Books worth reading or re-reading

In February I reread four of my favorite books and summarized my top takeaways

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Is it better to read 100 books or read one book 100 times? There is magic when we shift from reading for novelty to studying for depth. Recently I re-read four classics and was amazed at how much they resonated at newer, deeper levels. Here are a couple to read or re-read.

Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl

• High-level: Profound exploration of human existence from a leading psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor on how meaning can be found in even the most challenging circumstances.

• Personal Take: We are put on earth to experience the range of human emotions and to find meaning, an unexamined life is not worth living, it is our responsibility to see life’s beauty.

• Most Famous Excerpt: “Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”

• Excerpt That Resonated Most This Time: “For the first time in my life I saw the truth as it is set into song by so many poets, proclaimed as the final wisdom by so many thinkers. The truth - that Love is the ultimate and highest goal to which man can aspire. Then I grasped the meaning of the greatest secret that human poetry and human thought and belief have to impart: The salvation of man is through love and in love.”

The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz

• High-level: A short and simple read based on indigenous Mexican wisdom of the Toltecs.

• Personal Take: Likely the most impactful book one can read especially early in a personal development journey. The lessons are seemingly obvious yet can be universally applied.

• Most Famous Excerpt: “The Four Agreements are: Be Impeccable With Your Word, Don't Take Anything Personally, Don't Make Assumptions, Always Do Your Best.”

• Excerpt That Resonated Most This Time: “Every human is an artist. The dream of your life is to make beautiful art.”

Letters to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke

• High-level: Ten letters written from a famous poet (Rilke) to a younger poet who was receiving mentorship via these letters.

• Personal Take: The letters are masterful; all the answers are in here related to creative / vocational expression, relationships and a meaningful life. Amazing to examine the way letters are written and appreciate how much intentionality and meaning Rilke infused.

• Most Famous Excerpt: “Don’t search for the answers, which could not be given to you now, because you would not be able to live them. And the point is to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps then, someday far in the future, you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way into the answer.”

• Excerpt That Resonated Most This Time: “Perhaps all the dragons in our lives are princesses who are only waiting to see us act, just once, with beauty and courage. Perhaps everything that frightens us is, in its deepest essence, something helpless that wants our love.”

Aleph by Paolo Coelho

• High-level: A novel from Brazilian author of The Alchemist. Although a novel, Coelho considers this to be a work of non-fiction. The book tells the story of his epiphanies during a pilgrimage through Asia on the Trans-Siberian Railway.

• Personal Take: This book has gotten me out of 6+ slumps. If you ever are feeling stuck, this book has the wisdom to shake you out of it. Fun, profound and easy read that inspires wonder and remembrance of spiritual truths.

• Most Famous Excerpt: “Only two things can reveal life's great secrets: suffering and love.”

• Excerpt That Resonated Most This Time: “I will be capable of loving regardless of whether I am loved in return. Of giving even when I have nothing, Of working happily even in the midst of difficulties, Of holding out my hand even when utterly alone and abandoned, Of drying my tears even while I weep, Of believing even when no one believes in me.”

Let me know if you have read these books, plan to read, or if anything resonates.

- Adam