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About Those Life Changing Book Lists
Tapping the brakes on transformative reading
One of the most common article formats on Medium are lists of “life changing” books. According to the prescribed format, these are all to be read in a year to achieve the promised transformation. Such is the urgency of not missing out on precious wisdom we are told. As someone once immersed in the self-improvement culture of sales and MLM, I am quite familiar with the concept of personal growth through reading.
Even after I left the sales and MLM world, I continued to read for growth and enjoyment. I have plumbed thoroughly through the works of M. Scott peck, Dr. Joyce Brothers, and Jordan Peterson. On the fiction side, I read most of Hermann Hesse’s work. My most recent read in the personal growth genre is Anthony DeMello’s Awareness which I highly recommend. It is a humorous and poignant exploration of living in the present that draws from diverse sources.
It may disappoint you to know that after all this transformative reading, I have failed to become the next Bill Gates or Elon Musk. I’m still learning the basics of self-publishing never mind becoming the next great novelist. In between transformative reads, I performed the moribund tasks of taking out the garbage and driving my kids to dance class. If the human psyche is anything like the economy…
