Please check out my Some Books You Might Enjoy article from October as well.

Connected: The Surprising Power of Our Social Networks and How They Shape Our Lives This is a really interesting book.  Everyone has probably heard of the six degrees of separation theory.  It’s basically that everyone is connected to everyone else by an average of six hops.  This book takes that a step further and shows that influence within our social networks travels about three degrees of separation.  The author likes to say that your friend’s friend’s friend can make you fat.  I learned a lot about social networks, their structure, and their power from this book.  If you are interested in human social relationships, this book is for you.

Play: How It Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown and Christopher Vaughan.  I loved this book.  It’s a bargain book on Amazon and it’s well worth your time and $9.  Play is not just for children.  The authors argue it’s a critical component to success and being a fulfilled human being for adults of all ages.  Play is an important factor in brain health and is a critical factor in happiness, social relationships, creativity, and innovation.

A Million Miles in a Thousand Years: What I Learned While Editing My Life by Donald Miller.  This is a story about a man who found meaning and fulfillment in his own life after he already was a best-selling author.  It really gets to the heart of what success is and is not.  This book is very inspirational and it teaches you all along the way.  A wonderful read.

Why Your Life Sucks by Alan Cohen has a cover that absolutely sucks and a title that’s not much better.  However, in the pages of this book, much wisdom can be found on living a happy and fulfilled life.  It is highly recommended, and a better use of $10 would be difficult to imagine.

Your Brain at Work: Strategies for Overcoming Distraction, Regaining Focus, and Working Smarter All Day Long by David Rock.  This is a great book that both describes latest findings from brain science and and shows you how to make practical use of them.  There is a lot of good information in this book and it is put together in a unique and useful way.

Creating Your Best Life: The Ultimate Life List Guide by Caroline Adams Miller is an outstanding book.  I cannot say enough good about it other than just get it.  It is incredibly content dense and full of exercises and tips.  It’s all about goal setting and positive psychology.

Life Inc.: How the World Became a Corporation and How to Take It Back This was a fascinating book and has some really interesting ideas on how the world has become a giant corporation and how we participate in it.  He includes a really interesting historical discussion of the Renaissance and the establishment of corporations.  I found his material on local currencies intriguing.  The author, Douglas Rushkoff starts off the book by relating how he was mugged in his trendy Brooklyn neighborhood.  His neighbors were concerned not with the fact he was mugged, but that his advertising of that fact might affect their property values.  A truly sad commentary on what we have become in this modern materialistic culture.  There is a lot of good in this book, but Rushkoff’s far left political philosophy seem to take over at times.  If you can let that chaff go, you will find yourself challenged by intelligent discussion of important issues.

Linchpin: Are You Indispensable? by Seth Godin is outstanding.  I discussed it in a full length review here – Linchpin – A Review

Are You Ready to Succeed? Unconventional Strategies to Achieving Personal Mastery in Business and Life by Srikumar S. Rao.  I once watched a 10 minute YouTube video about carrying around unnecessary burdens.  I remembered the name of the professor in the video – Srikumar S. Rao.  One day browsing the bookstore, I saw his name on a book and decided to get it and I’m glad I did.  Are You Ready to Succeed is an excellent book oriented towards mental models and mindfulness.  It’s very well done.

I’m finding that I am running out of space with so much more to tell you about so I think I will continue this tomorrow.

Do you have any great books you want to tell everyone about?  Leave a comment.