📚Welcome, Fellow Book Lover!

✓ Ever find yourself savoring the final pages of a great book… and already stressing about what to read next?
✓ Do you slip on your walking shoes and plug in to an audiobook as you hit the trail?
✓ Wish you could join a book club but know deadlines might crush your joy?
✓ Love books that teach, inspire, or gently shift your perspective?

Me too. I never seem to have enough time to read everything I want, but when a book leaves a mark on my heart or mindset, I can’t help but share it.

This page is my growing collection of those standout reads—books that have shaped the way I think about teaching, creativity, conversations, connection, and spirituality.

So that YOU can find YOUR next book, this growing alphabetical list includes:

• A tiny-but-mighty summary with general categories.

• A favorite quote.

• Any blogs, podcasts, or presentations it sparked.

• An affiliate link in case you want to add it to your own shelf.

Atomic Habits

An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones, by James Clear

Description (Categories: Self-help, Well-Being, Psychology)
Atomic Habits was published in 2018 and quickly rose to the top of The New York Times bestseller list, with over 20 million copies sold. If you haven’t read it yet, it’s time! The premise is straightforward: when you engage in frequent and repetitive actions and systems, you form habits that last a lifetime. Even one minor change, practiced daily, can lead to drastic changes. As music teachers, this book is an essential read because we are not only teaching music concepts, but also developing the habit of practice.

A Favorite Quote
“If you commit to nothing, you’ll be distracted by everything.”
-James Clear, Atomic Habits.

Inspiration
This book has a significant impact on the content I create at LeilaViss.com. After a quick search on my site, I found Atomic Habits mentioned in the following posts and podcasts. Piano Teacher Habit Planner (blog), Practicing in the Dark (podcast), Is it Time to Switch from Survival to Revival Mode? (podcast).

Beyond Anxiety

Curiosity, Creativity, and Finding Your Life’s Purpose, by Dr. Martha Beck

Description (Categories: Self-help, Mental Health, Psychology)
Anxiety is skyrocketing around you and within you. Martha Beck explains how our brains tend to get stuck in an anxiety spiral. To free ourselves, research shows that we must engage different parts of our nervous system. Beck walks through the process of replacing anxiety with the parts of the nervous system that involve creativity and lead to creative spiraling. On a personal note, this book brought me to tears because it confirmed my suspicions about the healing, restorative power of creativity. Creative spiraling is my therapy!

A Favorite Quote
“Calm is not the opposite of anxiety. Creativity is.
Research on creativity suggests that anxiety shuts down creativity. Deliberately entering and moving further in the ‘creativity spiral’ can pull us out of the anxiety spiral.”
-Martha Beck, Beyond Anxiety, p. 24.

Inspiration
This book validates my intuition that creating original music not only benefits piano skills but is also proven to be therapeutic and restorative. I refer to this book frequently in my Composiums and Beck’s words were an integral part of my session with my son Carter, titled, Strike a Chord: Resilience in the Face of Tragedy.

Found in the Wake

Rising From the Depths of a Devastating Book Strike, by Carter Viss, Leila Viss, and Chuck Viss

Description (Categories: Loss, Grief, Music, Faith, Water Safety)
While snorkeling off the coast of Florida, our 25-year-old son was struck by a boat and lost his right arm and almost his life. The book candidly shares our story of rescue, recovery, and resilience told through three perspectives.

A Favorite Quote
“This life, then, isn’t for understanding everything; it’s for standing under the mystery.”
-Attributed to Madeleine L’Engle, Found in the Wake, p. 1.

Inspiration
This book was never intended to be the second book I authored, but life happens. It inspired a presentation I share with my son, Carter: Strike a Chord, Resilience in the Face of Tragedy.

Hidden Potential

The Science of Achieving Greater Things, by Adam Grant

Description (Category: Leadership, Educational, Psychology)
The book offers a new framework for raising aspirations and exceeding expectations. Through groundbreaking evidence and vivid storytelling, Grant shows that progress depends less on how hard you work than on how well you learn.

A Favorite Quote
“In Brandon Payne’s [coach of Steph Curry] form of deliberate play, the person you’re competing with is your past self, and the bar you’re raising is for your future self. You’re not aiming for perfect—you’re shooting for better. The only way to win is to grow. ”
-Adam Grant, Hidden Potential, p. 98.

Inspiration
This book led to a blog post What Steph Curry Teaches Us About Practice and inspired parts of my presentation titled "Does Your Feedback Need Fixing?” Why Words Matter.

The Feed Back Fix

Dump the Past, Embrace the Future, and Lead the Way to Change, by Joe Hirsch

Description (Categories: Leadership, Educational, Psychology)
Change feedback to feedforward for a radical approach to sharing feedback that unleashes the performance and potential of everyone around us. Get what you want by giving others what they need while rebuilding the way we lead, learn, and live.

A Favorite Quote
“People don’t need feedback that passes judgment, reinforces negativity, takes too much time, and always looks back on a past that can’t be changed, not a future that can…
We need feedforward—the future leaning feedback that creates consciousness, unleashes creativity, repurposes teams, and builds autonomy and resilience.”
-Joe Hirsch, The Feedback Fix, p. 24.

Inspiration
This book led to three blog posts and a podcast. Its premise is practiced in all my Composiums and is the basis of my presentation titled "Does Your Feedback Need Fixing?" Why Words Matter.