Ten Most Inspirational Books I've Read in My Life

While most books one reads generally fall away from memory after you are done with them, I have listed 10 books that I found particularly inspiring, transformative or thought provoking. For my religious friends, this is exclusively a secular list though several of these books speak about faith.

10. Hardy Boys by Franklin W. Dixon, Chip Hilton by Claire Bee, Rick Brant by John Blaine, Tom Swift by Victor Appleton.

My # 10 is a series of books that helped a shy, skinny kid who had lost his father to a heart attack and needed some direction. Plus these books started me on my passion for reading. I got my homework done early so I could read these books.

9. The Complete Book of Running by Jim Fixx

A few decades ago and about 50 lbs. lighter, I used to jog and occasionally raced 5 and 10K races. Fixx was the running guru in the 70s. Geez, I remember a day where I jogged about 10 miles and was not tired.

8. Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience by Mihaly Csikszentmshayli

I remember this wasn't an easy book to read. However flow became a mantra. Flow was described as a state where people experienced deep enjoyment, creativity and clarity. Within this state of flow, you lose all track of time. I experienced flow playing basketball or working on a project that interested me. Not enough activities generating flow now.

7. The Wisdom of Insecurity by Alan Watts

Watts provides insights on “finding security and peace of mind in a world whose very nature is insecurity, impermanence and unceasing change.” This book was written in the 1950s but it’s wiser that any self-help book you can read today. I've underlined quite a bit of this book.

6. How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci: Seven Steps to Genius Everyday by Michael Gelb

I admire people who are accomplished with many talents and various types of achievements. Those types of people are usually called Renaissance Men or Women. Gelb offers a guide to Renaissance living and pursuits.

5. The Unforgiving Minute: A Soldier’s Education by Craig Mullaney

Old men start wars and young men fight them. I found it very inspiring and gratifying to read about the education of a man who was a West Point graduate, Rhodes Scholar, a Ranger and an Officer who led men into battle in Afghanistan. I felt better about the prospects for America in the future. Hopefully future generations will do better than what the leaders of the Baby Boomer generation have accomplished.

4. The Way of the Ronin by Beverly Potter

A Ronin was a masterless samurai and warrior who depended entirely upon themselves and their own skills to survive in Japan’s feudal society. In most circles, they were considered outlaws. As anyone who has had the fortune (or misfortune) to “manage me” has learned I’m not the conventional employee type. I read this book in the early 1990’s and it changed my thinking about work, career and life balance.

3. Creating the Good Life: Applying Aristotle's Wisdom to Find Meaning and Happiness, James O’Toole

This book is on my list not necessarily for any information or advice it offers. I found the questions very compelling, particularly those related as to what is living a good life. We have to decide what's best for ourselves. A great book for baby boomers reevaluating their lives and what to do next.

2. Learning to Fail: The Blessings of an Imperfect Life Phillip Simmons

Diagnosed with ALS and given less than five years to live, Simmons accurately describes life as a “terminal condition.” His book opened me to new meanings of life. This book and the Barton book described below offer the insights of brave men facing death and how they have accepted their fates.

1. Not Fade Away: A Short Life Well Lived by Lawrence Shames and Peter Barton

Peter Barton, while facing a cancer that would end his life, wrote a book on how to die but more importantly how to live. Barton offered a piece of advice that I wish I could accomplish in my life… “I promised myself that I would not have a bad day for the rest of my life. I f someone was wasting my time, I’d excuse myself and walk away. If a situation bothered me or refused to get resolved, I’d shrug and move on. I’d squander no energy on petty annoyances, poison no minutes with useless regret.”

The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes

Good book. Good story but slow in parts for me. What I enjoyed most were Barnes's observations on getting older. Excerpts below...

"What did I know of life? I who had lived so carefully. Who had neither won, nor lost, but just let life happen to him? Who had the usual ambitions and settled all too quickly for them not being realized? Who avoided being hurt and called it a capacity for survival? Who paid his bills, stayed on good terms with everyone as far as possible, for whom ecstasy and despair became just words once read in novels? One whose self rebukes never really inflicted pain?"

"The time deniers say: forty's nothing, at fifty, you're in your prime and sixty's the new forty, and so on. I know this much: that there is objective time, but also subjective time, the kind you wear on the inside of your wrist, next to where the pulse lies. And this personal time, which is the true time, is measured in your relationship to memory."

"Average, that's what I'd been, ever since I left school. Average at university and work; average in friendship, loyalty, love: average, no doubt, at sex."

"But time....how time grounds us and then confounds us. We thought we were being mature when we were only being safe. We imagined we were being responsible but were only being cowardly. What we called realism turned out to be a way of avoiding things, rather than facing them. Time...give us enough time and our best supported decisions will seem wobbly, our certainties whimsical."

Two Books for Baby Boomers

I read two books aimed at baby boomers approaching or over the age of 50.

The non-fiction book, Leap! What Will We Do With The Rest of Our Lives by Sara Davidson provides stories of various people (some celebrities) in how they overcame health, career, relationship and financial issues after 50. Davidson offers the advice and life lessons from Carly Simon, Tom Hayden, Ram Dass and Jane Fonda to name a few. This reader's circle of friends and acquaintances does not carry the same cachet. Frankly a number of these people are certainly well off financially and are not going to have the same challenges and issues that I (and most other people) may face.

However it was interesting to see how Davidson faced her own issues (relationship, career etc.) and that will be very instructive to many readers (particularly women). Davidson's book does offer some good insights and advice for baby boomers in this phase of life.

I also read Eureka: A Novel by Jim Lehrer. This book is great for us old guys over 50. The main character, Otis Halstead, is a 59 year old husband, father and corporate executive who goes through a dramatic (and entertaining) midlife crisis. Halstead tries to recapture things and moments from his youth that he missed, much to the consternation of his wife, family and friends.

Is Halstead crazy after purchasing an antique toy fire truck, BB gun and red 1952 Cushman Pacemaker motor scooter? Or is he more sane than the psychologists assigned to treat him for his crazy behavior?

I loved the story and finished the book in one day.