The New Year tends to bring about a time of self-reflection, resolutions and goals. We have several new books to help you improve — everything from interior design to travel to parenting.

“Shared Living: Interior Design for Rented and Shared Spaces” by Emily Hutchinson (747.1 HU) — is both a style and advice guide for living with housemates. The book features the homes and apartments of several creatives from major cities, including New York, London, Sydney and Melbourne. It features lots of pictures that are inspirational for both rented spaces and homeowners. It also features helpful advice for living in shared spaces. Perfect for people new to living together or those living in a rental.

“Travel Anywhere (and Avoid Being a Tourist)” by Jeralyn Gerba and Pavia Rosati (910.4 GE) — If you’re looking for travel inspiration for the new decade, look no further. There is endless inspiration even in the first few pages of this book. Whether you’re looking to go off grid, plan a trip around food, or take a wellness vacation, this book is great for getting ideas. Though not detailed enough to plan an entire trip around, it is great for ideas and there are many good hotel recommendations.

“Lifespan: Why We Age — and Why We Don’t Have To” by David. A. Sincalir, PhD, with Matthew D. LaPlante (612.68 SI) — From acclaimed Harvard Medical School scientist comes a new way to look at aging. Sinclair talks about ways in which we can slow and possibly even reverse the process, including intermittent fasting, cold exposure, certain kinds of exercise, and moving toward more of a plant-based diet. A lot of scientists are skeptical of Sinclair’s science, but health nuts will find this book interesting regardless.

“Listen: Five Simple Tools to Meet Your Everyday Parenting Challenges” by Patty Wipfler and Tosha Schore, M.A. (155.4124 WI) — This book features a variety of practical skills to get your child to cooperate. It is especially geared toward those with willful, difficult children. As the book points out, often just listening is enough to help children succeed and especially to help them succeed during difficult or challenging times, but this book goes over other tools too. Some tools include, one-on-one undivided attention (even if just for five minutes a day), the need for parents to listen to each other, continued listening even when children are upset (as opposed to problem solving for them), and setting limits in order to help children regulate their emotions. As a new parent, I could not put this book down.

“Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now” by Jaron Lanier (302.231 LA) — This short, easy read details 10 reasons to delete all of your social media accounts. The author also discusses how social media disconnects us from other people, creates illusions of popularity, but most importantly it allows large corporations the opportunity to manipulate us and our behavior. Reading just the table of contents alone will make you want to delete your social media material immediately. All that aside, Lanier is still a tech optimist and offers ways to network in real life in order to actually bring us closer together.

By Samantha Ashby

Adult Services Department