Books to Watch | December 28, 2021

Each and every week, our marketing team—Dylan Schleicher (DJJS), Gabbi Cisneros (GMC), and Emily Porter (EPP)—highlights a few new books we are most excited about.

We are in the homestretch of our awards season, so our Staff Picks and Books to Watch feature will be on a sort of hiatus while we buckle down on our deliberations. We are still picking the books we are most excited about for our Books to Watch each week, but we will be using the publisher’s jacket copy instead of writing our own words about the books.  

This week, our choices are:

How to Rally: Wisdom from a Life Spent Beating the Odds by Richard Ader, Forefront Books 

No matter what you are trying to overcome, How to Rally can serve as a master class in harnessing what you need to build back your life. 
 
Richard Ader was looking straight at death. But he refused to let it take him. It was March 2019 and he was in the recovery room after an ablation procedure on his heart. His doctor told him that it was a success. But the next thing he remembers, it was two days later and he woke up thinking he was dead. His heart had stopped, he had been put into a medically induced coma, and doctors had told his family to prepare for his demise. They all thought it was the end. But in many ways, it turned out to be just the beginning. 
 
In How to Rally, Ader details his remarkable recovery, from being unable to stand on his own to returning to play tennis, the sport he has loved for decades, to running his business, U.S. Realty Advisors, the industry-leading corporate real estate firm he built from scratch more than 30 years ago, and to enjoying life with Pam, his wife of more than 56 years. Through eight lessons drawn from decades of experience overcoming obstacles and beating the odds, Ader will inspire readers to develop a careful, reasoned understanding of risk and reward, set bold-but-realistic goals, take decisive action, care about the people around them, and invest time and energy with an eye toward the future. The skills that served Ader well in real estate and in life turned out to be remarkably similar to what he needed for a successful recovery from major illness. No matter what you are trying to overcome, How to Rally can serve as a master class in harnessing what you need to build back your life. 

Nailing It: How History's Awesome Twentysomethings Got It Together by Robert L. Dilenschneider, Citadel (GMC) 

This inspiring and encouraging book from respected consultant Robert L. Dilenschneider provides 25 fascinating and diverse profiles of iconic men and women that show where they were at or near age 25—and how they built their legacies across a range of careers, including the arts, business, science, and government. With a foreword from U.S. Ambassador Donald Blinken.  

Do you think Albert Einstein had his act together by his mid-20s? Think again. Would you assume style icon and humanitarian Audrey Hepburn’s life was always as beautiful as she was? Far from it. At the other end of the spectrum is the revolutionary Steve Jobs, who was at the top of his game by age 25. But Jobs’s beginnings were marked by his adoption, displacement, bullying, and then a rocky personal life. This absorbing book examines the trajectories of 25 iconic figures—from Toni Morrison to Albert Einstein and Golda Meir to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart—to reveal where they were in their lives in their mid-twenties and the choices that enabled them to make their historic marks. For those who are coming of age now, and for those who care about them and their futures, these captivating profiles provide inspiration, instruction, and encouragement. The profiles in Path to Greatness will be real-life examples of the fact that the turning points that lead to success and happiness come at different times and as a result of different conditions. Some people create their own turning points, other people build on what happens to them. 
 
Many people who seemed to “have their act together” at age 25, had already weathered difficult beginnings to their lives; their turning points came early. And other people who didn’t even have an act at age 25, went on to make profound contributions to the world; their turning points came with maturity.  
 
This book will remind readers that it is never too late to make an impact. 

Stacked: Your Super-Serious Guide to Modern Money Management by Joe Saul-Sehy & Emily Guy Birken, Avery (DJJS) 

From the money nerds behind the award-winning Stacking Benjamins podcast, a new kind of personal finance book to get your house in order.  
 
Rich. Wealthy. Well-heeled. Moneyed. Affluent. Not bad—but why not get Stacked instead? If you’ve ever dreamed of a basic philosophy of money that’ll help you live bigger, be bolder, and laugh harder, you need this book. 
 
In these uncertain times, the basics matter more than ever. But for most of us, concepts such as investing, budgeting, and getting out of debt just don’t float our boats (or 150-foot yachts)—and so we put them off longer than we should. Joe Saul-Sehy and Emily Guy Birken are here to tell you that personal finance can be a lot more fun than you think. (No haberdashery, maritime knowledge, or specialized flatware required.) 
 
Learn about everything from side hustles, to hiring a legit financial adviser, to planning for emergencies, to what’s new and exciting—and actually worth your time—in financial apps and software. If you’re looking for the same old get-rich-quick clichés, avocado toast shaming, or alphabet soup of incomprehensible financial terms, you won’t find them here. Instead, Saul-Sehy and Birken take you step by step along the way to financial success, with their signature blend of shrewd financial information and wacky humor. 

The Story of You: An Enneagram Journey to Becoming Your True Self by Ian Morgan Cron, HarperOne (EPP) 

The author of the bestselling The Road Back to You reveals how to use the power of the Enneagram—the ancient personality typing system—to overwrite the negative, outdated stories you tell yourself to ultimately become your true self. 

In this powerful, transformative guide, Ian Morgan Cron demonstrates the life-changing power of the Enneagram. Cron challenges you to rethink the stale stories you tell yourself about who you are and offers lessons in using the Enneagram to help you change your story. As you free your mind from the outdated messages you learned in childhood and master your Enneagram profile, you unlock your own inner power for spiritual growth—and, ultimately, for becoming the true self God meant for you to be. 

Drawing on his extensive counseling and personal experience, Cron examines each of the nine personality types and explains step by step how each can find happiness by understanding their origin story, harnessing your type’s strengths, acknowledging weaknesses, and creating space for an incredible—and more positive—new reality.