Forget losing weight or saving money—we suggest just one simple task to add to your list of inspiring New Year’s resolutions: read a book. Trust us, your brain will thank you. Not only does reading boost the amount of daily pleasure in your life, but it could also delay dementia and even help you live longer.
But still, picking the perfect novel for your noggin isn’t easy. We hear ya! Thankfully, Business Insider asked a Harvard professor to reveal the one book he thinks every student should read in 2018—and we recommend adding it to your list, too.
Steven Pinker, Johnstone Professor of Psychology at Harvard University and the author of ten books, recommends The Internationalists by legal scholars Oona Hathaway and Scott Shapiro. The book makes a surprising claim that the Kellogg-Briand Paris Peace Pact of 1928, which declared war illegal, has caused a steady drop in war throughout history.
“But in their gripping and evidence-rich book, they make a plausible case,” Pinker said. “And like The Clash of Civilizations and The End of History, the book presents a sweeping vision of the international scene, making sense of many developments in the news and recent history.”
Other professors at Harvard recommended classics like Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy, as well as Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson, The Theory of Moral Sentiments by Adam Smith, and Robot-Proof by Joseph Aoun.
So, go ahead and give (at least) one of these books a read in 2018! And while you’re at it, you should add these 20 books you really should have read by now to your list, too.
