We love to read. Sometimes light fun fiction, but more often than not, rich, informative non-fiction books that guide us through dives into interesting subjects that can sometimes feel difficult to digest. Books similar to and including the below share knowledge and offer a range of perspectives, details on histories covered up, scientific research, facts, and so much more. Each book below has been or is in the process of being devoured by us and comes extremely highly recommended. Happy reading!
Book recommendations and reviews: conscious books
Currently reading: A Course in Miracles
A Course in Miracles (ACIM) is Jesus clarifying his teachings. So many of them have been distorted because those around him did not understand his message. Which was always about love and forgiveness. ACIM is a course teaching how to change your mindset from that of fear, to love. Built like a bible, it is a heavy, rich book. After the explanations is a workbook with one lesson per day. It is a channeled text, and is not for the faint hearted - you'll know when you're ready to read it.
A Return to Love - Marianne Williamson
First I listened to the audio version, then devoured the book in a few days. A Return to Love teaches you how to do just that: return to your natural state, the state of being, the state of love. Spiritual teacher, enlightened being, inspirational 2020 USA presidential candidate Marianne Williamson guides the reader on how to make every aspect of life more purely loving. Friendships, romantic relationships, and, most importantly, your relationship with yourself. Marianne teaches the principles of A Course in Miracles (recommended above). If you're more of a listener, there are hundreds of her lectures on YouTube, as well well as the audio version of this book.
The Course of Love - Alain de Botton
Turns out love, romance and marriage are not one dimensional. Hurrah! Philosopher and author Alain de Botton offers an alternative way to look at love, exploring through the telling of a refreshingly normal love story how love has been manipulated and distorted by the same forces that have and continue to drive us to distort many *things*... could it be... our mode of existence?
The Course of Love is a love story intertwined with philosophical theory, which makes it both an enjoyable and, at points, relatable read as well as a brain trainer. There are passages that require re-reading, sometimes multiple times, to be able to grasp an elusive point - there are many light bulb moments to be read and grasped.
With this unique story, Alain de Botton pulls the tarp off of a pillar of society, the pillar composed of romance, marriage and love, and reveals it to be made of a foundation as strong as jelly. Ideas and ideals that I feel have been tightly tied to my sense of life from my own beginning now have a looser hold. This book facilitated in the unwinding of these ties. From ignorance, to illumination.
After being on my bookshelf for only a minute, as this book came recommended by my favourite self-proclaimed "optimistic nihilist" Bobo Matjila, I digested this book over the course of a few weeks, reflecting on the discomfort of my realising just how much life is made complicated by the pursuit of greed. And just how much I want to constantly and consistently move away from that. The Course of Love is a beneficial resource for the independent thinker, a book which doesn't have a chance to get dusty on a shelf - this is a book, an idea, to share.
The Celestine Prophecy - James Redfield
This is a life-changing book. Everyone I know who has read it agrees. It's a real page-turner, an adventure story revolving around the discovery of an ancient manuscript containing 9 major insights, secrets, keys to living life as a human on Earth, and our evolution. The most extraordinary things happened to me while reading The Celestine Prophecy. I would finish a chapter, then go out into the world, and have opportunities presented to me reflecting what I had just learnt in the chapter. It really supported me as a practical workbook at a time of great transformation. This is the only spiritually-charged book I've read that is also a fun and exciting story!
READ MORE: What's on in London this month?
The Laws of Nature - A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
This little book magically appeared on my path one day (literally, at the top of my road), as well as two more books of Indian wisdom: Kṛṣṇa, and the infamous Bhagavad-Gītā. The Laws of Nature is an alarmingly small book for such a lofty title, just 68 pages. But don't let the size fool you. The content is rich with deep Divine knowledge, Indian wisdom, on life. These words do it justice: 'In The Laws of Nature: An Infallible Justice, we learn who’s pulling the string and why? Karma and the laws governing nature are a baffling and entangling force that shackles us to this world. Understand the workings of the laws and the Lawmaker, get free of the restraints and attain real freedom. This absorbing book explores the age-old mysteries of karma and reincarnation, free will and destiny, enlightenment and liberation.'
Realities of Faith - M.Basilea Schlink
My dream way of living is to not put any pressure on doing. Instead, to focus all my energy on the internal teacher within, my powerful intuition. To follow this and the signs sent by The Universe to guide me to wherever I will be of service. To rely on my supportive Source to provide me with all things needful, physical and Spiritual. Realities of Faith offers fuel to the fire of this dream. It offers proof that that way of being is very much possible. It was given to me by my neighbours, a group of nuns. The book is a collection of stories, as she told me when she gifted it to me, of how the sisterhood came to be, and how it grew. Stories of how through devoted prayer and love of GOD, they were provided with all that they needed. And no, they weren't working 9-5. Each story is of an inspiring miracle, and proves that with true faith, nothing is impossible. Work with Universal Laws (over man-made laws), and you win.
Whispering Winds of Change - Stuart Wilde
Stuart Wilde talks you through the Spiritual path with grounded humour and relatable insights. Many a-ha! moments to be had. I also recommend his audiobook, Silent Power, just a 1-hr listen.
Living in the Light - Shakti Gawain
Learn how to become a creative channel for The Universe. An inspirational, illuminating read.
The Kybalion - Three Initiates
The following axioms from the book itself say all that is worth saying:
“When the pupil is ready to receive the truth, then will this little book come to him, or her. Such is The Law. ...The Law of Attraction, will bring lips and ear together - pupil and book in company. So mote it be!”
“The lips of wisdom are closed, except to the ears of Understanding"—The Kybalion.”
Such as with A Course in Miracles, this book cannot be understood until you're ready. You'll know when that is. Hooray for Hermeticism!
Diversify - June Sarpong
June Sarpong uses facts and research to prove that having diversity and equality in every sector of society benefits absolutely everyone. Diversify is split into sections, each one focussing on a group of people who are seen as 'other' in modern Western society. Topics cover race, class, body size, gender and age, and each section includes helpful action points, allowing the knowledge from the book to go further once the last page has been turned. This is a book to be re-read.
Hired - James Bloodworth
In this eye-opening book, author James Bloodworth takes the reader with as he goes undercover to work in some of the UK's lowest-wage paid jobs, learning about some of the ways in which a handful of society's most popularly-used services (companies such as Uber and Amazon) run and how their employees experience working there. This book sparked up many an interesting conversation with Uber drivers for me, and strongly reinforced the importance of shopping small and locally, supporting independent companies rather than huge corporations whose practices can be enormously exploitative, detrimental not only to human rights but to the health of the whole Earth.
Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race - Reni Eddo-Lodge
Reni Eddo-Lodge's Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race was one of the very first books I read on the subjects of racism, white privilege and inequalities between people of varying skin tones. It was and continues to be an invaluable resource for reflection and learning. Reni's words act as a revelatory wake-up call to all white people, which in a world of deeply systemic racism, cannot be answered soon enough.
Factfulness - Hans Rosling
Factfulness is a small but powerful book full of facts explaining why, though it might not feel like it day-to-day, the world is in fact becoming a better place. I read it alongside a lighter fiction novel, diving into a chapter of Factfulness here and there, as it is a book full of information. One might not describe it as a fun read, but an informative one offering long-term gratification. However long it takes you to read it, do finish it - I found that each fact did stick, and had positively affected my general world view by the last page. Factfulness is a stress-relieving, grounding book.
23 Things They Don't Tell You About Capitalism - Ha-Joon Chang
If you're enjoying reading your way down a road of mind-opening truths, 23 Things They Don't Tell You About Capitalism is a necessary stop along the way that'll keep your mind buzzing. After reading, I went out into the world and felt like a veil had been lifted. Each of the 23 reasons Ha-Joon explains left me with new knowledge to think differently about things and gave me the confidence to make different decisions, a comforting fact to know is possible when so many parts of life can feel impossible to change or try to control. Question capitalism, folks - it's not the only way.
How to be Human - New Scientist
How to be Human is a handy guide to living on this Earth as a human being. It acts as an easy-to-read history book of the human race. By exploring the fascinating timeline of how we came to be where, how, who and what we are today, readers are invited to feel grounded in the knowledge that our evolution can only be described as a story of great magic and science.