focus -- one might even say, purpose -- in what we do.

A PDF version of focus is available for free on Babauta's ZenHabits blog; a premium version for several platforms has additional chapters and other content. Admittedly, as the book progresses it tends to become repetitive, with the message that everything will be fine if we spend time "off-grid" emphasized over and over again. Still, it's an important message to take to heart, more so for those looking for a different way to approach their professional commitments in the coming year.

All in all, I'd say that each of these three books have given me healthy and new perspectives for the New Year. Happy reading!