20 Inspirational Books

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“You will be the same person as you are today except for the people you meet, the places you go, and the books you read.”
– Charlie “Tremendous” Jones

Which is the bigger crime? To be able to read and then not – or to not be able to read?

Books provide wisdom, insight, knowledge, perspective, new ideas and thought starters. They provide another viewpoint – inspiration and understanding.

If you read 17 pages a day, you will read 31 200-page books a year – a great start!

At the Speakers Roundtable conference held in Vancouver earlier this year, members submitted a list of their favourite top 10 classic books and top 10 modern books. I believe you’ll be inspired by these great authors and their words of wisdom as much as I have been. Absolutely, the number one selling book of all time in history, hands down, is the Bible.

Classic Books:

1. How to Win Friends & Influence Peopleby Dale Carnegie. Need more be said about this absolute classic?

2. The Greatest Salesman in the World by Og Mandino. A practical guide to transforming yourself into a better person. Written by a man who lived its message.

3. Think and Grow Richby Napoleon Hill. As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.

4. Power of Positive Thinking by Norman Vincent Peale. Most definitely one of the classics.

5. Psycho-Cybernetics by Maxwell Maltz. Provides the rational reasons and methodologies on how to change your habits and yourself.

6. How Showmanship Sells by Elmer G. Letterman. 1965 cost: $3.95.

7. Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl. Everybody should read this book!

8. Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. A story of a future America where the world’s best minds must carry the weight of a society gone wrong.

9.The Republic by Plato. The basics of argument and debate.

10. The Pilgrim’s Progress – From This World to That Which is to Comeby John Bunyan. This Christian allegory was written in 1678. Contemporary in its impact and prophetic in its wisdom.

Modern Books:

1. The Magic of Thinking Big by Dr. David Schwartz. A classic motivational/positive-thinking book.

2. Uncommon Friends by Jim Newton. Great insight into the lives of the five leaders who were called “The men who invented the 20th century.”

3. Today Matters by John Maxwell.

4. Courageous Leadership by Bill Hybels. Simply the best book on leadership – how to attain it and use it.

5.The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership by John Maxwell.

6. Wooden on Leadership by John Wooden.

7. Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell.

8.Made to Stickby Chip Heath and Dan Heath. Helps one understand how “truths,” whether supported or not by the facts, are shaped and get carried into a culture.

9. You and Your Network by Fred Smith. Practical book of advice written from great wisdom.

10. Good to Great by Jim Collins.

And then again, you could read one of my 13 books, all classics in waiting – haha.