(constantly under construction)

This is a list of books I have felt have helped me in different areas of my life – and at different times, so they made be dated. I’ve organized them by theme even though some may fit more than one category. I do have books that I’ve forgotten or not read yet and so this is a work in progress. Have a book, documentary or website recommendation? I’d love to check it out. Leave it in the comments.

Frugality & Simple Living

The Complete Tightwad Gazette by Amy Dacyzyn
The Simple Living Guide by Janet Luhrs
Walden: or life in the woods by HD Thoreau
The Year of Less by Cait Flanders
Not Buying It: My Year Without Shopping by Judith Levine

Finance and Financial Independence

The Wealthy Barber by David Chilton
Your Money or Your Life by Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin
Getting a Life by Jaqueline Blix and David Heitmiller
Early Retirement Extreme by Jacob Lund Fisker
The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas J Stanley
The Simple Path to Wealth by JL Collins
Why Swim With the Sharks? By Diana Dembicki & Henry Salomaa
How to Survive Without a Salary: Learning How to Live the Conserver Lifestyle by Charles K. Long
Saving For School: Understand RESPs, Take Control of Your Savings, Minimize Student Debt
by Gail Vaz-Oxlade
All Your Worth: The Ultimate Lifetime Money Plan by Elizabeth Warren & Amelia Warren Tyagi

Social Media and the internet

Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport
Deep Work by Cal Newport
The Shallows by Nicholas Carr
The World Beyond Your Head Matthew B Crawford

Family and Children

Grit by Angela Duckworth
The Creative Family Amanda Soule
Mrs. Sharp’s Traditions: Reviving Victorian Family Celebrations of Comfort & Joy by Sarah Ban Breathnach
The Family Dinner by Laurie David
Buy, buy baby: how consumer culture manipulates parents and harms young minds by SG Thomas

Alternative living

The Moneyless Man by Mark Boyle
The Man Who Quit Money by Mark Sundeen
How to be Free by Tom Hodgkinson
How to be Idle by Tom Hodgkinson

Homemaking & homesteading

The Good Life by Scott and Helen Nearing
Loving and Leaving the Good Life by Scott and Helen Nearing
Made from Scratch: Discovering the Pleasures of a Handmade Life by Jenna Woginrich
One-Woman Farm: The Seasons of Life Shared with Sheepdogs, Goats, Woodstoves, and a Feisty Fiddle by Jenna Woginrich
Good Life Lab: Radical Experiments in Hands-On Living by Wendy Tremayne
All New Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew
Animal, vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver
The Urban Homestead by Kelly Coyne & Erik Knutzen

Art and crafts

The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron
Art Before Breakfast by Danny Gregory
Craeft by Alexander Langlands
Big Magic: creative living beyond fear by Elizabeth Gilbert

Nutrition, food and health

Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollen
Salt Sugar Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us by Michael Moss
The Blue Zones by Dan Buettner
Thrive: Finding Happiness the Blue Zones Way by Dan Buettner

Environment & sustainable living

Happy city by Charles Montgomery
Silent Spring by Rachel Carson
No Impact Man by Colin Beavan

The rat race

Shop Class as Soulcraft: An Inquiry into the Value of Work by Matthew B. Crawford
Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World Travel by Rolf Potts
The 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss

Personal Development

The Four-Hour Body by Tim Ferriss
Tools of Titans by Tim Ferris
Finding Ultra by Rich Roll
Born to Run by Christopher McDougall
The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business by Charles Duhigg
Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin
Happier at Home by Gretchen Rubin

Brain meats

The Brain That Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science by Norman Doidge
The Brain’s Way of Healing: Remarkable Discoveries and Recoveries from the Frontiers of Neuroplasticity
by Norman Doidge
Brain Maker: The Power of Gut Microbes to Heal and Protect Your Brain for Life by David Perlmutter & Kristin Loberg
Mindsight: The New Science of Personal Transformation by Daniel J. Siegel
Overcoming Multiple Sclerosis: An Evidence-Based Guide to Recovery by George Jelinek
The Wahls Protocol: How I Beat Progressive MS Using Paleo Principles and Functional Medicine by Terry Wahls