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Hearts & Minds - Information for ChangeSM
Helpful Books
How to find robust good health, happiness, meaning and fulfillment in life
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Books share the wisdom of many smart,
experienced people
Here are some books I personally recommend on
psychology, addictions and physical health;
ethics, spirituality and life vision;
how to have a happy life, secrets of success
and even photography and cooking.
These books are helping me to face the challenges of life and find joy, from my own personal
life to helping make our world a better place.
The books are briefly reviewed below.
You can save money and trees by borrowing these books from
your local library. If you'd like to buy them, I suggest
bestwebbuys.com for comparison
prices including shipping. I've included direct links for some of the books below.
These short book reviews are my personal
opinions, not official Hearts & Minds positions. I strongly recommend
using other sources of advice, too.
All these books helped me. I hope they help you, too.
-Bill Blackman
PS: As many of the authors below agree, you'll help yourself
better when you also help others. Here's our web page of
help others books.
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You can also learn better
ways to stay mentally healthy and physically fit
On
psychology, addictions, physical health and the connections between them
Healing Back Pain: The Mind-Body Connection,
by John E. Sarno
Good for a wide range of physical problems from asthma to strains and
sprains. Even chronic, untreatable conditions can be helped, as seems to be
working with my chronic tendonitis. But as the author also recommends, be
sure to see a doctor first before relying on his advice.
Comparison prices
Undoing Perpetual Stress: The Missing
Connection between Depression, Anxiety, and 21st Century Illness, by
Richard O'Connor
Good for overcoming anxiety, depression, stress and the connection between
physical and psychological problems. Also for understanding how our modern,
materialistic lifestyle creates many problems for us.
Comparison prices
When Talk is Not Cheap, by Mandy Aftel
and Robin T. Lakoff* (Warner Books), can help you choose from many kinds of
therapy and shows how to get more from it.
Willpower's Not Enough: Understanding and
Recovering from Addictions of Every Kind, by Arnold M. Washton, Donna
Boundy
There's important, interesting information on what drives addictions in the
first two parts of this book. You can also go directly to Part III,
"Recovery." It's filled with practical steps for overcoming addictions.
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Many people believe that God created us with a spiritual side
with a divine purpose for each of us
Spirituality,
Ethics, Life Vision
The Bible
Good source of inspiration. Much of it encourages us to think really deeply about
the ethical effects of our actions. Isaiah Chapter 58 and I Corinthians 13
are good examples.
My personal warning: The Bible is filled with symbolic and
allegorical content. It can be very destructive to take it literally.
Although I do not agree with many of
The Dark
Bible's conclusions about religion and God, I think anyone who wants to truly understand the
Bible needs to think deeply about what a loving God really wants. Also of interest, from the same
nobeliefs.com website: Scroll
towards the bottom of their home page for interesting content on "Religion &
History" and "Science & Philosophy".
I strongly believe in God, but I strongly reject the
genocidal commands in the book of Joshua and elsewhere in the Bible. I hope
I'll always have the strength of character to respectfully tell that to God (assuming
God ever really commanded such horrible things).
For me, the Bible is a major inspiration for social
justice despite its difficult passages.
Warriors of the Heart by Danaan Parry
As reviewed by Amazon.com: "A handbook
for bringing healing, passion and meaning into our lives and relationships
through mastering the skills of the peaceful warrior. Based on the author's
famous conflict resolution workshops, these techniques continue to be taught
through the world today and inspire others to join the movement for personal
and global transformation of mistrust, anger and hostility into usable
energy for positive change."
Comparison Prices
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How
to have a happy life
Happiness in a Nutshell, by Andrew
Matthews
This little book has less than 80 pages of text. Each page averages maybe 20
words. But word for word, it's one of the most helpful books I've read. Here
are some examples:
Your life is an exact reflection of your
beliefs.
When you change your deepest beliefs about the world,
Your life also changes as a result.
The question is always the same:
What are you going to do with what you have?
…The universe repays effort, not excuses.
Everyone fails.
But failure is not what hurts.
What hurts is to know that we didn’t make our best effort
Have the discipline to do the little things you don’t like.
And you’ll be able to dedicate your life to the big things that you really
like.
God will not come down from a cloud to tell you:
Now you have permission to succeed!
You should give yourself that permission.
Motivation comes from doing things,
not from thinking about them.
Where do we get the idea
that if we don’t forgive people,
they suffer.
Courage is not the absence of fear,
It’s the determination to act despite it.
[Everyone has fear], so why not be afraid of something that’s worth the
trouble.
To do what you like is not a recipe for an easy life.
It’s a recipe for an interesting life.
If you like the ones above, you'll probably like the
book. The drawings, by the author, may seem silly to some, but some are
quite impactful and funny.
Follow Your Heart, also by Andrew
Matthews
This book goes into more details of Matthews' ideas on how to find happiness
and success.
What Happy People Know, by Dr. Dan Baker
Explains what makes us happy or unhappy and how we can use these insights to
find greater happiness and fulfillment in life.
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The more you know, the more you will
succeed in the school of life
Secrets of
Success
The 100 Simple Secrets of Successful People: What Scientists Have
Learned and How You Can Use It, by David Niven
One of the best books on this subject I've found so far. Each of 100 short
chapters gives an important factor that helps make people successful, based
on plenty of research. Includes good summary of the quality, and examples to
illustrate them.
Success for Dummies, by Zig Ziglar
Plenty of helpful information presented very clearly by one of the
most successful, inspirational self-help authors and speakers. It's also a
big plus that he explains that true success is not necessarily getting as
rich as possible.
Talking the Winner's Way: 92 Little Tricks
for Big Success in Business and Personal Relationships, by Leil Lowndes
Good for improvement of social skills, especially on how to make a good
first impression with others. Very helpful for overcoming shyness. A good
social life is important for happiness and for overcoming many physical
problems.
Comparison prices
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Picture life how you want it to be
Photography
Photography is a great way to share the beauty around us, as well as to
communicate challenges and solutions we face in our lives and world. Two
very good books for beginners and even more advanced photographers are:
The Joy of Photography by the editors of
Eastman Kodak
This is a classic and will help you quickly imporove your technique,
especially if you are a beginner.
The Art of Digital Photography by John
Hedgecoe
This book is particularly helpful for improving your eye for great photos of
just about every type of subject, from tiny plants to sweeping landscapes
and skyscapes. Hedgecoe has written many other good books on photography,
illustrated by his own excellent and wide ranging work.
And here's some helpful web pages:
The Kodak website may really have the "Top
10 Tips for Great Pictures" that can help you almost instantly improve
your composition. The 10th tip also has a link to "More
Advanced Techniques" that can help you further.
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You can learn the art of cooking. All you need are
a few ingredients, a little know-how and some imagination
Cooking
Cooking is a delicious way to help improve our impact on the planet:
The Moosewood Cookbook by Mollie Katzen
This is the best cookbook I've ever used. It includes dishes in a wide range
of national styles. Every recipe I've ever made form
it is delicious. Though I haven't tried it, many people highly recommend The Enchanted
Broccoli Forest cookbook, also by Ms. Katzen. Both are written for
vegetarian cuisine and sometimes the recipes are a little high on the
butterfat. You can adjust this and still enjoy the end result. Many recipes
lend themselves to the addition of some meat, and if one is going to eat
meat, as I do, it's best to make it a smaller part of a wide ranging,
healthier diet.
The Joy of Cooking by By Irma S. Rombauer,
Marion Rombauer Becker and Ethan Becker
This 75-year-old classic fully explains many basic cooking techniques. The
recipes are fairly good, though in my opinion, not quite as interesting or
exceptionally delicious as The Moosewood Cookbook.
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by Bill Blackman, Hearts & Minds president and volunteer
Copyrights: Entire website © 1997 - 2008 by
Hearts and Minds Network, Inc., All photos on this web page © by Microsoft
Clip Art, This web page - http://www.heartsandminds.org/self/books.htm - online October
26, 2006, latest text and photos changes March 19, 2008. |