The fresh start of a new calendar year brings a sense of renewal that can ripple across our lives and perspectives. Whether you’ve penned down some new resolutions or renewed your ongoing aspirations, one invaluable tool remains constant: knowledge.
What better way to harness this knowledge than to use self-help books to illuminate your way? These seven books shine light upon the paths less travelled for readers of all ages, reminding us that it’s never too late to become the truest versions of ourselves.
MEMOIR
Navigating the Messy Middle: A Fiercely Honest and Wildly Encouraging Guide for Midlife Women by Ann Douglas (Douglas & McIntyre)
“Midlife requires a radical imagination,” writes Ann Douglas, the trusted author of The Mother of All series of parenting books, “a willingness to tell ourselves new and better stories about our lives.”
It’s hard to imagine a life stage that’s more misunderstood than midlife — or about which there is more misinformation. Not only is there no roadmap, you should consider yourself lucky if you actually manage to spot a road sign announcing that you’ve arrived. Roughly 68 million North American women currently grapple with the challenges of midlife, faced with a culture that tells them their “best before date” has long passed.
Navigating the Messy Middle pushes back against this toxic narrative, providing a fierce and unapologetic book for and about midlife women. It offers practical, evidence-based strategies for thriving at midlife, coupled with the compelling stories of more than one hundred midlife women. These women share their hard-won wisdom on everything from managing worries and regrets to chasing after long-held hopes and dreams. Their advice spans all aspects of midlife: from health and relationships to career and finances, while addressing other big-picture issues that get at the heart of why midlife can be a particularly challenging life stage for women.
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Instead: Navigating the Adventures of a Childfree Life by Maria Coffey (Rocky Mountain Books)
After two traumatic experiences during her twenties, Maria Coffey determines to seize every day and explore the world. Mixed with her desire for freedom is a new fear of loss that convinces her against parenthood. She falls in love with Dag, who shares her dreams, and they begin creating a life of adventure. There is one snag, however: he wants children and thinks they could include them in their wild exploits.
Instead follows Maria’s trajectory as she shares her guilt-ridden relationship with her Irish Catholic mother; her baby debates with Dag in unlikely situations; the doubts that rear up in remote cultures where her childfree choice is unfathomable; and how children eventually — and surprisingly — come into her life.
A vivid travelogue, a love story, and a personal commentary on the risks and rewards of choosing unconventional paths, this “beautifully written memoir,” as described by author Meghan J. Ward, “reflects on how we choose a lover and lifestyle, the complexities of intergenerational relationships, and the meaning of motherhood itself. This is a powerful book for anyone who has contemplated their own unpopular choices or wants a glimpse down a road not travelled.”
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EDUCATION
The Deliberate Doctorate: A Values-Focused Journey to your PhD by Leela Viswanathan (UBC Press)
Are you intimidated by the thought of embarking on a PhD? Do you wonder if you can or even should go down that path? Are you in the throes of the journey but have lost sight of why you began in the first place?
Author Leela Viswanathan has been there. Designed for current and potential PhDs, her book The Deliberate Doctorate will guide you through networking in academia, avoiding burnout, and setting boundaries – crucial but often unaddressed aspects of the journey that can make the difference between earning a PhD and abandoning one. Exercises will help you identify why you want to achieve your degree, what having one will do for you, and how to stay true to your core values throughout the process.
Above all, The Deliberate Doctorate provides a roadmap for a kinder and more meaningful academic experience — one that nurtures rather than saps graduate students’ energies.
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WELLNESS
The Zone: Rediscovering Our Natural Self by Rob Wood (Rocky Mountain Books)
Based on the core philosophy expressed in the forthcoming documentary film of the same name, The Zone is an autobiographical account that details the emotional and physical struggles of renowned mountaineer, naturalist, and architect Rob Wood as he deals with the ravages of Parkinson’s disease on his body and mind.
With an unshakeable faith in the power of nature and our own need to reconnect with the natural world, Rob Wood takes the reader on a step-by-step journey documenting how even the most difficult physical limitations can be dealt with effectively and successfully, with limited medical or pharmaceutical support.
Grounded in the author’s deep connection to what he calls a “universal consciousness,” The Zone is an inspiring manifesto of resilience and a love song to the power of nature.
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Medicinal Perennials to Know and Grow by Dan Jason & Rupert Adams, illustrated by Lyn Alice (Harbour Publishing)
Many common, easy-to-grow plants can energize or soothe, stimulate the immune system, aid in sleep or digestion, help to heal injuries, change blood pressure, reverse inflammation, soothe a sore throat—and more. But how do you find, grow, and use them?
This compact book describes some of the best-known medicinal plants and provides expert information on their care and use to “provide you with beneficial and sustainable medicine for years to come,” says herbalist Beverley Gray. Accompanied by the beautiful watercolour illustrations of Lyn Alice, Dan Jason, and Rupert Adams explain the nature of each plant, how to grow them, their medicinal properties, and other potential perks — including a remarkable ability to produce dyes, or to attract pollinators for a garden that flourishes even more.
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Medicine Wheel Workbook: Finding Your Healthy Balance by Carrie Armstrong, Kelly Armstrong, and River Armstrong, illustrated by Eden Sunflower (Medicine Wheel Publishing)
The Medicine Wheel, a sacred symbol to many Indigenous cultures on Turtle Island, has four equal areas representing the four directions, four seasons, four elements, four stages of life, and four sacred plants.
It represents unity and balance between all things, including living a healthy life mentally, spiritually, emotionally, and physically. By understanding the teachings of the Medicine Wheel, we can gain a deeper understanding of our holistic health.
Through a careful selection of teachings, followed by interactive activities, the Medicine Wheel Workbook will encourage children to live well and find their healthy balance. This workbook can be used as a teacher resource in your classroom or by parents teaching their children at home. Lessons and activities may be photocopied to use within your classroom or home to help students of all kinds on their “journey to becoming healthy.”
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YOUNG READERS
Otter Doesn’t Know by Andrea Fritz (Orca Book Publishers)
It’s never too early to teach children it’s okay to need and seek help, and in Otter Doesn’t Know, Indigenous artist and storyteller Andrea Fritz does exactly that through the tale of a salmon and a sea otter who learn it’s okay to say “I don’t know.”
Thuqi’ the sockeye salmon knows it’s time to spawn, but she is lost in the Salish Sea and doesn’t know the way to the river Sta’lo’. When she asks Tumus the sea otter for help, he doesn’t exactly know either, and dismisses her questions — but when Tumus becomes lost in some weeds, Thuqi’ shows him that it’s okay not to know something, and that together, they can still find a way to help a friend in need.
In this original story set in Coast Salish Traditional Territory, Andrea Fritz uses Indigenous storytelling techniques and art to share the culture and language of the Hul’q’umi’num’-speaking Peoples and to show how Thuqi’ the salmon’s bravery and kindness both help her become comfortable not having all the answers.
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