As a coach of elite weightlifters, a lifetime athlete, an outdoorsman, and a passionate advocate for self-reliance, I’m continually searching for quality sources of information that teach, inspire, and drive us to improve our abilities—physical, mental, and emotional—to not just enrich our own lives and bolster our capacity to achieve what’s meaningful to us, but to become better contributors to the world at large and help and inspire others in turn.
I wrote...
Tough: Building True Mental, Physical & Emotional Toughness for Success & Fulfillment
By
Greg Everett
What is my book about?
True toughness is a genuine command over ourselves and an ever-increasing mastery of the elements that define us and determine the course of our lives. It gives us the fortitude, mindset, and tools to not simply survive adversity, but to thrive through it and in its wake; gives us a broad and always expanding array of capabilities that create self-reliance and confidence, and give us access to new opportunities and experiences; ensures we understand who we truly are, and that we ultimately determine that identity and reinforce it daily with our choices and habits, and allows us to remain committed to our chosen path to achieve what we intend no matter what it is or how difficult the process.
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The Books I Picked & Why
Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why
By
Laurence Gonzales
Why this book?
Gonzales has a way of providing information in a compelling manner, managing to use stories to present ideas rather than approaching them clinically. Deep Survival is a fascinating look at how people interact with the world as influenced by their unique and our shared human psychology and experiences. This book provides insight, but also inspiration to pay more attention and learn from our own experiences, creating a mental foundation for further exploration and growth.
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Learned Optimism: How to Change Your Mind and Your Life
By
Martin E. P. Seligman
Why this book?
Seligman pioneered work in “learned helplessness”, which provides invaluable insight into we different people respond so differently to similar challenges or experiences. With his interpretations of this work and more, Seligman creates a guide for changing the way we interpret our circumstances, learning how to create a sense of control, and consequently how to not only enjoy our lives more but to determine their course effectively.
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Man’s Search for Meaning
By
Viktor Frankl
Why this book?
This book is a fascinating look at a type and degree of adversity few people will ever come close to experiencing as communicated with a psychiatrist’s understanding of the mind, and a remarkable person’s insight into how we discover meaning, determine the nature of our experiences even when external control is impossible, establish and preserve personal freedom regardless of physical suffering and restraint, and live a life worthy of the gift it is.
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Tom Brown's Field Guide to Wilderness Survival
By
Tom Brown Jr.
Why this book?
Survival books these days tend to be more flash and gimmicks than qualify information, just selling an author’s image rather than providing practical, valuable tools that can be immediately put to use by any inquisitive and motivated reader. Brown not only eschews such silliness, but he also provides the information in a tone and with an attitude sadly unusual in the genre and at large, inspiring curiosity, awe, and respect for the world around us rather than a clumsy attempt to dominate it.
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Violence of Mind: Training and Preparation for Extreme Violence
By
Varg Freeborn
Why this book?
Violence of Mind is the only book I can remember immediately reading a second time upon finishing it. While the title is somewhat misleading and will likely dissuade too many people from picking it up, the content is straightforward, intelligent, and far more insightful than any other book in the genre I’m familiar with. Freeborn delivers succinct but critical lessons in self-defense from a philosophical perspective—this isn’t tough guy fantasies squeezed into ill-advised recommendations, but a quest to help us understand how to successfully navigate dire situations in ways that align with our values.
