TO-DO LIST (Simon & Schuster, Nov. 2007) is a collection of 100 real, handwritten to-do lists and the stories behind them. Part of a new wave of “low-budget” reality culture, To-Do List provides a rare—and often hilarious—look into other people’s everyday lives.

Really they’re more than simple to-do lists. They’re an inside look into who we are–the things we have to get out of the way along with the things we want to do over our lifetimes.

Based on the popular magazine and blog of the same name, To-Do List is organized into themes such as “Daily Lists,” “Life Lists,” “Work Lists,” “New Year’s Resolutions,” “Ideal Mates,” and “Obsessive-Compulsive Lists.” The lists come from civilians and well-known people alike, including chef Alice Waters, Stephen Dubner (co-author of Freakonomics), Nick Hornby, Cameron Tuttle, and Michael Musto.

Seven years ago I began collecting lists when I started To-Do List, a print magazine that used the idea of a to-do list as a jumping-off point to explore the details of everyday life. Subscribers and readers sent me their lists in the mail. I never expected people to really do it when I asked them to. The first one amazed me, and each one continues to. When I started todolistblog.com, even more arrived, and now I have over 5,000. I have always found them so amazing, amusing, revealing, quirky, and honest that I felt like I had to share them with others.

Whether it’s daily, weekly, monthly, or hourly, most of us have written a to-do list, but we don’t talk about out lists. What I love about  this book is the access it gives us to the secret conversations we have with ourselves. It was an act of bravery and generosity for the contributors in this book to share their lists. When they wrote them, they never expected them to be dissected or even seen by others. They’re incredibly honest and real for that reason.

The pleasure of reading other people’s lists is certainly voyeuristic, but it’s also therapeutic, because there’s so much humanity in them. We all wonder, Am I normal? Am I the only one who doesn’t have it all figured out? When we only see other people’s polished exteriors, it feels like they have some secret that we don’t. When we look at other people’s lists, we get the inside view of them as a work in progress—how they motivate themselves to fight a depression, look for the right job, go out on a date, or get to the gym.

Reading other people’s lists has always made me smile and reassured me in a unique way. They’ve also made me a much more creative and varied listmaker–and with this idea in mind, I included a DIY List Idea to go along with each list to inspire you. I hope you enjoy reading it, and listing from it, as much as I enjoyed making it.