As an ongoing feature, staff members at the Des Moines Public Library will recommend a business-related book to add to your reading list. Find this and more books like it at any of the Des Moines Public Library’s six locations and online at dmpl.org. And find information on how to get a FREE library card and all its benefits at dmpl.org/get-carded.

Des Moines Public Library business book pick: “Get Honest or Die Lying: Why Small Talk Sucks,” by Charlamagne Tha God.

Why you should read it: From Charlamagne Tha God, host of the syndicated morning radio cultural phenomenon “The Breakfast Club,” comes this 2024 book exploring how “small talk from small minds” has taken over our world. The powerful cultural mover, known for being his authentic self when interviewing everyone from U.S. presidents to Jay-Z and Judy Blume, concludes that much of our modern divisions, unhappiness and dissatisfactions come from our failure to have meaningful conversations with one another in his most insightful, heartfelt work yet.