10 Life Changing Books To Understand Life Better Than Therapy

Tipping hats to therapists everywhere, philosophy sometimes gives life’s problems a wider angle. Here are ten Life changing books that cover existence, ethics, happiness, and purpose. Guiding you through the challenges of life with enduring wisdom.

10 Life Changing Books To Understand Life:

1. Meditations – Marcus Aurelius

This set of writings by a Roman emperor discusses resilience, inner peace, and stoicism. Aurelius explains how adversity can be lived with dignity through command over one’s mind.

2. The Art of Happiness – Dalai Lama & Howard Cutler

This book, drawing from Buddhist philosophy as well as psychological evidence, provides understanding on happiness through attitude transformation and building compassion.

3. The Existentialist Café – Sarah Bakewell

An intriguing look at existentialist philosophy, featuring titans Sartre and Camus. It examines human freedom, responsibility, and the meaning of life—through compelling narratives.

4. Man’s Search for Meaning – Viktor Frankl

Holocaust survivor Frankl argues that meaning, not pleasure, is the path to human happiness. His approach, logotherapy, argues that finding purpose is the secret to persevering through suffering.

5. The Republic – Plato

Plato’s dialogues explore justice, morality, and society, illuminating individual ethics and optimal how to live.

6. Being and Time – Martin Heidegger

An intense exploration of time and being, urging readers to live their lives with genuineness by grappling with the reality of death. It’s complex, if heavy.

7. The Ethics of Ambiguity – Simone de Beauvoir

De Beauvoir speaks to freedom and existential ethics and how one must come to terms with the ambiguity of life instead of being afraid of it. Her philosophy offers support in times of doubt.

8. The Myth of Sisyphus – Albert Camus

Camus speaks of the absurdity of life and how one is able to live joyfully and meaningfully in spite of the absence of inherent meaning of life—like Sisyphus rolling his rock.

9. Thus Spoke Zarathustra – Friedrich Nietzsche

Nietzsche’s poetic inquiry into self-transcendence, ethics, and establishing one’s own values inspires one to create one’s own way rather than conforming to society’s norms.

10. Tao Te Ching – Laozi

This Chinese classic chooses the philosophy of Taoism, welcoming harmony, balance, and the way of accepting things—wisdom that serves to soothe today’s fears.

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