Categorized Book List

Managing Anxiety & Intrusive Thoughts 🧠

Books offering practical strategies to manage anxiety, worry, OCD, or intrusive thinking.

• "Pure O" OCD by Chad LeJeune

• The Worry Trap by Chad LeJeune

• Get Out of Your Mind and Into Your Life by Steven C. Hayes

Self-Directed Change & Mindset 🌱

Books that encourage growth, habit change, personal insight, or mindset shifts.

• Reframe Your Brain by Scott Adams

• How to Stubbornly Refuse to Make Yourself Miserable about Anything: Yes, Anything! by Albert Ellis

• Goodbye, Things by Fumio Sasaki

• A Guide to the Good Life by William B. Irvine

Personal Wisdom & Philosophical Living 🧭

Books drawing from philosophy, spirituality, or ancient wisdom to help cultivate a grounded, intentional life.

• The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz

• The Courage to be Disliked by Ichiro Kishimi and Fumitake Koga

• Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl

• The Mastery of Self by Don Miguel Ruiz

• The Fifth Agreement by Don Miguel Ruiz and Jose Ruiz

• The Voice of Knowledge by Don Miguel Ruiz

• The Five Levels of Attachment by Don Miguel Ruiz Jr.

Mindful Attention, Presence & Emotional Resilience 🧘

Books focused on cultivating awareness, emotional regulation, and inner peace through mindful attention or contemplative practice.

• The Way of Zen by Alan Watts

• Why Buddhism is True: The Science and Philosophy of Meditation and Enlightenment by Robert Wright

• Tao Te Ching, translated by Stephen Mitchell

• The Tao of Pooh by Benjamin Hoff

• Nobody Wants to Read Your Sh*t by Steven Pressfield

Relationships, Parenting & Communication 💬

Books for deepening emotional intelligence in relationships, parenting, or interpersonal dynamics.

• Screamfree Parenting: How to Raise Amazing Adults by Learning to Pause More and React Less by Hal Edward Runkel

• How to Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk by Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish

• The Mastery of Love by Don Miguel Ruiz

• Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It by Chris Voss

• Sex at Dawn by Christopher Ryan and Cacilda Jethá

Culture, Society & Modern Life 🔍

Books that explore contemporary social, psychological, or environmental trends and their effects on individuals and society.

• The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness by Jonathan Haidt

• Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari

• The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben

• The Body: A Guide for Occupants by Bill Bryson

• Breathe: A Life in Flow by Rickson Gracie

Therapy, & Professional Growth 🧑‍⚕️

Essential reading for therapists or therapy enthusiasts seeking insight into clinical practice, theory, and personal development in the helping professions.

• Mastering the Clinical Conversation: Language as Intervention by Steven C. Hayes

• A Roadmap for Couple Therapy: Integrating Systemic, Psychodynamic, and Behavioral Approaches by Arthur C. Nielsen

• The Development of a Therapist: Healing Others - Healing Self by Louis Cozolino

• Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy: A Therapist’s Guide by Albert Ellis and Catharine MacLaren

• Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy: A Practitioner’s Guide by Nancy McWilliams

• Psychoanalytic Case Formulation by Nancy McWilliams

• The Gift of Therapy: An Open Letter to a New Generation of Therapists and Their Patients by Irvin D. Yalom

• Love’s Executioner by Irvin Yalom

• On Becoming a Therapist by Jeffrey A. Kottler

• On Becoming a Person by Carl Rogers