Here are 100 books that Calm fans have personally recommended if you like
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I'm Carmen F. Vlasceanu, PhD, FIH, hospitality executive, mentor, and author who believes in leading with a good heart and living with purpose. Through my book Dare to C.A.R.E. and the life coaching I offer, I help people reconnect with their inner power, serve others authentically, and grow in every area of life. As a single mom, global citizen, and lifelong learner, I’ve walked through burnout, reinvention, and bold dreaming. These books have helped me rediscover my voice, redefine my mission, and remember what really matters. They helped ground me in faith, encouraged my evolution, and reminded me why meaningful connection always comes first.
This book helped me shift my mindset, and I first picked it up during a stressful phase of my life. I gave myself some time to simply breathe and take it in. It reminded me that the “now” is not just a passing second, but a sacred space where peace and clarity live.
I love how it helped me stop living in the echo of yesterday or the fear of tomorrow. I remember closing my eyes and whispering, “This moment is enough,” and feeling my shoulders relax for the first time in weeks. It helped me feel more connected with myself, my son, my clients, and in doing so, intentionally live every moment with more compassion, stillness, and supremacy.
**CHOSEN BY OPRAH AS ONE OF HER 'BOOKS THAT HELP ME THROUGH'**
The international bestselling spiritual book, now with a new look for its 20th anniversary. Eckhart Tolle demonstrates how to live a healthier, happier, mindful life by living in the present moment.
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'I keep Eckhart's book at my bedside. I think it's essential spiritual teaching. It's one of the most valuable books I've ever read.' Oprah Winfrey
To make the journey into The Power of Now we will need to leave our analytical mind and its false created self, the ego, behind. Although the journey is challenging, Eckhart…
A moving story of love, betrayal, and the enduring power of hope in the face of darkness.
German pianist Hedda Schlagel's world collapsed when her fiancé, Fritz, vanished after being sent to an enemy alien camp in the United States during the Great War. Fifteen years later, in 1932, Hedda…
I’m a writer, researcher, and lifelong learner. As the daughter of an Air Force pilot, I followed my father on his assignments around the world and went to 10 schools before graduating from high school. But my greatest education was learning how people from different cultures find joy, meaning, and peace of mind. I have a Ph.D. in English literature and a master’s degree in counseling. I’m now Professor Emeritus and Associate Director of the Applied Spirituality Institute at Santa Clara University, a professional certified coach, and lecturer in the Positive Psychology Guild in the UK. I love books that bring us greater peace of mind, inspiration, and hope.
Why? Because it reassures me that I’m not alone in searching for greater peace of mind. Jon Kabat-Zinn combines stories from Buddhism and his own practice with humor and words of encouragement to remind me that it is up to me to wake up from the mindless rush of compulsive planning, worry, regret, and resentment that too often cycles through my mind like the voices on a talk radio station.
He also reminds me to be kind to myself, not to fall into shame or self-accusations, because mindfulness is an ongoing practice to become more centered, aware, and balanced.
I smile when I catch myself drifting away from being mindfully present, take a deep breath, and return to the here and now. And this process continues in my formal meditation practice each morning and my ongoing attempts to be more mindfully aware…
As a busy businesswoman and coach, I felt like I had always been pushing for what I thought represented success, racing from task to task, project to project almost without stopping to take a breath. Eventually that caught up with me and I found myself feeling over-stressed and unfulfilled. This was the catalyst that ignited a need to make some changes in my own life. I read these books to both learn and heal myself. They are all now books I refer to–to keep focused on a more mindful way of being and maintain my own self -awareness.
This book really helped me to gain a deeper understanding of myself. I love books that help you to figure yourself out and this book does. I liked the way I could just jump in and find the section I needed. It is a book I will go back to over and over.
'Sound wisdom, easy to gulp down. I'm sure this book is already helping lots of people. Great work, Dr Julie' MATT HAIG, bestselling author of REASONS TO STAY ALIVE
'Brilliant. Bite-size. Easy to understand. Easy to flick through. It's like a reference to how you feel' Phillip Schofield on ITV's THIS MORNING
THE NO. 1 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER
'Julie Smith is the psychology teacher you wish you'd had at school' EVENING STANDARD 'This book is a goldmine. I truly treat it like a handbook now' STYLIST 'It's real, it's authentic . . . Very practical and very, very helpful' LORRAINE…
Sine, a professor of creative writing, accompanies Sam, a neuroscientist, on a conference trip to a Hotel Castle. Sam wants to present a new device, the "monitor." Sine hopes to recover from tending to her mother who just passed away.
When they arrive, Sine is in a dream-like state. Real…
As a busy businesswoman and coach, I felt like I had always been pushing for what I thought represented success, racing from task to task, project to project almost without stopping to take a breath. Eventually that caught up with me and I found myself feeling over-stressed and unfulfilled. This was the catalyst that ignited a need to make some changes in my own life. I read these books to both learn and heal myself. They are all now books I refer to–to keep focused on a more mindful way of being and maintain my own self -awareness.
I really love the wise and beautiful thoughts that the author shares. I keep it at my bedside, and at night, I just read a few pages before I go to sleep. I enjoy reminding myself to slow down and pay attention. This book has inspired me to be more mindful daily. I love it.
The multimillion-copy bestselling book of spiritual wisdom about the importance of slowing down in our fast-paced world, by the Buddhist author of Love for Imperfect Things
"Wise advice on how to reflect and slow down." -Elle
Is it the world that's busy, or is it my mind?
The world moves fast, but that doesn't mean we have to. This bestselling mindfulness guide by Haemin Sunim (which means "spontaneous wisdom"), a renowned Buddhist meditation teacher born in Korea and educated in the United States, illuminates a path to inner peace and balance amid the…
There are so many good spiritual books out there that get little attention, especially books by women and women of color. I have been a meditation practitioner for three decades, running a mindfulness center at UCLA, and been teaching and sharing Buddhist and mindfulness teaching for 20+ years. I need my sources of inspiration too! Each of these books forced me to think—and brought new depth to my own meditation practice. I am interested in how the Buddhist and mindfulness teachings, which I love so deeply, can help us build resiliency and weather the challenges of the intersecting current ecological, political, and social crises. These books are a great start.
This book of short essays is a “jewel” in its simplicity and timeliness. Each essay tackles Buddhist teachings through teaching stories, but also with a clear heart and guidance for living in these challenging times. Kaira Jewel is a trustworthy guide with a big, loving heart, who can help us navigate loss, loneliness, anxiety, disempowerment, and change.
In ten concise chapters, you'll learn powerful ways to meet life's challenges with wisdom, resilience, and ease.
We all go through times when it feels like the ground is being pulled out from under us. What we relied on as steady and solid may change or even appear to vanish. In this era of global disruption, threats to our individual, social, and planetary safety abound, and at times life can feel overwhelming. Not only are loss and separation painful, but even positive changes can cause great stress.
Yet life is full of change: birth, death, marriage, divorce; a new relationship;…
I am a biologist and I am also interested in spiritual explorations and sacred places. These books discuss some of the most interesting issues in science, and the nature of ultimate consciousness - the primary subject of theology, consciousness. I am also very interested in spiritual practices that have measurable effects, as discussed in my books Science and Spiritual Practices and Ways to Go Beyond and Why They Work.
I read very few novels, but Edward St Aubyn is my favourite contemporary novelist. His writing is brilliant, funny and always intelligent. Of all his books, this new novel is my favourite because it not only tells a good story but also explores the very frontiers of contemporary science and of the paradigm shift going on within it. And it is amazingly well informed scientifically. In some cases it may be anticipating scientific advances that will occur in coming years; it does not simply describe what has already happened.
Three lives collide, not one of them will emerge unchanged - the exhilarating new novel from the author of the Patrick Melrose series.
When Olivia meets a new lover, Francis, just as she is welcoming her dearest friend Lucy back from New York, her life expands dramatically. Her connection to Francis, a committed naturalist living off-grid, is immediate and startling. Eager to involve Lucy in her joy, Olivia introduces the two - but Lucy has news of her own that binds the trio unusually close.
In an age of splendor, a heretic king strips Egypt bare—forcing his queen to quell rebellion and plunging his children into a conspiracy against the crown.
Salvation in the Sun follows Nefertiti as she ascends the throne beside Pharaoh Amenhotep—soon to become Akhenaten—just as he declares war on Egypt’s ancient…
I have written four novels that involve crime in one way or another, but I do not consider myself a crime novelist. I simply find crime stories offer a compelling way to explore universal human experiences. I was a prosecutor when I was younger, so I try to bring a level of fluency in criminal law to my novels, but the usual warning applies: this is fiction, and it is better that a story be authentic than actually true.
Roth was a conservative writer in terms of prose style, but he was adventurous in bending the forms of narrative fiction, so let’s stick with him for a second novel: The Counterlife, from 1986.
Roth frequently appeared in his own novels, either undisguised as a character named Philip Roth or as one of his alter egos, notably the fictional novelist Nathan Zuckerman. Here a conventional Zuckerman novel goes steadily bonkers, with jumps in point of view and setting, until the term “novel” seems not quite to fit.
NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD WINNER • A “magnificent…splendid” novel (The New York Times Book Review) from the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of American Pastoral about people living out their dreams of renewal and escape, some of them even risking their lives to change their seemingly irreversible fates.
Illuminating these lives in transition and guiding us through the book's evocative landscapes, familiar and foreign, is the mind of the novelist Nathan Zuckerman. His is the skeptical, enveloping intelligence that calculates the price that's paid in the struggle to change personal fortune and reshape history, whether in a dentist's office in suburban…
As a young man, I pursued law school and practiced with a major firm. However, it wasn't until I enrolled in a Dale Carnegie course that I discovered my true passion for personal growth and building strong relationships. Now, as the CEO of Dale Carnegie & Associates, I am dedicated to helping individuals and businesses unlock their full potential through personal growth. I believe that everyone has untapped potential, and with the right tools and mindset, they can achieve greatness.
This book by Jay Shetty combines ancient wisdom with practical advice that we can all apply to our lives.
Drawing on his time as a monk, Shetty provides insights and exercises that can help us overcome negative thoughts and habits, reduce stress, and access the calm and purpose that lie within all of us.
By developing these skills, we can improve our relationships and give the gifts we find in ourselves to the world.
Think Like a Monk is a must-read for anyone looking to live a more meaningful and fulfilling life.
Whether you're looking to improve your personal growth, build stronger relationships, or simply find more peace and purpose in your life, this book has something for everyone.
Jay Shetty, social media superstar and host of the #1 podcast 'On Purpose', distils the timeless wisdom he learned as a practising monk into practical steps anyone can take every day to live a less anxious, more meaningful life.
Over the past three years, Jay Shetty has become a favourite in the hearts and minds of millions of people worldwide. One of his clips was the most watched video on Facebook last year, with over 360 million views. His social media following totals over 32 million, he has produced over 400 viral videos, which…
Warren Berger considers himself to be a “questionologist.” He has written three books on the power of asking questions, starting with the best-selling A More Beautiful Question and his follow-up, The Book Of Beautiful Questions. His expertise on questioning has been sought out by companies like Pfizer and Starbucks, as well as by the US Army and the NASA space program. He has written for The New York Times and Wired magazine, and he writes the “Questionologist” column for Psychology Today. Warren believes that lifelong learning is fueled by curiosity and questions.
A big part of lifelong learning involves experimenting, trying new things, and picking up new skills. I must confess this can be challenging for me; I’m one of those people who sometimes gets frustrated or embarrassed when I try something new and find it doesn’t come easily to me. Maybe you’re the same way--if so, all the more reason to take inspiration from Vanderbilt’s book, which chronicles his efforts to learn how to play chess, surf, sing, juggle, and more. Woven in with those entertaining experiences are larger lessons about how we learn, and why it’s so beneficial to keep doing so. In the hands of a less skilled writer, a book like this--in which a journalist tries on a series of new hats--might seem gimmicky. But Vanderbilt is an insightful observer and storyteller who can even make traffic fascinating (that was the subject of a previous book of his,…
'Beginners belongs on the list of books that have changed the way I understand my own limitations.' Malcolm Gladwell
For many of us, the last time we learned a new skill was during childhood. We live in an age which reveres expertise but looks down on the beginner. Upon entering adulthood and middle age, we begin to shy away from trying new things, instead preferring to stay nestled firmly in our comfort zones.
Beginners asks the question: why are children the only ones allowed to experience the inherent fun of facing daily challenges? And could we benefit from embracing new…
Born the heir of a master woodcutter in a queendom defined by guilds and matrilineal inheritance, nonbinary Sorin can’t quite seem to find their place. At seventeen, an opportunity to attend an alchemical guild fair and secure an apprenticeship with the…
In 2016, I finished a book that had been three years in the making. I interviewed hundreds of snipers and spent some 9,000 hours wading through neuroscientific research papers. While my own background as a Chemical Engineer helped, it also became a deep dive into a world that opened my eyes. We are on the cusp of understanding what makes us tick as humans, and if we succeed in cracking that, we will become truly unstoppable. Simply put, we are all born, and we will all die, but we now have the power to comprehend the real reason the first event happened before the second one did.
Whenever I feel inadequate, insecure, overwhelmed, and diminished, I come back to this book. Errol was a Navy SEAL Commander. He should be dead by now. His survival is due to a gripping tale of control and recovery through a unique process that can be applied by anyone struggling with life and wondering whether they will ever be able to get anywhere under their own steam.
Errol has a way of writing that makes what he says memorable. The effectiveness of what he says is testified to by his own survival of a traumatic brain injury that should have made him one of the statistics. Reading his account is humbling and eye-opening.
Thrive under any circumstances with insights from an elite combat veteran
In Ice Cold Leader, special forces combat veteran, FBI agent, and business founder Errol Doebler reveals his unknown and silent battle with a traumatic brain injury incurred as a Navy SEAL in the late 1990s, and how he overcame emotional distress, self-doubt, depression, and anxiety to create a successful and happy personal and professional life until the day he discovered his pain was due to an injury he didn't even know he had.
Anchored in gripping tales from his time in the elite services, the author describes the unique…
