Books That Will Make You More Confident, Happy and Spontaneous

The Gist: "Women aren't built emotionally or physically for the work that warriors do," says the chief of a Maasai tribe to a 26-year-old Mindy Budgor, who is in Kenya on a volunteer house-building project. In response, she vows to become the first non-male moran (warrior) and, a few months later, joins a more remote tribe for a six-week-long training camp that involves drinking goat blood, determining the temperature of lion poop and defending her fellow trainees from stampeding elephants (by throwing a flaming branch). Along the way, she confronts more domesticated fears about her not-so-stick figure and unmarried status, as well as learns to rethink her own self-image.

Post-Giraffe-Attack Revelation We All Need to Have: "You live moment to moment and that, my dear ... is real life."

Advice From a Maasai Warrior Trainer We All Need to Follow: "You should learn the ways of a lion—the top of the food chain."