Top Books for Mastering Leadership, Relationships & Emotional Strength

Recommended Readings

    Psychotherapy (Shame, Anxiety, Depression, etc.)

  1. Richard C. Schwartz, No Bad Parts: Healing Trauma and Restoring Wholeness with the Internal Family Systems Model
  2. Richard C. Schwartz & Martha Sweezy, Internal Family Systems Therapy, Second Edition
  3. Bessel van der Kolk, The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma
  4. Alice Miller, The Drama of the Gifted Child: The Search for the True Self
  5. John Bradshaw, Healing the Shame That Binds You
  6. Manuel J. Smith, When I Say No, I Feel Guilty
  7. Susan Forward, Toxic Parents: Overcoming Their Hurtful Legacy and Reclaiming Your Life
  8. Ann Weiser Cornell, The Radical Acceptance of Everything: Living a Focusing Life
  9. Daniel J. Siegel, Mindsight: The New Science of Personal Transformation
  10. Irvin D. Yalom, Existential Psychotherapy
  11. Eric Berne, Games People Play: The Psychology of Human Relationships
  12. Albert J. Bernstein, Emotional Vampires: Dealing with People Who Drain You Dry
  13. Psychoanalysis & the Founding Fathers of Psychotherapy

  14. Sigmund Freud, Civilization and Its Discontents
  15. Sigmund Freud, The Interpretation of Dreams
  16. Carl G. Jung, Modern Man in Search of a Soul
  17. Carl G. Jung, The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious
  18. Relationship Therapy

  19. Richard C. Schwartz, You Are the One You’ve Been Waiting For
  20. Harville Hendrix, Getting the Love You Want: A Guide for Couples
  21. Terrence Real, Us: Getting Past You and Me to Build a More Loving Relationship
  22. Marshall B. Rosenberg, Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life
  23. John Gottman, The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work
  24. Cheri Huber, Be the Person You Want to Find

Dating Skills & Mindsets

  1. Mark Manson, Models: Attract Women Through Honesty
  2. Robert Greene, The Art of Seduction
  3. David Tian, Online Programs & Courses 🙂

Death Anxiety & the Meaning of Life

  1. Irvin D. Yalom, Staring at the Sun: Overcoming the Terror of Death
  2. Irvin D. Yalom & Marilyn Yalom, A Matter of Death and Life
  3. Ernest Becker, The Denial of Death
  4. Viktor Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning
  5. Daniel Keyes, Flowers for Algernon
  6. Margery Williams, The Velveteen Rabbit
  7. Mitch Albom, Tuesdays with Morrie
  8. Susan Cain, Bittersweet: How Sorrow and Longing Make Us Whole
  9. Bill Perkins, Die With Zero: Getting All You Can from Your Money and Your Life
  10. Oliver Burkeman, 4,000 Weeks: Time Management for Mortals
  11. Lynne Twist, The Soul of Money: Transforming Your Relationship with Money and Life
  12. Mark Manson, Everything Is F*cked: A Book About Hope
  13. Mark Manson, The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck
  14. Irvin D. Yalom, Existential Psychotherapy
  15. Yuval Noah Harari, Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind

Good, Evil, & Moral Philosophy

  1. Frans de Waal, The Age of Empathy: Nature’s Lessons for a Kinder Society
  2. Michael J. Sandel, The Tyranny of Merit: What’s Become of the Common Good?
  3. Michael J. Sandel, What Money Can’t Buy: The Moral Limits of Markets
  4. Jonathan Haidt, The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom
  5. Jonathan Haidt, The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion
  6. Roy F. Baumeister, Evil: Inside Human Violence and Cruelty
  7. Frans de Waal, Primates and Philosophers: How Morality Evolved

Peak Performance, Learning, & Success

  1. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience
  2. Edward Slingerland, Trying Not to Try: The Art and Science of Spontaneity
  3. Adam Robinson, What Smart Students Know
  4. Josh Waitzkin, The Art of Learning: An Inner Journey to Optimal Performance
  5. Daniel Coyle, The Talent Code: Greatness Isn’t Born. It’s Grown. Here’s How.
  6. W. Timothy Gallwey, The Inner Game of Tennis: The Classic Guide to the Mental Side of Peak Performance
  7. Peter Attia, Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity
  8. Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder
  9. Malcolm Gladwell, Outliers: The Story of Success
  10. Adam Grant, Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don’t Know
  11. Adam Grant, Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World

Leadership, Purpose, & Creativity

  1. Jim Dethmer, Diana Chapman & Kaley Warner Klemp, The 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership
  2. Gay Hendricks, The Genius Zone: The Breakthrough Process to End Negative Thinking and Live in True Creativity
  3. Julia Cameron, The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity
  4. Rick Rubin, The Creative Act: A Way of Being
  5. Ray Dalio, Principles: Life and Work

Listen to this Beyond Success podcast episode devoted to this Reading List:

For the Show Notes and the full Transcription, go here:
https://davidtianphd.com/beyond-success/books-stop-proving-myself-start-living-real-37/

Last updated May 2025

Happy Reading!

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