Books worth reading
Reading books about personal development is one of the best ways to change yourself and to learn many intellectually stimulating things. Today I want to suggest you a few books, which I have read myself and which I consider worth reading. I've divided these books into a few categories so that everybody would find something interesting.
The money spent on a good book, which can change your life, is definitely the best investment you can make. All books which are mentioned below will teach you a lot and will help you make many changes in yourself for the better. The real value of these books is thousand times greater than their price. I believe that buying such books is the best thing you can do to spend your pocket money. I've read many books about personal development, but here I've chosen the ones that I consider the most valuable.
Positive thinking
"The power of your subconscious mind", Joseph Murphy- the first book about personal development that I had ever read. It changed my life. It's a book entirely devoted to positive thinking and to how you can attract to yourself things about which you think. Its aim is to "program" you rather than provide you with information. It works. But it will work even better if you read it with an open mind.
"Instant confidence", Paul McKenna- a great book which will enable you to become self-confident and will change your mind on this topic. At the end of every chapter there's an interesting exercise, and if you do all of them , they will speed up your development. There is a CD with 30 minute-long mind programming istruction attached to the book.
Personal development
"The seven habits of highly effective people", Stephen R. Covey - The author shows how to effectively change your inner self and improve relations with other people. The book is divided into seven habits. Every single habit is accurately described and supported with anecdotes from Covey's life. It is the book where you're going to find many great ideas and you'll learn how to realize your potential.
"Awaken the giant within", Anthony Robbins - A great book describing the basics of personal change. Despite its thickness you'll read it in one go thanks to Robbins' lucid writing style. The author writes about beliefs, setting oneself aims, realizing one's true potential, motivation and leading your own life. This books is the guarantee of a real change. Sam Robbins is himself the example of what he is writing about, as he became successful by starting from nothing.
"Getting Things Done: The art of stress-free productivity", David Allen - The only book from the list that I haven't read so far, however I know that I can recommend it in all concience. It describes a very popular GTD system (Getting Things Done), which enables you to manage your time and productivity very efficiently. As soon as I've read this book, I will leave a note on GTD in this blog.
"Emotional intelligence", Daniel Goleman - The book about how to become successful, which doesn't have to depend on the intellect. Goleman writes about the workings of emotions and how to be emotionally intelligent. An extremely interesting and stimulating book.
Brain, mind.
"Mind hacks: tips & tools for using your brain", Tom Stafford, Matt Webb - A great book showing the most interesting aspects of human brain activity. It is divided into 100 tips and tools, and everyone is described at about two pages. Tips and tools are divided into f.e. seeing, hearing, attention, memory, deductive thinking. The way every tip and tool works is described both in theory and in practice. There are many pictures in the book thanks to which you can empirically learn about the amazing workings of the brain, and there are also many references to presentations and video clips on the Internet. Thanks to it you can experience it on your own, and while reading it you can enjoy both its entertaining and educative value.
"Mind Performance Hacks: Tips & Tools for Overclocking Your Brain, Ron Hale-Evans - The book from the same series as the one aforementioned. This one, however, describes ways of improving your memory, creative thinking, your brain processing skills, and ability to make decisions. It includes also exact techniques enriched with the Internet references.
Effective learning
"Use your memory : understand your mind to improve your memory and mental power", Tony Buzzard - Quite thin, however, well worthwhile. You'll find in there the description of how human memory works and many effective mnemonics. Tony Buzan is an expert when it comes to improving the effectiveness of one's memory.
"The Learning Revolution", Jeanette Vos, Gordon Dryden - A great book, the bible when it comes to effective learning. In a very interesting and original way he presents an extensive knowledge about the workings of the brain and then about effective and fast learning. I've been returning to it many times, always discovering new, valuable information. It's a bit thick and a bit expensive, but it's really worth recommending.
NLP
NLP "Introducing NLP Neuro-Linguistic Programming", Joseph O' Connor, John Seymour - The book describing the basics of NLP. A very good title for those who are just starting to get acquainted with neuro-linguistic programming. It presents very precisely anchoring, modelling, rapport, meta-model, time line and other aspects of NLP. I started from this book and I believe it's an amazing book.
"Using your brain for a change", Richard Candler - The author of this book is a co-originator of NLP. His books are permeated with wonderful metaphors, hypnotic language and favourable suggestions. They've a great influence on the subconscious mind and they easily change your beliefs for the better ones. One reads them with great pleasure. This book contains many easy exercises, thanks to which you'll be able to get rid of negative emotions and you'll start to live a better and happier life. I do recommend!
"Persuasion Engineering", Richard Bandler - The same guy as above, however, the book is about how to be an effective salesman and how to harness NLP in this pursuit. The word persuasion in the title refers only to the ethical influence - the very Bandler says that if you are not absolutely sure about the quality of your product and you want to make a monkey out of your customer, one way or another you won't succeed in selling. The author presents unconventional and extremely effective ways of selling and will change your ideas of what it means to be a good salesperson. Even though I'm not a salesman - I've learnt a lot from this book.
Finances.
"Rich Dad Poor Dad - What the Rich Teach Their Kids About Money - That the Poor and Middle Class Do Not!", Robert Kiyosaki - Books by this author are worldwide known. All these books are bestsellers. This book gives a lesson how to think to become rich. Some people are disappointed with this book because they expect it to tell them what to do to make a fortune. This book, however, is about something different - it presents the right attitude towards the world of money so that making money becomes easy and pleasurable. Kiyosaki is a great teacher of financial thinking and shows how to become financially independent.
"CASHFLOW Quadrant: Rich Dad's Guide to Financial Freedom", Robert Kiyosaki - this book, similarly to the previous one, instructs proper thinking about money and describes four quadrants of cashflow. It shows how making money and saving really works when you are an employee, self-employed person, businessperson or investor. Thanks to this book you can choose a quadrant that suits you best and make the first step towards financial independence.
All these books are a real treasury of information. Choose a few of those and start reading them. There are about four new books on my bookshelf waiting to be read and I know that every single one will teach me something new and will contribute to my life.
If you've read any of these books - share your opinion in the comments. If you've read some book that you consider worth sharing and deserving to have a place in the list - give its title, author and a short description in the comments. Who knows, maybe someone will take interest in your recommendation!