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The Other Side of Change
  • Published: 22 January 2026
  • ISBN: 9781529911312
  • Imprint: Transworld Digital
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 320

The Other Side of Change

Who We Become When Life Makes Other Plans

  • Maya Shankar
Formats & editions
Tr. Paperback
20 Jan 2026
EBook
22 Jan 2026
Audiobook
22 Jan 2026
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Google’s Senior Director of Behavioural Economics shows how the big changes we experience change us, and how we can best adapt to them to thrive.

What if change was a chance to reimagine ourselves, rather than as something to just endure? What potential could change unlock within us?

Life has a way of thwarting our best-laid plans. Out of nowhere, you get an unexpected diagnosis, your relationship ends, or you suffer some other trick of fate. In these moments, it can feel like you’re free-falling into the unknown.

Maya Shankar, a cognitive scientist, has spent decades researching people’s interior lives. When an incident in her own life left her reeling, she sought out others who had gone through extraordinary disruption to see if their experiences could help us rethink our relationship with change.

This book pairs intimate, illuminating stories with the latest science of human behaviour, offering wisdom and practical strategies to help us better navigate these pivotal moments. We see how the unique stresses and demands of our situation can help us tap into new abilities, perspectives and values, and how the hardest moments in our lives might allow us to more deeply discover who we are and who we can become.
  • Published: 22 January 2026
  • ISBN: 9781529911312
  • Imprint: Transworld Digital
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 320
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Praise for The Other Side of Change

The book we all need when life knocks us sideways. This is your guide to finding strength in the mess, clarity in the chaos, and a version of yourself you never saw coming. Smart, deeply moving, and grounded in science - it will change how you see change.

Mel Robbins, bestselling author of The Let Them Theory

Having faced the bewildering wreckage of an aftermath, I can’t recommend this book highly enough. The Other Side of Change is a collection of stories where quaking forces like illness and loss cleave life into before and after, paired with practical wisdom and science-backed techniques for rebuilding. Maya Shanker has penned a tender, helpful companion for all of us.

Suleika Jaouad, bestselling author of Between Two Kingdoms and The Book of Alchemy

The Other Side of Change is a rare combination of beautiful storytelling, cognitive science and wholehearted wisdom. How lucky are we to have Maya walk with us through the unexpected and often uninvited moments that shape who we are and how we make our way through the world.

Brené Brown, Ph.D., bestselling author of Atlas of the Heart and Daring Greatly

Maya Shankar has written a moving and powerful book about a challenge that all of us will or have faced. What happens when our carefully laid plans and deeply held expectations go awry? I loved The Other Side of Change.

Malcolm Gladwell, bestselling author of Blink and Outliers

A wise and poignant read for our turbulent times. With powerful stories and practical science, Maya examines how we find purpose after adversity and possibility under uncertainty.

Adam Grant, bestselling author of Think Again and Hidden Potential