Since I was a child I have been obsessed with the questions “how do we each live the best possible life and what does that mean?” I had the good fortune of having a family friend who was a philosophy professor from India. When I was in middle school, he shared books with me from his vast philosophical library which became the springboard for my eventual career as a writer and speaker about philosophy, ethics, spirituality, feminism, and religion. My greatest delight is talking with others who are sincerely trying to point their lives in a noble and sincere direction and are sharing their gifts to elevate the quality of life for all.
Zen came out when I was a teenager, when it took the world by storm. It still holds up as a compelling story of an independent-thinking father and his son taking a cross-country motorcycle trip and as “an inquiry into values,” as Pirsig subtitles the book. This book contains multitudes. It makes you think about the nature of genius and mental illness while making you ask yourself, “what is quality?” and how does our consideration of quality affect the meaning of our personal lives. Reading this book helps us see how much we are shaped by our culture and how important it is for us to articulate our own philosophy of life.
Acclaimed as one of the most exciting books in the history of American letters, this modern epic became an instant bestseller upon publication in 1974, transforming a generation and continuing to inspire millions. A narration of a summer motorcycle trip undertaken by a father and his son, the book becomes a personal and philosophical odyssey into fundamental questions of how to live. Resonant with the confusions of existence, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance is a touching and transcendent book of life.
Reading This is Water is a heartbreaking but beautiful experience, because the author, a philosophical and literary giant, took his own life. Wallace gave us so much in his too-short life. And, he had so much more to give. Nevertheless, this tender little book will fill you with compassion for yourself and for humanity in general. It is not a manual for living, but for seeing the world around you more clearly so that you can let more beauty and goodwill into your mind and heart while spreading the same to others. This is a little treasure.
How does one keep from going through their comfortable, prosperous adult life unconsciously? How do we get ourselves out of the foreground of our thoughts and achieve compassion? The speech captures Wallace's electric intellect as well as his grace in attention to others. After his death, it became a treasured piece of writing reprinted in The Wall Street Journal and the London Times, commented on endlessly in blogs, and emailed from friend to friend. Writing with his one-of-a-kind blend of causal humor, exacting intellect, and practical philosophy, David Foster Wallace probes the challenges of daily living and offers advice that…
This irreverent biography provides a rare window into the music industry from a promoter’s perspective. From a young age, Peter Jest was determined to make a career in live music, and despite naysayers and obstacles, he did just that, bringing national acts to his college campus atUW-Milwaukee, booking thousands of…
I cannot count the number of times I’ve read this book. You will no doubt see it listed as a favorite on many book lists because it is a masterpiece and because it is searingly true. Viktor Frankl was a psychiatrist who spent several years in Nazi prisons only to learn that almost his entire family had been killed. His legacy is not only his personal example of the joyful and useful way he lived his life after liberation, but his conclusion that meaning is more important than anything for living the best possible life. Meaning trumps happiness, comfort, and wealth. This book compellingly shows how we make life meaningful for ourselves and for all whom we love.
One of the outstanding classics to emerge from the Holocaust, Man's Search for Meaning is Viktor Frankl's story of his struggle for survival in Auschwitz and other Nazi concentration camps. Today, this remarkable tribute to hope offers us an avenue to finding greater meaning and purpose in our own lives.
I keep this book on my nightstand because it helps me bust through my creative blocks every time. The opposite of depression is expression. It follows that living a meaningful life is predicated on organized and artful expression. But everyone knows that so much gets in the way of that expression. Professionals and amateurs both are afflicted by creative blocks. Pressfield helps us identify the work we feel called to do and shows us how to do an end-run around all the forms that our resistance may take.
A succinct, engaging, and practical guide forsucceeding in any creative sphere, The War ofArt is nothing less than Sun-Tzu for the soul.
What keeps so many of us from doing what we long to do?
Why is there a naysayer within? How can we avoid theroadblocks of any creative endeavor—be it starting up a dreambusiness venture, writing a novel, or painting a masterpiece?
Bestselling novelist Steven Pressfield identifies the enemy thatevery one of us must face, outlines a battle plan to conquer thisinternal foe, then pinpoints just how to achieve the greatest success.
When two brothers discover a 300-year-old sausage-curing cabin on the side of a Slovenian mountain, it's love at first sight. But 300-year-old cabins come with 300 problems.
Dormice & Moonshine is the true story of an Englishman seduced by Slovenia. In the wake of a breakup, he seeks temporary refuge…
I have carried The Universal Traveller with me for decades and it sits next to my desk in my office. Any time I get jammed about next steps to take toward a worthy goal, I dip into this quirky, useful book. The authors look at life and all our efforts to live it with dignity and value through the lens of design and problem solving, by which they mean “making dreams come true.” The most meaningful life is one lived with a stoked imagination and the willingness to try on new ideas and methods. The UT is quaint because it was written before we were all digitally connected, but its wisdom stands the test of time.
For over 25 years Sharon Lebell’s internationally bestselling book, The Art of Living: The Classic Manual on Virtue, Happiness, and Effectiveness, has inspired philosophy lovers and the modern Stoicism movement. A contemporary interpretation of the ancient sage Epictetus’ teachings, it is a perennial classic that is a cherished spiritual companion and daily guide for readers from every walk of life.
Amidst the noise, distraction, and adversity of life it is all too easy to lose our spiritual foothold. Reading The Art of Living returns us to the thoughts, words, and deeds that bring inner serenity and the most meaningful life.
Lerner's memoir of approaching adulthood in the mid-sixties is deliciously readable, but deceptively breezy. His family is affluent, his school engaging, his friends smart and fun. He has his first car, and drives with abandon. The American moment promises unlimited possibility. But political and cultural upheavals are emerging, and irresistible.…
Known more for his books on Mayas, Aztecs, and Spanish conquistadors, historian Matthew Restall's latest book takes his deepest dive yet into the history of pop music.
In the late-1970s, three music-obsessed, suburban London teenagers set out to make their own kind of pop music: after years of struggle, success…