Sinoun's Reading List

by Thich Nhat Hanh

One of the biggest lies or illusions of our time is that we are all separate. We are interconnected not just with each other, but with all of nature. Could it be that the illusion of individualism helped us succeed as a species, but could now be the downfall of us all?

In our reality, the isolated “self” is a psychological construct. Humans love to construct labels for the “other”, such as the social construct of race, gender as a binary, “normal” vs. mentally ill, class or caste systems, nationality and citizenship.

But we are fundamentally interconnected biologically, socially, ecologically, and cosmically. The atoms in your body were forged in dying stars, your thoughts were shaped by people you’ve never met, and every breath you take contains molecules once inhaled by every human in history and exhaled by organisms across the planet. The boundary between ‘you’ and ‘not you’ is mostly a useful fiction.

While Thich Nhat Hanh captures interbeing poetically and in accessible language, the true depth of interconnection is something we constantly forget. That forgetting has consequences. Remembering it is what sustains our bond with each other and with nature.

“We are like islands in the sea, separate on the surface but connected in the deep.” -Williams James

by Anne-Laure Le Cunff

“Resilience stops being a positive when it keeps people tolerating what should be fixed.”

A short, but good read to remind us all that resilience doesn’t mean to endure and keep going. Resilience is about being flexible and being able to choose different strategies.

Dr. Anne-Laure is a brilliant neuroscientist who I started following recently. I love her work and it’s been resonating with me a lot lately.

by Chase Hughes

Humans are interesting. Learning about them is fascinating. I’ve been binging a lot of Chase’s content lately and would love to take his NCI System training one of these days.

by Marjorie Liu (Author), Sana Takeda (Illustrator)

Just finished Book Two and can’t wait to get started on Book Three. Each volume is about 500 pages of viscerally dark beauty. Monstress is hands down the most stunning and epic graphic novel I’ve ever read. The storytelling, art, and characters are extraordinary. If you wanna immerse yourself in a dangerous and terrifying steampunk world with badass (and sometimes sexy) characters, pick this one up. You’ll find yourself in a world full of hauntingly magical, violently fantastical, matriarchal, and queer themes. The author and illustrator are both incredibly talented women and I would totally fangirl if I met them. These gorgeous, hardcover books should be in every bibliophile’s collection. 10/10.

by Marc Brackett

Recent life events have led me to take a much closer look at my inner life. It was inevitable that I stumbled upon an interview with Marc on Andrew Huberman’s podcast. In the book, Marc provides a very simple and accessible blueprint for cultivating emotional intelligence (and maturity). The framework is currently adopted by thousands of schools worldwide. Imagine living in a world where everyone gets an emotional education at a young age. That is what Marc sets out to do, and I believe it’s one of the most important missions of our time. Most of us were not taught how to understand our emotions and use them wisely. Becoming an “emotional scientist” for ourselves is perhaps one of the best ways we can contribute to society and to the community.

by Johan Eklöf

Just finished this for book club and it was an eye-opening read. Eklöf’s writing is poetic, even though he’s informing us about the atrocities of how light pollution impacts the well-being of humans, animals, and environments. Our obsession with lighting up the night will one day need to be better controlled, and the good news is that light pollution is reversible.