Other than the “In Progress” section, this page is a list of books I recommend. It only includes books I’ve read over the past couple of years, and only the best of those at that.
Let me know what you think of them if you’ve read them or end up reading them.
With each book below I’ve used this method to make sure I get the most out of it.
Remember, what you read becomes part of your mind and has a significant influence on shaping your entire life. The books below have empowered me as an individual and made me a smarter person, all while being pleasurable to read. You can’t beat that.
Spirituality
These books will expand your conception of reality and empower you in ways you can’t understand until you read them. They have the power to change your beliefs if you happen to be a materialist (meaning you think this physical world is all there is to reality). They will expand your consciousness and make you a happier person.
Proof of Heaven: A Neurosurgeon’s Journey into the Afterlife, by Eben Alexander
This is a good place to start if you’re skeptical of the fact that we are eternal consciousnesses willingly incarnated here as humans. It’s the story of a neurosurgeon’s near-death experience and the circumstances surrounding his experience. Absolutely fascinating, heartwarming, and empowering. Highly recommended.
The Biology of Belief: Unleashing the Power of Consciousness, Matter, & Miracles, by Dr. Bruce Lipton
This is an amazingly mind-expanding book. Dr. Lipton discusses some new scientific discoveries, what they mean for us as individuals, and he merges science with spirituality in a logical, no-nonsense way. The beginning is a bit dry but the background info is necessary for the concepts he later introduces, especially if you don’t have a memory of the cell biology you were taught as a young adult.
Multidimensional Man, by Jurgen Ziewe
This is an account of an accomplished astral projector (out of body traveler) who kept a journal over 40 years of his meditative, multidimensional experiences. Many of his stories are fascinating, including meeting with deceased relatives and visiting new realms in other dimensions.
The Man Who Tapped the Secrets of the Universe, by Glenn Clark
This is a lesser-known but extremely valuable book. It’s short and inexpensive. You can read my full review here.
Seth Speaks: The Eternal Validity of the Soul, by Jane Roberts
I reference this book in many posts on this site. You can check out my full review here. Highly recommended.
The Nature of Personal Reality: Specific, Practical Techniques for Solving Everyday Problems and Enriching the Life You Know, by Jane Roberts
Also highly recommended, even more so than the first Seth book, although it would be better to start with the first and go in order. You can check out my full review here.
You Can H
eal Your Life, by Louise Hay
Hay has such a gentle, loving way of writing. This book is all about personal responsibility and it empowers the reader by showing how we can achieve what we desire. She also goes into detail about how we can heal our bodies with the correct thoughts, which is something I believe and advocate here on the site. And it’s on good authority – she cured herself of cancer and healed her life after a disgustingly traumatic childhood, which she only mentions at the very end. Her story brought me to tears, and it was only mentioned in passing basically to show the reader that she’s not just talking out of her ass, but telling you that the information in the book really, truly works.
The Earth Was Flat, by Mason Dwinell
Quite an unknown book, but interesting and enlightening, especially for anyone interested in the practice of sungazing.
Self-Development
The spirituality books above are also all self-development books, but the books in this section are not heavily spiritual. Perhaps these would be better for the materialist. These books will help you be successful and achieve whatever it is you want out of life. I also put any books on writing in this section.
The Definitive Guide of Body Language, by Barbara and Allen Pease
This is a fascinating book that covers pretty much every aspect of body language. How to read others, how to project your own image how you’d like to, and how to read groups of people simply based on the movements and positions of their bodies. When I read this book a few years back, I was going through a rough period and lacked confidence. Gaining the knowledge in this book really helped me be more confident because I was sure at least I was projecting an image of confidence, although I might have lacked confidence inside. Fake it ’til you make it. Highly recommended for every person on Earth, especially if you lack confidence. This knowledge is definitely a cheat code to life.
The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles, by Steven Pressfield
Everyone should read this book, especially (but not limited to) those who pursue creative endeavors. I was angry with my friend who recommended it to me for not recommending it more strongly because I didn’t purchase and read it until about a year after he told me about it. You can read my full review here.
Turning Pro: Tap Your Inner Power and Create Your Life’s Work, by Steven Pressfield
This is the follow-up book to The War of Art, above. Also highly recommended.
The Type-Z Guide to Success: A Lazy Person’s Manifesto for Wealth and Fulfillment, by Marc Allen
This is self-help for lazy people like me. It’s an entertaining, interesting, valuable book. You can read my full review here.
Think and Grow Rich, by Napoleon Hill
You’ve almost definitely heard of this book. If you haven’t read it, you need to. Napoleon Hill did intensive studies and interviews with the most successful men of his time, and before, and determined common lines of thinking among them, then wrote this book with all of those philosophies. Quite literally, “How to think in order to grow rich.”
How to Win Friends and Influence People, by Dale Carnegie
Another absolute must-read. The title is corny, but the ideas in this book will help not just in business, but in life. It teaches you the ideal way to relate to people for personal gain, but in a non-scummy way.
Fiction
These are only a few books I’ve read over the past couple of years; the ones that really stood out. It includes some obviously famous works, but some less-well-known ones too. I have resigned myself to read more fiction than I usually do, so this list should grow rapidly in the future.
I Hate to See That Evening Sun Go Down, by William Gay
Gay isn’t a well-known author, at least with respect to the quality of his writing. So many of his passages are so beautifully written that they send chills down my spine. This is a compilation of his short stories, most of which are tremendous.
Provinces of Night, by William Gay
A dark, violent book with deep characters and, again, beautiful writing. William Gay has a fascinating story it’s worth reading up on. Quite unique for such a skilled author. You can read his bio here.
The Stand, by Stephen King
I read the long edition which is a whopping 1200 pages with small print. It’s probably the longest book I’ve ever read. After reading King’s On Writing, I figured I’d read one of his works of fiction. It’s an intriguing story about a virus that wipes out 99% of the worlds population, and the subsequent battle of good vs evil. I will definitely be reading more of his work. Impressed the hell out of me and kept me captivated for all 1200 pages, which is no small feat.
Night Shift, by Stephen King
This is a tremendous collection of his short stories. If you’re prone to nightmares, best not to read this right before bed.
Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand
Often called the capitalist’s bible, Atlas Shrugged is the story of the demise of America (and the world) at the hands of the socialists. It’s eerily relevant today, and unfortunately, in my opinion, more relevant today than ever.
A Farewell to Arms, by Ernest Hemingway
If you haven’t read this, it’s worth a read. It’s a classic about an American ambulance driver on the Italian front during WWI.
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain
Another classic. I’m sure you’ve read this, but it was probably in grade school. It’s worth a re-read.
The Good Earth, by Pearl S. Buck
Yet another classic. You can read my full review here.
Miscellaneous
These books didn’t fit the above categories, but I still wanted to recommend them.
In Pursuit of Giant Bass, by Bill Murphy
Do not make the mistake of reading this in the winter when the ponds and lakes are frozen. It’ll drive you crazy and make you want to go fishing. This is a book about the behavior of the biggest bass in a body of water, and techniques to catch them. Amazing information.
Golf Is a Game of Confidence, by Dr. Bob Rotella
This book quite literally won me tournaments back in my more competitive days. It’s an absolute must-read for all golfers. Thank me later.
The Mezzanine, by Nicholson Baker
This is an interesting little book that started off a bit slow and cumbersome, but really took off with me. There were many laugh-out-loud moments at the sheer ridiculousness and intelligence of it, and how the author looks at seemingly mundane things in our world with an introspective, analytical, and historical perspective. It reminded me a bit of Seinfeld in that, in the end, the story really is about nothing. He takes you through a short period of time in his life, which includes absolutely every little thought he has, the sum of which, for each of us, is what makes us individuals.
In Progress
These books are the ones on my nightstand. Sometimes it will take me the better part of a year to get through a book, and sometimes it will just take a couple days. It depends on how interesting the book is, how difficult it is to read, and also what my mood is as I sit/lie down to read. Once finished, the books below will be added to their respective categories if they make the cut.
The “Unknown” Reality, Volume One, by Jane Roberts
This is the third in a series of six main Seth books. I’ve written reviews of the first two and can’t recommend them highly enough. I will also be doing a review of this book once complete and recommending it; however, it’s a more difficult read than the first two, and the first two books are pretty much prerequisites in order to understand this material. It reads a lot like a philosophy text and the concepts are difficult to wrap my mind around. Therefore, I’m going through it very slowly.
A Sand County Almanac (and Sketches Here and There), by Aldo Leopold
This is an interesting little book written by a naturalist who is on par with Thoreau and Muir. As a nature lover, it’s fascinating to me to hear the insights had and the deductions made while being close with Nature.
Improv Wisdom, by Patricia Ryan Madson
Some of this is pretty good so far, but nothing too special yet. The whole idea, as far as I can determine at this point, is to really jump at opportunities, say “yes”, and just go with the flow. I can see the value in this, but it’s directly opposed to a relatively recent development in my personal philosophy, which is to say “no” to most things.
Meditations, by Marcus Aurelius
Just started it, have no thoughts on it so far. Reading it on the recommendation of Bold and Determined, if I recall.
She Comes First, by Ian Kerner
Reading this on the recommendation of a friend. Kind of boring and most of the information is pretty basic, in my opinion, but I have learned some valuable techniques from it. Not the most entertaining book, but it’s an easy read. Almost done, but having difficulty making myself finish. Pun intended.
The Secret Life of Plants, by Peter Tompkins and Christopher Bird
This one is fascinating, in spite of the fact that I all but stopped reading it about halfway through. It’s mostly a slow read so far but covers various experiments done through the years that seem to prove that plants are sentient. They have emotions similar to human emotions. It’s a crazy idea, but as always, I’m keeping an open mind. It certainly has changed the way I look at plants, even though I’m only about halfway through the book.
The Complete Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway
As the title indicates, this is a compilation of Ernest Hemingway’s short stories. Some of the stories are incredible, others leave something to be desired. Working my way through this slowly…
Journeys Out of the Body, by Robert A. Monroe
This is Monroe’s first of three famous (in certain spiritual circles) books on out of body experiences, which is a topic I often cover on this site. Some of his experiences are quite interesting, but I hear the subsequent books are far superior to this one, and I can believe it. Overall it’s unimpressive, to put it nicely, and he takes a seemingly scientific approach to a topic that is somewhat at odds with science as a whole. I’m having difficulty finishing this one.
What do you think?