A new year invariably brings thoughts of change, of self-improvement, of new beginnings. So it is with Cosimo: as we celebrate our new blog, I’ve been taking a look throughout January at our library’s worth of books, current and classic, on topics of self-help, personal development, and refreshening the mind, body, and spirit. I’ll finish with a quick rundown of classic titles to motivate you toward your fresh start in 2007.

The Foundations of Personality, by Abraham Myerson: how our perceptions of character influence all of our everyday interactions

Memory: How to Develop, Train and Use It, by William Walker Atkinson: revealing secrets hidden for almost a century, this book will teach you to train the eye as well as the ear to improve your ability to recall names, faces, numbers, music, facts, and much more

How to Talk: Meeting the Situations of Personal and Business Life and of Public Address, by John Mantle Clapp & Edwin A. Kane: a classic of developing confidence and poise when talking to absolutely anyone, full of sound, solid advice for becoming a more thoughtful and resolute speaker

Advice to Young Men, by William Cobbett: quaint and charming lost work offers 1829’s finest advice on why a young man should not sport with the affections of a young woman, why it’s best to avoid buying anything on credit, why it may be wise not to introduce servants into your household, and more

Live and Be Young, by Vance Thompson: 1920 guidebook to maintaining a cheerful, youthful outlook that today offers a laugh-out-loud hilarious — if unintentionally so — “defense” of privilege, conformity, vapidity, and social discrimination

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