The reading of all good books is like conversation with the finest minds of past centuries.
Descartes
The more that you read, the more things your will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go!
Dr. Seuss
Books for Inspiration and the Pursuit of Wisdom
Adler, Mortimer J. and Van Doren, Charles. How to Read a Book: The Classic Guide to Intelligent Reading, Simon & Schuster, Inc., 1940.
For those who love to read, this book is a classic that remains one of the best and most successful guides on how to read different kinds of books, highlighting skills and techniques for improved comprehension.
Bevelin, Peter. Seeking Wisdom: From Darwin to Munger, Walsworth Publishing Company, Third Edition, 2007.
This book is for those who love the constant search for knowledge. Using paradigms of clear thinking and attained wisdom, Bevelin focuses on how our thoughts are influenced, why we make misjudgments, and tools to advance our thinking.
Brown, Brene’. Daring Greatly, Penguin Random House, 2012.
Brown explores the danger of pursuing certainty and control, rather than looking to the real reward of vulnerability, which she explains as having greater courage.
Also –
Rising Strong, Penguin Random House, 2015
In this book, Brown explores how to rise from falling, as it is inevitable that we all will fall. And we all will fail. Brown teaches how to reckon with our emotions, rumble with our stories until we get to a place of truth, and live this process every day until it becomes a practice and a revolution in our lives.
Frankl, Victor E. Man’s Search for Meaning, Beacon Press, 1959-2006.
Psychiatrist Victor Frankl’s memoir has captivated generations of readers with its descriptions of life in Nazi death camps, and its lessons for spiritual survival. Frankl argues that while we cannot avoid suffering, we can choose how to cope with it, find meaning from it, and move forward.
Haidt, Jonathan. The Happiness Hypothesis – Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom, Basic Books, 2006.
A very readable “Intro to Psychology” book that is appropriate for students, families, and anyone who wants to have a way to talk about traditional psychological principles and current applications.
Ruiz, Don Miguel. The Four Agreements, Amber-Allen Publishing Company, Inc., 1997.
Ruiz offers the four agreements, and explanations of how a powerful code of conduct can rapidly transform lives to a new experience of freedom and true happiness. This is a great book for a family to read together and begin to have early conversations about principles and values for living.
Strayed, Cheryl. Brave Enough, Alfred A. Knopf, 2015.
This is a spirited book with outspoken humor that has enabled many to put one foot in front of the other, and be brave enough.
Books for Personal and Professional Growth
Burns, David D. Feeling Good, Harper-Collins Publishers, 1980.
This is a book for those who struggle with anxiety, guilt, pessimism, procrastination, perfectionism, low self-esteem and other “black holes” of depression. Burns outlines scientifically proven techniques that helps clients lift themselves out of these downward spirals and begin to see what a positive outlook on life can look like.
Covey, Stephen R. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lesson in Personal Change, Simon & Schuster, Inc., 1989.
This book is Covey’s masterpiece in its 25th Anniversary Edition of printing. It remains one of the most inspiring and impactful books for timeless principles that continues to guide both individuals and corporations to be better prepared to lead.
Dweck, Carol S. Mindset – The New Psychology of Success, Ballantine Books, 2008.
Dweck, a world-renowned Stanford University Psychologist, explains why it’s not just our talents and abilities that bring us success, but whether we approach our goals with a fixed or growth mindset.
HBR’s 10 Must Reads: The Collection – The Essentials, Making Smart Decisions, Managing People, Managing Yourself, Leadership, Teams, Harvard Business School Publishing Corporation, 2011
A collection of the best Harvard Business Review articles and essays written by the top experts in their areas of expertise that is a “must read” for those who are in leadership and management positions.
Singer, Michael A., The Untethered Soul, New Harbinger Publications, Inc., 2007.
This book is about trying to find some kind of inner peace, and how to be free from the habitual thoughts, emotions and energy patterns that limit your perception.
Styron, William. Darkness Visible: A Memoir of Madness, Random House, 1990.
The best description ever written on what depression is really like, which raised awareness for depression which was relatively unknown at the time, and certainly not talked about.
Twerski, Abraham J. Addictive Thinking – Understanding Self-Deception, Hazelden Foundation, 1997.
The author reveals how addictive thought is inherently self-deceptive, yet still provides a superficial logic that can be misleading to the addict, as well as the addict’s family members.
Books for Mindfulness, Meditation, and Spirituality
Davich, Victor. 8 Minute Meditation, Penguin Group, 2004
Detailed weekly instruction and feedback for a beginning meditation practice that clients find readable, and are able to implement well enough to see the benefits.
Hess, Hermann. Siddhartha, originally published in German in 1922; published in the U.S. by New Directions Publishing Corporation, 1951.
This classic novel is a short tale that fuses divergent philosophies of Eastern religions, Jungian archetypes, and Western individualism into a unique vision of life as expressed through one man’s search for meaning. It is a moral allegory which tries to solve the mystery of human loneliness and discontent.
Kaiser Greenland, Susan. The Mindful Child, Free Press/Division of Simon and Schuster., Inc., 2010.
Concepts and exercises for mindfulness with children.
Salgado, Brenda. Real World Mindfulness for Beginners: Navigate Daily Life One Practice at a Time, Sonoma Press, 2016.
This book is full of practical advice and accessible mindfulness exercises that are presented in step-by-step guidelines
Rahula, Walpola. What the Buddha Taught, Grove Press, 1959.
This is a comprehensive, yet readable account of the Buddha’s teaching by a Buddhist monk and scholar who received traditional monastic training and education in Sri Lanka.
Books for Grief and Loss
Cobb, Nancy. In Lieu of Flowers, Pantheon Book/Division of Random House, 2000.
An elegant book for those who are grieving.
Didion, Joan. The Year of Magical Thinking, Alfred A. Knopf, 2005.
This book recounts Didion’s experiences of grief following her husband’s unexpected death which happened at the same time that their daughter was in the hospital for pneumonia which developed into septic shock, and was still unconscious when her father died. Didion writes about the insanity and derangement parts of grief in her reporter’s style of detachment for which she is known. The book has been described as an exact, candid, and penetrating account of personal terror and bereavement.
Gawande, Atul. Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End, Picador of the Macmillan Publishing Company, 2014.
This is a book for everyone to read about changing the national conversation on aging and death. Gawande’s writing is honest, clear, and illuminating in his view that the ultimate goal is not a good death, but a good life- all the way to the end.
Greenspan, Mariam. Healing Through the Dark Emotions: The Wisdom of Grief, Fear, and Despair, Shambhala Publications, Inc. 2003
Greenspan teaches the art of emotional transformation by which grief turns to gratitude, fear opens the door to joy, and despair becomes the ground of a more resilient faith. This book contains thirty-three emotional exercises which can be helpful in trusting the wisdom of the dark emotions to guide, heal, and transform our lives.
Kalanithi, Paul. When Breath Becomes Air, Random House, 2016.
This book is a non-fiction autobiographical memoir of a man who confronts an early death in his last year of neurosurgical residency at Stanford University. Kalanithi writes about his devastating diagnosis of stage IV metastatic lung cancer, and how he chose to make life worth living in the face of death. The book is “just tragic enough, and just imaginable enough”, and not to be missed for those who are working through illness, grief, and loss.
Selected Fiction
Boyne, John. The Heart’s Invisible Furies, Hogart Press, 2017.
This book is the story of a man’s life in Ireland in the 1940s who at the mercy of fortune and coincidence will spend a lifetime coming to know himself and where he came from. The book is filled with vitality, humor, and heart, and ultimately reminds us all of the redemptive power of the human spirit. Plus I love the title of the book!
Eagleman, David. Sum – Forty Tales from the Afterlives, First Vintage Book Edition, 2009
These are stories for everyone about the exploration of unexpected afterlives. This book can be used as a bridge for resistant adolescents who want to have nothing to do with therapy.
McCarthy, Cormac. The Road, Alfred A. Knopf, 2006.
The Road is an exquisitely written book about a father and his son trying to survive in a post-apocalyptic world. The book is at once devastating, terrifying, heartbreaking, and completely beautiful. Winner of the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.
Maugham, W. Somerset. The Razor’s Edge, Doubleday Doran, 1944.
This book is the story of a World War II pilot who upon returning home after the war chooses to search for transcendent meaning as a way of dealing with his PTSD, though the syndrome is of course not identified as such in a book written in the 1940s. The book challenged the cultural ideals of the stereotype of the returning military hero through his embrace of a counter-cultural lifestyle.
Morrison, Toni. Beloved, Alfred A Knopf, 1987
Beloved is the story of a mother and daughter’s escape from slavery shortly after the emancipation following the civil war. The book addresses major themes of mother- daughter relationships, the psychological impact of slavery, family relationships, the emotions of love and self-preservation in slavery, and the definition of manhood. Winner of the 1987 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.
Robinson, Marilynne. Gilead, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2004.
A serenely beautiful story of a father who while dying, is writing a letter to his son; Winner of the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.
Stegner, Wallace. The Angle of Repose, Doubleday Publishers, 1971.
This is the story of a 60-year marriage of two very unlike people who clung together despite frequent separations, repeated disappointments, tragic loss, and personal betrayal before reaching the ‘angle of repose’. It is a portrait of four generations in the life of an American family on the Western Frontier. Winner of the 1972 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.
Wilde, Oscar. The Picture of Dorian Gray, Lippincott’s Monthly Magazine, 1890.
A classic novel that explores the interplay between art and morality. The idea of the double life – of outwardly playing a respectable role, while inwardly pursuing an existence that crossed boundaries of acceptable behavior is the central theme. Oscar Wilde’s portrayal of the “terrible pleasure of a double life” is extraordinary.