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So Much Wisdom. So Many Books.

Throughout this website, we curate and distill some of the best books out there on living well.
The 21st century is a unique time; now that access to information is almost universal, the deficit that stands in our way is our own time, attention, and discernment.

That’s one reason why projects like this are so important. We do much of the reading for you. We cut through the fluff and bring you the value.
And, we recommend the books that we feel are most valuable.

Our Favorite Books So Far

Here are our top 10 picks, and another top 10, for good measure. They are some of our very favorite books we’ve read thus far, on happiness, work, life skills, and anything else. They’re in no particular order.

In the Realm of Positive Psychology

Flourishing: Positive Psychology and the Life Well-Lived
Distinguished scholars apply scientific analyses to study the good life, expanding the scope of social and psychological research to include happiness, well-being, courage, citizenship, play, and the satisfactions of healthy work and healthy relationships. This book reads like a decent synopsis of positive psychology research, written by some of the foremost leaders in the field.

Flourish
A follow-up and clarifying revision to Authentic Happiness, the book that “started it all” for the field of positive psychology. Martin Seligman, former chair of the American Psychological Association shares some of the most crucial research findings in his field and presents a new holistic (PERMA) model for well-being.

Flow
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi presents his research on optimal experience in this seminal book. We have modeled an entire “Type” of happiness on this state of being: “Type 2 Happiness.”

Transcend: The New Science of Self-Actualization
When psychologist Scott Barry Kaufman first discovered Maslow’s unfinished theory of transcendence, sprinkled throughout a cache of unpublished journals, lectures, and essays, he felt a deep resonance with his own work and life. In this groundbreaking book, Kaufman picks up where Maslow left off, unraveling the mysteries of his unfinished theory, and integrating these ideas with the latest research on attachment, connection, creativity, love, purpose and other building blocks of a life well lived.

The How of Happiness
Sonja Lyubomirsky does an excellent job of cutting through the fluff. This book shows, based on her and her colleague’s research, how much of our happiness is under our influence. She offers some of the most effective methods for improving one’s joy and well being. And her writing is fantastic!

Man’s Search for Meaning
Psychiatrist Viktor Frankl’s memoir has riveted generations of readers with its descriptions of life in Nazi death camps and its lessons for spiritual survival. Between 1942 and 1945 Frankl labored in four different camps, including Auschwitz, while his parents, brother, and pregnant wife perished. Based on his own experience and the experiences of others he treated later in his practice, Frankl argues that we cannot avoid suffering but we can choose how to cope with it, find meaning in it, and move forward with renewed purpose.

The Good Life: Lessons from the World’s Longest Scientific Study of Happiness
What makes a life fulfilling and meaningful? The simple but surprising answer is: relationships. The stronger our relationships, the more likely we are to live happy, satisfying, and overall healthier lives. In fact, the Harvard Study of Adult Development reveals that the strength of our connections with others can predict the health of both our bodies and our brains as we go through life.

The Power of Meaning
The author puts an elegant journalistic lens on the power of meaning, and in many ways parallels what we are communicating here. Her model of meaning is similar, also being a “4 pillars” framework: belonging, purpose, storytelling, and transcendence.

The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom
The Happiness Hypothesis is a book about ten Great Ideas. Each chapter is an attempt to savor one idea that has been discovered by several of the world’s civilizations — to question it in light of what we now know from scientific research, and to extract from it the lessons that still apply to our modern lives and illuminate the causes of human flourishing.

Build the Life You Want: the Art and Science of Getting Happier
Arthur C Brooks and Oprah Winfrey, some of the biggest names in happiness science and self-help, pair up for this book. Drawing on cutting-edge science and their years of helping people translate ideas into action, they show you how to improve your life right now instead of waiting for the outside world to change.

Life Worth Living: A Guide to What Matters Most
What makes a good life? The question is inherent to the human condition, asked by people across generations, professions, and social classes, and addressed by all schools of philosophy and religions. This search for meaning, as Yale faculty Miroslav Volf, Matthew Croasmun, and Ryan McAnnally-Linz argue, is at the crux of a crisis that is facing Western culture, a crisis that, they propose, can be ameliorated by searching, in one’s own life, for the underlying truth.

The Book of Joy: Lasting Happiness in a Changing World
In April 2015, Archbishop Tutu traveled to the Dalai Lama’s home in Dharamsala, India, to celebrate His Holiness’s eightieth birthday and to create what they hoped would be a gift for others. They looked back on their long lives to answer a single burning question: How do we find joy in the face of life’s inevitable suffering?

Other Life-Sized Books

The Little Prince
Few stories are as widely read and as universally cherished by children and adults alike as The Little Prince. We love this book for how it elegantly and artistically captures some of the core virtues of life.

The Gifts of Imperfection: Let Go of Who You Think You’re Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are
When our embarrassments and fears lie, we often listen to them anyway. They thwart our gratitude, acceptance, and compassion—our goodness. They insist, “I am not worthy.” But we are worthy—of self-discovery, personal growth, and boundless love.

The Alchemist
Combining magic, mysticism, wisdom and wonder into an inspiring tale of self-discovery, The Alchemist has become a modern classic, selling millions of copies around the world and transforming the lives of countless readers across generations.

Oh The Places You’ll Go
In his unique way, Dr. Seuss tackles the big questions of life: challenge, discovery, fear, and more, with lighthearted whimsy. This 10-minute read is required reading for the human species.

The Prophet
See some of the greatest mysteries of life laid bare with beauty and elegance. Words from the wisest of poets on love, work, and other core facets of life.

Sapiens
To understand who you are, understand what you are and where you came from. This book is the best we’ve read for a bird’s eye view on humanity, culture, and the past, present, and future of us.

The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari
I like this book for the diversity of methods offered within it. Nothing is simple – happiness least of all – and this books doesn’t champion any single perspective as “the” key to happiness. With a slightly mystical and conversational setting and tone, this story uses one vibrant metaphor to impart a wealth of different methods for living optimally.

The World’s Religious Texts

The vast majority of the world is religious. While this site does not condone any particular spiritual practice, it seems fitting to mention what are undoubtedly the world’s most influential texts.

The Bible
The most researched historical text of all time, and the center of Christianity, brought to your electronic devices.

The Qur’an
The primary holy text of Islam.

The Bhagavad Gita
One of the primary holy texts of Hinduism, together with The Vedas and Upanishads.

The Tao Te Ching
Taoism’s primary text.

Buddhist Scriptures
The name of this book is a misnomer, as there is no central writing in Buddhism like the Bible or Quran. Nevertheless, it’s a valuable collection of writing considered holy by different Buddhists.

Shri Guru Granth Sahib
Sikhism’s sacred text in English.

The Torah
The five books of Moses and the primary sacred text of Judaism.

The Analects
The primary texts of Confucianism, collecting the most iconic works of Confucius.

Curated and Categorized

For most of the factors of well-being covered on this site, there is a respective resources page that includes a curated book list about that subject. And we’re adding more all the time.

Here is a handful of some of those collections.

Honorable Mentions

Happiness by Design – This Behavioristic approach to well-being focuses largely on purpose and pleasure. Without leaving out perspective and flow, the author offers to-the-point methods for living joyfully.
The Essential Rumi – A collection of the ecstatic, spiritual poetry of thirteenth-century Sufi Mystic Rumi.
Falling Upward: A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life – Most of us tend to think of the second half of life as largely about getting old, dealing with health issues, and letting go of life, but the whole thesis of this book is exactly the opposite. What looks like falling down can largely be experienced as “falling upward.”
Becoming Wise: An Inquiry into the Mystery and Art of Living – The enduring question of what it means to be human has become inextricable from the challenge of who we are to one another. Krista Tippert insists on the possibility of personal depth and common life for this century, nurtured by science and “spiritual technologies,” with civility and love as muscular public practice.