One of my favorite parts of being the editorial director of the Next Big Idea Club is putting together the longlist of seasonal nominees (aka “Panio’s List”). In an era of increasing reliance on AI and algorithms, I maintain an editorial approach that is defiantly old-fashioned: I review advance copies and press releases of hundreds of upcoming books, and then select the most promising, thought-provoking, must-read nonfiction titles of the season—all based on the preferences of our curators, member feedback from previous seasons, and my own 20+ years of publishing experience.
Once the longlist is assembled, I reach out to the selected authors with the news, invite them to create an audio “Book Bite,” and share the list with our incredible Next Big Idea Club curators: Susan Cain, Malcolm Gladwell, Adam Grant, and Daniel Pink. The curators gradually narrow the list down to a small handful of finalists and, ultimately, two official season selections.
Today, I’m excited to share my list of nominees for Season 18 of the Next Big Idea Club. This is a special double season, spanning six months of publication (February to July 2022), so I’ve broken the list into three parts. This is Part One, which covers February and March. And now, drumroll please…
By John List Publication Date: February 1, 2022
University of Chicago economist John A. List explains how to identify the ideas that will be successful when scaled, and how to avoid those that won’t. View Our “Book Bite” Summary
By Florence Williams Publication Date: February 1, 2022
Florence Williams explores the fascinating, cutting-edge science of heartbreak while seeking creative ways to mend her own. View our “Book Bite” Summary
By Y-Vonne Hutchinson Publication Date: February 1, 2022
An indispensable practical toolkit for dismantling racism in the workplace without fear. View Our “Book Bite” Summary
By Mary-Frances O’Connor Publication Date: February 1, 2022
A renowned grief expert and neuroscientist shares groundbreaking discoveries about what happens in our brain when we grieve, providing a new paradigm for understanding love, loss, and learning. View Our “Book Bite” Summary
By John Howard Publication Date: February 1, 2022
More Than Words shows you how to deepen love and connection in any relationship based on the latest cutting-edge research in interpersonal neurobiology, trauma-informed healing, attachment theory, and many more scientific fields. View on Amazon
By Sebastian Mallaby Publication Date: February 1, 2022
The astonishingly frank and intimate story of Silicon Valley’s dominant venture-capital firms—and how their strategies and fates have shaped the path of innovation and the global economy. View on Amazon
By Spencer Jakab Publication Date: February 1, 2022
In this nuanced analysis, Jakab shines a light on often-misunderstood profit motives and financial mechanisms to show how this so-called revolution is, on balance, a bonanza for Wall Street. View on Amazon
By Rupert Russell Publication Date: February 1, 2022
A fascinating, groundbreaking exposé of how commodity traders in New York and London have destabilized societies all over the world, leaving the most vulnerable at the mercy of hunger, chaos, and war. View on Amazon
By Michelle Drouin Publication Date: February 1, 2022
A behavioral scientist explores love, belongingness, and fulfillment, focusing on how modern technology can both help and hinder our need to connect. View Our “Book Bite” Summary
By Julie Bogart Publication Date: February 1, 2022
A guide for parents to help children of all ages process the onslaught of unfiltered information in the digital age. View on Amazon
By Kumiko Love Publication Date: February 1, 2022
My Money My Way will give you the tools to align your emotional health with your financial health—to let go of deprivation and embrace desire. View on Amazon
By John Abramson Publication Date: February 8, 2022
The inside story of how Big Pharma’s relentless pursuit of ever-higher profits corrupts medical knowledge—misleading doctors, misdirecting American health care, and harming our health. View on Amazon
By Mimi Winsberg Publication Date: February 8, 2022
An essential look at the love language of texts, helping you decipher the personalities of online daters, the subtle signals from your romantic partner, and the red flags hiding in plain sight. View on Amazon
By Jacob Mchangama Publication Date: February 8, 2022
Mchangama reveals how the free exchange of ideas underlies all intellectual achievement and has enabled the advancement of both freedom and equality worldwide. View on Amazon
By Ranjay Gulati Publication Date: February 8, 2022
A Harvard Business School professor offers a compelling reassessment and defense of purpose as a management ethos, documenting the vast performance gains and social benefits that become possible when firms get purpose right. View on Amazon
By Sara Manning Peskin Publication Date: February 8, 2022
Our brains are the most complex machines known to humankind, but they have an Achilles heel: the very molecules that allow us to exist can also sabotage our minds. View on Amazon
By David Robson Publication Date: February 15, 2022
Melding neuroscience with narrative, science journalist David Robson takes readers on a deep dive into the many life zones that the expectation effect permeates. View on Amazon
By Amy Webb and Andrew Hessel Publication Date: February 15, 2022
Amy Webb and Andrew Hessel’s riveting examination of synthetic biology and the bioeconomy provide the background for thinking through the upcoming risks and moral dilemmas posed by redesigning life, as well as the vast opportunities waiting for us on the horizon. View on Amazon
By Dennis Duncan Publication Date: February 15, 2022
Revealing its vast role in our evolving literary and intellectual culture, Duncan shows that, for all our anxieties about the Age of Search, we are all index-rakers at heart―and we have been for 800 years. View on Amazon
By Arthur Brooks Publication Date: February 15, 2022
Drawing on social science, philosophy, biography, theology, and Eastern wisdom, as well as dozens of interviews with everyday men and women, a Harvard professor shows us that true life success is well within our reach. View on Amazon
By Elaine Pofeldt Publication Date: February 15, 2022
Small business specialist Elaine Pofeldt offers her blueprint for getting a running start with your microbusiness—that is, a business with no more than 20 employees, including yourself. View on Amazon
By Keith Ferrazzi, Kian Gohar, and Noel Weyrich Publication Date: February 15, 2022
Competing in the New World of Work is both your inspiration and your road map to embracing new realities, motivating talent, and winning bold frontiers. View Our “Book Bite” Summary
By Stephen Poloz Publication Date: February 22, 2022
From the former Governor of the Bank of Canada, a far-seeing guide to the powerful economic forces that will shape the decades ahead. View on Amazon
By Lee Siegel Publication Date: February 22, 2022
Siegel plumbs the emotional and psychological sources of clashing words, weaving through his exploration the untold story of the role argument has played in societies throughout history. View on Amazon
By Jackie Higgins Publication Date: February 22, 2022
The extraordinary sensory powers of our animal friends can help us better understand the same powers that lie dormant within us. View on Amazon
By Laura Shin Publication Date: February 22, 2022
This fascinating book shows the crypto market for what it really is: a deeply personal struggle to influence the coming revolution in money, culture, and power. View Our “Book Bite” Summary
By Jimmy Soni Publication Date: February 22, 2022
Today, PayPal’s founders and earliest employees are considered the technology industry’s most powerful network. This narrative illustrates how this rare assemblage of talent came to work together, and how their collaboration changed our world forever. View on Amazon
By Stephanie Foo Publication Date: February 22, 2022
A searing memoir of reckoning and healing by acclaimed journalist Stephanie Foo, investigating the little-understood science behind complex PTSD and how it has shaped her life. View on Amazon
By Neil Hoyne Publication Date: February 22, 2022
Google’s Chief Measurement Strategist offers a simple, research-backed playbook that anyone can use to find their best customers and develop relationships that last. View on Amazon
By Morten Christiansen and Nick Chater Publication Date: February 22, 2022
Cognitive scientists Morten Christiansen and Nick Chater show us where generations of scientists seeking the rules of language got it wrong. View on Amazon
By Vanessa Van Edwards Publication Date: March 1, 2022
Whether you’re pitching an investment, negotiating a job offer, or having a tough conversation with a colleague, cues can help you improve your relationships, express empathy, and create meaningful connections with lasting impact. View on Amazon
By David George Haskell Publication Date: March 1, 2022
Haskell takes us to threatened forests, noise-filled oceans, and loud city streets, and shows that sonic crises are not mere losses of sensory ornament. View on Amazon
By Ruchika Tulshyan Publication Date: March 1, 2022
Tulshyan explains why “leaning in” doesn’t work—and dismantling structural bias does; warns against hiring for “culture fit,” arguing for “culture add” instead; and emphasizes the importance of psychological safety in the workplace. View Our “Book Bite” Summary
By Frank Keil Publication Date: March 1, 2022
A Yale psychologist reveals how we can all be lifelong wonderers, restoring the sense of joy in discovery we felt as children. View Our “Book Bite” Summary
By Deepa Purushothaman Publication Date: March 1, 2022
A deeply personal call to action for women of color to find power from within and join together in community, advocating for a new corporate environment where we all belong—and are accepted—on our own terms. View Our “Book Bite” Summary
By Oliver Milman Publication Date: March 1, 2022
Acclaimed journalist Oliver Milman dives into the torrent of recent evidence that suggests this kaleidoscopic group of creatures is suffering the greatest existential crisis in its remarkable 400-million-year history. View on Amazon
By Ashley Ward Publication Date: March 1, 2022
Biologist Ashley Ward takes us on a wild tour across the globe as he searches for a more accurate picture of how animals build societies. View on Amazon
By Ryan Jenkins and Steve Van Cohen Publication Date: March 1, 2022
Connectable delivers the information, insights, and actionable strategies needed to awaken a renewed sense of connection throughout your organization. View Our “Book Bite” Summary
By Carolyn Chen Publication Date: March 8, 2022
A UC Berkeley sociologist shows how tech giants are reshaping spirituality to serve their religion of peak productivity. View on Amazon
By Ogi Ogas and Sai Gaddam Publication Date: March 8, 2022
Journey of the Mind is the first book to offer a unified account of the mind that explains how consciousness, language, the Self, and civilization emerged incrementally out of chaos. View on Amazon
By Mónica Guzmán Publication Date: March 8, 2022
Mónica shows how you can put your natural sense of wonder to work for you immediately, finding the answers you need by talking with people—rather than about them—and asking the questions you want, curiously. View on Amazon
By Christine Porath Publication Date: March 8, 2022
An illuminating and empowering guide to help you discover just how important thriving communities are to our well-being and the success of organizations. View on Amazon
By Barry Nalebuff Publication Date: March 8, 2022
A professor at Yale School of Management explains how seeing the relevant “pie” will change how you think about fairness and power in negotiation. View on Amazon
By Albert Bourla Publication Date: March 8, 2022
The exclusive, first-hand, behind-the-scenes story of how Pfizer raced to create the first COVID-19 vaccine, told by Pfizer’s Chairman and CEO. View on Amazon
By Richard Cohen Publication Date: March 8, 2022
A fascinating, epic exploration of who gets to record the world’s history—from Julius Caesar to William Shakespeare to Ken Burns—and how their biases influence our understanding about the past. View on Amazon
By Ben Buchanan and Andrew Imbrie Publication Date: March 8, 2022
An essential guide to the age of artificial intelligence which dives into the incredible promises and daunting perils of AI. View on Amazon
By Ellen Vora Publication Date: March 15, 2022
From an acclaimed psychiatrist comes a groundbreaking understanding of how anxiety manifests in the body and mind—and what we can do to overcome it. View Our “Book Bite” Summary
By Mona Delahooke Publication Date: March 15, 2022
When parents shift from trying to secure compliance to supporting connection and balance in the body and mind, they unlock a deeper understanding of their child, encouraging calmer behavior, more harmonious family dynamics, and increased resilience. View Our “Book Bite” Summary
By David Anderson Publication Date: March 15, 2022
Anderson explains what studying emotions and related internal brain states in animals can teach us about human behavior, offering new insights into why isolation makes us more aggressive, how sex and violence connect, and whether there’s a link between aggression and mental illness. View on Amazon
By Mike Florio Publication Date: March 15, 2022
Mike Florio takes readers from the boardroom to the locker room, from draft day to Super Bowl night, showing what really goes on in the sport that America can’t seem to quit. View Our “Book Bite” Summary
By Mary Childs Publication Date: March 15, 2022
From the host of NPR’s Planet Money comes the deeply-investigated story of how one visionary, dogged investor changed American finance forever. View on Amazon
By Reshma Saujani Publication Date: March 15, 2022
Through powerful data and personal narrative, Saujani shows that the cost of inaction—for families, for our nation’s economy, and for women themselves—is too great to ignore. View on Amazon
By Maria Brito Publication Date: March 15, 2022
There has never been a more crucial time than now to develop your creativity and your ability to innovate, as coming up with original ideas of value is today’s most precious skill. View on Amazon
By Carolyn Dewar, Scott Keller, and Vikram Malhotra Publication Date: March 15, 2022
From the world’s most influential management consulting firm, McKinsey & Company, comes an insight-packed, revelatory look at how the best CEOs do their jobs. View Our “Book Bite” Summary
By Britt Frank Publication Date: March 15, 2022
This book is a hands-on road map for moving forward with purpose, confidence, and the freedom to become who you’re truly meant to be. View on Amazon
By N.J. Enfield Publication Date: March 15, 2022
A University of Sydney linguist argues that understanding how language works is crucial to tackling our most pressing challenges, including human cognitive bias, media spin, the “post-truth” problem, persuasion, the role of words in our thinking, and much more. View Our “Book Bite” Summary
By Justin Smith Publication Date: March 22, 2022
An original deep history of the internet that tells the story of the centuries-old utopian dreams behind it—and explains why they have died today. View on Amazon
By Laura Liswood Publication Date: March 22, 2022
Liswood presents a powerful argument for implementing diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, including the oft-overlooked risks posed by a homogeneous workforce. View on Amazon
By Cathy O’Neil Publication Date: March 22, 2022
O’Neil explores the machinery behind shame, showing how governments, corporations and the healthcare system capitalize on it. View on Amazon
By Danny Warshay Publication Date: March 22, 2022
The founding Executive Director of Brown’s Center for Entrepreneurship leverages his own entrepreneurship successes and his 15 years of experience to debunk common myths about entrepreneurship. View on Amazon
By Beena Ammanath Publication Date: March 22, 2022
Award-winning executive Beena Ammanath offers a practical approach for enterprise leaders to manage business risk in a world where AI is everywhere. View Our “Book Bite” Summary
By Jane McGonigal Publication Date: March 22, 2022
McGonigal draws on the latest scientific research in psychology and neuroscience to show us how to train our brains to think the unthinkable and imagine the unimaginable. View on Amazon
By Jennifer Sciubba Publication Date: March 29, 2022
A provocative account of the power of population change to create the conditions for societal transformation. View on Amazon
By Eric Pliner Publication Date: March 29, 2022
An indispensable resource to help readers develop self-reflection, clarify their values, and ultimately make the choice that is most “right” to them. View on Amazon
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