I got conned by a bestselling author and I didn’t even see it coming. She was on one of the biggest podcasts in the world, super confident, full of bold claims about nutrition, and I bought her book before the episode was over. Within chapters I knew something was off.
The wellness space is flooded with charismatic people saying things that sound true but aren’t.
So this week I’m doing something different: sharing three books that actually changed something in me, how I think, how I treat myself, how I treat others, written by people who are actually qualified to write them.
In this episode:
The time I got conned by a bestselling author (and what it taught me about the wellness space)
Book 1: Thinking, Fast and Slow by the late Daniel Kahneman, and why smart people make terrible decisions
Book 2: What Happened to You? by Bruce Perry & Oprah Winfrey, and why your habits aren’t character flaws
Book 3: Atlas of the Heart by Brené Brown, and why you can’t process what you can’t name
Why none of these books tell you to try harder
“What they do, in different ways, is help you understand yourself better. How your brain works. Why you do what you do. And what’s actually getting in the way. That to me is what good self-help looks like.”
Chapters:
[00:00] I got conned by a bestselling author
[03:40] Book 1: Thinking, Fast and Slow — why smart people make terrible decisions
[05:10] Book 2: What Happened to You? — your habits aren’t character flaws
[06:51] Book 3: Atlas of the Heart — you can’t process what you can’t name
[08:32] The one thing all three books have in common
Mentioned in this episode:
The late Daniel Kahneman: Thinking, Fast and Slow
Dr Bruce Perry & Oprah Winfrey: What Happened to You?
Dr Brené Brown: Atlas of the Heart (+ her TED talks)
Full list of all 8 books: unwrittenpotential.com
The 3 books at a glance:
Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman — Why your brain makes terrible decisions and how to design better systems instead of relying on willpower. Also increasingly relevant in the age of AI.
What Happened to You? by Bruce Perry & Oprah Winfrey — Why your habits are adaptations, not character flaws, and how childhood experiences shape behaviour.
Atlas of the Heart by Brené Brown — Why you can’t process what you can’t name, and how a richer emotional vocabulary changes everything. Self-knowledge starts with having the words.
Want the full list? Head to unwrittenpotential.com for all 8 books that actually changed my life.
Tell me: what is one book that has changed your life, or changed how you see yourself, the world, or others? 💛
Noemie X
