With the diploma in hand and the graduation cap thrown jubilantly into the air, the question remains: What’s the next step? Graduation heralds new beginnings and transition. But where and how to start? How should we prepare for the future when the world around us changes on a compulsory basis? In his book Don’t Knock the Hustle, S. Craig Watkins asks the same question and says we should plan to be future-ready. “What should schools be doing? Instead of preparing students to be college-ready or career-ready, schools must start producing students who are what I call ‘future-ready.’ The skills associated with future readiness are geared toward the long-term and oriented toward navigating a world marked by diversity, uncertainty, and complexity . . . a future-ready approach prepares students for the world we will build tomorrow.”

Inspired by Watkins, we put together this inexhaustive list of book recommendations from our catalog for the graduate in your life. Remember that you can always browse our website for more inspirational and future-ready titles.

For Graduates Getting Science Degrees

Inferior: How Science Got Women Wrong—and the New Research That’s Rewriting the Story
Angela Saini

“If you have ever been shouted down by a male colleague who insists that science has proven women to be biologically inferior to men, here are the arguments you need to demonstrate that he doesn’t know what he is talking about.”
—Eileen Pollack, author of The Only Woman in the Room

Superior: The Return of Race Science
Angela Saini

“Deeply researched, masterfully written, and sorely needed, Superior is an exceptional work by one of the world’s best science writers.”
—Ed Yong, author of I Contain Multitudes: The Microbes Within Us and a Grander View of Life 

For Graduates Gearing Up for Activism

Daring Democracy: Igniting Power, Meaning, and Connection for the America We Want
Frances Moore Lappé and Adam Eichen

“This book, perhaps better than any other, shows Americans that the democracy they want is possible.”
—Lawrence Lessig, author of Republic, Lost 

Unapologetic: A Black, Queer, Feminist Mandate for Radical Movements
Charlene A. Carruthers

“This brilliant and powerful book is a clarion call to keep alive the Black radical tradition in these reactionary times.”
—Dr. Cornell West

For Graduates Getting an Education Degree

Lift Us Up, Don’t Push Us Out!: Voices from the Front Lines of the Educational Justice Movement
Mark R. Warren with David Goodman

“A bold and exciting book that presents the stories we never hear—powerful stories of successful grassroots organizing in schools and communities across the nation led by parents, students, educators, and allies.”
—Karen Lewis, president of the Chicago Teachers Union

We Want To Do More Than Survive: Abolitionist Teaching and the Pursuit of Educational Reform
Bettina L. Love

“This book is a treasure! With rigorous intersectional theory, careful cultural criticism, and brave personal reflection, We Want To Do More Than Survive dares us to dream and struggle toward richer and thicker forms of educational freedom.”
—Marc Lamont Hill, author of Nobody: Casualties of America’s War on the Vulnerable, from Ferguson to Flint and Beyond 

For Graduates Seeking Other Future-Ready Paths

Don’t Knock the Hustle: Young Creatives, Tech Ingenuity, and the Making of a New Innovation Economy
S. Craig Watkins

“A compulsively readable ethnographic study of new innovation spaces that shows how young creatives—especially youth of color—are excelling at difference-making endeavors, from hip hop, coding, and game design to activism.”
—Juliet Schor, professor of sociology, Boston College

Man’s Search for Meaning
Viktor Frankl

“One of the great books of our time.”
—Harold S. Kushner, author of When Bad Things Happen to Good People 

The Miracle of Mindfulness: An Introduction to the Practice of Meditation
Thich Nhat Hanh

“Thich Nhat Hanh’s ideas for peace, if applied, would build a monument to ecumenism, to world brotherhood, to humanity.”
—Martin Luther King Jr.

How to Be Less Stupid About Race: On Racism, White Supremacy, and the Racial Divide
Crystal M. Fleming

“For those looking for a distinctly smart, humorous, and intellectually challenging read on a much-needed complex racial conversation, How to Be Less Stupid About Race is essential reading.”
—Angela Nissel, author of The Broke Diaries and Mixed

White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism
Robin DiAngelo

“This is a necessary book for all people invested in societal change through productive social and intimate relationships.”
—Claudia Rankine