Yesterday was the presidential election and yes I voted and no I’m not going to say who for. I don’t think my blog is any place to espouse political views.
Anyway I had a few thoughts about things.
First is how this year has been rather tumultuous. Tumultuous is a tangy word. I don’t use it often. But it is very fitting in this scenario.
Christine plopped out another kid and me too when you consider all the work I’m doing for my next book. That is like giving birth and I tell Christine all the time, I say, you know, you have never known pain like this kind. She tells me yes she has because she not only gave birth but has written a few novels herself.
I also completely turned around the way I run my business. I re-launched my Inner Circle and stuffed all my programs in one place. It’s like a trough only it won’t fatten you up. You’ll get fit, actually, and especially if you do my 30-Day Hormone Optimization Challenge, which I hear is “pretty good, all thing’s considered.”
In other news the weather is still pretty warm out here, but it is raining. We’re about halfway into November and I’m still driving my little yellow car around. I don’t know if this is global warming or what.
But I was thinking the other day about books everyone should read. Someone asked me, they said, Pat, I like your style. Give me some books to read. I said, my style on what? He said, your style on writing and also your workouts are pretty good too. I said, OK, well, what kind of books are you looking for. He said anything really.
So I said why don’t I give you a few books in the same category that may or may not have the same opinion. Then you can work out which one is right or ask me for help. This is something I like to do with myself.
10 Books I Think Everyone Should Read, and 1 Essay
Fitness
Paul Chek’s How to Eat, Move, and Be Healthy!
Also, I Hear My Book Isn’t Bad… “All Things Considered.” (This one doesn’t count as being part of the list.)
Business
Writing
The Elements of Style (Strunk and White)
William Zinsser’s On Writing Well
Economics
Murray Rothbard’s Man, Economy and State, with Power and Market
Henry Hazlitt’s Economics In One Lesson
Philosophy
Mark Twain’s What Is Man (Free) – This is the essay.
Thich Nhat Hanh’s You Are Here
Strong ON!
– Pat
PS – You might also like my Inner Circle because books are boring, sometimes.
PPS – Now how about you give me something to read? Leave some books you like in the comments, they can be about anything.
Awesome post as usual Pat. I always enjoy your book recommendations every time I can get some from you. I just did something on this the other day on my blog, maybe you or your readers will find some of the books listed at the bottom of the post some good reads as well. Here’s the post: http://www.post35.net/?p=1519
P.S. Just started in on The Righteous Mind yesterday as recommended by Ryan, so far, it’s a good read
Got that one, too, but haven’t dug in yet. It’s in the queue. Thanks for sharing, Justin. Power to you!
You voted Trump and you will be disappointed. I can read minds.
I’m a Libertarian, lol. Which means, generally, I’m disappointed by every president. But I have decided not to let it get to me. And even that doesn’t tell a person how I voted, or why I voted. So instead of reading minds, maybe just look at the books I’m recommending, and see if you like them, or add to the the conversation is some kind of meaningful way? If you want to get in a political debate there are plenty of those going on somewhere else.
So I’ve really been influenced by three books:
The Power of Full Engagement (creating physical, mental, and spiritual rituals to reach potential)
Spirituality:
Seat of the Soul by Gary Zukav
The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle
How to Know God (discussion of Pantanjali’s yoga sutras…supposedly every yogi should read)
But now..I’m super into Bulfinch’s Mythology…it gives parallel mythology stories…I’m trying to figure out which archetype my life is following so I can tell if it’ll all turn out good or not…I identify with Persephone way too much!
I’m putting your Aurelius-Meditations recommendation on my list.
Pat Flynn wrote two really good books.
They were “For Dummies” books, but… still…
Anyway, learned a lot. Good fundamentals. Similar style to what we all know and love (but toned down a little bit…because sales).
Natural born heros, Christopher McDougall….he has another both about ultra running that gets into concepts of body mechanics and nutrition that you would love….thank you
Thanks for the recco, Michael. Will be checking that one out.
“The Rise of Superman” by Steven Kohler was a good one.
Willink/Bavin’s “Extreme Ownership” was another recent read that’s worth recommendation.
Always love to see recommended reads!
Finally got around to reading Extreme Ownership, after so many recommended it. Glad you decided to include that one, Bob.
Great list! I’ve only heard of one of these books, Marcus Aurelius’s Meditations, and I’ve heard of the essay, but admittedly, I haven’t read either. I’m looking for a few more books to add to my kindle before the next cycle tour starts, so I will definitely have to check these out and see whether there are electronic copies of them.
Ryan, here are some resources for finding good books:
1. GoodReads.com
2. Favobooks.com
3. Clifton Fadiman’s Lifetime Reading Plan
4. Harvard Guide to Influential Books (an out of print treasure)
5. St. John’s Great Book List, an expanded version of Adler’s
My favorite read during the past few years was AntiFragile.
Thanks for this, Mike. I’ll agree with AntiFragile. Black Swan as well.
Just finished reading The Morning Miracle. Great book aimed at helping you to shake mediocrity and achieve in all areas of your life. An easy read summed up by – what else – a morning ritual. It can be explained as Life S.A.V.E.R.S. The acronym stands for:
S – Silence (breathing/meditation)
A – Affirmations
V – Visualization
E – Exercise
R – Reading
S – Scribe (i.e. writing / journaling but, ‘W’ would have disjointed the acronym:)
Done in as little as 6 minutes, though ideally an hour and some people take 2 hours – UPON WAKING. I have always had a ‘golden hour’ in the morning, but, this structure has really helped.
Scott
Have you heard of one called “psychocybernetics”? The head coaches at my gym suggested i read it!
I have and if you haven’t gotten it yet, I would get the updated edition with material added by Dan Kennedy. Very well worth the read.
Glad to see an interest in Austrian Economics. Hazlitt is a great primer on economics. I enjoy I, Pencil which isn’t a book but a few page pamphlet. Thomas Sowell’s Basic Economics should be issued in High School econ.
I also think The Art of War and The Book of Five Rings are must reads. Robert Greene’s complete series, 48 Laws of Power, etc. Are quality. The Lucifer Principal was quite good. Can’t forget The Richest Man in Babylon and Og Mansion’s Greatest Salesman in the World.
Three of the most influential books since I was a kid are Johnathan Livingston Seagull and Illusions:The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah and The Tao of Pooh.
Another vote for Tao of Pooh.
Just finished “The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck”. Little overuse of the f word at points but otherwise a good read.
Heard of that one, but haven’t read. Will be looking into it now, however. Thanks, Bob!
My 2 cents: try A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy, by William B. Irvine. An easy read for those who want to dip a toe into the world of stoicism.
Anything by Murray Rothbard is gold! Love the Hazlitt selection , also.