Thanksgiving Day was yesterday, and hopefully you are recovering nicely from all the turkey. In keeping with the spirit of thanks, here is a selection of books all about giving thanks. All of these books can be found at Danville Public Library.
Grateful: The Transformative Power of Giving Thanks by Diana Butler Bass
The author of the multiple award-winning Grounded and leading trend spotter in contemporary Christianity explores why gratitude is missing as a modern spiritual practice, offers practical suggestions for reclaiming it, and illuminates how the shared practice of gratitude can lead to greater connection with God, our world, and our own souls. More and more people are finding God beyond the walls of traditional religious institutions, but these seekers often miss the church community itself, including its shared spiritual practices such as gratitude. While four out of five Americans have told pollsters they feel gratitude in their daily lives, cultural commentator and religion expert Diana Butler Bass finds that claim to be at odds with the discontent that permeates modern society. There is a gap, she argues, between our desire to be grateful and our ability to behave gratefully–a divide that influences our understanding of morality, worship, and institutional religion itself. In Grateful, Bass challenges readers to think about the impact gratitude has in our spiritual lives, and encourages them to make gratitude a “difficult and much-needed spiritual practice for our personal lives and to make a better world.” Grateful is partially an individual, emotional response to our circumstances, but research has shown that what we often miss is how much more it is a communal, actionable response. Bass examines this more unexpected experience of gratitude, and reveals how people and communities can practice it and thrive, whether or not they are part of a traditional religious community.
Thanks! : How the New Science of Gratitude Can Make You Happier by Robert A. Emmons
Editor-in-chief of the Journal of Positive Psychology Dr. Robert Emmons draws on the first major scientific study of the subject to show how the systematic cultivation of gratitude can measurably change people’s lives. People who regularly practice grateful thinking can increase their “set point” for happiness by as much as 25 percent. These increases can be sustained over a period of months–challenging the previously held notion that our set points for happiness are frozen at birth. Maintaining a gratitude journal for as little as three weeks results in better sleep and more energy. Emmons also reaches beyond science to bolster the case for gratitude by weaving in the writings of philosophers, novelists, and theologians. This book inspires readers to embrace gratitude and all the benefits it can bring into our lives.–From publisher description.
Thank You For Being Late: An Optimist’s Guide to Thriving in the Age of Accelerations by Thomas L. Friedman
Friedman discusses how the key to understanding the 21st century is understanding that the planet’s three largest forces — Moore’s law (technology), the market (globalization) and Mother Nature (climate change and biodiversity loss) — are accelerating all at once. And these accelerations are transforming the five key realms: the workplace, politics, geopolitics, ethics, and community. Friedman posits that we should purposely “be late” — we should pause to appreciate the amazing historical epoch we’re passing through and to reflect on its possibilities and dangers.– adapted from book jacket.
Ties the Bind: Stories of Love and Gratitude from the First Ten Years of StoryCorps edited by Dave Isay and Lizzie Jacobs
“StoryCorps founder Dave Isay draws from ten years of the revolutionary oral history project’s rich archives, collecting conversations that celebrate the power of the human bond and capture the moment at which individuals become family. Between blood relations, friends, coworkers, and neighbors, in the most trying circumstances and in the unlikeliest of places, enduring connections are formed and lives are forever changed”–Dust jacket flap.
The Gratitude Diaries: How a Year Looking on the Bright Side Can Transform Your Life by Janice Kaplan
In this inspiring memoir backed by pioneering research, Janice Kaplan spends a year living gratefully and gains a fresh outlook that transforms her marriage, family life, work, health, and every day experience.
 
 
 
Gratitude by Oliver Sacks
During the last few months of his life, Oliver Sacks wrote a set of essays in which he movingly explored his feelings about completing a life and coming to terms with his own death. Together, these four essays form an ode to the uniqueness of each human being and to gratitude for the gift of life.
 
 
The Thank You Economy by Gary Vaynerchuk
Gary Vaynerchuk contends that the people and companies harnessing the word-of-mouth power provided by multiplatform media — those that can shift their outlook and operations to be more customer-aware and fan-friendly — will pull away from the pack and profit in today’s markets.
 
 
 
Gratitude & Trust: Six Affirmations That Will Change Your Life by Paul Williams and Tracey Jackson
” Paul Williams is an alcoholic. Tracey Jackson is not. But together, these two close friends have written Gratitude and Trust, a book designed to apply the principles of the recovery movement to the countless people who are not addicts but nevertheless need effective help with their difficulties and pain. Williams, the award-winning songwriter, actor, and performer, has embraced a traditional alcoholism recovery plan for more than two decades of sobriety. Jackson, a well-known TV and film writer-and veteran of many years of traditional therapy-has never been a drunk or a drug abuser, but she realized that many of the tenets of Williams’s program could apply to her. In Gratitude and Trust, Williams and Jackson ask: What happens to those who struggle with vexing problems yet are not full-blown addicts? Are there any lessons to be learned from the foundational and time-tested principles of the recovery movement? Whether you’re tethered to your phone or you turn to food for comfort; whether you’re a perfectionist and can’t let things go or are too afraid to fail to even try; whether you can find intimacy only on the Internet or you’ve been involved in a string of nasty relationships-the first step toward feeling better about yourself and your life is the realization that you are what’s standing in your way. Williams and Jackson have designed a new, positive program, based on a half-dozen new affirmations, that can help conquer your vices, address personal dysfunction, and start to brighten the darkest moods. Gratitude and Trust is an essential, inspirational, and uplifting guide to identifying and changing maladaptive behaviors in order to uncover your most productive, healthiest self”– Provided by publisher.
 

Note: All book covers are from Google Images and all descriptions are from the SHARE Catalog.