Here are 100 books that Playing Big fans have personally recommended if you like
Playing Big.
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The slander and abuse of current political discourse does not even rise to the level of disagreement. After all, disagreement is an opposition between opinions, not a fight between opinionators. I do not express my disagreement with your views by threatening to kill you. In my book, The Art of Disagreement, I offer a guide to a better political rhetoric by showing that storytelling can create the social trust necessary for political arguments to be productive. I am now Professor of Government at Dartmouth College, where I teach political philosophy.
Victor Frankl was an Austrian psychologist who was sent to Auschwitz by the German Nazis because he was Jewish.
While in the camp, Frankl noticed that individual prisoners responded in totally different ways to the same appalling circumstances: some stole food from others, some hoarded their food, and some shared their food with others. He concludes that human freedom is ineradicable. He also learned from his camp experience that people want meaning in life as much as they want food or water. Human beings do not live for pleasure, but for the discovery of meaning.
I loved this very inspiring and compelling book about how some people, like Frankl, can rise above the most horrendous suffering.
One of the outstanding classics to emerge from the Holocaust, Man's Search for Meaning is Viktor Frankl's story of his struggle for survival in Auschwitz and other Nazi concentration camps. Today, this remarkable tribute to hope offers us an avenue to finding greater meaning and purpose in our own lives.
UNWRITTEN: The Thought Leader’s Guide to Not Overthinking Your Business Book is a business book about how to write a business book. Written by a business owner (a ghostwriter) for other business owners, it shows you the easiest way to fit writing a book into running your business. And most…
The central theme connecting the books on my list is the idea that our personal growth comes from creativity, straight talk, and honest reflection. All of these books are first-person accounts, which gives them credibility and authority, and they are quite inspiring. They encourage bravery, curiosity, resilience, and healing.
I wrote Morning Leaves as a way of processing the loss of my younger sister. I leaned into creativity and writing as a way of clarifying my thoughts, prioritizing, and ultimately healing from the grief. This collection of books taught me to trust my instincts, nurture my creative impulses, and find a path to joy.
This is one of the clearest books I’ve read on creativity.
Elizabeth Gilbert encourages both curiosity and discipline in writing. She also talks about the importance of timing and being ready to capture ideas when they come. Fear and self-doubt are always around, but one must be receptive and ready when the muse appears.
She tells great stories, which makes the book particularly fun and readable.
Readers of all ages and walks of life have drawn inspiration from Elizabeth Gilbert's books for years. Now, this beloved author shares her wisdom and unique understanding of creativity, shattering the perceptions of mystery and suffering that surround the process - and showing us all just how easy it can be.
By sharing stories from her own life, as well as those from her friends and the people that have inspired her, Elizabeth Gilbert challenges us to embrace our curiosity, tackle what we most love and face down what we most fear.
Whether you long to write a book, create…
I have taught writing to adults for over half of my life—starting in my twenties, when I looked so young that my students once mistook me for a confused kid having wandered into the wrong room! I love love love seeing writers find their writing voice—and the only way to do so is simply to do it. Writing and communicating well is an art, a delight, a form of self-expression, and a way of being in the world—and it is VERY easy to learn with a good teacher. All of these books inspire me because their writers are excellent, encouraging, practical teachers.
Each time I read it, I am reminded that the creation of art is a sacred ritual; that the beautiful process is what creates the beautiful product; that the showing up matters most; and that when we choose art-making as a vital part of our lives, we will do a brave thing each day we go to greet our project.
A succinct, engaging, and practical guide forsucceeding in any creative sphere, The War ofArt is nothing less than Sun-Tzu for the soul.
What keeps so many of us from doing what we long to do?
Why is there a naysayer within? How can we avoid theroadblocks of any creative endeavor—be it starting up a dreambusiness venture, writing a novel, or painting a masterpiece?
Bestselling novelist Steven Pressfield identifies the enemy thatevery one of us must face, outlines a battle plan to conquer thisinternal foe, then pinpoints just how to achieve the greatest success.
UNWRITTEN: The Thought Leader’s Guide to Not Overthinking Your Business Book is a business book about how to write a business book. Written by a business owner (a ghostwriter) for other business owners, it shows you the easiest way to fit writing a book into running your business. And most…
I was driven to become a veterinarian for as long as I could remember. Then, in high school, I developed a love of performance. I felt stuck. Should I choose art or science? I chose science, and despite a great career, I felt like something was missing. When I reconnected with my creativity through stand-up comedy, entrepreneurship and other non-artistic creative outlets, I found out what I had been missing. Why do we drop creativity for science? It was a common story. I dove into the research on creativity, and was blown away by how a bit of creativity can make us happier, more resilient, and make workplaces more effective.
I was pulled into this book as I entered the world of a secret society of Flaneurs or Wanderers. I loved the secret intrigue of how the author found the symbol for this secret society in a used book and how it spurred a curious exploration of why we wander.
I used the ideas in the book to slow down, use my curiosity, and re-engage with my human qualities that are so often buried in the busyness and connection to tech all day long. This book was a welcome, cool drink of water on a hot day, filled with great stories and illustrations.
From the internationally bestselling creator of Wreck This Journal...
wan*der verb \ wan-dar\ to walk/explore/amble in an unplanned or aimless way with a complete openness to the unknown
Several years ago when Keri Smith, bestselling author of Wreck This Journal, discovered cryptic handwritten notations in a worn copy of Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass, her interest was piqued. Little did she know at the time that those simple markings would become the basis of a years-long, life-changing exploration into a mysterious group known only as The Wander Society, as well as the subject of this book.
The beauty of time travel stories is that under the tech, or the supernatural, they can be anything. And for me, they are everything. Paradoxes, puzzles, that oh-so-delicate space-time continuum: an infinite blank canvas for exploring human emotion, psychology, and choices. Just like everyone else, I have regrets, big and small, things that I wish I could change, sliding doors that may have taken me down the wrong fork in the road. With these books, each deeply personal and therapeutic in their own way, you may be able to see your own life choices anew, just like I did. Enjoy!
Friendly tip: I do not recommend reading this novel while isolated from your family due to travel and illness, because this book hits hard in all the right ways.
It invites both the protagonist and the reader to explore the deepest wells of regret and the branching infinities that our life choices produce. In doing so, the novel beautifully confronts the seductive lure of “what could have been” while reminding us of the quiet beauty in what is.
As someone whose mind is often lost in the past or gazing into the future, this ultimate lesson of the book provided a much-needed sense of clarity.
The #1 New York Times bestselling WORLDWIDE phenomenon
Winner of the Goodreads Choice Award for Fiction | A Good Morning America Book Club Pick | Independent (London) Ten Best Books of the Year
"A feel-good book guaranteed to lift your spirits."-The Washington Post
The dazzling reader-favorite about the choices that go into a life well lived, from the acclaimed author of How To Stop Time and The Comfort Book.
Somewhere out beyond the edge of the universe there is a library that contains an infinite number of books, each one the story of another reality. One tells the story of…
I’m a clinical psychologist, which gifts me the experience of being part of people's journey of looking at their lives differently and transforming. Early in my career, throughout my academic studies, I was particularly curious about and drawn to existential perspectives. Sadly, with multiple losses of close loved ones, I was pushed into grappling with existential questions at a more personal level. Yet the pain of loss created shifts in perspective that have helped shape who I am, and the work that I do. I have found that connecting with people, travel, and books are avenues that help me continue to ask questions about life and inspire new directions.
My Ishmael is a book that got my mind thinking. It raises many questions about how we live and whether that is the best way to live.
I enjoyed how these questions are explored through a relationship between a child and a gorilla as it holds the reader in a place of curiosity, as opposed to judgment. This approach sits well with my values and makes it an easy read. One of my favorite quotes is “The only way you can be insulated from harm is by not existing, and that's no way to live.”
Daniel Quinn's Ishmael was the winner of the Turner Tomorrow Fellowship, a prize honoring fiction that offers creative and positive solutions to global problems. This extraordinary novel has become an underground bestseller and a testament for a burgeoning spiritual movement. Mr. Quinn's new novel is a companion piece--not a story that follows the first but rather a story contemporaneous with the first. In it, the Ishmael saga takes a startling direction that is in no way prefigured in the original.
The gorilla licked his lips--nervously, it seemed to me. "I think we can safely say that I'm not prepared to…
I’m a clinical psychologist, which gifts me the experience of being part of people's journey of looking at their lives differently and transforming. Early in my career, throughout my academic studies, I was particularly curious about and drawn to existential perspectives. Sadly, with multiple losses of close loved ones, I was pushed into grappling with existential questions at a more personal level. Yet the pain of loss created shifts in perspective that have helped shape who I am, and the work that I do. I have found that connecting with people, travel, and books are avenues that help me continue to ask questions about life and inspire new directions.
Braving the Wilderness sparked a shift in my perspective on self and relationships.
What struck me most was the separation of belonging and fitting in. I realized how much energy I had put into fitting in, all the while betraying what was true to me. Not only did Braving the Wilderness get me thinking, but it also provided practical steps on how to do things differently.
Since reading the book I have changed how I interact with others, steering away from connection through shared enemies, and instead moving towards connection through authenticity and vulnerability.
My favorite quote: “We can spend our entire life betraying ourself and choosing fitting in over standing alone. But once we've stood up for ourself and our beliefs, the bar is higher. A wild heart fights fitting in and grieves betrayal.”
A timely and important new book that challenges everything we think we know about cultivating true belonging in our communities, organizations, and culture, from the #1 bestselling author of Rising Strong, Daring Greatly, and The Gifts of Imperfection.
'True belonging doesn't require us to change who we are. It requires us to be who we are.' Social scientist Brene Brown, PhD, LMSW has sparked a global conversation about the experiences that bring meaning to our lives - experiences of courage, vulnerability, love, belonging, shame and empathy. In Braving the Wilderness, Brown redefines what it means to truly belong in an…
I was driven to become a veterinarian for as long as I could remember. Then, in high school, I developed a love of performance. I felt stuck. Should I choose art or science? I chose science, and despite a great career, I felt like something was missing. When I reconnected with my creativity through stand-up comedy, entrepreneurship and other non-artistic creative outlets, I found out what I had been missing. Why do we drop creativity for science? It was a common story. I dove into the research on creativity, and was blown away by how a bit of creativity can make us happier, more resilient, and make workplaces more effective.
What if reality was an illusion? This book messed with my mind and challenged my perceptions of what I thought was real. It made me think carefully about how I react to and think about my life and helped me understand how we develop biases.
This was one of the first books I read that helped me understand the impact and effects of ambiguity and uncertainty on my decisions, my happiness, and how I approach the world. It was instrumental in developing the Ambiguity habit in my DANCE framework for developing a creative mindset.
World-renowned neuroscientist Beau Lotto reveals the truths of human perception and devises a cognitive toolkit for how to succeed in a world of uncertainty.
Perception is the foundation of human experience, but few of us understand how our own perception works. By revealing the startling truths about the brain and perception, Beau Lotto shows that the next big innovation is not a new technology: it is a new way of seeing.
In his first major book, Beau Lotto draws on over a decade of pioneering research to show how our brains play tricks on us. With an innovative combination of…
When I was a boy, my mother told me every day, “Be a leader.” By that, she meant to remember who you are, stand up for what you believe, do good, and be good. I was only five years old. That daily lesson on the doorstep sunk deep in my heart. For over forty years, I have had a passion for learning, teaching, and practicing small “L” leadership. I have done that as dean of Harvard Business School, president of BYU-Idaho, and Commissioner of Education for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I have learned deeply from the books on this list, and I hope you will, too.
This is a small “L” leadership book, and I love its ideas and its examples. When I read it for the first time, it gave me a new perspective on the very personal nature of leadership. The book was jammed (it still is!) with great insights about the connection between what is inside of me and how I could lift and strengthen other people when I lead.
All I have to do when I once again take a look at this book is to read the table of contents–purpose-centered, internally-directed, other-focused, externally open, positive force–and I am reminded that this is a book that helps me stay focused on helping people and organizations thrive. It is a great lift!
A guide to leading with your best self, which in turn drives others to be their best.
NEW EDITION, REVISED AND UPDATED
Just as the Wright Brothers combined science and practice to finally realize the dream of flight, Ryan and Robert Quinn combine research and personal experience to demonstrate how to reach a psychological state that lifts us and those around us to greater heights of achievement, integrity, openness, and empathy. The updated edition of this award-winning book—honored by Utah State University’s Huntsman School of Business, Benedictine University, and the LeadershipNow web site—includes two new chapters, one describing a learning…
I’m a person like you who has lived difficult situations, has had losses, made mistakes, and deals with bad days wondering about my existence and purpose in life. I have a gift, and it's writing; I began sending reflective messages to the people at my office and that’s when I noticed that people loved them. Years later, after reading several books and accumulating more experience, I realized that there are several experiences that are common to all, but few questioned. Therefore, I decided to share my insight and thoughts in my second book, hoping to help people be a better version of themselves and live their lives to their fullest.
I needed a different book and found it in this one. The author wrote it based on interviewing more than 200 people over 60. And I learned a lot from it!
If you want to make a checkup about your life and how you live it, this is the book you need. The 5 secrets will help you to see if you are on the right path.
What shocked me was to learn that happy people aren’t afraid to die. People who live life wisely accept death as part of life. When I read that, I committed myself to putting into practice the 5 secrets because I want to be like those the author interviewed: nothing to regret.
“What brought you the greatest joy? What do you wish you had learned sooner? What ultimately mattered and what didn’t?” asks Dr. John Izzo. Based on a highly acclaimed public television series, this book takes the reader on a heartwarming and profound journey to find lasting happiness.
Imagine for a moment that you are about to take a foreign vacation to an exotic destination. You have saved your entire life to travel there. It is a destination with almost unlimited choices of how to spend your time and you know you will not have enough time to explore every opportunity.…
