Essential books to help build the foundation of your thought system and develop self awareness. A foundation of personal strength, resilience, logic, and virtues. These timeless selections can be read, listened to, and practiced repeatedly throughout life to reinforce and continue to uncover the endless fountain of knowledge while sharpening your saw.
- Letters from a Stoic By Lucius Annaeus Seneca c. 65 AD
- Meditations By Marcus Aurelius c. 170 to 180 AD
- As A Man Thinketh By James Allen c. 1903
- The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People By Stephen Covey c. 1989
- The Four Agreements By Don Miguel Ruiz c. 1997
- Search Inside Yourself By Chade-Meng Tan c. 2012
Each time I revisit these foundational books I gain a new insight or reinforce the teachings they offer.
I keep multiple formats for several of these including audio, paperback, and eBook. Having various mediums allows for frequent listening during activities (driving, walking, etc), searching digital notations, and the un-replaceable experience of paper.
While I believe all 6 are foundational, my 3 favorites and most frequently read are Mediations, Letters from a Stoic, and The Four Agreements. I encourage you to wholly devour the books in this list, find your favorites, and share your own playlist of foundational books for life.
Here are some selected passages you can listen to:
"I am happy though this has happened to me..." - Marcus Aurelius
Meditations
This clip was shared with you from Audible. Description: One of the most significant books ever written by a head of State, the Meditations are a collection of philosophical thoughts by t...
"On the terrors of death..." - Seneca
The Tao of Seneca
This clip was shared with you from Audible. Description: The Tao of Seneca (volumes 1-3) is an introduction to Stoic philosophy through the words of Seneca. If you study Seneca, you'll be in goo...
For your convenience here are links to purchase the books on Amazon.com:
“When you wake up in the morning, tell yourself: the people I deal with today will be meddling, ungrateful, arrogant, dishonest, jealous and surly. They are like this because they can’t tell good from evil. But I have seen the beauty of good, and the ugliness of evil, and have recognized that the wrongdoer has a nature related to my own - not of the same blood and birth, but the same mind, and possessing a share of the divine. And so none of them can hurt me. No one can implicate me in ugliness. Nor can I feel angry at my relative, or hate him. We were born to work together like feet, hands and eyes, like the two rows of teeth, upper and lower. To obstruct each other is unnatural. To feel anger at someone, to turn your back on him: these are unnatural.”
