Authors Helping Grads

I little different take on our Authors Helping posts this week.  In the past, Audible has done a nice job asking authors their opinions on various subjects. I really like seeing what they have to say. Why anyone would care about my opinion is beyond me, but it's still nice to be asked. This month they wanted us to impart some wisdom to new graduates as they set out into the world. For my own part, I selected a book that is all about passion...finding yours, and how to express your enthusiasm to attract people who share a love for what sets your heart ablaze.

For most people, we'll spend the majority of our lives at our "jobs," so it had better be doing something you love.  For me, it's no secret that is writing. But it wasn't until very late in my life that I realized it was possible to find people who enjoyed the fruits of my labor and were willing to support me in such efforts.

Simon Sinek is a great inspiration to me. He opened my mind to something that I somehow knew instinctively, but he was able to articulate. To show how it's not what you do but WHY you do it that matters. So my best piece of advice for those trying to figure out what they're going to do with the rest of their life is to find their "why," and Simon can help.


There were a lot of other authors who weighed in on this subject and I found it interesting to see what they had to say. Here's the full list  who were asked:


And here is what each of them recommended:Brian Grazer's Pick: The Complete Book of Five Rings By Miyamoto Musashi, and Kenji Tokitsu (editor and translator)Brad Thor's Pick: Unlimited Power By Anthony RobbinsLeigh Bardugo's Pick: Dune By Frank HerbertJeff Shaara's Pick: My Life in France By Julia Child, Alex Prud'HommeElizabeth Kolbert's Pick: The Metamorphosis and Other Stories By Franz KafkaMatthew Quick's Pick: The Little Prince By Antoine de Saint-ExuperyMichael J. Sullivan's Pick: Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action By Simon SinekAndrew Peterson's Pick: The Power of Myth: Programs 1-6 By Joseph Campbell, Bill MoyersEmma Chase's Pick: If Life Is A Bowl of Cherries, What Am I Doing In The Pits? By Erma BombeckJennifer Estep's Pick: Where the Red Fern Grows By Wilson RawlsWendy Suzuki's Pick: Creating Innovators: The Making of Young People Who Will Change the World By Tony WagnerA.G. Riddle's Pick: The Road Less Traveled: A New Psychology of Love, Values, and Spiritual Growth By M. Scott PeckGloria Gaynor's Pick: The Purpose Driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here For? By Rick WarrenB.V. Larson's Pick: Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything By Steven D. Levitt, Stephen J. DubnerBella Andre's Pick: Better Than Before: Mastering the Habits of Our Everyday Lives By Gretchen RubinBob Mayer's Pick: The Prophet By Kahlil GibranChristina Baker Kline's Pick: A Room of One's Own By Virginia WoolfChristina Lauren's Pick: She's Come Undone By Wally LambKen Liu's Pick: Pilgrim at Tinker Creek By Annie DillardChrysler Szarlan's Pick: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe: The Chronicles of Narnia By C.S. LewisPaul Doiron's Pick: War and Peace By Leo TolstoyAnita Diamant's Pick: Mary Poppins: The Mary Poppins Series By P. L. TraversBen H. Winters's Pick: Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin By Benjamin FranklinJennifer Probst's Pick: Sex and the City: 10th Anniversary Edition By Candace BushnellCarmine Gallo's Pick: How to Win Friends & Influence People By Dale CarnegieAlice Hoffman's Pick: The Little Prince By Antoine de Saint-ExuperyDon Winslow's Pick: Henry IV By William ShakespeareElizabeth Berg's Pick: Poems of Robert Frost By Robert FrostTommy Wallach's Pick: The Remains of the Day By Kazuo IshiguroHank Phillippi Ryan's Pick: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance By Robert M. PirsigIlsa J. Bick's Pick: Charlotte's Web By E.B. WhiteJeanne C. Stein's Pick: Half Magic By Edward EagerTim Federle's Pick: Peter Pan By J. M. BarrieJasinda Wilder's Pick: On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft By Stephen KingWill Bowen's Pick: Atlas Shrugged By Ayn RandKathleen Brooks' Pick: One for the Money: A Stephanie Plum Novel By Janet EvanovichLeah Raeder's Pick: 1984 By George OrwellLibba Bray's Pick: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy By Douglas AdamsLisa Renee Jones's Pick: Who Moved My Cheese? By Spencer JohnsonJ.A. Jance's Pick: How to Win Friends & Influence People By Dale CarnegieMax Brallier's Pick: To Kill a Mockingbird By Harper LeeJude Deveraux's Pick: Jane Eyre By Charlotte Brontë