College years are one of the most exciting and also challenging stages of our lives. This period is full of happy and unbelievable moments, as well as problems which sometimes can be hard to overcome.
After finishing high school, young people find themselves on the crossroads of adult life. It is time for important decisions that will affect their future.
Moreover, college is not only a place for everyday parties like in Hollywood movies but also an institution that can give you some tools and knowledge for a successful career in the future.
Yet, students have to learn a lot by themselves to be prepared to face everything on their professional and personal paths. In this case, reading is the best way to gear up.
In this article, you will find a list of books that can be extremely useful not only for your first months at college but also during the whole life.
So, let’s start our book journey!
How to Win Friends and Influence People
This book is a true treasure for every first-year student. It teaches people to believe in their strengths, develop business skills, get rid of complexes by mastering the art of communication, and earn more. It is also a practical guide for acquiring oratory skills and learning the psychological principles of communication between people.
So, if you are not going to spend your whole time just writing essays or trying to google Hamlet summary, this manual will come in handy. A dormitory is a perfect place for establishing new contacts, making friends, and building up your social capital.
This particular book can certainly help you at every stage of life by skyrocketing your communication skills.
Author: Dale Carnegie. American psychologist, lecturer, teacher, writer, speaker-motivator. He is considered one of the creators of the theory of communication. Dale Carnegie applied scientific psychological developments in practice, created his method of conflict-free communication. Also, he was the founder of self-help courses, which taught practical communication skills.
The Defining Decade: Why Your Twenties Matter and How to Make the Most of Them Now
Meg Jay’s first book, The Defining Decade, became a bestseller, and more than 2 million people watched her performance on TED. The author concentrates her attention on one particular life period – from 20 to 30 years.
The text tells us about what is happening to people at this age, why this period of life is so important and why you should not miss it.
The book is divided into several sections: there is information about love, work, and personality. What is more, the author gives us a wide range of illustrative examples from life and the results of numerous scientific studies to disclosure the topics which are touched upon. Hence, this book is a real must-read for future college students.
Author: Dr. Meg Jay — American psychologist, Ph.D. in Psychology and Gender Studies. She has published articles in Forbes, Psychology Today, New York Times, and the Los Angeles Times.
Breakthrough Rapid Reading
Every day of our lives, we are drowning in an ocean of words. There are countless magazines and newspapers, educational materials, business correspondence, reports, and, most importantly, books that you would like to browse once you have at least some time for casual reading.
Indeed, college years are probably the most study-intensive period of our life, when you read more and more each year.
But how to find time for every article and text if we sometimes don’t have enough time even to sleep and eat?
Thanks to the new techniques outlined in this book, you will learn how to become one of the world’s fastest readers and never get lost in a vast sea of words. Now all the revolutionary methods are available to you in a new format – an innovative tutorial with simple exercises.
This book is a tutorial on how to increase reading speed and understanding of texts. It differs from other manuals and allows a reader to:
- immediately memorize the material better combining reading with learning;
- control reading speed;
- independently choose how many times a day to practice and how many minutes or hours to spend on the activity.
Author: Peter Kump. He taught employees of the White House and many renown corporations the basics of speed reading. Peter Kump developed his own quick reading system, which includes practicing small tricks every day for 20 minutes.
Final Words
You have read summaries of some exciting books which can be helpful while finding new contacts, making friends, planning one’s life, and learning something quickly and productively.
We hope that our article will help you in some way. However, remember that reading is nothing without practice, so don’t waste time and try everything from these great books!