Books That Have Changed My Life

By Stefan Auvache

No habit or hobby has changed my life more than reading.

Reading can teach you about how agriculture and economics shape modern borders, how to be a better public speaker, or how to find comforting humor in difficult times. It will endlessly educate, entertain, and fascinate you if you let it.

In my office, I keep a shelf of books that have changed my life in some way. I universally recommend them to everyone.

Here are the books on my shelf and the life-changing lessons they have taught me:

• The Alchemist
  Paulo Coelho

  Life is about the journey, not the destination. Find your personal legend—the path in life that calls to you, and follow it.

  Find your own copy

• Man's Search for Meaning
  Viktor Frankl

  We don't ask ourselves what the meaning of life is. Life asks us that question when we experience trials and hardship. We answer the question by how we live our lives.

  Find your own copy

• The War of Art
  Steven Pressfield

  Our desire to do anything worthwhile is met by Resistance—the personification of the force that keeps us from doing our work. As a human being with work to do, your main goal each day is to overcome Resistance.

  Find your own copy

• Deep Work
  Cal Newport

  This book completely changed my working life. You can be impressively productive by learning to work deeply. You also find incredible satisfaction through deep work.

  Find your own copy

• Little Princes
  Connor Grennan

  This is a true story about how selfless service changes who you are. It reminds me over and over again that happiness and meaning are found in serving others.

  Find your own copy

• Freakonomics
  Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner

  Freakonomics taught me that thinking can be endlessly entertaining. Things aren't always as they seem. Don't be afraid to ask questions.

  Find your own copy

• Mastery
  Robert Greene

  Mastery isn't just something that everyone is capable of; it is our duty as members of society to find and follow our path to mastery. Search your soul for passion, and then to pursue it with everything you have.

  Find your own copy

• Meditations
  Marcus Aurelius

  Life is short, fragile, and outside our control. The only thing we can truly govern is our character. Live with virtue, act with integrity, and accept what comes.

  Find your own copy

• 12 Rules for Life
  Jordan Peterson

  Take responsibility for yourself. Stand up straight, tell the truth, and treat others with respect. Order your own life before trying to fix the world.

  Find your own copy

• Tao Te Ching
  Lao Tzu

  True strength is found in humility. Go with the flow of life, embrace simplicity, and stop fighting battles that don’t need to be fought.

  Find your own copy

• Nobody Wants to Read Your Sh*t
  Steven Pressfield

  Nobody owes you their attention, and no one cares how much effort you put into making something. If you want to write (or build) something useful, cut your ego and respect your audience. Focus on telling a better story.

  Find your own copy

• Surviving Hitler
  O. Håkan Palm

  Even in the worst circumstances imaginable, we can choose kindness, courage, and faith. No situation can take away our ability to do good. You can always do something to make things better.

  Find your own copy

• The Phoenix Project
  Gene Kim, Kevin Behr, and George Spafford

  Work is a system. To succeed, you must limit what’s on your plate, strengthen the flow of work, and continually improve. The same is true in life. This book helped to inspire my personal development philosophy.

  Find your own copy

• Principles
  Ray Dalio

  All decisions in life can be systematized through principles. Create clear principles to guide your life, refine them through trial and error, and let them anchor you when things get hard.

  Find your own copy

• Perennial Seller
  Ryan Holiday

  This book gave me a formula for doing creative projects that are useful, have potential to be successful, and that I can be proud of for a very long time. To do work that lasts, focus on quality, usefulness, and meaning.

  Find your own copy

• On Writing
  Stephen King

  Learn the tools of your trade and get to work. Find a useful activity that pushes your craft forward (like writing), set a quota, and meet it every day without fail.

  Find your own copy

• Creativity, Inc.
  Ed Catmull

  This is the best book on business, creativity, and finding long-term success that I have ever read. The keys to building a successful team are trust, candor, and facing problems head-on. It is as entertaining as it is inspiring and useful.

  Find your own copy

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