Mind-altering reads from TEDxSalem

Fol­low TEDxSalem down the rab­bit hole with one of these six mind-alter­ing books rec­om­mend­ed by our speak­ers, sto­ry­tellers and cura­tors.

We hope they get you excit­ed for TEDxSalem V “Through the Look­ing Glass.”

1. The Center Can­not Hold: My Jour­ney Through Mad­ness by Elyn R. Saks

Saks shares her jour­ney from a ‘nor­mal’ kid, to her diag­noses, to get­ting treat­ment, com­ing off med­ica­tion and relaps­ing and then becom­ing an esteemed pro­fes­sor, lawyer and psy­chi­a­trist.

“I read this book a few years ago, and it com­plete­ly blew me away. See­ing life through the eyes of some­one with schiz­o­phre­nia was intense, amaz­ing and heart­break­ing.”

Recommended by Bri­an Hart, TEDxSalem co-cura­tor and half of the dynam­ic duo that brought TEDx to Salem

 

2.Essentialism: The Dis­ci­plined Pur­suit of Less by Greg McK­e­own

“I’ve read the book Essen­tial­ism more times than any oth­er book on my shelf. When I find myself drown­ing in busy work and los­ing sight of my pri­or­i­ties, I dive into the book again to remind myself to focus on the work I was born to do.

It helps me decide what goes and what stays in my sched­ule, my busi­ness and my per­son­al life. (The audio­book is great, too!)”

Rec­om­mend­ed by Marie Greene, TEDxSalem speak­er, knitwear design­er, writer, knit­ting instruc­tor and inter­na­tion­al speak­er

 

3. “Dar­ing to Dri­ve: A Sau­di Woman’s Awak­en­ing” by Man­al Al-Sharif

“The secret police came for me at two in the morn­ing” Man­al Al-Sharif writes in her true account of liv­ing in Sau­di Ara­bia. Her crime? Dri­ving.

It’s easy to take cer­tain free­doms for grant­ed, but Al-Sharif trans­ports you to her world where women can­not even seek med­ical treat­ment with­out their male guardian, which in some cas­es proves fatal. Al-Sharif’s book is often a tough read but an impor­tant one.

Rec­om­mend­ed by Ste­fanie Knowl­ton, TEDxSalem sto­ry­teller, award-win­ning jour­nal­ist and bel­ly­dancer

 

4. What Should I Do With My Life?: The True Sto­ry of Peo­ple Who Answered the Ulti­mate Ques­tion by Po Bron­son

Po cap­tures the jour­neys of 56 indi­vid­u­als as they strug­gle to define their iden­ti­ty and val­ues to live inten­tion­al­ly.

“This pow­er­ful book helped me clar­i­fy my own val­ues and ques­tion my inter­ests, pas­sions and goals as I read through the inter­nal dia­logues of oth­ers. I encour­age col­lege-age read­ers, those inter­est­ed in refin­ing their path and seek­ers to read this love­ly col­lec­tion of short sto­ries.”

Rec­om­mend­ed by Rose Bark­er, a Cer­ti­fied Risk Man­age­ment Con­sul­tant and expert on iden­ti­ty theft

 

5. Get Momen­tum: How to start when you’re stuck by Jason W. Wom­ack & Jodi Wom­ack

 “I have found myself in a funk a few too many times… this book has helped me focus and make changes through tan­gi­ble advice and activ­i­ties to help rein­force new habits.”

Rec­om­mend­ed by Car­lee Wright, TEDxSalem co-cura­tor and half of the dynam­ic duo that brought TEDx to Salem

 

6. The Psy­che­del­ic Explor­er’s Guide: Safe, Ther­a­peu­tic, and Sacred Jour­neys by James Fadi­man

Fadi­man out­lines best prac­tices in psy­che­del­ic use for safe, sacred voy­ages learned through his more than 40 years of expe­ri­ence.

“This book changed my belief sys­tem and was one of the main cat­a­lysts for me to con­tin­ue my spir­i­tu­al jour­ney to find my true self. It chal­lenged many things I believed and has changed me for the bet­ter.”

Rec­om­mend­ed by Bri­an Hart, TEDxSalem co-cura­tor and half of the dynam­ic duo that brought TEDx to Salem

Save the Date: TEDxSalem V is an all-day event fea­tur­ing talks, per­for­mances, refresh­ments, lunch and a swag bag that takes place Sat­ur­day, Jan. 6, 2018, at the Salem Con­ven­tion Cen­ter. Ear­ly bird tick­ets go on sale Sept. 1. Fol­low us on Face­book for the most up-to-date news from our com­mu­ni­ty, and check our web­site reg­u­lar­ly for new infor­ma­tion. You can also reach us at info@tedxsalem.us.

What is TEDx

About TEDx, x = inde­pen­dent­ly orga­nized event

In the spir­it of ideas worth spread­ing, TEDx is a pro­gram of local, self-orga­nized events that bring peo­ple togeth­er to share a TED-like expe­ri­ence. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speak­ers com­bine to spark deep dis­cus­sion and con­nec­tion in a small group. These local, self-orga­nized events are brand­ed TEDx, where x = inde­pen­dent­ly orga­nized TED event. The TED Con­fer­ence pro­vides gen­er­al guid­ance for the TEDx pro­gram, but indi­vid­ual TEDx events are self-orga­nized. (Sub­ject to cer­tain rules and reg­u­la­tions.)