Fans pick 100 books like The Power of Vulnerability

By Brene Brown,

Here are 100 books that The Power of Vulnerability fans have personally recommended if you like The Power of Vulnerability. Shepherd is a community of 12,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

When you buy books, we may earn a commission that helps keep our lights on (or join the rebellion as a member).

Book cover of Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life

Jessica Willis Fisher Author Of Unspeakable: Surviving My Childhood and Finding My Voice

From my list on courage to tell my survivor story.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am through and through a storytelling creature and fell in love with books as a child. I first aspired to be a librarian, then an author. Life took me in other directions, and when I found songwriting as a teen, I figured it would be the closest I would ever come to my original dreams. It was not until I escaped from my abusive family as a young adult and dove headfirst into therapy that I realized my story was far darker than I had ever let myself admit. I am now a singer-songwriter and memoirist who believes that sharing our stories with one another will change the world. 

Jessica's book list on courage to tell my survivor story

Jessica Willis Fisher Why did Jessica love this book?

Sent to me by a dear friend just when I needed it, this delightfully cheeky book about writing gave me the push to be courageous and truthful both in life and in my written endeavors.

Full of candid advice, hilarious anecdotes, and helpful information, this book is half manual and half a memoir of Lammott’s escapades in authorship. It speaks directly to the part of us that holds our deepest stories and silently longs to make them into something useful, beautiful, and meaningful–whether or not we plan to share them with the world. 

By Anne Lamott,

Why should I read it?

18 authors picked Bird by Bird as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • An essential volume for generations of writers young and old. The twenty-fifth anniversary edition of this modern classic will continue to spark creative minds for years to come. Anne Lamott is "a warm, generous, and hilarious guide through the writer’s world and its treacherous swamps" (Los Angeles Times). 

“Superb writing advice…. Hilarious, helpful, and provocative.” —The New York Times Book Review

For a quarter century, more than a million readers—scribes and scribblers of all ages and abilities—have been inspired by Anne Lamott’s hilarious, big-hearted, homespun advice. Advice that begins with the simple words of wisdom…


Book cover of All About Love: New Visions

Mechal Renee Roe Author Of I'm Growing Great

From my list on expanding your inner vision and allowing life to rush in.

Why am I passionate about this?

My name is Mechal Roe and I have loved creating fun and colorful art to inspire the inner child in all of us. I began my journey in children's print design and worked my way up to Clothing Designer. It was quite rewarding, and I learned so much. After, I left to create a children's book and toys to serve underrepresented youth. Creating the book was a form of introspection to move me along my heart's path. It was also a gift to those young ones who also struggle with understanding themselves in the world. 

Mechal's book list on expanding your inner vision and allowing life to rush in

Mechal Renee Roe Why did Mechal love this book?

I recommend this book because I have found the meaning of love to be elusive. Slipping in and out of my life's timeline. When love stays, it waits for me to generate it alone, by myself, in hopes that I will alchemize it to all of my relationships. Bell Hooks helped me see how to better understand the mystical workings of love, and it's sometimes confusing nature.

Her work helped me appreciate that the endurance of pain is not the presence of love. Allowing love to be an inner source as life-giving, rather than codependently attaching to an outside source, which can be life-ending.

By bell hooks,

Why should I read it?

6 authors picked All About Love as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

"The word "love" is most often defined as a noun, yet...we would all love better if we used it as a verb," writes bell hooks as she comes out fighting and on fire in All About Love. Here, at her most provocative and intensely personal, the renowned scholar, cultural critic, and feminist skewers our view of love as romance. In its place she offers a proactive new ethic for a people and a society bereft with lovelessness. As bell hooks uses her incisive mind and razor-sharp pen to explore the question "What is love?" her answers strike at both the…


Book cover of Self-Reliance and Other Essays

Mechal Renee Roe Author Of I'm Growing Great

From my list on expanding your inner vision and allowing life to rush in.

Why am I passionate about this?

My name is Mechal Roe and I have loved creating fun and colorful art to inspire the inner child in all of us. I began my journey in children's print design and worked my way up to Clothing Designer. It was quite rewarding, and I learned so much. After, I left to create a children's book and toys to serve underrepresented youth. Creating the book was a form of introspection to move me along my heart's path. It was also a gift to those young ones who also struggle with understanding themselves in the world. 

Mechal's book list on expanding your inner vision and allowing life to rush in

Mechal Renee Roe Why did Mechal love this book?

I recommend this book because it had a great influence on me as a young child. Moving through the world, particularly as a black woman, requires a great deal of self-reliance and resourcefulness. This book/essay speaks to universal truths that are often forgotten.

I found myself equipping my toolbox with quotes that have been relevant to my present day working life. I learned how to relate in a deeper way to myself and society while crafting a value system that, as I age, is allowed to become malleable.

By Ralph Waldo Emerson,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Self-Reliance and Other Essays as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 14, 15, 16, and 17.

What is this book about?

Ralph Waldo Emerson's essays and poems on the transcendental movement in the United States became some of the most important literary pieces in American History. In this culmination of essays, Emerson takes the reader through different forms of philosophies that attempt to explain the world and man's purpose within it.

Heavily vested in the philosophy of transcendentalism, though not one to label himself a true follower of the movement, Emerson believed that spirituality and wholeness were central to the ways in which humans could place themselves within nature. Essays by Ralph Waldo Emerson is a collection of integral works that…


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Book cover of Tap Dancing on Everest: A Young Doctor's Unlikely Adventure

Tap Dancing on Everest By Mimi Zieman,

Tap Dancing on Everest, part coming-of-age memoir, part true-survival adventure story, is about a young medical student, the daughter of a Holocaust survivor raised in N.Y.C., who battles self-doubt to serve as the doctor—and only woman—on a remote Everest climb in Tibet.

The team attempts a new route up…

Book cover of I Spy: Fantasy

Mechal Renee Roe Author Of I'm Growing Great

From my list on expanding your inner vision and allowing life to rush in.

Why am I passionate about this?

My name is Mechal Roe and I have loved creating fun and colorful art to inspire the inner child in all of us. I began my journey in children's print design and worked my way up to Clothing Designer. It was quite rewarding, and I learned so much. After, I left to create a children's book and toys to serve underrepresented youth. Creating the book was a form of introspection to move me along my heart's path. It was also a gift to those young ones who also struggle with understanding themselves in the world. 

Mechal's book list on expanding your inner vision and allowing life to rush in

Mechal Renee Roe Why did Mechal love this book?

I recommend these books because I believe seeking and finding never ends as we become adults. I find that I still seek jobs, seek friends, seek safety, seek shelter, and seek nourishment. These tasks are enjoyable when they are connected to my heart's path. It's a training of the brain that delights my inner child.

In addition, play is an important part of my adult life that has been difficult to materialize in the past few years. I have had to use all of my brain matter toward a conveyor belt of serious tasks, and it has been exhausting. Finding the missing piece, whether in my life, these books, or Wordle, gives me a much-needed dose of dopamine in a day filled with Saturnian energy.

By Jean Marzollo, Walter Wick (illustrator),

Why should I read it?

1 author picked I Spy as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 4, 5, 6, and 7.

What is this book about?

Search-and-find riddles paired with amazing photographs will captivate kids of all ages in the bestselling I Spy series.

Acclaimed I Spy creators Walter Wick and Jean Marzollo use everyday objects to enhance intellectual discovery. Readers can examine the different objects, solve the picture riddles, and become an I Spy detective!A perfect fit for STEAM curriculum.

Book cover of Happiness Is a Choice You Make: Lessons from a Year Among the Oldest Old

Ed Zinkiewicz Author Of Retire to Play and Purpose: How to have an amazing time going forward

From my list on taking your retirement to a new level.

Why am I passionate about this?

Some retirement choices start out as great adventures but stall. The RV loses its sheen or the cruises begin to look alike. Some retirees actually finish the infamous to-do list or tire of golf. Some people avoid retiring because they’ve heard of those failures! My goal is to help people find meaning and purpose in the activities they undertake in retirement and avoid any pitfalls. The books I’ve chosen here have helped give me a great platform to work from. I’ve discovered that if you can be curious, reach out in empathy, and be determined to keep at the search for joy and meaning, you’ll find that retirement adventure of play and purpose.

Ed's book list on taking your retirement to a new level

Ed Zinkiewicz Why did Ed love this book?

I am approaching my 80th birthday. Finding a reason to get up in the morning is challenged by loss. I don’t have the strength or endurance I once had. Friends and family are dying too soon and too fast. Some favorite activities have moved out of reach.

John Leland spent a year visiting six octogenarians. Each had their own challenges, comforts, successes, and losses. But, at the end of the day, they were happy. Reading this book is like a glimpse into a future. What will I have at the end of my day? What will you?

The book gives me hope and six ways to look at life’s twists and turns. As the years stack up, I want my likelihood of happiness to stack up as well.

By John Leland,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Happiness Is a Choice You Make as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A New York Times Bestseller!

An extraordinary look at what it means to grow old and a heartening guide to well-being, Happiness Is a Choice You Make weaves together the stories and wisdom of six New Yorkers who number among the “oldest old”―those eighty-five and up.

In 2015, when the award-winning journalist John Leland set out on behalf of The New York Times to meet members of America’s fastest-growing age group, he anticipated learning of challenges, of loneliness, and of the deterioration of body, mind, and quality of life. But the elders he met took him in an entirely different…


Book cover of The Life-Changing Magic of Not Giving a F*ck: How to Stop Spending Time You Don't Have with People You Don't Like Doing Things You Don't Want to Do

Liz O'Riordan Author Of Under the Knife: Life Lessons from the Operating Theatre

From my list on to help you cope when life throws you a curve-ball.

Why am I passionate about this?

As a breast surgeon who’s had breast cancer three times, I’ve had my share of knocks along the way. A friend once asked me to speak to her nursing colleagues about how I had coped, and I immediately thought of my books. The ones I read on repeat at night to get me through the weekly wobbles. To remind me to have fun and that life is for living. They’re not too serious, some of them have a lot of swearing (sorry Dad), and everyone I’ve leant them to has thanked me for knowing exactly what was going on inside their head. I hope they do the same for you.

Liz's book list on to help you cope when life throws you a curve-ball

Liz O'Riordan Why did Liz love this book?

I’m a people-pleaser. I can’t say ‘No’ to anyone and in the past it has destroyed me.

This book reminds us all that we only have a limited amount of time, energy, and money and we should only spend them on things that make us happy and don’t annoy us. We need to stop caring what other people think. We can’t make everyone like us but we can make them respect us, and there is a way to get off going to your great uncle’s 90th birthday without being rude.

Trust me – this book will change your life.   

By Sarah Knight,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Life-Changing Magic of Not Giving a F*ck as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

'Genius' Cosmopolitan

'The best book I have read recently . . . Absolutely blinding. Read it. Do it.' Daily Mail

The bestselling book everyone is talking about - our favourite anti-guru Sarah Knight reveals the surprising art of caring less and getting more.

Are you stressed out, overbooked and underwhelmed by life? Fed up with pleasing everyone else before you please yourself? Then it's time to stop giving a f**k.

This irreverent and practical book explains how to rid yourself of unwanted obligations, shame, and guilt - and give your f**ks instead to people and things that make you happy.…


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Book cover of The Boldly Inclusive Leader: Transform Your Workplace (and the World) by Valuing the Differences Within

The Boldly Inclusive Leader By Minette Norman,

To create innovative, collaborative, and high-performing organizations, we need a new leadership model.

Speaker, consultant, and former Silicon Valley executive Minette Norman is committed to inspiring leaders by sharing some of the most important things she learned over the decades she spent in the corporate world, such as: every human…

Book cover of How to Be Fine: What We Learned from Living by the Rules of 50 Self-Help Books

Amethyst Marie Author Of A Snag in the Tapestry: Thalia's Musings Volume 1

From my list on offbeat sense of humor.

Why am I passionate about this?

When people ask what kind of books I like to read, I can’t answer with a genre. As a kid, I’d come home from the library with mysteries, Westerns, fantasies, non-fiction books, and comic books in the same stack. I’ve always liked books that introduce me to fun characters, take these characters on fantastical adventures, make me laugh at least a little, and leave me with a sense of hope and triumph. They can be anything from cheesy romcoms to dark thrillers to complicated biographies. This is reflected in my fantasy series, Thalia’s Musings, which has been praised for its realistic treatment of abuse and also compared to Friends.

Amethyst's book list on offbeat sense of humor

Amethyst Marie Why did Amethyst love this book?

This non-fiction book is probably the most categorically comedic on my list. Greenberg, a comedian, and Meinzer, a critic, are the hosts of a podcast called By the Book, in which every episode documents their attempt to follow a new self-help book to the letter for two weeks. After a few years of doing this, they co-wrote their own self-help book based on their experience and narrated the audio version. The result is insightful, irreverent, and hilarious.

By Jolenta Greenberg, Kristen Meinzer,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked How to Be Fine as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A humorous and insightful look into what advice works, what doesn't, and what it means to transform yourself, by the co-hosts of the popular By the Book podcast.

In each episode of their podcast By the Book, Jolenta Greenberg and Kristen Meinzer take a deep dive into a different self-help book, following its specific instructions, rules, and advice to the letter. From diet and productivity to decorating to social interactions, they try it all, record themselves along the way, then share what they've learned with their devoted and growing audience of fans who tune in.

In How to Be Fine,…


Book cover of You Are a Badass: How to Stop Doubting Your Greatness and Start Living an Awesome Life

Rachael O’Meara Author Of Pause

From my list on be a more confident leader.

Why am I passionate about this?

Ever since I was a little girl, I felt intimidated to use my voice when I needed to, or didn’t feel confident to speak up or show up to support myself. It wasn’t until I studied emotional intelligence (EI) that I started to learn the tools that helped me develop my confidence and step into my power. My book has many of these tools in it, and I am on a mission to help leaders embrace intentional shifts in behavior, or pauses, to redirect their energy to feel more confident, calm, and clear–without the overwhelm. 

Rachael's book list on be a more confident leader

Rachael O’Meara Why did Rachael love this book?

I love Jen Sincero, who keeps things light and funny and so relatable when it comes to owning your full badass self! She reads her own audiobook, and the book is a powerful reminder of all the ways to remember how capable you are–as a woman in the world who has places to go and badass things to do! I found myself laughing throughout the book and wanting to read all the other books in her badass series–but start with this one first.

Jen’s self-deprecating humor resonated with me, and for anyone wanting a gentle nudge to remember what you’re capable of and who likes to laugh, this book is great! I have since invested in Jen’s “You are a badass” merchandise, including sticky notes and a desktop button I’ve used myself and given as gifts to my coaching clients–who doesn’t need a little reminder of your badass self every…

By Jen Sincero,

Why should I read it?

8 authors picked You Are a Badass as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

YOU ARE A BADASS IS THE self-help BOOK FOR PEOPLE WHO DESPERATELY WANT TO IMPROVE THEIR LIVES BUT DON'T WANT TO GET BUSTED DOING IT. In this refreshingly entertaining how-to guide, bestselling author and world-traveling success coach, Jen Sincero, serves up 27 bitesized chapters full of hilariously inspiring stories, sage advice, easy exercises, and the occasional swear word, helping you to: Identify and change the self-sabotaging beliefs and behaviours that stop you from getting what you want, Create a life you totally love. And create it NOW, Make some damn money already. The kind you've never made before. By the…


Book cover of Own the Day, Own Your Life: Optimized Practices for Waking, Working, Learning, Eating, Training, Playing, Sleeping, and Sex

Navaz Habib Author Of Upgrade Your Vagus Nerve: Control Inflammation, Boost Immune Response, and Improve Heart Rate Variability with New Science-Backed Therapies

From my list on upgrading your health and vitality.

Why am I passionate about this?

I personally have struggled with weight, blood sugar, and blood pressure challenges while I was in my teens and twenties. It was through functional medicine and many of the strategies I share in my book that I was able to create a positive shift in my own health and support the health of my clients. In my education and subsequent research, the Vagus nerve always stuck out to me as a unique and underrepresented component of the health journey. My curiosity regarding human anatomy and physiology led me to this important and missing answer: enabling our bodies to enter a healing state and initiate the recovery of our health.

Navaz's book list on upgrading your health and vitality

Navaz Habib Why did Navaz love this book?

I loved that this book was full of practical tips and tools to support optimal performance and physiology. I have personally implemented many of these tools and continue to share many of them with my clients.

In my opinion, this is the most succinct and practical book for those who are looking to biohack or boost their productivity and show up daily to live a full and wonderful life.

By Aubrey Marcus,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Own the Day, Own Your Life as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The founder and CEO of Onnit, the mega lifestyle brand and one of the fastest growing companies in the country, teaches us how one single day of positive choices leads to a lifetime of concrete strategies for better living, optimal performance, and a stronger mind, body, and spirit.

Human optimization thought leader Aubrey Marcus's personal and professional mission rests on a single question: How can we get the most out of our body and mind on a daily basis?

Marcus answers that question in Own the Day, Own Your Life an empowering handbook that guides readers to optimize every moment…


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Book cover of Free Your Joy: The Twelve Keys to Sustainable Happiness

Free Your Joy By Lisa McCourt,

We all want peace. We all want a life of joy and meaning. We want to feel blissfully comfortable in our own skin, moving through the world with grace and ease. But how many of us are actively taking the steps to create such a life? 

In Free Your Joy…

Book cover of Gratitude is My Superpower

Denise Kiernan Author Of We Gather Together: Stories of Thanksgiving from Then to Now

From my list on gratitude making every day feel like Thanksgiving.

Why am I passionate about this?

Denise Kiernan is a multiple New York Times bestselling author of narrative nonfiction books including The Girls of Atomic City, the Last Castle, and We Gather Together. Throughout her career as a journalist and an author, she has explored underrepresented stories and characters and the impact they have had on history. These stories of the unsung offer fresh perspectives on historical tales we think we already know. At the heart of many of Kiernan’s nonfiction explorations are women from a variety of different backgrounds and time periods. She has devoted her last three books to the history of Thanksgiving and gratitude, writing separate books for all ages.

Denise's book list on gratitude making every day feel like Thanksgiving

Denise Kiernan Why did Denise love this book?

This is a sweet picture book for kids that gets them thinking about the concept of gratitude in ways that they can understand.

Through the story of Betsy and her magic stone, they learn, for example, that there are lots of things in life to be grateful for, and sometimes the little happy moments are just as powerful as the big ones. As a picture book, it’s appropriate for children who are not reading on their own yet. Available as a hardcover, paperback, or audiobook.

By Alicia Ortego,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Gratitude is My Superpower as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 5, 6, 7, and 8.

What is this book about?

Do you want to teach your children how to be grateful for the things they already have?

Little Betsy will learn that happiness is made up of simple things in life, both small and big. With the help of the magic stone, she will begin to feel gratitude for her parents, friends, and toys. But what happens when little Betsy forgets to use the magic of her stone? She will realize that the power of gratitude is hidden in her heart.

"Gratitude is my superpower" will teach your little ones to appreciate the warmth of home, time spent playing with…


Book cover of Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life
Book cover of All About Love: New Visions
Book cover of Self-Reliance and Other Essays

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