I'm starting a new page here on the website about the books that have most influenced me. I have this pet theory that we are the amalgamation of the stimuli and influences that come into our life. Books are a way to control this flow of stimulus, to actively load influences into one's thoughts.
I am a voracious reader and tear through an average of between 30 to 40 books a year. I read wide and deep. I return to books often as well. This bookshelf page contains a list of those volumes that span the range of my library shelves, from fiction to plays to personal development to biographies. In short, I read books on a LOT of different topics. Being well-read and well-rounded is important to me.
I read books digitally on my Kindle and I still consume normal printed books, too. In fact, I maintain a large library of physical books that takes up a whole room (and then some) in my house. I remember an interesting fact Kevin Kelly (of Wired Magazine) pointed out one time... Now is the most affordable and most accessible time in human history to build a personal library. He's right. It is cheaper than ever and with Amazon and the like, and possible to find so much. And in the future, who knows, we might have less printed books and more digital stuff. So, despite multiple moves and the occassional minimalism impulse, I have decided to maintain and expand my personal library.
Below is the small selection of books. These books have had a profound impact on me and my thinking. Some of them I have written "book reports" on. This list will slowly evolve and expand, I imagine, as my reading habits progress.These selections is ranked very loosely by category...
Theatre/ Playwriting
- The Empty Space by Peter Brook
- The Art of Dramatic Writing by Lajos Ergi
- Theatre by Jacques Burdick
- A Whore's Profession by David Mamet
- Threads of Time by Peter Brook (read my Book Report)
- Shakespeare The Player by John Southworth
- Into the Woods: A Five-Act Journey into Story by John Yorke
- The Anatomy of Story: 22 Steps to Becoming a Master Storyteller by John Truby
Plays
- Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand
- The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams
- A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare
- An Apology for the Course and Outcome of Certain Events Delivered by Doctor John Faustus on This His Final Evening and The Hunchback Variations by Mickle Maher
- Lascivious Something by Sheila Callaghan
- The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde
Creativity
- How to Think Like Leonardo DaVinci by Michael J. Gelb
- The Creative Habit by Twyla Tharp
- Creativity by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
Adventure/ Non-Fiction
- A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway
- There Are Other Rivers by Alastair Humphrey
- Walden by Henry David Thoreau
- Vagabonding by Rolf Potts
Biography
- How to Be Like Walt Disney by Pat Williams and Jim Denney
- Vibrations by David Amram
- An Open Book by John Huston
- The Art of Learning by Josh Waitzkin
- Total Recall by Arnold Schwarzenegger
- Life, Love, Goethe: Lessons of the Imagination from the Great German Poet by John Armstrong by
Financial
- Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey
- Money: Master the Game by Tony Robbins
- Secrets of the Millionaire Mind by T. Harv Eker
Design
- The Shape of Design by Frank Chimero
Living/ Operating Systems for Life
- Design Your Self by Karim Rashid
- Zen and the Art of Making a Living by Laurence G. Boldt (read my Book Report)
- Four Hour Work Week by Timothy Ferriss (read my Book Report)
- Living the Martial Way by Forrest E. Morgan
- Strength For Life by Shawn Philips
- Awaken the Giant Within by Tony Robbins
- The Compound Effect by Darren Hardy (read my Book Report)
- The Willpower Instinct by Dr. Kelly McGonigal
- The Ego Is the Enemy by Ryan Holiday
Fiction
- The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
- Pattern Recognition by Wiliam Gibson
Social Studies
- Nation of Rebels by Joseph Heath and Andrew Potter
- Affluenza by John de Graaf
- Beyond Civilization by Daniel Quinn
- Blue Zones by Dan Buettner
- The Rise of the Creative Class by Richard Florida
Philosophy
- Meditations by Marcus Aurelius
- Art of War by Sun Tzu
- The Art of Living by Epictetus
NOTE: The links above and throughout this site are affiliate links and will take you to another site where you can decide if what I have referenced might be something that you would like to purchase. If you choose to buy something after clicking on any of these links I may earn a commission. Please rest assured that the content of this blog is not influenced by anything other than my own curiosity.
