100 Books Like Purposeful

By now, you might have noticed a theme: if I don’t enjoy reading a book, I don’t trudge through it for the deep insights or how-to information. The storytelling needs to be as strong as the concepts are useful.

Just like The Copy Workshop Workbook, I read an earlier edition of this book when I was just starting out – and it formed the basis for some of my thinking around how to influence – i.e., persuade – consumers and the role psychology and behavioral economics play in crafting effective marketing and brand development programs.

I also recommend this book if you are a consumer, too (who isn’t), because it will help keep you from falling into many of the traps that Cialdini identified.

I think of Dorie Clark’s book as a companion book to mine. If you like my book, it’s likely that you’ll also get a lot of value out of reading hers. In this book, Clark focuses on helping people discover their breakthrough idea, a step that I think of as a prequel to the steps I outline for becoming a thought leader. She goes deep on the concept of the “Big Idea,” sharing some of the pathways that others have taken to distill a unique perspective or innovative differentiator that allows them to stand out. 

As I do in my book, Clark then shares her perspective on building an audience for your ideas, effectively communicating your message, and inspiring others to embrace your vision. Both books also focus on dealing with naysayers and what it takes to truly scale big ideas and create a movement that makes substantial change… show more.

I had the privilege of teaching a class together with JD Schramm at Stanford Business School, where he was a longtime instructor and pioneered some groundbreaking classes and programs. Schramm is without a doubt one of the most effective communicators that I have ever met. He is also a great teacher. 

In this book, Schramm brings together a wide variety of frameworks and tools for leadership communication that he taught at Stanford, and he addresses some of the biggest challenges that business leaders face when speaking and writing to influence their most important audiences. He distills what it takes to journey from uncertainty to competence, to expertise, and ultimately to mastery, and along the way, he invites us to think deeply about our audience and the intention behind our communications.

If you follow his step-by-step guide, I can assure you that you’ll be more confident and more effective in any… show more.

Like all of Seth Godin’s books, this one is crammed full of examples of people who you want to get to know because they have done something truly great. He shares the story of the Grateful Dead, who transformed music and concerts; the head of the Acumen Fund, who transformed philanthropy; and a guy named Joel Spolsky, who created a job board that attracted the most talented programmers in the world. He draws you into these leaders’ stories and then shows you how you can be just like any one of them. 

So, what is a tribe? In Godin’s definition, a tribe is a group of people connected to one another, connected to a leader, and connected to an idea. He posits that all a group needs to be a tribe is a shared interest and a way to communicate. He also argues that you can’t have a tribe without… show more.

World-renowned neuroscientist Anil Seth has spent over twenty years researching the brain, and presents his theory of consciousness and self.

Unlike our book, which approaches the topic from a spiritual perspective, Anil breaks down brain function into its constituent parts and explains how the integration of these constituent parts creates consciousness. 

He makes a complex subject easy to read and engages the reader with his ideas.

I think Helen Keller is one of the most fascinating and brilliant individuals in human history. In this book, she shows and tells us what it is like to be a person who cannot see, hear, or speak. I find the book quite moving. Some readers will be familiar with the biopics that have been made about Heller. Take my word these movies don’t offer the pleasure of reading Keller’s story. 

I love this book because it tackles big questions on the female front—including those young girls have about religion: Why is Eve blamed for everything? Why is God always portrayed as a man?

Main character Agnes itches with questions. But girls aren’t supposed to question authority. As she thinks more and more about the deep things, Agnes wrestles when her own opinions and finds her courage to challenge the status quo—as every girl needs to do!

Redirect describes the research on how self-stories drive our behavior. “Self-stories” are the small stories we tell ourselves and others about why we do what we do. There are two reasons why this book is so amazing: First, it makes you see that these largely unconscious self-stories are really controlling our whole lives, and secondly, Dr. Wilson shares his research on how very easy it actually is to change the stories and therefore change our lives. I’ve used his techniques many times to make it through my own life challenges and it works. Changing your self-story is the only way to get your life to change. Luckily, if you follow Dr. Wilson’s research and techniques you will discover it is much easier than you think to change the stories.

I was bowled over by Maureen Seaberg’s book, which brings together recent research that shows our human sensory capacity is much greater than we believed before!

In these days of rising AI, when we are taking a hard look at the limitations of our human capacities, Seaberg’s book shows that we human beings have much amazing sensory potential that remains undeveloped and can know first-hand the blended sensations of synesthesia or out-of-body experiences.

No wonder the book was included in Malcolm Gladwell’s “Next Big Idea Book Club”! I stayed awake an extra two hours one night because I could not put the book down. This book gave me a jolt of wonder about the world and our place within it.

Are philosophers like detectives, in that they chase their culprit over any terrain, and follow any clue? What can count as a clue?

Given the right context, pretty much anything, a pencil placed here rather than there, a picture of a car, something someone said, a fingerprint, can count as a clue. Or are we more like technicians, like the fingerprint expert who is only allowed to look at a certain type of clue? The problem with being the fingerprint expert is that it can completely remove philosophers from their originating problems and turn them into mere technicians.

Ned Block is a detective, who has followed clues about the nature of consciousness deep into psychology and neuroscience. Here Block argues that there is a genuine distinction between seeing and thinking, and draws out the consequences of that for our theories of consciousness.