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May 20, 2022 · 40 Most Life-Changing Books Everyone Should Read at Least Once. From self-help reads to incredible classics, this list is filled with powerful novels, memoirs and more. By Lizz Schumer...
- Reedsy
- The 5 Second Rule by Mel Robbins ⭐ Indie Spotlight. Buy on Amazon. In its blurb, The 5 Second Rule promises to teach you how to become confident, break the habit of procrastination and self-doubt, beat fear and uncertainty, and be happier.
- The Alchemist by Paul Coelho. Buy on Amazon. This slim, enchanting fable of a book is worldwide bestseller — and a favorite of celebrities from Will Smith to Madonna.
- The American Spirit by David McCullough. Buy on Amazon. You don’t always think of historians as literary stars, but David McCullough is the exception that proves the rule.
- The Art of Happiness by the Dalai Lama and Howard C. Cutler. Buy on Amazon. According to the Dalai Lama, “the very motif of our life is towards happiness.”
- Man’S Search For Meaning – Viktor Frankl
- Of Human Freedom – Epictetus
- The Art of Happiness: A Handbook For Living – Dalai Lama and Howard C. Cutler
- The Happiness Trap – Russ Harris
- Aristotle’s Way: How Ancient Wisdom Can Change Your Life – Edith Hall
- The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment – Eckhart Tolle
- Altruism: The Science and Psychology of Kindness – Matthieu Ricard
- A Take-Home Message
At the top of my list (and many others of its kind) is Man’s Search for Meaning: The Classic Tribute to Hope from the Holocaust (Frankl, 1946, 2004). It was written by the Austrian psychiatrist, Holocaust survivor, and founder of logotherapy, Viktor Frankl,who lived from 1905 to 1997. Frankl argues that our primary task in life is to furnish it wit...
Like the other philosophers of the Stoa, the former Greek slave Epictetus (c. 55–135 C.E.) strongly believed that we can control our feelings by controlling our thoughts. Because most external events are beyond our control, Epictetus believed that it is pointless to worry about them. But our evaluations of these events, by contrast, are entirely wi...
Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Tibetan Dalai Lama, has cowritten a bestselling self-help book entitled The Art of Happiness: A Handbook for Livingwith the psychiatrist Howard C. Cutler (2009). In this book, he presents Buddhist thought as a comprehensive framework for ethical self-improvement. Cutler supplements the Dalai Lama’s ancient wisdom with anecdo...
The Australian psychologist Russ Harris (2008) challenges the idea that the meaning of life is to chase happiness. He believes that the current Western conceptions of happiness are entirely counterproductive. His international bestseller, The Happiness Trap, is based on the principles of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy(ACT). Unlike the Stoics and...
The Greek philosopher Aristotle (384–322 BCE) believed that happiness is the ultimate goal of human life and our highest good. Moreover, it requires the fulfillment of our potential and the actualization of our highest human capacity. To realize our potential, we have to work on our behavior and emotional responses to become the best versions of ou...
In his bestselling self-help book The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment, the German-born writer Eckhart Tolle (1999) argues that the meaning of life is simply being present. But truly being presentis far from a simple matter. The key to living in the present, Tolle writes, is to stop identifying with our minds and the stream of invol...
The French-born Buddhist monk Matthieu Ricard is both a theorist and a practitioner of altruism. He believes that the meaning of our lives is to practice altruism. In Altruism: The Science and Psychology of Kindness, Ricard (2015) argues that the wider our circle of care is extended and the more unconditional and inclusive it becomes, the more genu...
You will no doubt have noticed that some of the ideas on what constitutes the meaning of lifeexplored above are in contradiction. Some, such as Epictetus and Tolle, argue that we can find meaning inside our selves, by shoring up our defenses against the blows of fortune and by being present. Frankl, Aristotle, Harris, and Ricard, by contrast, argue...
- Rest Is Resistance: A Manifesto by Tricia Hersey. Society would have us believe that the only way to success is through the grind, working ourselves ragged to prove our worth.
- Glow in the F*cking Dark: Simple Practices to Heal Your Soul by Tara Schuster. Tara Schuster prided herself on dealing with her childhood traumas and finding the right tools for self-love to live the life of her dreams.
- Real Self-Care: A Transformative Program for Redefining Wellness by Pooja Lakshmin, MD. We’re currently experiencing what I’ll call a “self-care boom,” in which society constantly tells us that getting a massage or taking a yoga class or buying a new sweater is the road to better mental health.
- The How: Notes on the Great Work of Meeting Yourself by Yrsa Daley-Ward. You can’t live your best life by trying to become what other people expect you to be.
I’ve read over 1,000 nonfiction books in my life, and these 33 are the most powerful of them all. I can honestly say they changed my life, who’s to say they won’t change yours too? Don’t just take my word for it though.
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Need a life-changing book to read in 2022? Here are 25 books that will change your life for the better. From memoirs to self-help, there’s something here for you.