70 Life Changing Books : Sujantra’s List

by | Oct 14, 2021 | Challenges, Insight, Meaning, Self-Development, Self-Discovery, Sujantra's Philosophy

 

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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 

 

 

 

 

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