100 books like The Anatomy of Peace

Besides being one of the best psychologists in mankind's history, Viktor is a masterful storyteller. It's as if I was transported to Auschwitz at the time, where Viktor was imprisoned along with thousands of Jews; in a very compelling way, he leaves no hint of a doubt that it was thanks to his meaning in life that he was able to survive, and the minute that others let go of theirs, they let go of life itself.

In addition, Viktor also shares his logotherapy framework and how it was updated after his terrible experience. If you doubt the power of doing the work to search for your life’s meaning, this book is a must-read. 

Best recent book examining human morality from a scientific, psychological point of view.

Darwinians used to think humans had to be selfish and immoral. Contemporary evolution argues the opposite, that humans evolved moral limits on our selfishness in order to live together. Haidt’s is the best book presenting this new evolutionary psychology.

But it goes further to connect those scientific issues with contemporary politics, explaining why people from “red” and “blue” states cannot understand each other: they each embody a short list of human moral values, but different ones. This is a great book for thinking carefully about human morality and contemporary politics. Students love it, and so do I. 

Both of us read this book separately in the early 90s and started applying these habits, which have stayed with us ever since. These habits have given us a solid foundation for anything we have wanted to do in our lives.

You learn how to create your own vision for your life, clarify the most important values to act on, and use basic communication skills to create trust and synergy with the people around you. You also learn the importance of nurturing and managing yourself to be healthy, enjoy your life, and be able to be there for others.

These are some of the best life skills anyone can learn, no matter what work or hobbies you have, and it was natural to keep sharing these habits with other coaches and players even 30 years later!

I love this book because I routinely see blind spots get in the way of leaders’ performance and effectiveness.

These leaders are blind to how they are perceived or to their ineffective behaviors. The reason is simple – most of us don’t investigate and uncover the hidden perspectives we embody; the deeply reactive, repetitive response we have day-in and day-out, or understand the brilliant defense mechanisms we’ve built. 

The reason I love this book is because it’s easy to read and the concept is simple, but profound. The authors explain clearly why forcing ourselves to look at our blind spots is the first step in correcting them, and paves the way for enhanced communication, increased productivity, and long-term success.

Cultivating the ability to see things from another person’s perspective is among other ways this book helps break the cycle of “self-deception,” that prevents leaders from reaching their full potential. It’s… show more.

I really appreciate the guidance this book offers for how to think about the ways people try to meet their need for love in relationships. It made me reflect not just on my own patterns for expressing and receiving love, but it offered a way for me to better understand others in my life.

Though it was written with romantic couples in mind, I have found that it can help with other relationships, too. When I have shared this book with patients, they have frequently found that it was an effective tool for providing insight and for helping to improve their love relationship. 

If I had to choose just one book on language that all American college students should read, it would be this one.

The author wrote early versions of this book in 1939 and 1941, when World War II was breaking out, and the world came to understand the poisonous nature of Nazi propaganda. The study of semantics turns out to be more than an abstract consideration of language. The responsible use of language is the antidote to disinformation, a lesson we can carry into our own times.

Why neutral reports are crucial to democracy and self-government; how connotations of words reveal bias; the power of climbing up and down the ladder of abstraction so readers can see and understand; all these are introduced to the reader in this groundbreaking work.

Hall (no relation) has written many classic books on the often hidden impact of culture on our interactions. I found this book to have not only a nice review of some important earlier ideas, but an intriguing way of seeing how the often taken-for-granted ideas of time and culture impact our expectations and what we consider reasonable.  

This book shares insights and short vignettes that really bring home the power of words and it always leaves me inspired to see and treat others with greater respect. I also appreciate that it goes beyond just pointing out the many problems that can exist in our communication with others, but provides some ideas for how to communicate in ways that can help us, and others, heal from words that have done damage to our sense of self. 

Talisse does a great job putting our divides in the context of the fundamental problem of democracy.

How can we maintain democratic principles when we see the "other side" as very wrong, or even as dangerous? Should we maintain those principles? What do we owe our fellow citizens even when we see them as very flawed?  

In addition to these hard and important questions, Talisse focuses on a less examined negative aspect of polarization: us-vs-them animosity makes us less able to get along even with people who are politically similar to us. We become more fractured even on "our side," and less able to do the basic work of politics.

A major factor in our extreme polarization is the distorted, overly pessimistic views people on both sides can have of their fellow citizens.

As Stone points out, we can dislike the people on the "other side" much more than we should, even based on our own standards for disliking people. If you're looking for an in-depth, academic examination of our "undue hate," this is the book to read. 

Our distorted perceptions are very important because the animosity and disrespect and insults we aim at the "other side" helps create their animosity, which in turn gives more power to highly polarized and polarizing leaders, and other influencers.