The other day I was talking to a friend who shyly admitted that he hadn’t read a full book in over a year. And the reason he was shy about it was that he had been a lifelong reader, and he knew the difference it had made in his life.
But there’s definitely something happening with the easy access to our phones and all of the other distractions that are reducing the amount of reading many of us are doing.
I’ve seen it personally, and I think it’s a problem.
Books are different from online content. They’re thoughtful, curated, and edited. They let you pause and think. They don’t come with a bunch of negative comments attached to the bottom of every thought.
So one of my New Year’s resolutions is to increase the amount of reading I do, and I’d like to challenge you to do the same.
To hopefully get you started, here are some of the books that I’m currently reading. I’m a five-books-at-a-time kind of guy, jumping between whatever I’m in the mood for. My wife is the opposite. She reads one book start to finish no matter what. 🙂
Making Life Easy: A Simple Guide to a Divinely Inspired Life – by Christiane Northrup
One of the most amazing things about my work is that I get to interact with some of my favorite authors. So spending a day with Christiane during my sister’s wedding in Mexico, and then reading her book, is about as cool as it gets.
This is a beautiful book – a departure from her previous, more medical work. And I just love it! Here’s a couple of bullet points about what the book promises, to give you a better idea of how great it is.
Take your well-being into your own hands as you learn to:
Ask and It Is Given – by Abraham-Hicks
La
st week I shared a video by Abraham and spoke about how often I go back to this material. I believe one of the keys to success in any aspect of your life is to continue to revisit the material to help it sink in even further.
That’s why I’ve seen people who go through the whole Tapping World Summit (or one of our online programs) several times get the best results. It’s the same with this great book. (BTW… since many of you have been asking… our NINTH(!) annual Tapping World Summit will be starting it’s pre-launch on February 6th. Stay tuned!)
The Tapping Solution for Manifesting Your Greatest Self – by… ME!
Ok, this isn’t a real one because I’ve been reading it again and again for editing purposes. It’s due out Fall of 2017, so you’ll just have to be patient on this one. 🙂
Tools of Titans – by Tim Ferris
This
is a massive book. It covers, as the subtitle says, “The Tactics, Routines, and Habits of Billionaires, Icons, and World-Class Performers”. I don’t know Tim personally, though we have several close mutual friends. But I’ve been massively impressed with his work over the past decade and I love this book. If you’re looking to upgrade your performance in any aspect of life, this tome is for you.
My Age of Anxiety: Fear, Hope, Dread and the Search for Peace of Mind – by Scott Stossel
While I definitely wish the author had explored EFT Tapping in the book, it’s a wonderful book about his experience and the history of treating anxiety.
More than anything, through his delicate and vulnerable writing, I felt such compassion for him and those who have experienced crippling anxiety. It’s a great read if you’ve struggled with anxiety, or if you’re a practitioner or coach.
The Complete Guide to Fasting: Heal Your Body Through Intermittent, Alternate-Day, and Extended Fasting – by Jimmy Moore and Dr. Jason Fung
Fasting in various forms has been a part of my life for over a decade. In fact, I came up with the idea to make The Tapping Solution documentary film on day 5 of a fast.
I’ve found it to be a real miracle on so many levels, and this book does a great job of laying out all the recent science and research behind it, as well as giving you simple plans to try it. Read it, try fasting (safely and under doctor’s supervision), and let me know how it helps you.
The Whistler
– by John Grisham. My father-in-law just gave me this book while on vacation. A perfect book for the beach. Classic Grisham page-turner.
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The Way of Kings
– by Brandon Sanderson. If you love fantasy, then you know the name, Brandon Sanderson. This book and others in the trilogy are fantastic. I also love his “Mistborn” series. Fill fill fill fill fill fill fill fill fill fill Fill fill fill fill fill fill fill fill fill fill Fill fill fill fill fill fill fill fill fill fill
The Fall of Giants
– by Ken Follett (The Century Trilogy Book 1). Better set aside a year to get through this amazing, expansive, historical epic. He brings history to life like no one else!
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There you go!
Plenty to keep you busy for the next day, week, month, or year. 🙂
Until next time…
Keep Tapping! (and reading)
Nick Ortner
Copyright © 2024 The Tapping Solution, LLC
Reading again, the third time…The Alchemist, by Paulo Coelho. A story -simple, direct and encouraging to trust our intuition, be aware and live in the moment. A good read for everyone, and I’d recommend it for young people. Another dog eared favourite…The Art of Living, interpreted by Sharon Lebell – ‘Epictetus, a classic manual on Virtue, Happiness and Effectiveness’..stoic Western philosophy from 100+AD. so relevant today. Also books by Dr.s Joseph Murphy and Ernest Holmes, written in 1930s – the power of our subconscious mind – also totally applicable in the now. Both still in print at your local bookstore. I’ve lived 80 good years trusting myself and still have much to learn – and re-learn.
I appreciate all the kindness and love you and Jessica put out so generously to the world! It’s beautiful! I also appreciate the other interesting things you share, like the books you read. : D
I’ve felt the spiritual pull and have been a seeker for answers for quite some time and came across the book DIANETICS: The Modern Science of the Mental Health.
It explains so much about the mind, I wish I had found this earlier in my life, it could have saved me lots of grief! Everyone should have this knowledge!!! : D
(Important note: Use the glossary in the back for any unknown words so you fully get the concepts.)
Dear Nick, I ordered your book recommendation “The Age of Anxiety.” Guess what? It is making me really anxious. and I am not kidding. this guy’s anxiety jumps out of the page at me. but I love the book–thank-you. Just can’t read it for very long at once. LOL
The Elephant Whisperer. Wonderful true story of love, devotion and intelligence written by an amazing man. Very uplifting
Hi Nick. You nailed the book that has changed my life. Ask and It Is Given is my all time favorite that I have read and re-read numerous times. I highly recommend anything written by Jerry and Esther Hicks. It is life changing material.
I have read last summer, The Surrender Experiment by Michael Singer, what a lesson for me that tend to “control” almost everything that is happening around. Highly recommended if you want to experiment the “Let it go”.
Also Way of the Peaceful Warrior by Dan Millman, you are going to be able to walk with him is his journey toward the self realization, coming from a real person, from him as well I will start reading The Life you Were Born to Live…cannot wait
I’m re-reading C.S. Lewis’s Narnia series, which starts with “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe”. My all time favorite stories! I re-read them even more often than Tolkien’s “Lord of the Ring” series (my second favorite).
Ms Rowling sure is right 😉 And how much poorer life is without diving into books of any kind!
I´m a paper addict, but had, for lack of time, a not-for-learning-purposes book free period for quite some years, and finally ended this ‘fast’ by devouring Glennon´s Love Warrior. Brave, tough, inspiring, amazing, awesome. One of the best books ever.
No easy read, though, so at my bedside now are two books, I enjoy again and again, which are of a very different kind and intended for a younger audience..: The Big Book of Hugs + Gorilla Thumps and Bear Hugs :-)))
An all time favorite which I keep recommending, unfortunately is available only in German: Geschichten von Drache und Bär (= Stories about Dragon and Baer) by Konrad Utz. It´s a treat! If you know German, read it 🙂
It features bedtime tales about those two friends and their adventures in their friendship in a touching, straightforward language and logic of elementary school kids, with subtle yet great philosophical depth. My sons loved it and, funnily, my father (whom I can´t remember reading any book less sophisticated than Maugham or some encyclopedia) in his mid-seventies, few months before he passed away from cancer, spotted it and insisted to read it: he loved and appreciated it very much. Makes me smile remembering how enthusiastic he talked about it…
Actually, I love the stories so much, that I recorded me reading them out loud, so I can enjoy having them read to me 😉 I wonder if any one else does such silly things *lol*
Well, I guess these ‘bear-y’ books balance the ‘technical literature’, which I also appreciate: Perlmutter, Hyman, Rydall, Dispenza…
The Elephant Whisper – Lawrence Anthony. An amazing book. A true story of an amazing man and the intelligence love and devotion of elephants he rescues
I read a lot and its the best book ive read in a while. Check it out
I love Starhawk’s books, especially “The Fifth Sacred Thing” and “Walking to Mercury.” Women-centered science fiction but also with strong male characters.
I read constantly. I threw out my television about two years ago. so here are some of my latest reads:
Romeo Dallaire, Waiting for the First Light. The best description I have ever read about what it is like to have PTSD.
Kent Haruf, Benediction –beautiful book–fiction
Anything at all by Ann Patchett, her latest is The State of Wonder
Anything by Ian McEwan
Anything by Jonathen Franzen
Miriam Toews, A Complicated Kindness
I better stop because my list is very long. 🙂
You Are The Placebo-Making Your Mind Matter by Dr. Joe Dispenza
A wonderful non-fiction book that supports the concepts of tapping is: “The Brain That Changes Itself – Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science” by Norman Doidge, MD. This book has fueled my “science nerd” leanings and supported my ongoing interest in the advancement of personal growth and healing!
I am currently re-reading “Journey of Souls” by Dr. Michael Newton. I read it a few years ago along with his other three. I am fascinated by the life between lives stories.
My all time favorite non-fiction books are anything by Dr. Wayne Dyer. My favorite fiction books are anything by Rober A. Heinlein. Both men were amazing writers.
Hello – I’m currently reading a riveting, inspirational book: The Boys in the Boat” by Daniel James Brown. It’s about nine American rowers and their quest for a gold medal at the 1936 Berlin Olympics.
I like to read two books at once so the two is The Observers Chair by Dave Blanchard .The other one I’m reading is Your Soul Contracted Decoded by Nicolas Ngan
I am reading “The Book of Mysteries” by Jonathan Cahn. He wrote the Best Sellers “The Harbinger” and “The Mystery of the Shemitah”.
A Man Called Ove – this is hilarious and heartwarming. Has been translated into 25 languages.
I’ve been an avid reader since I was a child. Now since I am retired I only read when I have appointments where I have to wait to be seen or have my car in for service and I await for it. My favorite author right now is Christine Feehan.. I only read her Carpathian and Leopard series paperbacks.
Hi Nick – I also read 5 books at a time; if I read before sleeping I like it to be a spirituaI or inspirational book. A favorite mystery author is Louise Penny; she’s Canadian and I wait for the next book in her Gamache series with great anticipation! I read Daniel Stein, Interpreter by Ludmila Ulitskaya for my modern Russian lit reading group and even though it was fiction, it was based on the life of the real Brother Daniel, Oswald Rufeisen and was an incredible story.
Remembering Wholeness by Carol Tuttle…that has been a great help in my perspective on our lives.
Belonging Here – Judith Blackstone
When Breath Becomes Air – Paul Kalanithi
This is How You Lose Her – Juno Diaz
Triangles – Ellen Hopkins
Hi Nick. I simply love the way that you connect with us, sharing so much of your down-to-earth life. Like you, I am a 5-books-at-a-time reader and am so thankful for android tablets and phone apps that allow me to carry dozens of books with only a few ounces of weight.
A few recent books:
Anam Cara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom by John O’Donohue (!!!).
The Tapping Solution by Nick Ortner.
Imhotep by Jerry Dubs.
Can’t Wait To Get To Heaven by Fannie Flagg.
A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson.
A Man Called One by Fredrik Backman.
Visiting Tom: A Man, a highway, and the Road to Roughneck Grace by Michael Perry.
I recommend all the Abraham-Hicks books – they are so wonderful. I also enjoyed all of the
“Conversations with God? series by Neale Donald Walsh. Thanks for your recommendations. Have read some of them and will continue.
God has a dream – Desmond Tutu
Conversations with God- Neale Donald Walsh
If this is a man – Primo Levi
Bury my heart at Wounded Knee – Dee Brown.
Black Earth – The Holocaust as history and warning – Timothy Snyder
Fiction:
The Lord of the Rings – Tolkein
Anne of Green Gables – LM Montgomery
The Lewis Trilogy – Peter May
Wolf Hall/ Bring up the bodies/A place of greater safety – Hilary Mantel
The Sunbird – Wilbur Smith
A Thousand Splendid Suns –
Many Lives, Many Masters by Dr. Brian Weiss
I, like your friend, was once an avid reader and have found too many distractions to keep me from reading lately (although it hasn’t been a full year yet!). I appreciate these suggestions to get me started again, although I keep BUYING books and not reading them. I think I have half a dozen sitting around the house unread.
Life On Earth by Mike Dooley is a “must” read. Fantastic! Resonates on so many levels!
Great New Years resolution! My reading has been reduced by social media news bites. What’s your plan to increase your book reading Nick?
I am reading a great book currently, it is fiction, “A Thousand Splendid Suns” by Khalid Hosseini. I know that you won”t go wrong by reading this book. My granddaughter had to read this for her advanced class in English. It is well worth the read.
Hey Nick
Have you read The Tremble of Love by Ani Tuzman
Check it out! Written about the life of a Jewish mystic
called the Bal Shem Tov
Blessings
Tom
The Bible.
I am reading The Tapping Solution! I am very grateful for its guidance on everything – now, on procrastination, part of my personal prison. Thank you for the hope and the help of tapping — and for your upbeat email suggestions and reminders. Good work!
The Surrender Experiment is my favourite – by Michael Singer. He also wrote The Untethered Soul, but the Surrender one is fantastic – if I get into anything, I pick it up and open it at marked passages and I promptly get out of it!! Jill – Perth, Western Australia
Hi Nick,
Feel the fear and do it anyway by Susan Jeffers. Awesome book!