Most positive, non Fiction book that changed your life?

ShineOn7 · 12-06-2020 8:29pm #1

Can be a Biography of someone you admire or a self help book that actually worked or something that gave you the push to setup a business

Looking for something uber positive to read in these crazy times, especially with the weather now gone to shíte

bnt · 12-06-2020 9:05pm

The first one that comes to mind is Ghost Rider: Travels on the Healing Road by Neil Peart. He was the drummer and lyricist for the band Rush, author of several books, who died earlier this year. In the late 1990s, in less than a year, first his daughter died in a car crash, then his wife died of cancer, leaving him with no family. It describes how he he handled his grief by riding his motorbike for thousands of miles across North America, asking himself questions such as "how does a person survive this?", and coming up with some answers of his own. That he could comfortably afford to do that, as a rich rock star, makes the story less than 100% relatable; but there are some things for which money is no help.

SaltSweatSugar · 12-06-2020 9:33pm

Reasons To Stay Alive by Matt Haig. I couldn’t put it down. I read it while I was going through a rocky patch and had just started therapy.
He talks about his experience with depression and what he learned from this experience. He has a few other really good books but this one is my favourite. I saw him speak live last year and I thought he was very good. It was one of the best “self help” books I’ve ever read and it helped put a lot of things into perspective for me.

12-06-2020 9:34pm

The Secret by Rhonda Byrne. I was looking for a functioning doorstop and it was perfect. No more sleepless nights with the draught under control.

Esse85 · 12-06-2020 9:38pm

Most self help books will work if you apply the theory.
The main reason people say a self help book didn't work is because they never took action.
It's like reading a book on how to give up smoking, then going out and buying more fags and blaming the book.

The reader is the only one who can take action and responsibility but when they realise there's no magic pill and there's action and discipline to take, they choose the easy option and blame the book when the reality is, the reader wasn't able to follow the instructions.

Leg End Reject · 12-06-2020 9:48pm

[Deleted User] wrote: »

The Secret by Rhonda Byrne. I was looking for a functioning doorstop and it was perfect. No more sleepless nights with the draught under control.

Christ, I remember lots of people recommending that during a particularly difficult period in my life. That and all the angel books.

I survived, despite not reading any of them.

corner of hells · 12-06-2020 9:51pm

[Deleted User] wrote: »

The Secret by Rhonda Byrne. I was looking for a functioning doorstop and it was perfect. No more sleepless nights with the draught under control.

That book and a few old phone books proped up my work bench in my old shed.The mice used like it for eating and nest material too.

Better Than Christ · 12-06-2020 10:14pm

I read a good one recently called The History of Glue. I couldn't put it down.

buried · 12-06-2020 10:17pm

I'd recommend this, brilliant autobiography of this crowd. Even if you weren't into them or never heard of them it won't matter.

Didn't change my life, other ones did that. This is just a great autobiographical read.

fryup · 12-06-2020 10:18pm

Mrcaramelchoc · 12-06-2020 10:18pm

Better Than Christ wrote: »

I read a good one recently called The History of Glue. I couldn't put it down.

Hah hah i see what you did.

Better Than Christ · 12-06-2020 10:19pm

Mrcaramelchoc wrote: »

Hah hah i see what you did.

You wouldn't be laughing if it was Uhu it happened to.

Asset management · 13-06-2020 11:41am

I like a good motivational autobiography myself, a good few out there of people who have gone through tough times, Michael J Fox’s autobiography, Christopher Reeves first autobiography - haven’t read Not About the Bike Lance Armstrong since drug use confirmed but shouldn’t make any difference as we all knew at the time anyway - these books will certainly motivate. Shoe Dog - Nike story for a business motivational book. Also any footballer who’ve overcome their demons, Paul McGraths book, Paul Gascoigne, Tony Adams - these will bring tears to your eyes and pick you up. Also Paul Mersons and Lee Sharpes (gambling, drug/alcohol use). Another more obvious motivational book 12 years a Slave although a memoir not an autobiography.

Asset management · 13-06-2020 11:43am

And Between a Rock and a Hard Place - Aron Ralston. You’ll be nearly cutting your own arm off reading it.

pgj2015 · 13-06-2020 11:46am

https://www.google.com/search?q=duncan+bannatyne+anyone+can+do+it+pdf&rlz=1C1AWFC_enIE861IE861&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwil_YSuzv7pAhWCURUIHcaNAxkQ_AUoAXoECAsQAw&biw=1280&bih=610&dpr=1.5#imgrc=c6QT6DMXgcPTmM

most influential book I ever read, changed my life. I always wanted to set up a business. read this book and I did. anyone can do it, he is right.

set up a business nearly 4 years ago now, it is going well and I have never been as happy.

cloudatlas · 13-06-2020 12:02pm

Esse85 wrote: »

Most self help books will work if you apply the theory.
The main reason people say a self help book didn't work is because they never took action.
It's like reading a book on how to give up smoking, then going out and buying more fags and blaming the book.

The reader is the only one who can take action and responsibility but when they realise there's no magic pill and there's action and discipline to take, they choose the easy option and blame the book when the reality is, the reader wasn't able to follow the instructions.

I think a problem with a lot of self help books is there is a dearth of real practical information. 99% of the book is spent explaining to the reader how they feel the way they do and why, most people are aware of this already. There is maybe one kernel of good practical information to take away and even then sometimes it is vague.

I've found good books on CBT and stoic philosophy to be helpful but a lot of spiritual books I've found unhelpful as they don't give you steps to feeling better they just tell you to magically 'do it' change your thoughts, think more positive which I find very patronising overall.

ShineOn7 · 13-06-2020 10:49pm

Asset management wrote: »

I like a good motivational autobiography myself, a good few out there of people who have gone through tough times,

Michael J Fox’s autobiography, Christopher Reeves first autobiography - haven’t read Not About the Bike Lance Armstrong since drug use confirmed but shouldn’t make any difference as we all knew at the time anyway - these books will certainly motivate. Shoe Dog - Nike story for a business motivational book.

Also any footballer who’ve overcome their demons, Paul McGraths book, Paul Gascoigne, Tony Adams - these will bring tears to your eyes and pick you up. Also Paul Mersons and Lee Sharpes (gambling, drug/alcohol use). Another more obvious motivational book 12 years a Slave although a memoir not an autobiography.

Great reply, thanks

Lucky Lou · 13-06-2020 10:52pm

The road less travelled.
Thought provoking and enlightening.
Try it.

ShineOn7 · 13-06-2020 11:15pm

Lucky Lou wrote: »

The road less travelled.
Thought provoking and enlightening.
Try it.

Thanks. I was lucky to read this quite young

I remember it been very good

arybvtcw0eolkf · 13-06-2020 11:27pm

Without a shadow of a doubt it would be I Shall Not Hate: A Gaza Doctor's Journey on the Road to Peace and Human Dignity by Gazan Doctor Izzeldin Abuelaish

Heart-breaking, hopeful and horrifying, I Shall Not Hate is a Palestinian doctor's inspiring account of his extraordinary life, growing up in poverty but determined to treat his patients in Gaza and Israel regardless of their ethnic origin. A London University- and Harvard-trained Palestinian doctor who was born and raised in the Jabalia refugee camp in the Gaza Strip and 'who has devoted his life to medicine and reconciliation between Israelis and Palestinians' (New York Times), Abuelaish is an infertility specialist who lives in Gaza but works in Israel. On the strip of land he calls home (where 1.5 million Gazan refugees are crammed into a few square miles) the Gaza doctor has been crossing the lines in the sand that divide Israelis and Palestinians for most of his life - as a physician who treats patients on both sides of the line, as a humanitarian who sees the need for improved health and education for women as the way forward in the Middle East. And, most recently, as the father whose three daughters were killed by Israeli shells on 16 January 2009, during Israel's incursion into the Gaza Strip. It was his response to this tragedy that made news and won him humanitarian awards around the world. Instead of seeking revenge or sinking into hatred, Izzeldin Abuelaish called for the people in the region to start talking to each other. His deepest hope is that his daughters will be 'the last sacrifice on the road to peace between Palestinians and Israelis'.

An incredible read, if you think you know the depths of Israeli oppression against Gaza you really haven't a clue until you read this book, I thought after living/serving under the Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon that I knew, I hadn't a clue.

Its also a story of compassion and forgiveness. An incredible read.

If it perks your imagination YouTube Gazan Doctor Abuelaish, when he knew his house was going to be shelled by an Israeli tank he rings the Israeli' TV station he works for to ask them to tell the Israel army that he's sheltering there with his children, then they fired on his house and killed the kids. This all happened as he spoke live on air, its on YouTube.

Manach · 13-06-2020 11:33pm

Orthodoxy by GK Chesteron. A series of witty eassys written during Edwardian times. It showed me both that the same issues and problems of our times were echoed in during that era and that there was a literature that reflected who I was, traditional conservative : being describe as
"If you’ve got an afternoon, read his masterpiece of Christian apologetics Orthodoxy: ontological basics retailed with a blissful, zooming frivolity, Thomas Aquinas meets Eddie Van Halen."

completedit · 13-06-2020 11:47pm

ShineOn7 wrote: »

Thanks. I was lucky to read this quite young

I remember it been very good

Wish I had read this younger. I feel certain books leave more of an imprint on you the younger you read them. But maybe that's just with time. Maybe I'll look back on books I read today and think of the profound impact they had on me

Coneygree · 13-06-2020 11:49pm

Man's Search For Meaning by Viktor Frankl. Certain parts are the complete opposite of positive but it is really a fantastic read and a real eye opener.

13-06-2020 11:53pm

Coneygree wrote: »

Man's Search For Meaning by Viktor Frankl. Certain parts are the complete opposite of positive but it is really a fantastic read and a real eye opener.

I might read that next actually.. I've it on the shelf here the last year..

Coneygree · 13-06-2020 11:54pm

Asset management wrote: »

I like a good motivational autobiography myself, a good few out there of people who have gone through tough times, Michael J Fox’s autobiography, Christopher Reeves first autobiography - haven’t read Not About the Bike Lance Armstrong since drug use confirmed but shouldn’t make any difference as we all knew at the time anyway - these books will certainly motivate. Shoe Dog - Nike story for a business motivational book. Also any footballer who’ve overcome their demons, Paul McGraths book, Paul Gascoigne, Tony Adams - these will bring tears to your eyes and pick you up. Also Paul Mersons and Lee Sharpes (gambling, drug/alcohol use). Another more obvious motivational book 12 years a Slave although a memoir not an autobiography.

Sounds like you'd like David Goggins' book Can't Hurt Me.

accensi0n · 14-06-2020 12:04am

Coneygree wrote: »

Man's Search For Meaning by Viktor Frankl. Certain parts are the complete opposite of positive but it is really a fantastic read and a real eye opener.

Don't get the love for this book, didn't think there was much new or thought provoking in it, a bit boring.
It's been a few years though, maybe I should give it another go.

touts · 14-06-2020 2:21am

A book called "Leaders eat last" made me realise a company I worked for was toxic from the top down and it was time to get the hell out of there. Have read it again since and it didn't resonate as much. However at that time in my career a few years ago it made me open my eyes and see the bigger picture. I was middle management and was trying to fix it from the bottom up to meet the unrealistic demands of the overpaid egotistical gob****es who were the real problem. There was nothing I could do to fix the company and had I stayed it would have cost me my mental and physical health. So I got the hell out of dodge and never looked back.

ShineOn7 · 14-06-2020 3:51pm

Coneygree wrote: »

Sounds like you'd like David Goggins' book Can't Hurt Me.

I've seen his name mentioned by sensible friends on Social Media. He seems like a very interesting character

Mad_maxx · 14-06-2020 4:19pm

something like a book could never " change my life "

im just not middle class enough for that

buried · 14-06-2020 4:36pm

Mad_maxx wrote: »

something like a book could never " change my life "

im just not middle class enough for that

Its got nothing to do with some divisional horse$hit like 'class'.

You probably just need work on your own cognitive awareness.

Plenty of books changed how I view life. They weren't self help books either.
But from reading certain books I raised my cognitive awareness that made me enjoy life more, and also see things I had never seen before that were straight in front of my face.

ShineOn7 · 14-06-2020 4:39pm

Mad_maxx wrote: »

something like a book could never " change my life "

im just not middle class enough for that

Outstanding contribution. The thread wouldn't be the same without it

Most positive, non Fiction book that changed your life?

Comments