📚 Today’s tip: Share reading recommendations with a friend.

A good book can be the greatest comfort, as Saul Austerlitz writes on Medium. Throughout the pandemic, Austerlitz found that he wanted “stories to take me away, to transport me somewhere else.” When he found himself hitting yet another pandemic wall recently, he decided send some of his most beloved books to friends: “Books had saved my life more times than I could count, and I hoped some of their power might rub off on those I loved.”

Recommend — or go ahead and send — some of your favorite books…

Over the past year, we’ve all been tested. Many of us have failed.

The pandemic made some of us callous. It infected others with conspiracy theories. Too many of us gave into apathy and chaos, losing all sense of structure (and spending who knows how many hours watching Netflix). Now, with the pandemic in the home stretch, but still with us, we have to get serious. We have to get serious about the tried and tested way to wisdom: reading.

Books are an investment in yourself — one that can come in many forms: novels, nonfiction, how-to, poetry, classics, biographies…

📚 Today’s tip: Start a themed communal reading list.

Black History Month is a great time to celebrate Black writers. (Of course, every month is actually a great time to celebrate Black writers.) And as Alexandra Samuel noted in her sprawling guide to Google Drive, a Google doc is a handy place to crowdsource and compile resources, including reading recommendations. Create your own doc and send it around to your network, inviting people to share their favorite books and articles by Black authors. You can even start a mini book club in the comments.

🔊 More from Forge on lifting…

I will say this about 2020: It provided plenty of inspiration to read more. Every month, it seemed, there was a new or deepening crisis in a subject that became vital to learn more about: leadership, pandemics, civil rights, elections. It was one of those years that sent you to, well, I would say “the bookstore,” but you know.

Actually doing the reading, of course, was a different story. I read a lot in 2020. But I know a lot of people who couldn’t, who found their focus too shot and their mental energy too drained to actually make it…

If sobriety is something you’re interested in exploring as you head into the new year (and, maybe more importantly, out of the old one), Nina Renata Aron’s list of books, podcasts, TV episodes, and more will equip you with a lot of motivation. Not motivation to quit, necessarily, but motivation to stay interested in quitting.

Because this collection is shame-free.

As Aron writes: “Decoupling the concept of sobriety from the still-stigmatized disease of alcoholism has granted people greater freedom to experiment with self-restraint without feeling a sense of shame or failure if they do decide to do that tequila shot…

It was only recently that I realized overthinking might be holding me back. For most of my life, I believed it was okay to be consumed by indecision and worry. Scientific research hasn’t shed light on where exactly that maniacal inner voice comes from, but philosophers and thinkers have been writing about it for centuries. And they’re very helpful—after reading a lot about the subject, I’m more in control of my thoughts than ever.

The following three books are my all-time favorites.

‘A Manual for Living’ by Epictetus

I often write about how Stoicism has helped me find tranquility in life. This classic text by Epictetus…

Seth Godin’s new book, The Practice, is all about the creative alchemy that translates an idea into work that matters. First and foremost in that process, Godin argues, is making an assertion. Forge spoke with the bestselling author and Medium blogger about how to make your assertions count.

Forge: You write that “assertions are the foundation of the design and creation process.” Can you start by explaining how you define assertions?

Seth Godin: An assertion is a test. It’s not a hustle. The internet has unleashed this era of hustle. I don’t approve of hustle. I think it’s a trap…

Co-authored by Robin M. Hogarth

Think of a creative concept that helped to shape the life and culture of the 21st century.

Harry Potter is one example. So is Google. The personal computer is another one.

If you try to list various factors behind the success of whatever idea you thought of, they will likely spring to mind with ease. The Harry Potter books, for example, give us an underdog hero who grows and develops together with the reader. Audiences of all ages can find something for themselves in this saga: friendship, adventure, struggle, love, hate, good, evil.

Google’s search…