Anya Hindmarch

The designer has written her first book of life advice called If In Doubt, Wash Your Hair. Here, she shares the books that have made her laugh, cry and think…

THE LAST BOOK THAT MADE ME LAUGH

I love Claudia Winkleman and am lucky enough to call her a friend. I can truly say that she is even funnier, nicer and kinder than she comes across in her brilliant book, Quite, which is really saying something!

THE BOOK THAT CHANGED THE WAY I THINK

The One Minute Manager Meets The Monkey by Ken Blanchard was useful for me when I first started hiring my team. It teaches the art of delegation, or rather, how to avoid bad delegation.

THE LAST BOOK THAT MADE ME CRY

What Does Jeremy Think? by Suzanne Heywood is a book about the man who ran the civil service, throughout numerous changes of Prime Minister. It’s a behind-the-scenes insight into what actually went on during various crises/elections/brexit negotiations. In the last chapter, his wife Suzanne writes about how he tragically died from cancer. I wept.

THE BOOK THAT GOT ME THROUGH A DIFFICULT TIME

Grief Works by Julia Samuel is an amazingly insightful book about managing grief. Having married a widower and inherited his three children, then aged one, three and four, this book (and Julia herself) has been a generous sounding board and wealth of wisdom.

THE BOOK I MOST OFTEN GIVE TO OTHERS

Oh, The Places You’ll Go! by Dr. Seuss to children. It is a mixture of ambitious enthusiasm and pragmatic reality, and I hope that the great life lessons get drummed into their little brains through its cadence and rhythm when it is read to them.