🌻If I Could Only Read 5 Books Before I Die, I’d Pick These

Read them as soon as possible

One of my favorite quotes about reading comes from George R.R. Martin. “A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies,” he said. “The man who never reads lives only one.”

So, in this article, I’ll share several books I’ll keep re-reading until the day I die. All of them are extraordinary and worth reading. Hopefully, you’ll find these book recommendations useful.

The Almanack Of Naval Ravikant by Eric Jorgenson

Have you ever read a book that made your jaw drop to the floor? Did it blow your mind and make you think about life in a completely different way? If the answer to any of those questions is “no,” you need to read The Almanack Of Naval Ravikant ASAP.

The book is best described as a manual for living a better life. In it, Naval explains how to become happier, healthier, and significantly more intelligent. He also explains the exact formula he followed to build a net worth of $60 million — while simultaneously being one of the happiest people on the planet.

Read also: 6 self development tips to improve your life

It’s a fascinating book!

Goodreads
Here are some awesome quotes from the book:

“Earn with your mind, not your time.”
“If you’re not willing to do a wholesale, 24/7, 100 percent swap with who that person is, then there is no point in being jealous.”
“A happy person isn’t someone who’s happy all the time. It’s someone who effortlessly interprets events in such a way that they don’t lose their innate peace.”
“Specific knowledge is found much more by pursuing your innate talents, your genuine curiosity, and your passion. It’s not by going to school for whatever is the hottest job; it’s not by going into whatever field investors say is the hottest.”
“Compound interest also happens in your reputation. If you have a sterling reputation and you keep building it for decades upon decades, people will notice. Your reputation will literally end up being thousands or tens of thousands of times more valuable than somebody else who was very talented but is not keeping the compound interest in reputation going.”
The Obstacle Is The Way by Ryan Holiday

I’ve read The Obstacle Is The Way countless times. And to be honest, I’ll probably read it again in the near future because it’s a phenomenal book.

The Obstacle Is The Way contains a timeless formula for turning adversity into opportunity. Ryan says, for example, that you cannot control the actions of other people. However, you can always choose how you respond to each situation.

You might, for example, be late for a train, bus, or plane. But whenever things don’t go to plan, avoid the urge to respond with anger or frustration. Instead, practice grace, patience, and lots of humility.

Everything else will fall into place.

Goodreads
Here are some awesome quotes from the book:

“Choose not to be harmed — and you won’t feel harmed. Don’t feel harmed — and you haven’t been.”
“The obstacle in the path becomes the path. Never forget, within every obstacle is an opportunity to improve our condition.”
“We forget: In life, it doesn’t matter what happens to you or where you came from. It matters what you do with what happens and what you’ve been given.”
“The only guarantee, ever, is that things will go wrong. The only thing we can use to mitigate this is anticipation. Because the only variable we control completely is ourselves.”
“It’s okay to be discouraged. It’s not okay to quit. To know you want to quit but to plant your feet and keep inching closer until you take the impenetrable fortress you’ve decided to lay siege to in your own life — that’s persistence.”
Can’t Hurt Me by David Goggins

Can’t Hurt Me is one of my favorite non-fiction books of all time.

The book is about David Goggins’ journey to become a Navy SEAL. Growing up, he was depressed, overweight, and lived in poverty. However, David was determined to change his circumstances and create a better future.

David improved his work ethic. Then, he adopted a healthier lifestyle, eliminated bad habits, and became one of the toughest men alive. He also held the Guinness World Record for competing 4,030 pull-ups in 17 hours.

That’s seriously impressive!

Goodreads
Here are some awesome quotes from the book:

“The most important conversations you’ll ever have are the ones you’ll have with yourself.”
“I thought I’d solved a problem when really I was creating new ones by taking the path of least resistance.”
“You are in danger of living a life so comfortable and soft, that you will die without ever realizing your true potential.”
“It won’t always go your way, so you can’t get trapped in this idea that just because you’ve imagined a possibility for yourself that you somehow deserve it. Your entitled mind is dead weight. Cut it loose. Don’t focus on what you think you deserve. Take aim on what you are willing to earn.”
“We live in a world with a lot of insecure, jealous people. Some of them are our best friends. They are blood relatives. Failure terrifies them. So does our success. Because when we transcend what we once thought possible, push our limits, and become more, our light reflects off all the walls they’ve built up around them. Your light enables them to see the contours of their own prison, their own self-limitations. But if they are truly the great people you always believed them to be, their jealousy will evolve, and soon their imagination might hop its fence, and it will be their turn to change for the better.”
Beyond Order by Jordan Peterson

Beyond Order is one of the most underrated non-fiction books in the world. In it, Jordan provides extraordinary strategies that will help you to make 2023 a year of remarkable growth.

Each chapter of Beyond Order enabled me to become mentally strong. After all, Jordan uses fascinating examples from history to demonstrate the validity of his points. He also draws upon psychology, philosophy, mythology, and religion to provide more context.

You can learn a lot from Jordan’s wisdom throughout Beyond Order — even if you disagree with his politics. So, as long as you go into the book with an open mind, you’ll probably learn something new!

Goodreads
Here are some awesome quotes from the book:

“Humility: It is better to presume ignorance and invite learning than to assume sufficient knowledge and risk the consequent blindness.”
“A certain amount of creativity and rebellion must be tolerated — or welcomed, depending on your point of view — to maintain the process of regeneration. Every rule was once a creative act, breaking other rules.”
“We outsource the problem of sanity. People remain mentally healthy not merely because of the integrity of their own minds, but because they are constantly being reminded how to think, act, and speak by those around them.”
“Here is the problem: Collect a hundred, or a thousand, of those, and your life is miserable and your marriage doomed. Do not pretend you are happy with something if you are not, and if a reasonable solution might, in principle, be negotiated. Have the damn fight. Unpleasant as that might be in the moment, it is one less straw on the camel’s back. And that is particularly true for those daily events that everyone is prone to regard as trivial — even the plates on which you eat your lunch. Life is what repeats, and it is worth getting what repeats right.”
“With careful searching, with careful attention, you might tip the balance toward opportunity and against obstacle sufficiently so that life is clearly worth living, despite its fragility and suffering. If you truly wanted, perhaps you would receive, if you asked. If you truly sought, perhaps you would find what you seek. If you knocked, truly wanting to enter, perhaps the door would open. But there will be times in your life when it will take everything you have to face what is in front of you, instead of hiding away from a truth so terrible that the only thing worse is the falsehood you long to replace it with.”
The Power Of Habit by Charles Duhigg

Charles Dugigg used to work for The New York Times. These days, he’s the bestselling author of a phenomenal book: The Power Of Habit.

Here’s the Goodreads description:

“With penetrating intelligence and an ability to distill vast amounts of information into engrossing narratives, Duhigg brings to life a whole new understanding of human nature and its potential for transformation.

Along the way, we learn why some people and companies struggle to change, despite years of trying, while others seem to remake themselves overnight. We visit laboratories where neuroscientists explore how habits work and where, exactly, they reside in our brains.”

I love The Power Of Habit because Charles explains complex ideas in a simple way that anyone can understand. The information in this book also helped me to eliminate bad habits, adopt better ones, and become 10x more productive.

Read also: 7 keystone habits to rebuild your life into something magical

Read it as soon as possible!

Goodreads
Here are some awesome quotes from the book:

“Small wins are a steady application of a small advantage.”
“Change might not be fast and it isn’t always easy. But with time and effort, almost any habit can be reshaped.”
“Willpower isn’t just a skill. It’s a muscle, like the muscles in your arms or legs, and it gets tired as it works harder, so there’s less power left over for other things.”
“Champions don’t do extraordinary things. They do ordinary things, but they do them without thinking, too fast for the other team to react. They follow the habits they’ve learned.”
“Typically, people who exercise, start eating better and becoming more productive at work. They smoke less and show more patience with colleagues and family. They use their credit cards less frequently and say they feel less stressed. Exercise is a keystone habit that triggers widespread change.”

Contributed by Matt Lillywhite

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