Books I’ve read so you don’t have to (though I will let you know if I still think you should)
Find the full list of Book Summaries here.
Why I read books and how they help improve the quality of my life: Non-Fiction
While I read a wide variety of books, many books are ones I would place in the self-improvement category (see full list of topics below). Many people consider self-improvement books as “self-help” books. I disagree. In my experience, many “self-help” books are repetitive and obvious. I try to stay away from these books and do a careful job curating the ones that I actually believe will help me learn a topic. These books are the ones I classify as self-improvement as they tend to go very deep on a particular topic rather than provide life advice as a whole. By learning the depth of a particular topic, I am able to apply that knowledge to my life to improve the quality of my experience.
Our greatest resources in life are time and attention. We spend time and pay attention, they are the literal currencies of our life. Accordingly, I do not like to invest my time and attention on repetitive and obvious things. I like to invest in what I deem are worthwhile pursuits of my limited resources. When invested carefully, time and attention spent learning compounds into being the best version of myself.
To that end, I wanted to go deeper into the thoughts, feelings, and actions of myself and others. I wanted to learn more about myself and the world around me, how humanity and the universe work as a whole, and how I fit into it.
Curating My Reading List
I am a photographer, videographer, content creator, writer, patent agent, intellectual property lawyer, studied engineering… you get the picture. Needless to say, my life is already quite full of information and to-do lists. I do not have time to read a bunch of books that include frivolous information. The books that I choose to read are very carefully curated.
Since I spend so much time and attention investing in the curation of my reading list, I wanted to share my curation with you so that you hopefully can save time deciding on the next book to read. My goal is to help as many people learn the information I have found helpful in my own life so that we can continue to educate and expand the quality of life of each and every person.
My Favourite Topics
While my reading list is quite fluid in terms of priorities, I tend to select a book based on the biggest problem in my life at the time.
Most of the books I read are centred around the following categories:
- Psychology and Self-Improvement
- Philosophy and Mindfulness
- Business and the Creator Economy
- Storytelling and Creative Writing
- History and Biographies
- Science Fiction and Fantasy
Where to begin?
There is no “right” book to start reading to help you improve the quality of your life. Only you can know which problem is most pressing at the moment. I encourage you to take a few minutes, focus on your breathing, and see what problems pop into your head. By taking time to slow down, you can actually improve the quality of your experience and problem-solving ability through mindfulness (see more here).
Once you have taken a moment to pause and reflect, take a look at the problems I have identified below and see if any of them resonate with you. I have included a recommended book for each problem that I personally think is the best place to start learning more about a topic.
If you find these suggestions helpful, please let me know in the comments below so that I can continue to update the topics to help as many people as possible.
Thanks for joining me on my journey.
Problems and Potential Solutions
- I can’t focus on what I want to get done (stolen focus, finding flow, deep work)
- I don’t have time to do what I want to do (atomic habits, the one thing, miracle morning)
- I’m stressed all the time (breath, do nothing, rest why you get more done when you work less)
- I’m overwhelmed with what to work on next, there are too many options (the one thing, second brain)
- I get social anxiety when talking or networking with people (how to win friends and influence people)
- I know what I want to share, but I struggle with telling the story (wired for story
- I get stressed learning about money and finances (Richest man in babylon)
Please also find my full reading list here.