📚 Announcing our January book

Welcome to 2026 folks! And welcome to our 12th book for the Bad Ass Bookshelf!

We hope you’ve all had a wonderful and restful festive period with as much (or as little) reading as you can liked!

Today we are announcing below our January pick as voted by you, our wonderful members.

If you’ve had reading more as one of your New Year’s resolutions than you’re in exactly the right place to get the ball rolling.

Also, in this email we’re highlighting a book club member who is also an author so make sure you check that!

Don’t forget - we are hosting our end of month Book Club call for our December book, Mindset by Carol S. Dweck tomorrow! Details and links to sign on are below.

Happy reading in Jan!

This month’s book explores how cultural differences influence the way people communicate, lead, give feedback, make decisions and build trust at work. Using a clear framework of cultural dimensions, Meyer compares common workplace behaviours across countries and shows where misunderstandings often arise in global teams. The book blends research with practical examples from international organisations, offering tools to help readers adapt their approach when working across cultures. You can expect a structured, insightful guide that helps explain why well-intentioned interactions sometimes go wrong and how greater cultural awareness can lead to more effective collaboration and leadership.

Buy it now: You can listen to it on Spotify or Audible or get the ebook on Kindle. If you’re buying a physical copy, please try to buy second-hand or from a local, independent store whenever possible. Otherwise, here’s a link to buy the book on Amazon.

The vote this month was incredibly close, with The Culture Map taking the top spot by just a single vote. It really could have gone either way, so here’s how you all voted.

Here’s how you voted:

Here are a few of the comments some of you left explaining your choices:

We’re so excited to host our next Bad Ass Bookshelf bookclub call to discuss Mindset tomorrow! Call details below:

Date: Tuesday 6th January
Time: 17:00 GMT (12:00 EST / 09:00 PST)

There is nothing we love more than supporting Bad Ass Bookshelf members who are also published authors. In today’s edition we are giving a shout out to Hasan Merali with his new book: Sleep Well, Take Risks, and Squish the Peas

"From the psychology of toddlers comes a surprisingly intuitive blueprint for a better life. This is one of the most original advice books I've read in a long time!” -Cal Newport

Terrible twos, temper tantrums, and grocery store meltdowns are usually the first things that come to mind when people think of toddlers. But paediatric emergency medicine physician and researcher Dr. Hasan Merali has long thought toddlers are among the best people in our society and adults could do well to learn from them. These extraordinary youngsters can be impulsive, yes, but with this comes a remarkable ability to take risks and ask questions—two qualities that can help us enjoy life more. Toddlers act kindly toward strangers, are eager to work with others to solve problems, and demonstrate extraordinary dedication and perseverance. These are all traits that many of us aspire to have in order to improve both our personal and professional lives.

To unpack this behaviour, Dr. Merali includes many humorous examples from his experience as a paediatrician and father, but the core lessons are drawn from two decades worth of fascinating and surprising studies in child psychology and development. Merali connects these studies to research about adults to create the first book to offer adults important lessons that can be gleaned from toddlers. Sleep Well, Take Risks, Squish the Peas shows us how toddlers bring out the best in humanity and how we can, too. It’s a whole new way of looking at and learning from toddlers.

Check it out here.

I love reading these kinds of books, but I get so much more out of them when I have someone to talk about it with. That’s why our Discord channel is such a great place to be.

You can meet other readers who are reading the same book with you at the same time and discuss to your hearts content all of the incredible learnings these amazing books have to offer.

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