When you hear the word “family,” what do you think of? Many of us picture a smiling husband and wife, standing with their 2.5 perfect children by a white picket fence and a beautiful suburban home. It’s an image that has been held up as the American ideal.
But behind this simplistic portrait lies the reality of being a family in 2023, which looks very different for many different people. That diversity is beautiful—and the five books below will help you explore it.
The Family Outing: A Memoir
By Jessi Hempel
A striking and remarkable literary memoir about one family’s transformation, with almost all of them embracing their queer identities. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Jessi Hempel, in the Next Big Idea App
Hatching: Experiments in Motherhood and Technology
By Jenni Quilter
Hatching embraces the complexities of motherhood and the humanity of in vitro fertilization: the waiting rooms, the message boards, and the genetic permutations of what a thoroughly modern family might mean. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Jenni Quilter, in the Next Big Idea App
Ambitious Like a Mother: Why Prioritizing Your Career Is Good for Your Kids
By Lara Bazelon
In this captivating and radical look at work-life balance, an acclaimed law professor and mother reframes our understanding of working women—and shows how prioritizing your career benefits mothers, kids, and society at large. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Lara Bazelon, in the Next Big Idea App
Girls on the Brink: Helping Our Daughters Thrive in an Era of Increased Anxiety, Depression, and Social Media
By Donna Jackson Nakazawa
An award-winning writer reveals that the crisis facing today’s girls is a biologically rooted phenomenon: the earlier onset of puberty mixes badly with the unchecked bloom of social media and cultural misogyny. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Donna Jackson Nakazawa, in the Next Big Idea App
Mother Brain: How Neuroscience Is Rewriting the Story of Parenthood
By Chelsea Conaboy
An acclaimed health and science journalist explodes the concept of “maternal instinct” and tells a new story about what it means to become a parent. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Chelsea Conaboy, in the Next Big Idea App
The Key Ideas in 15 Minutes
“If you are going to get anywhere in life, you have to read a lot of books,” Roald Dahl once famously said. The only trouble is, reading even one book from cover to cover takes hours—and you may not have many hours to spare.
But imagine for a moment: What if you could read a groundbreaking new book every day? Or even better, what if you could invite a world-renowned thinker into your earbuds, where they personally describe the 5 key takeaways from their work in just 15 minutes?
With the Next Big Idea App, we’ve turned this fantasy into a reality. We partnered with hundreds of acclaimed authors to create “Book Bites,” short audio summaries of the latest nonfiction that are prepared and read aloud by the authors themselves. Discover cutting-edge leadership skills, productivity hacks, the science of happiness and well-being, and much more—all in the time it takes to drive to work or walk the dog.
Go Deeper with a Next Big Idea Club Membership
The Next Big Idea App is free for anyone to try—and if you love it, we invite you to become an official member of the Next Big Idea Club. Membership grants you unlimited access to Book Bites and unlocks early-release, ad-free episodes of our LinkedIn-partnered podcast. You also gain entry to our private online discussion group, where you can talk big ideas with fellow club members and join exclusive live Q&A sessions with featured authors.
For a more focused learning experience, we recommend a Hardcover or eBook Membership. Every few months, legendary authors and club curators Malcolm Gladwell, Susan Cain, Adam Grant, and Daniel Pink select two new nonfiction books as the must-reads of the season. We then send hardcover copies straight to your doorstep, or eBook versions to your favorite digital device. We also collaborate with the authors of selected books to produce original reading guides and premium video e-courses, 50-minute master classes that take you step by step through their most life-changing ideas. And yes, it’s all available through the Next Big Idea App.
Learn Faster, from the World’s Leading Thinkers
Whether you prefer to read, listen, or watch, the Next Big Idea is here to help you work smarter and live better. Wake up with an always-fresh Idea of the Day, the perfect shot of inspiration to go with your morning coffee. Then dive into one of our Challenges, hand-picked collections of Book Bites that form crash courses in subjects like communication, motivation, and career acceleration. Later, watch the playback of an interview with U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, Stanford psychologist Jennifer Eberhardt, or philosopher John Kaag. And be sure to check the “Events” tab in the app, so that you can join an upcoming live Q&A and personally chat with the next featured thought leader.
If you’re hoping to grow as a person or as a professional, we hope you’ll join us and tens of thousands of others who enjoy the Next Big Idea. Get started by downloading the app today!
