Where are all my book lovers at? Fellow readers and life-long learners, this list is for you. I don’t know about you, but it is impossible for me to choose my favorite book. So I’ve chosen my favorite 18 books that changed my life and I can’t wait to share them with you! 

These books are written by courageous and brilliant people. The authors’ words are a creative force — they are powerful, life-changing, and revolutionizing.

Edward Thorndike said: “Colors fade, temples crumble, empires fall, but wise words endure.”

I hope you get to discover the magic that is in these pages. I believe these books and their words will inspire deeper awareness, understanding, motivation, and authentic change for many years to come for those who embrace them.

Here are 18 books that changed my life:

Creativity inc. – Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration by Ed Catmull

“Failure isn’t a necessary evil. In fact, it isn’t evil at all. It is a necessary consequence of doing something new.”

Improv Wisdom by Patricia Ryan Madson

“Rocky terrain is unavoidable and may even be the path to something wonderful. “We can count on chaos.”

The Blue Zones by Dan Buettner

“Drink without getting drunk. Love without suffering jealousy. Eat without overindulging. Never argue. And once in a while, with great discretion, misbehave.”

Start With Why by Simon Sinek

“Regardless of WHAT we do in our lives, our WHY—our driving purpose, cause or belief—never changes.”

Food Fix — How to Save Our Health, Our Economy, Our Communities, and Our Planet — One Bite at a Time by Dr. Mark Hyman, MD

“Food fix is a call to action. We have the ability to reclaim our health, reverse climate change, and support our communities with a key set of practical solutions.”

Cancer Free With Food by Lisa Werner-Gray

“Through lifestyle modification alone, we can literally rewrite our genetic code.”

In the Sanctuary of Women by Jan L. Richardson

“Instead, the act of praying prompts us to question, to move beyond familiar habits and patterns and routines, and to imagine possibilities beyond what we can see. Prayer draws us onto a threshold that lies between what we have known and what God may yet be calling us toward.”

Eight Dates by John Gottman

“You can spend a lifetime being curious about the inner world of your partner, and being brave enough to share your own inner world, and never be done discovering all there is to know about each other. It’s exciting.”

The Complete Enneagram by Beatrice Chestnut

“It turns out that the many coping strategies we use to get along in life can be grouped into a finite number of categories, or personality types. By providing detailed descriptions of the typical thoughts, emotions, and behaviors that make up nine basic personality types (and the three subtypes of each of those nine types), the Enneagram highlights how these habitual patterns get enacted so you can start to see them for yourself.”

On Reading Well by Karen Swallow Prior

“Reading well adds to our life—not in the way a tool from the hardware store adds to our life, for a tool does us no good once lost or broken, but in the way a friendship adds to our life, altering us forever.”

Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything by Joshua Foer

“…a great memory isn’t just a by-product of expertise; it is the essence of expertise.”

Upstairs at the White House: My Life with the First Ladies by J.B West

“And each of them has performed a great public service to the people of America, filling a role that is nonappointive, nonelective, certainly nonpaid, the most demanding volunteer job in America.”

There’s No Such Thing as Bad Weather: A Scandinavian Mom’s Secrets for Raising Healthy, Resilient, and Confident Kids by Linda Åkeson McGurk

“There’s no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothes.” This phrase hails from Scandinavia, where it’s a common mantra repeated by parents who insist that their children spend time outdoors every day.”

The Danish Way of Parenting: What the Happiest People in the World Know About Raising Confident, Capable Kids by Jessica Joelle Alexander

“Happy kids grow up to be happy adults who raise happy kids, and so on.”

The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma by Bessel A. van der Kolk

“As long as you keep secrets and suppress information, you are fundamentally at war with yourself…The critical issue is allowing yourself to know what you know. That takes an enormous amount of courage.”

Dare to Lead by Brene Brown

“The courage to be vulnerable is not about winning or losing, it’s about the courage to show up when you can’t predict or control the outcome.”

The Ride of a Lifetime by Bob Iger

“Innovate or die, and there’s no innovation if you operate out of fear of the new or untested.”

Quiet: The Power of Introverts In a World That Can’t Stop Talking by Susan Cain

“The secret to life is to put yourself in the right lighting. For some, it’s a Broadway spotlight; for others, a lamplit desk. Use your natural powers — of persistence, concentration, and insight — to do work you love and work that matters. Solve problems. Make art, think deeply.”

Looking for more? Check out these recent favorite books from some of our other writers at Colorado Springs Mom Collective:

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