Hi all,
A little bit of background information. I moved back home just before the pandemic to help around the house, especially in terms of finance, since my dad’s business wasn’t doing great at the time. Now that the storm’s mostly over and my dad’s business is back on track, I’ve decided to move out once again.
Since I now have more free time in hand, I’ve decided to dedicate some time every day to read since my new place is 10 minutes away from the state library on foot.
I know that there are plenty of reading lists out there, but I’m asking on Reddit because I’m hoping to get some feedback from people around our age (33 years old) about books that they found helpful.
I’m currently looking at self-development books but I’m not choosy, and had already picked up my first two books: Deep Work by Cal Newport and Philosophy 101 by Paul Kleiman (never had a class in philosophy in my life so this will be good for my soul I think).
Edit: Added my current age.
2 comments
Are you looking for mostly non-fiction books that will help you grow as a person? What, if any, subjects might you be willing to look at beyond that? Are you interested in reading any fiction?
Since you picked up a philosophy book, I liked *A Little History of Philosophy* by Nigel Warburton. It’s very accessible, covers the subject mostly chronologically, and provides a pretty good overview of the intersection of philosophy, religion, and political thought. After having read it, I’ve actually used it as a guide for reading other philosophy works.
I’ve read the *Meditations* of Marcus Aurelius through twice, and did the same with Aristotle’s *Nicomachean Ethics*. While I enjoyed Aristotle’s thoughts on moderation, I find Stoicism a little better for dealing with day-to-day stressors, and have since picked up a collection of Seneca’s writings, and might get a copy of *The Daily Stoic* by Holiday and Hanselman.
A couple of other books I really enjoyed (and wished I had something like them when I was in my 20s) are *The Art of Manliness* and *Manvotionals*, both by Brett and Kate McKay. The former is more focused on skills and manners, while the latter is more focused on character, but they complement each other well.
Marcus Aurelius – Meditations
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn – The Gulag Archipelago
Albert Camus – Myth of sisyphus
Jocko willink – Extreme Ownership
David Goggins – Cant Hurt Me
Mark Manson – Subtle art of not giving a fuck
Jonathan Haidt – Happiness Hypothesis
Steven Pinker . Enlightenment Now
Platos Symposium and The Republic
Seneca – Letters from a Stoic
Epictetus – Discourses
Aristotle – Metaphysics