Recommended Reading

Having satisfied most of my personal development/self-improvement cravings with books since I was, like, nine, I thought I'd share a few of my favorites with you. Click through the links to see the book on Amazon. This is by no means an exhaustive list --- it's just a handful of the useful and memorable ones.

The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron. Fantastic book on rediscovering your creative self. It's a bit New Age at times, but if you don't mind that (or, better yet, enjoy it) this is a great read. It's full of great ideas, artistic tools and projects and is equally applicable to the painter, the writer, the blogger, the insert-your-hobby-and/or-profession-here-er.

Also, this book has given me this deep and abiding love of New Mexico, despite the fact that I've never been there and am not big on hot climates. But hey, she says it's good for writers!





 Yes Man by Danny Wallace is probably one of the funniest books I have ever read. It will have you LOLing in real life. And on top of that, it's incredibly life-affirming and inspirational. You can't help but be a more enthusiastic person for having read it.

You may have seen the movie. This is better. By at least 10,000 times. It's... well, it's genius, and it's more genius because it's nonfiction. This guy is for real. He said yes to every opportunity that came his way... then won the lotto, lost the lotto, flew across the continent, had a trippy shroom experience, met another Yes Man, and, of course, fell in love.

Brilliant.



Wishcraft by Barbara Sher is the ultimate self-help book, in that it actually helps. If you, like me, have read a lot of self-help books and started to realize that they are all saying the same not-very-practical things, this is something you'll want to check out. It's about finding what you want and then taking steps to get it. Not psychoanalyzing endlessly, not repeating affirmations for four hours a day, not magically deciding to be joyous. Taking steps. It's a breath of fresh air, and it's a fun read besides.







Happy for No Reason by Marci Shimoff is a fairly straightforward nonfic book on the science behind happiness. It talks about biological causes, what role your decisions play, what causes happiness, what is statistically associated with happiness... basically, it's a fascinating and informative book about what it takes to be happy and why we should bother.