Reading List

Brain (Or Other) Sciences

Behave: Robert Sapolsky
Sapolsky explores the neuropsychological components of what motivates our behaviours, from our ancestry to our upbringing, to what we ate that day. A lengthy and dense yet incredibly profound book by one of the great authorities on the topic.

Consciousness and the Brain: Stanislas Dehaene
Dehaene breaks open the world of millisecond reaction times, conscious vs unconscious stimuli, and how we come to learn and be in our perceptual world.

The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat: Oliver Sacks
Sacks is an incredibly prolific and world-renowned psychiatrist who writes of the unique situations his clients find themselves in. From cases such as Split-Brain, face blindness, and forgetting about half of one’s body, Sacks gives the reader a profound perspective on just how many cognitive processes some of us take for granted.

Reductionism in Art and Brain Science: Eric Kandel

Kandel weaves an incredible story of art and brain science by mapping the art experience onto its neuropsychological correlates. What allows some to be enthralled in art, while other’s will live a lifetime without ever giving a second glance? It’s all in the brain, baby!

The Circadian Code: Satchin Panda
Panda shares and reviews the current literature surrounding our main biological clock, circadian rhythm, and how it operates, and what happens when it falls out of whack.

Lost Connections: Johann Hari
Hari explores the causes and effects of depression, addiction, and the state of mental illness as a societal issue. He introduces and analyzes past opinions on addiction, and has many profound realizations throughout the book.

Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Gabor Maté
Maté takes the reader into the mind of an addict, exploring the thin space that divides the addicted, and the non-addicted. Maté has a wealth of experience and research to draw from in this fantastic book, which stands at odds with the less than fortunate pop-culture opinion on addiction and trauma.

The Body Keeps Score: Bessel Van Der Kolk
Van Der Kolk looks at the physiological and psychological effects of trauma from a refreshing perspective. Drawing from an incredible array of research, Van Der Kolk assembles a clear view of the effects of trauma on the individual.

The Oxygen Advantage: Patrick McKeown
McKeown and his work with both athletes and the general population are distilled down into a potent resource examining breathing, the effects of dysregulated breathing, and exactly how to (re)learn how to breathe. Filled with potent explanations of the mechanisms of breathing, McKeown gives us all the information to draw the conclusion that we should be taking our breath much more seriously.

Beyond Training: Ben Greenfield
Greenfield explores just about every component of health and longevity in this textbook-like piece, giving the reader all they could need and more to begin living a life aimed at longevity and increasing healthspan. Although some of the techniques are a tad extreme for the average individual, there is certainly something in here for everyone.

Why We Sleep: Matthew Walker

Walker carefully teases apart the science on sleep and just how crucial it is in regards to our longevity, work capacity, performance, and quality of life. Filled with research straight out of the lab and skillfully demonstrated in a highly digestible and easy-to-grasp fashion, this book will have you cleaning up your nighttime routine tonight for a better tomorrow. If you have any questions regarding the importance of sleep and why and how to improve it, this is a must-read.

Spiritual Philosophy & Wisdom

Be Here Now: Ram Dass
Richard Alpert (Ram Dass) brings you a piece of genuine connection-to-source through his book Be Here Now. Filled with his life experiences, Ram Dass takes the individual deep into their own heart by exploring ancient wisdom from Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism, and many other belief systems. Filled with esoteric drawings and pieces of art, this book is a great one to thumb through every now and again.

After the Ecstasy, the Laundry: Jack Kornfield
Kornfield reminds us that we’re always coming back down; positive experiences end, and so do negative ones. Kornfield takes the reader by the hand and shows them just how rewarding and potent being in the moment can be. A fantastic piece that gives the reader a sense that the best place to be, is now.

The Bhagavad - Gita
A piece of ancient Hindu scripture, The Bhagavad - Gita is a story looking at the natural issues that arise when the one, becomes the many. It looks at God manifest as individuals, who are experiencing situations not very different from our own. It arms the reader with a solid foundation that will serve as a place to stand while operating in the “marketplace” or the world.

The Book: Alan Watts
Watts, in typical Watts fashion, bends the reader’s psychological framework of what experiencing reality is. Informed by a lifetime of Zen Buddhism, Watts playfully introduces the concept of the self, the nature of being, and something about one never being able to bite one’s teeth…

Tao Te Ching: Lao Tzu
A piece of ancient Taoist scripture written by Lao Tzu, an individual who lived probably around the 6th Century BC, explores the world of the Tao, or the Way. It explores the nature of mind, being, and what it is to be alive.

Lifestyle and Individual Psychology

Atomic Habits: James Clear
Clear explores the potency of habit vs goals and paints a clear distinction between the effects of building a habit vs working towards a goal. Filled with actionable advice on how to instil conscious change in your life, Clear assures the reader that change is entirely possible, and probably easier than we’ve come to believe.

Resilient: Rick Hanson

Hanson collects and distils supported and validated methods we can start utilizing in our moment-to-moment lives that will bolster our ability to contend with life's challenges. Rick’s extensive experiences with meditation and mindfulness drives the efforts he discusses in Resilient towards that of our relationship with our selves, and how we communicate that to ourselves and others through our behaviours and emotions. Highly recommended for those who want to expand their conceptual understanding of what resilience is and why it’s a superpower in today’s culture.

The Courage to be Disliked: Fumitake Koga & Ichiro Kishimi
Koga and Kishimi share a conversation between a young, confused man and an old wise philosopher as they comment and critique each other over the idea of Adlerian psychology. The conversational way of writing gives the reader a deep sense of understanding around this teleological framework. A must-read for those who struggle with being “too” agreeable.

Mastery: Robert Greene
Greene explores the importance of mastery, or the conscious development of skills, behaviours, or otherwise in order to invite deep change into the reader’s life. Through stories of well-known individuals, and a clear step by step plan in initiating change, Greene gives the reader an opportunity to change their trajectory in life.

The Psychology of Performance: Eddie O’Connor
O’Connor explores just about everything there is to know to improve performance, both on, and off the field. By drawing connections between habits that make athletes and non-athletes successful, O’Connor offers a resource to draw from to help initiate and/or deal with the symptoms of performance improvement.

Can’t Hurt Me: David Goggins
Goggins, in this powerful autobiography of a man who despises quitting, paints a world filled with painful, motivating stories and techniques that he draws from while completing massive multi-day marathons, insane obstacle courses, and Navy SEAL training. A must-read for those of us who find it hard to get motivated. P.s. Because of the intermittent breaks from the content that Goggins and the reader Jesse Itzler sparkle in, I can’t recommend the audible version enough.

12 Rules For Life: Jordan Peterson

Peterson, backed by decades of experience in clinical and research environments, offers up 12 unexpectedly potent “rules” that one could adopt into their life as a means of drastically reducing day-to-day suffering. Peterson distils and expands on these actional lessons so clearly, that upon initiating them, will greatly improve your experience and directly insert magnificent meaning into the once-mundane. If you believe yourself to be stuck, this book could very well be the wedge that creates space and motivation for change.