Below is a collection of books that I frequently recommend to friends and clients. These titles have inspired by thinking, my creativity, and my professional work, and they cover a range of topics. For the sake of curiosity and imagination, which are also crucial to our health and well-being, the list includes some of my favorite titles in nonfiction and fantasy!
Personal Development
Andrea Bonior, Detox Your Thoughts
Brené Brown, Daring Greatly
Susan Cain, Quiet
Lindsay C. Gibson, Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents
Johann Hari, Stolen Focus
Gay Hendricks, The Big Leap
Amy Lombardo, Brilliance
Resmaa Menakem, My Grandmother’s Hands
Kristin Neff, Self-Compassion
Catherine Price, The Power of Fun
Gail Straub, The Rhythm of Compassion
Lynn Twist, The Soul of Money
Kasia Urbaniak, Unbound
Professional Development
David Allen, Getting Things Done
Ira Chaleff, The Courageous Follower
Amy Edmondson, The Fearless Organization
Marc & Samantha Hurwitz, Leadership is Half the Story
Jess Rimington & Joanna L. Cea, Beloved Economies
Erica Keswin, Rituals Roadmap
Priya Parker, The Art of Gathering
Michael Bungay Stanier, The Coaching Habit
Human Potential
Johanna Macy & Chris Johnstone, Active Hope
Joseph Chilton Pearce, The Biology of Transcendence
John Prendergast, In Touch
Otto Scharmer, Theory U
Ginny Whitelaw, Resonate
Relationships
Esther Perel, Mating in Captivity
John Gottman, The Relationship Cure
Emily Nagoski, Come As You Are
Stan Tatkin, Wired for Love
Ian Kerner, She Comes First
Mindfulness/Creativity
Christina Baldwin, Life’s Companion
Flora Bowley, Art of Aliveness
Julia Cameron, The Artist’s Way
Teri Degler, Divine Feminine Fire
Yoon Im Kane, The Mindfulness Workbook for Depression
Sally Kempton, Meditation for the Love of It
Nonfiction
Lisa Feldman Barrett, Seven and a Half Lessons About the Brain
Ta-Nehisi Coates, Between the World & Me
Susan Cain, Bittersweet
Atul Gawande, Being Mortal
Anne Garrels, Putin Country
Anand Giridharadas, Winners Take All
Rose Hackman, Emotional Labor
Yuval Noah Harari, Sapiens
Stephen Johnson, Where Good Ideas Come From
Sarah Kendzior, Hiding in Plain Sight
Charles Mann, 1491
Eduardo Porter, American Poison
Karl Sabbagh, Palestine
Rebecca Solnit, A Paradise Built in Hell
Joshua Wolf Shenk, Powers of Two
Monica Sjöö & Barbara Mor, The Great Cosmic Mother
Timothy Snyder, The Road to Unfreedom
Merlin Stone, When God Was a Woman
Stefanie Syman, The Subtle Body
Matthew Walker, Why We Sleep
Isabel Wilkerson, The Warmth of Other Suns
Tim Urban, What’s Our Problem
Tyson Yunkaporta, Sand Talk
Howard Zinn, A People’s History of the United States
Fantasy
Katherine Arden, The Bear and the Nightingale
Leigh Bardugo, Shadow and Bone Series: Shadow and Bone, Siege and Storm, Ruin and Rising
Zen Cho, Sorcerer to the Crown, The True Queen
Cassandra Clare, Sword Catcher
Geneveive Cogman, Invisible Library Series: The Invisible Library, The Masked City, The Burning Page, The Lost Plot, The Mortal Word, The Secret Chapter, The Dark Archive
Heather Fawcett, Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries, Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands
Rachel Gillig, One Dark Window, Two Twisted Crowns
A.J. Hackwith, Hell’s Library Trilogy: The Library of the Unwritten, The Archive of the Forgotten, The God of Lost Words
Deborah Harkness, All Soul’s Trilogy: A Discovery of Witches, Shadow of Night, The Book of Life
Alix E. Harrow, The Ten Thousand Doors of January, The Once and Future Witches, Starling House
N. K. Jemisin, Broken Earth Series: The Fifth Season, The Obelisk Gate, The Stone Sky; Inheritance Trilogy: The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, The Broken Kingdoms, The Kingdom of Gods
Ariel Kaplan, The Pomegranate Gate
R.F. Kuang, Babel
Kelly Link, The Book of Love
Erin Morgenstern, The Night Circus, The Starless Sea
Naomi Novik, Temeraire Series: His Majesty’s Dragon, Throne of Jade, Black Powder War, Empire of Ivory, Victory of Eagles, Tongues of Serpents, Crucible of Gold, Blood of Tyrants, League of Dragons
Natasha Pulley, The Kingdoms
Robert Pullman, His Dark Materials Trilogy: The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, The Amber Spyglass
Kim Stanley Robinson, The Ministry for the Future
V.E. Schwab, Shades of Magic Trilogy: A Darker Shade of Magic, A Gathering of Shadows, Conjuring of Light
Samantha Shannon, The Priory of the Orange Tree; Bone Season Trilogy: The Bone Season, The Mime Order, The Song Rising; The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue
Sherry Thomas, Elemental Trilogy: The Burning Sky, The Perilous Sea, The Immortal Heights
Helene Wecker, The Golem and the Jinni, The Hidden Palace
Hannah Whitten, The Wilderwood Books: For the Wolf and For the Throne
Adrienne Young, The Unmaking of June Farrow