Best Independent Books December 5
We are delighted to recommend the following books from the independent publishing sector.
NON-FICTION
Beyond the Dream: From the King of Pipeline to a Life of Serving and Inspiring Others
by Joey Buran
This compelling memoir captures the remarkable journey of a surfing legend. On December 17, 1984, Joey Buran achieved his ultimate dream by winning the Pipeline Masters, the most prestigious surf contest.
What happens when a 23-year-old reaches the pinnacle of his career? This story takes readers from his triumphant victory at Banzai Pipeline to the creation of the United States’ first professional surfing tour. The journey wasn’t without its challenges — he faced a dark period that nearly cost him his life. Emerging from those struggles, he found a new purpose as a respected minister, dedicating his life to serving others. His passion for surfing never waned. He won the World Masters Championship in 1998 and was inducted into the Surfing Hall of Fame in 2009. His coaching led Team USA to a World Surfing Championships title in 2017.
Written with the same intensity and honesty that characterized his surfing style, this memoir is a testament to faith, hard work and resilience. His reflections on his roles as a husband, parent, grandparent, minister and coach offer profound insights into the transformative power of serving others.
Honors: seen on MarketWatch
Category: Biographies & Memoirs
ISBN: 978-1956897449
I’d Rather Be Dead Than Deaf: A Young Woman’s Journey with Liver Cancer
by E. Adrienne Wilson
The book invites readers into the world of Adrienne Wilson, a brilliant teenage artist, poet, and sister who chronicled her thoughts and emotions while battling liver cancer.
This journal reveals her innermost reflections on life, love and friendship and the delicate dance of being young, gifted and terminally ill. Her words shine with a rare combination of humor, wit and raw honesty as she navigates her relationships and captures the beautiful, gritty essence of Los Angeles, her adopted hometown. Within these pages, readers will find her award-winning artwork in full-color reproductions, each piece illustrating her unique perspective and showcasing her talent. Her voice is infused with the vibrant spirit of the late 90s, offering a deeply nostalgic glimpse into the music, culture and language of the era.
Adrienne's story is not one of sadness alone, but of a life lived fully and passionately. She reflects on the meaning of existence, expressing an infectious humor and wisdom that belie her years.
In this quietly powerful and touching text, a young artist and poet, details her moving life account battling liver cancer.
— Pacific Book ReviewHonors: Honorable Mention, Young Adult Non-Fiction, Readers’ Favorite Book Awards
Category: Biographies & Memoirs
ISBN: 979-8989552405
Leadership DNA: Shaping A Thriving Business Culture
by Alinka Rutkowska, Deepak Bhootra, Brandon C. Blewett et al.
This book showcases the real stories, insights and strategies of successful leaders across industries. This compelling anthology explores whether great leaders are born or made and provides practical examples of how they overcome adversity to inspire change.
It features contributions from entrepreneurs, corporate executives and industry visionaries. Insights include how an entrepreneur revived her business by focusing on mental health and fostering resilience within her team, illustrating the importance of well-being in leadership. Another contribution tells how a co-founder scaled his startup from zero to $1 million in just six months by leading with adaptability and purpose, offering key lessons in rapid growth. One of the leaders describes how she broke through barriers in male-dominated industries, transforming challenges into opportunities with inclusive leadership, offering invaluable insight into overcoming adversity. The book also explains how corporate leaders turned disengaged teams into high performers, using empathy and values-driven leadership to create positive cultures that boost engagement and success.
This anthology brings together a diverse range of leadership experiences and real-world examples, offering readers actionable insights and tools for fostering innovation, navigating complex challenges and creating thriving business cultures.
Honors: seen on MarketWatch
Category: Business
ISBN: 978-1637353493
Lead and Grow Rich: The Way to Forge Success Through Your Future Self
by Jon Nicholson
This book is a transformative guide that redefines the concept of richness and success in today’s world. Building on the foundations laid by Napoleon Hill in Think and Grow Rich, this book takes a fresh look at personal development in the context of our evolving society.
The author shares his journey and insights on not just how to think and grow rich but also why it’s important to lead and grow rich. For him, being rich means having the freedom and flexibility to spend time with his family. This impactful read offers insights on a lifetime’s worth of problems and solutions. It explores the author’s journey and how it shaped his ability to be a leader in his life. It emphasizes the importance of defining success for ourselves, it describes the difference between becoming a leader and being a leader, and it explains how to set goals. The book also provides guidance on how to navigate defeat and obstacles, like ‘letting your spaceships blow up’.
It explains how to take the next steps in a career. Whether people want to start a company, make a career change, or write a best-seller, this book will inspire them to take action and be leaders in life.
Honors: seen on MarketWatch
Category: Business
ISBN: 978-1637351284
Awakening
by Areva Martin
This book goes beyond the idea that women should ask for a seat at the table. The author makes the case for women to tear down the building, build anew, and choose tables that make room for everyone.
In this book, the author provides statistics and stories on how the current system works to keep women as the inferior sex and why it needs a complete overhaul. Case studies from real women at work demonstrate the barriers that hold women back and the conflicts that they face if they choose to start a family. The author explains the background to the system and the movements, milestones and men who have shaped where women stand in the workplace today. She zooms out to describe how expectations, norms and culture need to change before equity can be achieved.
The past decade has been a whirlwind of fighting for equity, seeing the consequences of small-scale strategies and being pushed back by the COVID-19 pandemic. The author lays all of this out on the table and provides a map for pushing forward in the corporate jungle, nonprofit world and society at large.
The author is a strong writer and storyteller, and she does an excellent job of capturing the essences of the women she features here. — KirkusHonors: seen on MarketWatch
Category: Business
ISBN: 978-1637351253
In case you missed the books featured in the last newsletter, here they are again:
NON-FICTION
UNLEASH the potential and make it happen
by Patrick Steiner
This guide to thriving in the digital world is tailored for businesses and leaders. A practical handbook, it demystifies the digital landscape with real-world solutions, such as the Digital Success Canvas and the Digital Pulse Check, for evaluation and planning.
More than just a book, this is a toolkit for transformation. Featuring pragmatic levers and modules for digital success, it converts theory into action, providing a structured approach to implementing digital strategies. It demonstrates how to navigate complexities with ease and make informed decisions.
This guide is an accessible companion for turning digital challenges into victories. It shows not only how to survive but to thrive in the digital age, leveraging every opportunity with confidence and clarity. The book is not an endpoint but a gateway — a gateway to a world of digital excellence, collaboration and continuous growth.
Honors: seen on MarketWatch
Category: Business
ISBN: 978-3952598818
Sweetie, That's Not Sweets!
by Dr. Kathleen Humel
This book teaches children the importance of only taking medicine as directed by a healthcare provider, parent or guardian to ensure safety and proper treatment.
The author, a pharmacist, uses verse to deliver the educational message in an engaging and accessible way. At the center of the story is the parent-child relationship, pointing children to trust the advice of their parents in relation to medicine.
The book contains valuable insights and tips for parents and caregivers from an expert in the field. It puts safety at the heart of the conversation about medicine.
Honors: seen on MarketWatch
Category: Children’s
ISBN: 978-1637351734
Falling Forward: A Guide for Facing Adversity and Planning Your Life
by Gordon Wollman
This compelling guide explores the balance between personal and professional life. It emphasizes that the qualities that make a good businessman and a good human being are one and the same, encapsulated in the golden rule of “do unto others...”
The author recounts a journey through his life experiences — from the farm to the army to financial success. He shares his accumulated wisdom with plainspoken sincerity, always moving toward self-improvement and positively impacting the community surrounding him. He outlines the habits, skills and mindsets required for making a plan, adapting that plan when necessary, and moving forward to transform past failures into future success. It provides insights on how to balance business and personal lives, understand that mistakes are only failures if people choose not to learn from them, and improve self-awareness by seeking counsel to overcome blind spots.
The book also highlights the importance of people surrounding themselves with success and it shares how the author has overcome personal and professional setbacks and how the adversity has made him a better person and leader.
Honors: seen on MarketWatch
Category: Business
ISBN: 978-1637352489
TOO BLUE!: The IBM PC from an Acorn to a Renegade
by Dennis Andrews
Long before Apple became a household name and Bill Gates the poster child for computational wealth, there was IBM — a few crazy visionaries who saw a future no one else could have predicted. In this thrilling work, the author pulls back the curtain of IBM’s history to reveal the sometimes serendipitous, sometimes nerve-racking, technological race to develop a computer that would change the course of history.
The author tells how a small, relatively unknown team of engineers at IBM colored outside the blue line, thus shifting IBM’s mainframe business to an untapped and ‘fruitless’ market; pitched and signed what was then a small but feisty Microsoft Corporation to the Acorn Project; fought a corporate slew of internal naysayers that deemed the personal computer a risky and unnecessary reputational hazard; elevated the PC from relative obscurity to a household product for millions worldwide; took the IBM PC from zero units in 1980 to more than 2 million units in 1984 and a 34 percent market share; and developed a road map for pioneering tech startups.
This story of what almost never was reads as a breathtaking technological adventure fraught with corporate perils and groundbreaking innovation.
A nice combination of technical subject and history... makes this piece of work interesting and absorbing. — GoodreadsHonors: seen on ABC, CBS and NBC
Category: Business
ISBN: 978-1637350034
The Revenue Catalyst: Mastering the Art of Sales
by Geoffrey M. Reid
This book contains a detailed account of the latest and greatest in online marketing strategies for car dealers looking to take their digital marketing to the next level.
The author tells what it takes to plan and implement a strategy for search marketing that uses the latest techniques to maximize the return on investment. He provides a detailed description of Google ranking signals to help improve the search engine optimization and jumpstart organic search traffic. He reveals advanced pay-per-click implementations to revamp Google Ads campaigns and increase business immediately.
In this book, the author explains how to select an advertising agency, evaluate performance, and optimize campaigns consistently.
Honors: seen on MarketWatch
Category: Business
ISBN: 978-1637352793
We trust that your readers will enjoy our hand-picked selection.
For more bestselling and award-winning books from the independent publishing sector, please go here.
Warm regards,
Alinka Rutkowska
CEO, LibraryBub
