Oh, For the Love of Books!

My copy of Big Magic has dutifully been by my side, this last week, giving me inspiration (and relief) for my wounded relationship with creativity. I’ve felt greatly indebted to the books that have given me wisdom, hope, and education. I feel changed and grateful to the soul who imparted their knowledge so people like me could benefit.

Another human’s soul is expressed in each book you read. It’s not just pages bound together with a cover. There are thoughts, ideas, Revolution, and emotions of people who have something beautiful to share with the world. There’s a sacredness to books. The textures, words beautifully printed, and yes I smell every new book I get. Gaining entrance to my sacred bookshelf as if through a rite of passage.

I wanted to list books that may change your life the way they did mine. If you’ve already read them please tell us what you think! We love hearing your take aways and if you have book suggestions please share too!

Books for Your Creative Side

Big Magic — perfect for creative spirits especially those who have a wounded relationship with their art. This book saved me on so many levels and re-lit my creative flame.

The War of Art:Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative — another good one for creative spirits. This book explains why we resist doing our art consistently, how resistance manifest, and how we can overcome it.

Books for the Entrepreneur

The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It — A MUST for a new business owner. This book lays out exactly why small businesses fail and how to not be one of them. The information is so detail oriented, clear and easy to apply.

The Motivation Manifesto — the title is pretty self explanatory. The book looks really chic and sleek too!

Books to Help with Self Discovery

The Anatomy of Peace: Resolving the Heart of Conflict — This is a must for any business owner, leader, or family and will change how you interact with others. The concepts taught here are eye opening, self expanding and life changing.

Simple Abundance: A Daybook of Comfort and Joy — when I was changing my life direction and didn’t know what to do this book helped me. There are daily entries you read which help you get to know yourself better and understand what you truly love.

The Alchemist — a beautiful story with deep, thought provoking lessons that will touch your heart. If you like reading stories with powerful imagery and meaning then this is the one.

The Peacegiver: How Christ Offers to Heal Our Hearts and Homes — reading this book was a humbling, beautiful experience. It’s about a man’s dream, with his grandfather as his guiding light helping him to fix the man’s crumbling marriage. His grandfather uses principles of Christ throughout the dream to help him. Let me tell you my heart was changed after reading this. It helped me in my mindset for loving my husband and others better.

Books on the Science of Human Behavior

David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants — this book spins all of our ideas about why people succeed on its head. It sheds light to common misconceptions and will make you feel less fearful of your own perceived “weaknesses”.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time — I read this because of a psychology class in college and it instantly became a favorite of mine. The book is written from the perspective of a child with autism. You walk away feeling so grateful to understand the condition and feel so much love for the child. My brother has PDD: the lowest level on the autism spectrum before the DSM removed the spectrum. This book helped me to have more compassion and understanding for him as well.

The Brain That Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science — This is an AMAZING book about the progressions of our knowledge of neuroscience. It’s so fascinating to read how accepted ideas of neuroplasticity (that our brains stop changing after 25) were wrong for so many years. The intro of the book made me cry because it so perfectly tied together the continuum of knowledge we knew before and how we keep adding to it generation after generation. The author studied our brain’s capability to change for over 20 years and this book compiles all his findings in an interesting way that any person can understand.