Recommended Reading - Self Help Recommended Books

Written by Adam Khan

Tao: The Watercourse Way
by Alan Watts

Watts is an enjoyable writer to read, and here you'll find penetrating insight into the Taoist perspective on life and why it can bring a greater peace of mind. This was the last book Watts wrote. In fact, he didn't actually finish it before he died, but what he left is worth reading. Watts often doesn't merely convey information but creates an experience, so that while you read, you understand, not just intellectually, but emotionally as well.

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Endurance
by Alfred Lansing

This has become a classic story. It is the ordeal Earnest Shackleton and his crew of 27 men endured from 1914 to 1916 as they became stranded in the Antarctic wasteland. It is a story of patience and courage, of hardship and leadership, of attitude control and optimism.

Heart of the Mind
by Connirae Andreas, Ph.D. and Steve Andreas, M.A.

This book is a basic primer of neurolinguistic programming (NLP). It's easy to read and if you've never read anything about NLP, it's an eye-opener. The approach to emotional difficulties is novel, having come ultimately from Milton Erickson and his innovations in hypnotic trances. One of the creators of NLP, Richard Bandler, said that he tried to find ways of accomplishing hypnotic benefits without using hypnosis, and the result was NLP.

Mindfulness
by Ellen J. Langer

Langer's research is known all over the world for its originality. She looks deeply at the mindlessness we all share, and she explains what you personally can do about your own mindlessness.

Growth Through Reason
by Albert Ellis

This is a book of transcripts of actual Rational-Emotive Therapy sessions. It's a good look at how the theory gets put into practice and what it can do. Reading these exchanges, you get the basic ideas in a lively and interesting way.

The Structure of Magic, Vol. 1
by Richard Bandler and John Grinder

This is a technical breakdown of how we make a map of the world, and how our language reveals the map we've made, and also how you can change the way you use language to improve your map. It is pure, unadulterated genius.

Opening Up
by James W. Pennebaker, Ph.D.

Pennebaker's research has become world famous. When you share a traumatic or painful experience with someone you trust (or even merely write it out in a journal), you will enjoy better health. Opening up is healthy. Keeping yourself closed off from others is unhealthy. Pennebaker shows you why and how you can open up.

Anger: The Misunderstood Emotion
by Carol Tavris

Full of good research, this book shows that much of our commonplace understanding of anger is dangerously off-base. If you have a lot of anger in your life, this is definitely a book you could profitably read five or six times. The book debunks many myths; for instance, the myth of suppressed anger. You'll also learn how to deal with your anger in a healthy way, and how to change the way you think so you can prevent feeling angry in the first place.

What You Can Change and What You Can't
by Martin E. P. Seligman, Ph.D.

This is a top-shelf self-help book. Seligman demonstrates his broad and deep knowledge of all kinds of emotional and psychological problems like anger and anxiety, and tells you what the research has so far revealed about what you can do to improve.