Photo by Kimberly Farmer on Unsplash
Reading has always been and continues to be an important component of my personal and professional growth. I have found that learning from the experiences of others quickens my learning. I tend towards non-fiction reading although I have read hundreds of fiction books and short stories. Of the over 1000 books I have read in my lifetime I have gleaned this list to share.
It represents the books that have most touched my life. Each of these books can lead you to many others, not on the list. Many of the authors have penned several to dozens of books and I have just mentioned one. By following the trains of thought that begin with these books you will have a lifetime of wonderful reading and learning.
I have inserted two business books. I thought that the personal insights that I garnered through meditation would guide me in business. I was wrong. Meditation helped me get clarity about my intentions and vision for what I wanted to create in my life but when it comes to the day-to-day running of a business, it is essential to cultivate skill sets that can be learned through the Peter Drucker book.
In the biographies section, I have included a number of biographies that have encouraged and inspired different avenues of my life. You will most likely want to read different biographies, the key thing is to learn about other people and the challenges and successes they face. One thing I have learned through biographies is that it is often the biggest challenges in our lives that precede our greatest moments. This insight, which I gleaned through biographies, has helped me to navigate through challenges in my life.
In the poetry section, I have listed my favorite poets of mine but have not listed their specific works. I encourage you to purchase and explore an anthology of poetry. The reading aloud of poetry, even simply reading aloud to yourself has a soothing and transforming effect on the psyche. I often begin my morning by reading aloud, and often times with full dramatic effect, a poem or two to myself.
Lastly, I have listed the titles of books I have written.
Spiritual Teachers and Writings
The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran
Gifts from the Sea by Anne Morrow Lindbergh
Tao – Te Ching by Lao-tzu
Raja Yoga by Swami Vivekananda
The Essential Aurobindo by Sri Aurobindo, edited by Robert A. McDermott
The Life Divine by Sri Aurobindo
The Wisdom of Sri Chinmoy by Sri Chinmoy
The Ramayana by William Buck
Mahabharata by William Buck
How to Know Higher Worlds by Rudolf Steiner
The Jefferson Bible by Thomas Jefferson
Black Elk Speaks by John G. Neihardt
The Teachings of Ramana Maharshi by Ramana Maharshi
The Tibetan Yogas of Dream and Sleep by Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche
Walden by Henry David Thoreau
Any essays and writings by Ralph Waldo Emerson
The Mysticism of Sound and Music: The Sufi Teachings of Hazrat Inayat Khan
The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna by Swami Nikhilananda
The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali by Sri Swami Satchidananda
Freedom from the Known by Krishnamurti
All Writings of the World’s Religions
Philosophy and Psychology
Man and His Symbols by Carl Jung
Meditations and Other Metaphysical Writings by Rene Descartes
The Power of Myth by Joseph Campbell
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig
Lila by Robert Pirsig
Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl
On Death and Dying by Elizabeth Kubler Ross
Brain Power: Learn to Improve Your Thinking Skills by Karl Albrecht
Personal Development
Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences by Howard Gardner
Make the Most of Your Mind by Tony Buzan
Awaken the Giant Within by Tony Robbins
The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron
Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill
The Structure of Magic by Richard Bandler & John Grinder
Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming by Stephen Leberg & Howard Rheingold
The Power of Positive Thinking by Norman Vincent Peale
The Silva Mind Control Method by Jose Silva
Science and Math
The Tao of Physics by Fritjof Capra
Bridges to Infinity by Michael Guillen
The Unexpected Universe by Loren Eiseley
Business
The Essential Drucker by Peter F. Drucker
The Money Game by Adam Smith
Biographies
Thomas Jefferson: The Philosopher President by John W. Selfridge
Hard Driving: My Years with John Delorean by William Haddad
Thirteen Days: A Memoir of the Cuban Missile Crisis by Robert F. Kennedy
Dylan Thomas in America by Jon Malcolm Brinnin
Tesla: A Man Out of Time by Margaret Cheney
Henry Thoreau: A Life of the Mind by Robert D. Richardson Jr.
The Roosevelt I knew by Frances Perkins
“Johnny We Hardly Knew Ye”: Memories of John Fitzgerald Kennedy by Kenneth P. O’Donnell and David F. Powers with Joe McCarthy
Zen Effects: The Life of Alan Watts by Monica FurLong
Pilgrims of the Stars by Dilip Kumar Roy and Indria Devi
The Maharishi: The Biography of the Man who gave Transcendental Meditation to the West by Paul Mason
FDR: A Biography by Ted Morgan
Hannibal by G.P. Baker
A Bridge of Dreams: The story of Paramananda, a Modern Mystic – and his ideal of all-conquering love by Sara Ann Levinsky
Miles: The Autobiography by Miles Davis with Quincy Troupe
RFK: His Life and Death by the Editors of American Heritage
Alexander of Macedon: The Journey to the World’s End by Harold Lamb
Werner Erhard: The transformation of a Man, the founding of est by William Warren Bartley, III
Howard Hughes by John Keats
Krishnamurti: The Reluctant Messiah by Sidney Field
Fiction
Johnathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach
The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
The Stranger by Albert Camus
Candide and Other Stories by Voltaire
Cannery Row by John Steinbeck
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger
Siddhartha by Herman Hesse
Poetry
Any Poetry by William Shakespeare, William Blake, William Wordworth, Percy Bysshe Shelley, John Keats, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Walt Whitman, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Emily Dickenson, Christina Rosetti, William Butler Yeats, Robert Frost, T.S. Elliot, Gertrude Stein, Dylan Thomas, Lawrence Ferlinghetti and Mary Oliver.
Books by S.G. McKeever
Learn to Meditate, Strategy for Success, Paths are Many Truth is One, 7 Secrets to Super Health