Rebecca’s book recommendations

MAN’S SEARCH FOR MEANING by Viktor Frankl

‘Essential reading for anyone pondering life’s big questions. I spoke about it during a book launch in Johannesburg and it sold out. I was like, “For God’s sake, buy that instead of my book.”’

SMILE OR DIE by Barbara Ehrenreich

‘She’s this American journalist who was diagnosed with breast cancer, and she found it really offensive that the only acceptable way to have breast cancer in public was to be super-upbeat about it. The pressure put on people to be positive can actually have really negative health implications.’

BEING MORTAL by Atul Gawande

‘People who are terminally ill who have conversations about death with their loved ones actually end up living longer because they’ve faced up to their fears. Cynicism isn’t always bad. Sometimes it’s a healthy way to live.’

THE ANTIDOTE: HAPPINESS FOR PEOPLE WHO CAN’T STAND POSITIVE THINKING by Oliver Burkeman

‘He has a weekly column in The Guardian where he looks at a self-help trend and says what’s good about it. And he wrote a book based on that.’

THE RISE OF ADDICTIVE TECHNOLOGY by Adam Alter

‘He’s actually South African; I didn’t realise. He writes about the technical design of games and apps – and how they keep you online. The scroll is what has killed us, because it’s never-ending. The most frightening thing I’ve read this year is that Netflix has openly said that its greatest rival is SLEEP.’