Hopefully you have the opportunity to plan some rest and relaxation this summer, maybe even a meaningful opportunity to travel or experience new places.  For me, summer can mean a little bit of extra time to catch up on reading.  That could be listening to audiobooks while mowing the lawn, or reading on my Kindle while we drive somewhere, or actually having a paperback out in the sun somewhere – usually the backyard.  I thought I would take this opportunity to share my recent meaningful reads in case you had some time these next few months.  Enjoy

Of course, you know Man’s Search for Meaning is going to be at the top, followed by The Doctor and the Soul, but a ‘new’ release in the past few years, a collection of a few of Dr. Frankl’s lectures after his liberation from the Nazi concentration camps can be found in Say Yes to Life, In Spite of Everything.

The work of Johann Hari can be a great listen or read.  He’s an outstanding writer whose depth of research and preparation for his books is unmatched.  Chasing The Scream tells the story of our 100 year “War on Drugs” from multiple angles, while Lost Connections goes deep into anxiety and depression.  And his most recent release, Stolen Focus researches our modern struggle to pay attention.

No list of favorites would be complete without adding the collected works of Dr. Jordan B. Peterson:

Along those lines, one of my favorite books about overall health, and one I refer to quite often is Jonathan Haidt’s Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom.

And finally a few more about different aspects of health: Humankind – A Hopeful History is kind of like “Sapiens”, but as it states in the title, much more hopeful.  The End of Average by Todd Rose discusses how all the metrics we have been trained to believe in are wrong, and how we can work against them to improve our lives.

Lastly, I don’t remember how or why I first heard of Paulo Coelho, but I am glad I did.  The Alchemist is a beautifully written fable about finding meaning.

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