Enough time spent online. After tens of online classes and the same amount of Netflix series and films, it is time for books. These are four non-fiction books you didn’t know you needed in your life.

1. Educated

Tara Westover grows up in the mountains of Idaho. Her dad is extremely suspicious of everything that has to do with mainstream society. The children aren’t allowed to go to school, go to a hospital or have an actual job. They have little to know clue of what is going on in the world outside the Idaho mountains. Tara’s mom is a midwife and an alternative healer, who uses herbs to treat any kind of diseases and aches. After a while, Tara starts educating herself. At the age of 17, she decides to leave the house and go to school. Her new life begins.

2. Atomic Habits

Us people want to see change, and for that change something drastically. For example: I want to lose 5 kilo’s so I’m going to eat salad for 3 weeks. Not a good idea, according to author James Clear. In his book he explains how we need to change the smallest habits and be patience to see permanent results. Due to an accident during a basketball game, Clear suffered from severe brain damage. By changing small habits, each one at the time, Clear was able to live a normal live again. The book is a guide to change habits, create good habits and get rid of bad ones.

3. The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck

In this book, author Mark Manson gets rid of the fact that we are supposed to be positive all the time. All we do is post about how amazing our lives are, how many friends we have and where we went to on vacation and so on and so forth. But when life isn’t going as planned, something upsetting happens to us or we are forced to deal with disappointment and setbacks, we immediately feel miserable. We often think life should be filled with only positivity and we have to be the best version of ourselves all the time. Mark Manson thinks we should feel more comfortable with being mediocre and having setbacks every now and then.

4. Notes on a Nervous Planet

Matt Haig wrote a book about how technology messes with us and our minds. All communication with each other and the exchange of information happens extremely fast. According to Haig, this feeds our anxiety. After suffering from a panic disorder, anxiety and depression himself, he decided to look into how the world could impact his mental health.

Text: Claire Gevers, photo: ©Thought Catalog