“Books are the training weights of the mind.” — Epictetus
Last Updated: July 29, 2021
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There are currently 100+ book, essay, speech, and research summaries with many more on the way.
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Book Recommendations & Reading List Overview
Quick Housekeeping:
The list on this page below includes the following:
- Books I’ve read, summarized, and recommend are in bold and shown with a star (⭐)—Books that make this cut are the ones that have been life-transforming for me and that I keep coming back to and referencing. If you enjoy the detailed summaries, I recommend reading these books in full.
- All other books I’ve read and summarized are shown in normal text—These books aren’t bad just because they aren’t recommended. It just means: 1) I’d start with the recommended books before them, and 2) I’d read the detailed summaries instead of the full books in most of these cases.
- For my full reading list including all the books I haven’t read yet, see this Google Spreadsheet:
Remember:
- None of us will read every book out there in our lifetimes. The current average lifespan in the US is 79 years old. Subtract your age from 79. Then multiply that number by the average number of books you read in a year. That’s roughly how many books you have left to read in your life. But, we may not get the full 79 years. So:
“Read the best books first, or you may not have a chance to read them at all.” — Thoreau
Book Recommendations & Reading List
“Sit in a room and read—and read and read. And read the right books by the right people. Your mind is brought onto that level, and you have a nice, mild, slow-burning rapture all the time.” — Joseph Campbell
Lighter Living Books (Slow Living, Simple Living, Decluttering & Minimalism)
- ⭐ In Praise of Slowness by Carl Honore | Summary | 🔒 How to Apply It | Amazon
- ⭐ The Quest of the Simple Life by William J. Dawson | Summary | Amazon (Public Domain)
- ⭐ Voluntary Simplicity by Duane Elgin | Summary | Amazon
- ⭐ The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo | Summary | Amazon
- The Things You Can See Only When You Slow Down by Haemin Sunim | Summary | Amazon
- Slow by Brooke McAlary | Summary | Amazon
- Chasing Slow by Erin Loechner | Summary | Amazon
- Present Over Perfect by Shauna Niequist | Summary | Amazon
- The Slow Fix by Carl Honoré | Summary | Amazon
- Simplify by Joshua Becker | Summary | Amazon
- Goodbye, Things by Fumio Sasaki | Summary | Amazon
Art of Living & Human Potential Books
- ⭐ Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu (Stephen Mitchell Version) | Summary | Amazon
- ⭐ A Calendar of Wisdom by Leo Tolstoy | Summary | 🔒 How to Apply It | Amazon
- ⭐ The Almanack of Naval Ravikant by Eric Jorgenson | Summary | 🔒 How to Apply It | Amazon
- Seeking Wisdom: From Darwin to Munger by Peter Bevelin | Summary | Amazon
- A Theory of Everything by Ken Wilber | Summary | Amazon
- The Integral Vision by Ken Wilber | Summary | Amazon
Meaning & Life Purpose Books
- ⭐ (Great place to start for life purpose) Let Your Life Speak by Parker Palmer | Summary | 🔒 How to Apply It | Amazon
- ⭐ (Psychological approach) Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl | Summary 1, 2 | 🔒 How to Apply It | Amazon
- ⭐ (Psychological approach) Yes to Life by Viktor Frankl | Summary | 🔒 How to Apply It | Amazon
- ⭐ (Spiritual approach) A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle | Summary 1, 2, 3 | 🔒 How to Apply It | Amazon
- The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho | Summary | Amazon
- The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren | Summary | Amazon
- The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch | Summary | Amazon
- The Crossroads of Should and Must by Elle Luna | Summary | Amazon
- Find Your Why by Simon Sinek | Summary | Amazon
- The Path Made Clear by Oprah | Summary | Amazon
- Awakening Your Ikigai by Ken Mogi | Summary | Amazon
- Ikigai by Héctor García and Francesc Miralles | Summary | Amazon
Spirituality Books
- ⭐ (Great place to start for spiritual growth) Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse | Summary | Amazon
- ⭐ (Great place to start for spiritual growth) The Untethered Soul by Michael Singer | Summary | 🔒 How to Apply it | Amazon
- ⭐ (Tough love approach to spirituality) Awareness by Anthony De Mello | Summary | 🔒 How to Apply It | Amazon
- ⭐ (Tough love approach to spirituality) The Way to Love by Anthony de Mello | Summary | Amazon
- ⭐ (Deep spirituality)The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle | Amazon | 🔒 How to Apply It
- ⭐ (Deep spirituality) Who Am I? by Sri Ramana Maharshi | Summary | Amazon | Free Online
- ⭐ (Once you’ve read the previous books) Spiritual Enlightenment by Jed McKenna | Summary | 🔒 How to Apply it | Amazon
- The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz | Summary | Amazon
- The Wisdom of the Enneagram by Riso & Hudson | Summary | Amazon
Philosophy & Psychology Books
- ⭐ This is Water by David Foster Wallace | Summary | 🔒 How to Apply It | Amazon
- ⭐ As a Man Thinketh by James Allen | Summary | Amazon
- ⭐ The Lessons of History by Will & Ariel Durant | Summary 1, 2 | 🔒 How to Apply It | Amazon
- ⭐ (Spiritual Intelligence) SQ21 by Cindy Wigglesworth | Summary | Amazon
- ⭐ (Stoicism) On The Shortness Of Life by Seneca | Summary | Amazon
- ⭐ (Transpersonal Psychology) The Farther Reaches of Human Nature by Abraham Maslow | Summary 1, 2, 3, 4 | 🔒 How to Apply It 1, 2 | Amazon
- Meditations by Marcus Aurelius | Summary 1, 2 | Amazon
- Enchiridion by Epictetus | Summary | Amazon
- The Existentialist’s Survival Guide by Gordon Marino | Summary | Amazon
- Stillness is the Key by Ryan Holiday | Summary | Amazon
- Transcend by Scott Barry Kaufman | Summary | Amazon
Life & Work Optimization Books
- ⭐ How to Read a Book by Mortimer Adler | Summary | 🔒 How to Apply It | Amazon
- ⭐ Essentialism by Greg McKeown | Summary | 🔒 How To Apply It | Amazon
- ⭐ Atomic Habits by James Clear | Summary | 🔒 How To Apply It | Amazon
- ⭐ The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel | Summary | Amazon
- ⭐ Early Retirement Extreme by Jacob Lund Fisker | Summary | 🔒 How to Apply It | Amazon
- ⭐ Thinking in Systems by Donella Meadows | Summary | Amazon
- ⭐ The Great Mental Models Volume 1 by Farnam Street | Summary | Amazon
- Range by David Epstein | Summary | Amazon
- A Synthesizing Mind by Howard Gardner | Summary | Amazon
- When by Daniel Pink | Summary | Amazon
Don’t forget to check out the full reading list (Google Spreadsheet) and browse the existing 100+ book, essay, speech, and research summaries.
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