I have read 100’s of books over the last 20 years, when I made a commitment to self education through reading non-Fiction books. It really was a game changer for me. Here is a list of some of my favourites – by topic. I have an asterix besides some of my more favourite favourites. I like to read quite broadly, so that I am more likely to come up with novel and creative ideas, but putting different pieces together in unique ways.
Generally I have 2-4 books going at once.
- A business related book
- A self-help book
- A more technical book to enhance my skills as a coach (e.g. psychology, neuroscience, epigenetics, nutrition, etc.)
- A fiction book (mostly something far removed from ‘reality’, but with good messages built into them)
The Brain
Daniel Goleman, The Brain and Emotional Intelligence
David Rock, Your Brain at Work
Dr Joe Dispenza, Evolve Your Brain
Dr Joe Dispenza, Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself *
Grant Soosala & Marvin Oka, mBraining
John Medina, PhD, Brain Rules
M J Gelb and K Howell, Brain Power
Rick Hanson, Buddha’s Brain
General Health
Dr Dean Ornish, Dr Dean Ornish’s Program for Reversing Heart Disease
Deepak Chopra MD, Ageless Body, Timeless Mind
Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz, The Power of Full Engagement
John Robbins, Healthy at 100
Dr Joseph Mercola, EMF*D
Dr Thomas Cowan, Cancer and the New Biology of Water
Happiness
Byron Katie, Loving What Is *
Martin Seligman, Authentic Happiness
Matthieu Ricard, Happiness
Rick Hanson, Hardwiring Happiness
Sonja Lyubomirsky, The How of Happiness
Tal Ben-Shahar, Happier *
Will Bowen, A Complaint Free World
Meditation
Eknath Easwaran, Conquest of Mind
Dr Herbert Benson and William Proctor, Relaxation Revolution
Jon Kabat-Zinn, Wherever You Go There You Are*
Matthieu Ricard, Why Meditate? and The Art of Meditation
Metaphysical (and Yoga)
Gregg Braden, The Divine Matrix
Paramahansa Yogananda, Autobiography of a Yogi *
Rod Stryker, The Four Desires (Yoga teachings)
Marketing (and Business)
Darren Heardy, The Entrepreneur Roller Coaster*
Harry Beckwith, Selling the Invisible*
Jim Collins, Great by Choice
Patrick Lencioni, Getting Naked*
Rich Litvin & Steve Chandler, The Prosperous Coach* (for Coaches)
Robert Cialdini PhD, Influence
Seth Godin, This is Marketing
Simon Sinek, Find Your Why
Steven Pressfield, Turning Pro*
Tony Hsieh, Delivering Happiness
Verne Harnish, Scaling Up*
The Mind–Body Connection
Anita Moorjani, Dying to be Me* (NDE)
Dawson Church, Mind to Matter
Dr Bruce Lipton, The Biology of Belief *
Dr Darren Weissman, The Power of Infinite Love and Gratitude
Dr David Hawkins, Power Versus Force*
Dr Joe Dispenza, Becoming Supernatural* and You Are the Placebo*
Lisa Rankin MD, Mind Over Medicine
Louise Hay, You Can Heal Your Life *
Nick Ortner, The Tapping Solution (EFT)
Inspiration (and Self-Help)
Angela Duckworth, Grit
Brene Brown, Dare to Lead
Brian Johnson, A Philosopher’s Notes on Optimal Living
Bronnie Ware, The Top 5 Regrets of the Dying
Cal Newport, Deep Work
Carol Dweck, Mindset *
Cate Montana, The E-Word (on EGO)
Don Miguel Ruiz, The Four Agreements *
Elizabeth Gilbert, Big Magic
Gay Hendriks, The Big Leap
Jack Canfield, The Success Principles
James Clear, Atomic Habits
Michael Gelb, How to Think Like Leonardo Da Vinci
Michael Neill, The Inside-Out Revolution*
Michael Singer, The Surrender Experiment
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Finding Flow
Robin Sharma, The Monk who Sold his Ferrari
Ryan Holiday, Stillness is the Key (and The Obstacle is the Way)
Steven Kotler, The Rise of Superman*
Steven Pressfield, The War of Art *
Yuval Noah Harari, Sapiens*
Nutrition
Dr Colin T Campbell, The China Study *
Gene Stone, Forks over Knives
Dr Joel Fuhrman, MD, Eat To Live *
Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food*
Mike Anderson, The Rave Diet and Lifestyle
Peak Performance
Brendan Burchard, High Performance Habits*
Darren Hardy, The Compound Effect
Dr Heidi Halvorson, Succeed
Gary Keller, The One Thing*
Greg McKeown, Essentialism
Physical Activity
Christopher McDougall, Born to Run
John R Little and Doug McGuff, Body by Science
Rich Roll, Finding Ultra*
Psychology (related)
Albert Ellis, Overcoming Destructive Beliefs, Feelings and Behaviors
Bressel van der Kolk, The Body Keeps the Score*
Kelly McGnnigal, The Upside of Stress
Johann Hari, Lost Connections*
Martin Seligman, Flourish* and Learned Optimism
Relationships
Gary Chapman, The 5 Love Languages
Spirituality
Alexander Eben MD, Proof of Heaven* (NDE experience by a neurosurgeon)
Deepak Chopra, The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success
Eckhart Tolle, A New Earth*
Gary Zukav, Seat of the Soul
Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha*
Wayne Dwyer, Wisdom of the Ages
Wealth
Brendon Burchard, The Millionaire Messenger
John F. Demartini, How to Make One Hell of a Profit and Still Get in to Heaven
M J DeMarco, The Millionaire Fastlane *
Napoleon Hill, Think and Grow Rich*
T. Harv Eker, Secrets of the Millionaire Mind*
Tony Robbins, Money