Last updated: .
Table of contents
I. Mindset and meta skills
While reading each of these books I had the "My life and health situation would have been totally different now, had I read this book X years ago!" feeling. And they've been improving the quality of my life since.
The trick is to keep reviewing & rereading them until all the advice sinks in. Because forgetting curve is a real thing.
1. Self-care
The Gifts of Imperfection by Brene Brown (Ph.D., LMSW)
A wildly popular book on vulnerability and self-compassion, with practical advice on how to leverage them. 10 guideposts (are research-based) + good storytelling + the author genuinely cares.
But when it comes to practicing self-compassion, I found Kelly McGonigal' self-compassionate POV to be a useful companion to Brene Brown' advice, especially if you are an introvert. Here it is:
- Mindfulness of stress/suffering: What are you feeling?
- Common humanity: How is this stress/setback universal?
- Self-mentoring: What would you say to someone you care about?
2. Ability to reach goals, even big ones
The Magic of Thinking Big by Dr. David J. Schwartz
The title might seem too self-helpy, but the book is unpretentious and level-headed. It's a lucid, non-verbose, well-written guide & a pep talk on removing mental barriers for staying strong and succeeding. Stuff like "Put your intelligence to creative positive use. Use it to find ways to win, not to prove you will lose."
Was written in the 1950s (it's 2015 now and this book is still on Amazon Best Sellers list! in Happiness, Sales & Selling categories), so, inevitably, some of the advice goes against the modern research. Good news: Happify's S.T.A.G.E. framework and its structured list of scientific evidence provide an up-to-date research-based advice.
The book has some really uncomfortable chapters (you get reminded or made aware of a whole bunch of your big life mistakes — well, at least that's what happened to me), but this quote from The First 90 Days will give you strength.
3. Smart decision-making
Decisive: How to Make Better Choices in Life and Work by Chip and Dan Heath
An accessible book on how to make good decisions. Explains WRAP model in a way that you truly get it and are truly capable of applying it (thanks to the suggested toolkit of questions and good examples).
One of those books that are best read by going through the chapter summaries and only then checking out the main content.
Bonus: several great points on decision-making with speed in mind.
4. Making good money in an ethical and sustainable way
The Go-Giver by Bob Burg & John David Mann
A quick and pleasant read.
The Magic of Thinking Big (described above) is a great "read next" book — it gives you tools for implementing The Go-Giver' advice.
II. Fiction books and plays about recluses
Mrs. Warren's Profession by George Bernard Shaw
A play. A funny and intelligent one.
Reclusion isn't the protagonist' goal, a happy productive life is. Reclusive lifestyle is just a tool here.
White Nights by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
A short one.
A romance with a hermit as a protagonist. Some great insights about very reclusive lifestyle. If you are new to that kind of life, the book will inform you about the risks you need to manage.
Dostoyevsky wrote it when he was just 27 and hadn't matured as a writer, the text is intentionally sentimental ("a sentimental novel" is its subheading at least in the original version) and, from time to time, awkwardly preachy, but a gem anyway.
The Adolescent by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
I'd call it an adventure novel about a 20-year-old recluse-to-be. It's just that the adventures are about dealing with family issues and personal beliefs.
Is an absorbing read (and sometimes funny), so the fact that the book is 600 pages isn't an issue.
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
If you are in a quarter-life crisis or have been there.
There might be moments when you think that, for the sake of your health, it's better to abandon the book; but if you read this novel to the very end, everything will come together. The only real downside is the occasional religious stuff — but that was the culture of those times, that country, so…
If you will be reading Dostoyevsky' novels in English, translations by Richard Pevear & Larissa Volokhonsky are considered the best ones (I linked to them in the reviews above); and avoid Constance Garnett' and David Magarshack' translations (The New Yorker' article explains why).
III. Poems about recluses
- Days I Enjoy by Vita Sackville-West
- Solitude by Anna Akhmatova
