My Favorite Books
This is a list of some of my favorite books that have profoundly shaped my way of thinking and perception of the world.
I often find book lists and recommendations to be valuable when shared, so I would like to offer my own list to you.
It is important to me to learn about a wide diversity of topics and ideas so that I: (1) continuously challenge my thoughts and beliefs, and (2) build/grow my my skills, habits, and knowledge. I think this makes for a well rounded, independent, critical thinker who is positioned to achieve any goal in life.
I have done my best to categorize my favorite books by theme or subject, though you will find many of them overlap different categories. This is by no means a complete list. I update this list about once a month, so bookmark and check this page regularly for my most recent additions.
Science and Environment
On the Origin of Species - Charles Darwin
The God Delusion - Richard Dawkins
The Selfish Gene - Richard Dawkins
Science in the Soul - Richard Dawkins
The Blind Watchmaker - Richard Dawkins
The Mismeasure of Man - Stephen J. Gould
Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of History - Stephen J. Gould
The Logic of Scientific Discovery - Karl Popper
Popper Selections - Karl Popper
The Demon-Haunted World - Carl Sagan
Cosmos - Carl Sagan
The Elegant Universe - Brian Greene
Your Inner Fish - Neil Shubin
Some Assembly Required - Neil Shubin
The Guilded Dinosaur - Mark Jaffe
The Sixth Extinction - Elizabeth Kolbert
The Uninhabitable Earth - David Wallace-Wells
A Life on our Planet - Sir David Attenborough
Walden and Civil Disobedience - Henry David Thoreau
Walking - Henry David Thoreau
Desert Solitaire - Edward Abbey
Red - Terry Tempest Williams
The Overstory - Richard Powers
Spirituality and Purpose
The Power of Now - Eckhart Tolle
A New Earth - Eckhart Tolle
The Alchemist - Paulo Coelho
The Four Agreements - Don Miguel Ruiz
Man's Search for Meaning - Viktor E. Frankl
Wild - Cheryl Strayed
The Untethered Soul - Michael Singer
The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali - Sri Swami Satchidananda
The Greatest Secret - Rhonda Byrne
When Things Fall Apart - Pema Chodron
The Wisdom of No Escape - Pema Chodron
The 7 Spiritual Laws of Success - Deepak Chopra
Mindfulness in Plain English - Bhante Gunaratana
Health and Wellness
Silent Spring - Rachel Carson
The Biology of Belief - Bruce H. Lipton
Animal Liberation - Peter Singer
The Nature Fix - Florence Williams
Spontaneous Healing - Andrew Weil
Spontaneous Happiness - Andrew Weil
The Mind-Gut Connection - Emaran Mayer
The Human Superorganism - Rodney Dietert
The Complete Guide to Fasting - Jason Fung and Jimmy Moore
The Plant Paradox - Stephen R. Gundry
In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto - Michael Pollan
Molecules of Emotion - Candace B. Pert
Formerly Known As Food - Kristin Lawless
Journey Into Power - Baron Baptiste
Born to Run - Christopher McDougall
Training for the Uphill Athlete - Steve House and Scott Johnston
The Plant Power Way - Rich Roll
Light on Yoga - B. K. S. Iyengar
It Starts with Food - Dallas and Melissa Hartwig
An American Sickness - Elisabeth Rosenthal
Bad Pharma - Ben Goldacre
Creativity and Art
The Artist's Way - Julia Cameron
The Practice - Seth Godin
Linchpin - Seth Godin
The Dip - Seth Godin
The War of Art - Steven Pressfield
Turning Pro - Steven Pressfield
Do the Work - Steven Pressfield
Big Magic - Elizabeth Gilbert
Mindset and Behavior
The Magic of Thinking Big - David Schwartz
How to Win Friends and Influence People - Dale Carnegie
Failing Forward - John C. Maxwell
Atomic Habits - James Clear
The 5am Club - Robin Sharma
Deep Work - Cal Newport
Essentialism - Greg McKeown
Principles - Ray Daleo
Mastery - George Leonard
Essential Zen Habits - Leo Babauta
Relentless - Tim Grover
Grit - Angela Duckworth
Daring Greatly - Brené Brown
Business and Entrepreneurship
Start With Why - Simon Sinek
This is Marketing - Seth Godin
Building a Storybrand - Donald Miller
Attracting Perfect Customers - Stacey Hall and Jan Brogniez
The $100 Startup - Chris Guillebeau
How I Built This - Guy Raz
The Passion Economy - Adam Davidson
Anything You Want - Derek Sivers
The E-Myth Revisited - Michael E-Gerber
The ONE Thing - Gary Keller
Outdoor Education
Wilderness Navigation - Bob Burns and Mike Burns
Desert Survival Skills - David Alloway
NOLS Wilderness Medicine - Tod Schimelpfenig
The Backpacker's Field Manual - Rick Curtis
Fiction (coming soon)
The Monkey Wrench Gang - Edward Abbey
1984 - George Orwell
Animal Farm - George Orwell
The Fountainhead - Ann Rand
Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury
Politics and History
The Open Society and Its Enemies - Karl Popper
1984 - George Orwell
1984 - Baron Baptiste