The books we're highlighting this week will teach you about the transformative power of sabbaticals and the persuasive power of video games, how to "build the life and career you envision through intentional, continuous learning and active growth," and how to choose yourself as the agent of change whenever you think "Somebody should do this."

All four titles are available online and on local bookshop shelves today. Interested in buying multiple copies for your team, book club, or employee resource group? Follow the links below or give us a call to purchase the books, or check out our services for bulk book buyers to learn more about how we can help.

Unless otherwise noted, all descriptions of the books below come from the publisher.

Big Time Off: The Transformative Power of Sabbaticals and How to Take One by DJ DiDonna, published by Simon Acumen

“A sabbatical might be the most important career move you ever make. Read this book to see why—and how to do it.” —Arthur C. Brooks, harvard professor and #1 New York Times bestselling author

A guide to transforming your well-being and your career through purposeful time off, from Harvard Business School Senior Lecturer and founder of the Sabbatical Project.

Our world of work prioritizes the urgent, but the most important moments of our life rarely happen at a desk. In Big Time Off, Sabbatical Project founder DJ DiDonna explores a simple but radical idea: sabbaticals help us avoid sleepwalking through life by giving us time to be present in moments of celebration, difficulty, and transition.

Integrating original research and compelling stories of sabbatical-takers from all walks of life—from teachers and nonprofit leaders to startup founders and Fortune 500 employees—Big Time Off explores why extended time away from work has such a profound effect on people’s identity, relationships, creativity, and direction. You’ll learn:

• When to take a sabbatical—and how to avoid waiting for a crisis to take off.
  
• Why sabbaticals—unlike vacations—help you forge a new career path, feel human again, and live a more authentic life.
  
• How to navigate your sabbatical using archetypes—the explorer, the seeker, and the achiever—and avoid common pitfalls.
  
• Best practices for individuals—no matter the circumstances—and organizations of all sizes to make extended leave possible and sustainable.

Whether you dream of making a big change, exploring the world, or simply carving out space to heal, think, and recalibrate, Big Time Off is your guide to creating a richer, more intentional life.

Power Play: Video Games, Politics, and the Battle for Global Influence by George E. Osborn, published by Prometheus Books

The evolution of video games from a niche pursuit to the world’s largest entertainment medium, with billions of players and billions of dollars at stake, has made it a perfect place for states and non-state actors to advance their goals online. In Power Play, leading games industry expert George E. Osborn explores the burgeoning foreign and domestic movements to spread influence through video games, showing that our failure to date to take games seriously has led to a culture of complacency around their true impact and importance on the geopolitical stage.

More than a simple form of entertainment, video games are an ecosystem that connects billions of people across the globe. Video games create spaces where people talk, share ideas, and build identities that bleed into our reality. And whilst democracies have underestimated the potential for influence in this space, others have seized the opportunity.

This is why Russia has been funding the development of video games designed to promote their world view. It's why Saudi Arabia has acquired one of gaming's biggest publishers, EA, to help wash its reputation. It's why Steve Bannon utilized tactics learned from online game communities to propel Donald Trump to the White House. And it's why Charlie Kirk's alleged assassin carved video game references into his bullets.

Supported by the insights of dozens of politicians, academics, and industry experts, Power Play is the vital guide to understanding this new frontier for political influence, and what democracies must do to protect play and harness its immense power before this essential battle for digital influence is lost for good.

The Price of Becoming: The Compounding Practices of High Performance by Ryan Hawk, published by HarperEdge

The acclaimed host of The Learning Leader Show delivers the bracing message that growth comes at a cost and equips readers with a rigorous, practical roadmap for paying that price and achieving lasting excellence in work and life.

Ambitious people know what they want to do and where they want to go, but they aren’t sure how to get there. Abstract advice feels good but ultimately changes nothing. Only concrete action can change habits, which in turn changes lives.

The Price of Becoming is a clear guide with instructions for overcoming complacency, mastering communication, and making better decisions under pressure. Ryan Hawk draws from over 700 interviews with some of the world’s leading experts, leaders, thinkers, movers, and doers, including Jim Collins, Simon Sinek, Adam Grant, Tony Robbins, James Clear, Paul Rabil, Jocko Willink, Susan Cain, Alex Hutchinson, Seth Godin, and General Stanley McChrystal, to answer one powerful question: “What can I do today to build a better me?”

Ryan distills their numerous insights, data, and direct personal experiences into a practical, actionable framework he divides into three sections:

    Learn—Fuel Your Intake Engine
    Work—Take Action
    Lead—Teach Others

Personal growth is about pushing your edges. Going beyond your current zone of comfort and competency. Clear, practical, and timeless, The Price of Becoming is an empowering and informative handbook designed to help you practice daily improvement, sustain excellence, and build the life and career you envision through intentional, continuous learning and active growth.

You Can Just Do Things: How High-Agency People Get What They Want Out of Life by Cate Hall & Sasha Chapin, HarperEdge

You’ve been taught success comes from careful planning, learning the ropes, and earning one promotion at a time. But what about the people who seem to skip all that?

We all know a few rare individuals who never stop moving, taking wild risks, and collecting public failures, yet somehow always seem to land on top. Cate Hall is one of those maddening, inspiring people. She left an elite legal career just before making partner to gamble for a living — and became the world’s top-ranked female poker player. A drug addiction left her broke and brain-damaged, but a year after emerging from it, she co-founded a biotech startup that set a clinical trial speed record. Not long after, she took the helm of one of the world’s largest philanthropic foundations.

Why don’t the rules apply to her? What if they don’t apply to you either?

In You Can Just Do Things, Cate Hall argues that the so-called “rules” of success aren’t rules at all—they’re productivity guidelines for low-agency people. Hall shows readers how to live with agency and take control of your future:

• Increase your surface area for luck    
• Take every shortcut available
  
• Build “forcing functions” that ensure commitment
  
• Use your deepest insecurities as fuel for growth

Are you ready to cross the cringe minefield? To show up where you don’t belong, apply for jobs you’re not qualified for, call people who aren’t expecting it, and risk looking foolish in front of others? Every time you think, “Somebody should do this,” that somebody can be you.

An uncomfortable psychological journey and a toolkit for bold living, You Can Just Do Things reveals how to stop waiting and start building the life you want.