The Best Books to Read In Your 20s

Your twenties are a confusing time. Some people are still in education, others are married with children, some are trying to understand their mental health and others are trying to boost their careers. We have put together a list of the best books to read in your 20s to understand everything from anxiety and panic attacks to financial literacy. Learn from clinical psychologist Dr. Julie Smith, the late Dame Deborah James and Everyday Sexism creator Laura Bates. This list of our best books to read in your 20s will help you navigate one of the most confusing decades of your life.

The Panic Years - Nell Frizzell

The Panic Years: a period of personal crises and transformation that occurs somewhere between adolescence and menopause.

The panic years can begin at any moment, although they are typically brought on between the ages of 25 and 40. The urgency of the one decision with a deadline, the one decision that is irreversible: whether or not to have a baby, will influence every choice a woman makes during this period, from postcode to relationship, friends to family, career to holidays.

Nell Frizzell's account of her panic years is a push to start a debate as well as being raw, funny, and deliciously honest. Everyone is affected by this—men, women, mothers, children, partners, friends, and coworkers—so it's time we begin having more open conversations about it.

How Do We Know We’re Doing It Right? - Pandora Sykes

There are many choices in modern life. However, how do we know what our ideal existence actually involves? What if we make a mistake?

How Do We Know We're Doing it Right? is sharp, comprehensive, and clever. It  examines the concerns, goals, and questions that dominate our life. From happiness to wellness, womanhood to consumerism, Pandora Sykes questions the stories we've been told and the ones we tell ourselves in ways that are both unexpected and comforting.  It will prompt a thousand discussions and inspire us to choose our own route to happiness.

So Such Things As Normal - Bryony Gordon

One in four of us encounter mental health problems each year, ranging from personality disorders to depression and anxiety, and more people than ever are having trouble coping in these weird and frightening times. Bryony Gordon provides logical, useful advice in No Such Thing As Normal on topics including sleep, addictions, anxiety, medicine, identity, boundary setting, therapy, learned behaviour, mindfulness, and the importance of walking and talking. 

She also works to provide those in need of assistance with the knowledge and skills they need to make the most of a sparsely funded system that may be intimidating and overwhelming. As a result, a vibrant, truthful, and straightforward guide to mental health emerges that bursts the Instagram-wellness bubble.

Factfulness: Ten reasons we're wrong about the world - and why things are better than you think - Hans Rosling

We consistently give the wrong answers to straightforward queries regarding global trends, such as why the world's population is growing, how many young women attend school, and how many of us live in poverty. So wrong that a  chimpanzee picking replies at random will invariably outperform journalists, Nobel laureates, and investment bankers in their predictions.

Professor of International Health Hans Rosling, along with his two longstanding collaborators Anna and Ola, present a new theory for why this occurs in Factfulness. They also outline the eleven inclinations that cloud our judgement.

In spite of all its flaws, the globe is actually in much better shape than we might expect. But when we constantly worry instead of adopting a worldview based on facts, we may lose the ability to concentrate on the things that pose the greatest threat to us.

Why Has Nobody Told Me This Before? - Dr Julie Smith

Online hit Dr. Julie Smith, a clinical psychologist with years of experience, offers all the strategies you need to navigate life's ups and downs.

This indispensable manual can help you improve your mental health since it is packed with insider tips from a therapist's toolkit. No matter what life throws at you, Dr. Julie's straightforward yet insightful guidance and effective coping mechanisms will help you maintain resilience.

You can quickly navigate to the area you need, based on the difficulty you're encountering, and find the right tools to help as it is written in short, bite-sized articles. This book addresses common problems that impact us all, such as controlling anxiety, dealing with criticism, or overcoming low mood, as well as boosting self-esteem, finding inspiration, or learning to forgive oneself.

What a Time to be Alone: The Slumflower's Guide to Why You Are Already Enough - Chidera Eggerue

The Slumflower will serve as your confidante, greatest friend, and life coach. She will demonstrate to you that being by yourself is actually the best thing that has ever happened to you, not simply good.

What A Time To Be Alone will assist you in navigating the current world with its wise Igbo proverbs from Chidera's Nigerian mother and wealth of her own creative artwork.

Chidera demonstrates for us how to choose our own futures in three steps that are full of humour, charm, and sass.

My Shitty Twenties - Emily Morris

Emily Morris discovered she was pregnant when she was 22 and halfway through her university career. It felt like an alien invasion but her instincts took over and, despite being totally unmaternal, she found herself going ahead with the pregnancy.

My Shitty Twenties is an award-winning memoir about being a single mum. When Emily Morris' toddler was two years old and she wanted to try to find humour in a terrible, dull day, so she began writing. This is her tale, six years later.

Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management For Mortals - Oliver Burkeman

We are preoccupied with our growing to-do lists, overflowing inboxes, the battle with distraction, and the perception that our attention spans are getting shorter. However, we hardly ever draw the connection between our everyday time management issues and the most important time management issue: how to make the most of our absurdly little time on the planet, which amounts to an average of approximately four thousand weeks.

A positive, captivating, and intensely realistic examination of the difficulty is Four Thousand Weeks. By accepting rather than denying their limitations, it introduces readers to methods for building a meaningful life while rejecting the useless modern fixation with "getting everything done." And it demonstrates how the harmful assumptions we've developed about time aren't unavoidable, constant facts, but rather decisions we've made.

How To Live When You Could Be Dead - Deborah James

Deborah James learned a powerful lesson when she was 35 years old and was told she had inoperable bowel cancer: how we react to any given circumstance either strengthens or weakens us. We can all overcome significant obstacles and find hope and strength even in the most hopeless situations if we have the correct abilities and mindset.

You can learn how by reading How to Live When You Could Be Dead. It will cause you to reconsider your life as if there were no tomorrow and to live it as you see fit right now. You'll learn, as Deborah did, that it is possible to live with joy and meaning no matter what by utilizing the power of optimism and treating every day as though it were your last.

'Deborah James has captured the heart of the nation' - The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge

Notes On A Nervous Planet - Matt Haig

The outside world is distorting our minds. Stress and anxiety are becoming more widespread. Fast, nervous lifestyles are produced by a fast, nervous world. We feel more alone yet being more connected. Furthermore, we are encouraged to worry about everything, including our body mass index and global politics.

• How can we stay sane on a planet that makes us mad? 
• How do we stay human in a technological world? 
• How do we feel happy when we are encouraged to be anxious?

These questions turned into urgent matters of life and death for Matt Haig after years of anxiety and panic attacks. He then started to investigate the connection between his feelings and the environment. Notes on a Nervous Planet is a vital and intimate examination of how to feel joyful, human, and complete in the twenty-first century.

The Status Game - Will Storr

Humans struggle for power all around the world, from Papua New Guinea to Tokyo and Manhattan. It's an obsession that has motivated the best and worst of us via contests of domination, virtue, and success: the Renaissance and the Industrial Revolution as well as spree killers and tyrants at the gates of Europe. But why is status a prize that consumes everything? And how can we use our desire for it to strengthen our bonds with one another, triumph in online conflicts, and excel at work?

The Status Game is a remarkable reevaluation of human psychology that will alter the way you view others as well as yourself.

Everyday Sexism - Laura Bates

After experiencing a series of escalating sexist incidents, Laura Bates started The Everyday Sexism Project and with an astounding response from all over the world, it quickly became one of the biggest social media success stories of the internet.

Sexism had clearly been normalized, as evidenced by incidents like street harassment, wolf whistles, workplace discrimination, and serious sexual assault. Bates, however, writes this "extremely powerful book that could, and should, win hearts and minds across the spectrum" and encourages women to take the lead in making real change.

Everyday Sexism is a protest against inequality and a call for change that is frequently shocking, occasionally humorous, and always heart-breaking. This book changes the game and is a must-read for every woman.

Do it Like a Woman: ... and Change the World - Caroline Criado-Perez

The feminist movement has experienced a major upsurge in activism and energy over the past five years.

We were motivated by #LeanIn, and #MeToo gave us a sense of community. We have encouraged one another to work harder and be stronger.

The pioneers who inspired us to do it like a woman are introduced to us in Caroline Criado-Perez's book of feminist inspiration. These individuals include a female fighter pilot in Afghanistan, a Chilean revolutionary, Russian punks who rocked out against Putin, and an Iranian journalist who revealed her hair.

Girls That Invest: Your Guide to Financial Independence through Shares and Stocks - Simran Kaur

Ever wanted to know how the stock market actually operates but were afraid to ask "those" questions? Simran Kaur outlines the key ideas you can use to invest in stocks (and shares) in this book. These principles can be used for any market, anywhere in the globe.

Having money grants you freedom, including the flexibility to develop and succeed, the ability to say yes or no, and the freedom to deal with whatever life throws at you. Your invitation to join the vibrant network of women who are creating a better financial future is included in this book.

How To Speak Money - John Lanchester

Our universal language is money. But so few of us are able to articulate it. The language of the financial elite can be convoluted, rife with jargon, and entirely incomprehensible. Above all, the language of money is the language of power, and that same economic elite holds that power.

John Lanchester is on a mission to explain everything to us about the financial world, from high-frequency trading and the World Bank to the distinction between trash and nonsense. 

Thanks for reading "The Best Books to Read In Your 20s" on January Media.