books that changed me
Mastery
by George Leonard: Nonfiction / Self-Growth & Practice
My favorite book of my life. It was wrote by my mentor’s mentor, and resides in the quiet zone of growth: learning that the point isn’t just hitting some milestone but living the path of becoming.
Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge
by E. O. Wilson: Nonfiction / Science & Philosophy
In my top 3 - this book threw open the doors between science, humanities and culture and made me feel knowledge is not compartmentalized but woven. It nudged me to trust that systems of meaning aren’t separate.
Recapture the Rapture
by Jamie Wheal: Nonfiction / Consciousness & Culture
Written by a mentor and friend, this book reframed how I see awe, meaning, and human potential. It’s part science, part sermon, and entirely alive with questions about where we are and where we are going.
Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth
by Buckminster Fuller: Non-fiction / Systems Thinking & Sustainability
Bucky is probably my biggest hero. This book made me aware that stewardship isn’t optional, it’s the job.
The Future is Faster Than You Think
by Peter Diamandis & Steven Kotler: Technology / Future Studies
A field guide to exponential change. It left me both charged and uneasy about what’s coming.
Stealing Fire
by Steven Kotler & Jamie Wheal: Science / Performance / Flow
About chasing altered states and collective flow. It helped me frame creativity as a spiritual practice in disguise.
Zero to One
by Peter Thiel: Business / Innovation
Sharp, contrarian thinking about creating the future. Useful in remembering that true originality is lonely work.
The Tao of Pooh
by Benjamin Hoff: Philosophy / Eastern Wisdom
About the art of doing less and being more. It made me question the rush and remember calm matters.
The Tiny Book of Essential Wisdom
by my dear friend, Forrest Landry: Philosophy / Aphorisms
A dense pocket-philosophy in bite-size aphorisms. This one sharpened my lens on meaning and choice.
Originals
by Adam Grant: Psychology / Creativity
Explores the art of being contrarian with grace. It nudged me to trust my odd ideas more fully and act on them.
Start with Why
by Simon Sinek: Leadership / Business
A reminder that purpose precedes momentum. Straightforward but grounding especially early in my career.
Be More Pirate
by Sam Conniff Allende: Culture / Entrepreneurship
One of my absolute favorites. A radical playbook for breaking rules with integrity. It’s rebellion, but organized.
You Belong to the Universe: Buckminster Fuller and the Future
by Jonathon Keats: Biography / Design Thinking
Fuller’s mind was a galaxy. This book is an homage to his life and reminded me that systems thinking can be art.
Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow
by Yuval Noah Harari: Future Studies / Science / Philosophy
Harari stretches time forward, tracing obsession with godlike control. It’s both inspiring and quietly terrifying.
21 Lessons for the 21st Century
by Yuval Noah Harari: Contemporary Culture / Philosophy
Less about history, more about surviving now. It helped me sharpen how I think about truth, tech, and agency.
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
by Yuval Noah Harari: Nonfiction / History / Philosophy
A sweeping look at how we became who we are. It made me think about civilization like a fragile evolving story.
The Denial of Death
by Ernest Becker: Psychology / Philosophy
Unflinching, but it changed how I see human motivation and our lives as a runaway train agains entropy.
Finite and Infinite Games
by James Carse: Philosophy / Systems Thinking
A simple idea that some games are about winning, others about continuing the play with omni-win mentalities.
The Hero with a Thousand Faces
by Joseph Campbell: Mythology / Psychology
The original blueprint for all life journeys. It helped me see that transformation comes through loss.
The Mastery of Love
by Don Miguel Ruiz: Spirituality / Relationships
A kind, piercing take on love without attachment. It helped me stop confusing drama or passion for depth.
The Four Agreements
by Don Miguel Ruiz: Spirituality / Self-Growth
Four simple principles that somehow touch everything. This is required reading for life and in my top 3.
Experiments in Truth
by Ram Dass: Spiritualilty / Growth
This is Ram Dass at his most human and humorous. He turns enlightenment into something reachable.
Be Here Now
by Ram Dass: Spirituality / Mindfulness
A psychedelic field guide for waking up. Every time I revisit it, it lands differently. I’ve opened it over 100 times.
Conversations with God
by Neale Donald Walsch: Spiritual / Metaphysical
A sincere dialogue with the divine. The tattoo on my left arm is directly from a talk I had with Neale in 2014.
The Magdalene Manuscript
by Tom Kenyon & Judi Sion: Esoteric / Spiritual History
Mystical and sensual, it reframed love and creation as sacred technology. Not light reading, but potent.
Island
by Aldous Huxley: Fiction / Utopian Philosophy
A gentle island society trying to live awake. It’s a quiet nod to community, governance, and culture.
The Tipping Point
by Malcolm Gladwell: Sociology / Ideas
A field guide about how small shifts spark big waves. It made me appreciate timing as much as talent.
Blink
by Malcolm Gladwell: Psychology / Intuition
A deep dive into the snap judgments that often know more than we do.
Ready Player One
by Ernest Cline: Sci-Fi / Adventure
A nostalgic fever dream for anyone raised on screens. It made me rethink escapism as both refuge and trap.
1984
by George Orwell: Fiction / Dystopian
Still uncomfortably relevant. A warning disguised as a novel — and a study in how fear distorts truth.
Dune
by Frank Herbert: Science Fiction / Philosophy
Modern scripture about power. It made me think about how leadership always carries both shadow and sacrifice.
Foundation
by Isaac Asimov: Science Fiction / Systems Thinking
I read it as a meditation on inevitability and on how even the smartest plan still bends to human emotion.
Harry Potter
by J. K. Rowling: Fantasy / Coming-of-Age
These books taught me about friendship, loyalty, and the strange cost of being chosen to fight darkness.
Hatchet
by Gary Paulsen: Young Adult / Survival
My favorite book as a kid. It taught me resilience before I even had words for it.
Holes
by Louis Sachar: Young Adult / Mystery
A story that loops luck, destiny, and justice together. Stranger and wiser than it first appears.
Where the Wild Things Are
by Maurice Sendak: Children’s Fiction
A map of childhood rage and imagination. It’s still teaching me how to come home to myself.
Oh, The Thinks You Can Think!
by Dr. Seuss: Children’s / Imagination
Playful proof that thought itself is creative. It planted the idea that wonder is a discipline.
The Giving Tree
by Shel Silverstein: Children’s / Philosophy
A bittersweet and painfully true metaphor about love without boundaries and sacrifice without resentment.
The Bible
by a bunch of people we are uncertain even existed: Religion, Sacred
Beyond religion, it’s a compendium of archetypes, poetry, and paradox and was my foundational teaching as a kid. It fundamentally shaped how I read everything else.
