The 50 Books that I Read in 2018

When you couple the knowledge found in these 50 books below with my two words for 2018 (Curiosity and Efficiency) I give myself an A+ in intellectual academia and a B- in the actual embodiment of what I learn. It's challenging for me to get out of my head and into my body, especially when I intellectualize and philosophize about life and business as my default mode.

I do not watch television (I immediately fall asleep) and I rarely drink, so reading is my way to “relax” at the end of a day or the start to my morning. Relaxing for me is intellectual stimulation. And it's fueling the research for my next book.

Here is a list of the fifty books I read in 2018 (Note: All links below are referral links. Please consider purchasing through these links. Thank you!)

Marketing/Writing:

• Amusing Ourselves to Death, by Neil Postman (I read this in Grad school and recently reread it – classic!)
• Simple & Direct: A Rhetoric for Writers, by Jacques Barzun (I also read this in Grad school and regularly pull it off my bookshelf. Then I end up reading the entire thing again! #booknerdproblems)
• KNOWN by Mark Schaefer (I interview Mark on my podcast here).
• An Audience of One by Srini Rao (I interview Srini on my podcast here).
• This is Marketing by Seth Godin (I interview Seth on my podcast here).

Business and Leadership: 

• Principles: Life and Work by Ray Dalio (mentioned in my interview with Seth Godin here)
• Willpower Doesn’t Work by Benjamin Hardy
• The Mind of a Winner by Steve Canal (I interview Steve here)
• The 12 Week Year by Brian P. Moran and Michael Lennington

Technology: 

• Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies by Nick Bostrom
• The Fourth Age: Smart Robots, Conscious Computers and the Future of Humanity by Byron Reese (I interview Byron Reese here)
• Tech Gnosis: Myth, Magic and Mysticism in the age of Information by Erik Davis (stay tuned…I'm interviewing Eric in an upcoming podcast episode!)

Humanity and Relationships: 

• Evolutionary Love Relationships by Andrew Harvey
• Not Nice: Stop People Pleasing by Dr Aziz Gazipura
• UNHIDDEN: A Book for Men and Those Confused by Them by Robert Kandell (I interview Robert on my podcast here).

Business and Money:

• Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder by Nassim Taleb
• The Soul of Money: Transforming Your Relationship with Money and Life by Lynne Twist
• Quantum Success: The Astounding Science of Wealth and Happiness by Sandra Anne Taylor
• Spiritual Cashflow: A Story on Sex, Money, and Enlightenment by Steven E Schmidtt
• The E-Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber

Psychology:

• Spent: Sex, Evolution, and Consumer Behavior by Geoffrey Miller
• Trip: Psychedelics, Alienation, and Change by Tao Lin
• When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing by Daniel Pink

Philosophy/Consciousness:

• Meditations and Other Metaphysical Writings by René Descartes
• Trump and a Post-Truth World by Ken Wilber
• Radical Wholeness: The Embodied Present and the Ordinary Grace of Being (I interview Philip Shephard in my podcast here).
• A Brief History of Everything by Ken Wilber (reread)

Spirituality:

• The Truth Always Rises by Molly McCord (I interview Molly here).
• Power of Silence by Carlos Castaneda
• Seven Sacred Seals by Richard Rudd (I interview Richard Rudd here)
• The Gene Keys by Richard Rudd (reread)
• Becoming Supernatural by Joe Dispenza
• The Surrender Experiment by Michael Singer
• Power vs. Force by Doctor David Hawkins (this one wins the award for my favorite book of 2018!)
• The Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda
• The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali – translation and commentary by Sri Swami Satchidananda (reread).
• The Four Agreements (reread)
• The Bhagavad Gita (reread)
• The Varieties of Religious Experience by William James (mentioned in my interview with Dr. Loretta Breuning)

Discrimination and Racism:

• Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
• White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo (mentioned in my interview with Andréa Ranae here).

Poetry:

• Crow with No Mouth by Ikkyū

Occult and Mysticism:

• Behold a Pale Horse by William Cooper
• John Dee and the Empire of Angels by Jason Louv

Food and Wellness:

• The Third Plate: Field Notes on the Future of Food by Dan Barber
• Plant-Based Diet for Beginners by Heather Nicholds
• The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo

Fiction:

• An American Marriage by Tayari Jones (recommended to me by Bob Lefsetz who I interviewed here).
• Moonglow by Michael Chabon
• The Book of Joan by Lidia Yuknavitch

Currently reading:

How to Change Your Mind by Michael Pollan

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