Short List of Books - 2023

Before January is over I wanted to share a few books with you as I always do. (Find the previous years' books in my blog. )

This year I have a shorter list to share since I spent my last 6 months reading a lot of books about health, specifically the ones that are relevant to me. So I will not bore you with those except one that is not specific to one illness which is Outlive by Dr. Peter Attia.

As always people will have different views of him and his work yet what I liked the most about his book is the philosophy behind it. I agree with the notion that it is not the goal to live the longest but living the time we have here the healthiest. He says we are looking for ways to increase our life span yet not enough to increase our health span. I believe in preventive care and taking care of ourselves before we get to be sick so I like many of his recommendations. My opinions about him is solely about this book.

I found another book I loved at an amazing event in Tampa, Florida in March 2023, Humanity Rediscovered organized by BizCatalyst360. It is Money Vibe by Jackie Woodside, CPC, MSW . I got to listen and meet her during this event. All of us brought our books with us and we were able to take others’ back home. It is a great book to understand what gets in the way as we think and talk about money. It is full of great practices we can all do. It talks about Financial Freedom - whether you have money or not! Highly recommend it if you have inherited some bad money stories like I did.

How lucky am I to find another amazing book at the same event? It is Unthink by Dr. Eric Zabiegalski . I love philosophy and deep questions. So this book spoke to me. I read and finished it during my international flights which is always a big joy. Books are my best companion during my trips. This book talks about how we think nonstop and how we have the ability to use our minds wisely: not think! :) It is not easy to describe it. You have to read it if the title alone grabs your attention as it did mine. To think about “unthink” is a challenge on its own. Again to meet the author personally is another level of joy as I read the book. I continued reading Eric’s articles at LinkedIn which are always very thought provoking. I learned after the event that my wonderful friend Per Brogaard Berggren and Eric have been writing together for a while. No wonder I found them both at LinkedIn through their writings and some common communities we share. I am waiting for their co-authored book to come out one day!? (Planting the seeds even if it is not a project yet!) I highly recommend following them both; I am telling you they are not the easiest articles to read; they challenge my brain a lot and I love that.

Then I immersed myself into several health books until December when I went to my favorite bookstore in La Jolla, CA- Warwick’s - to just stroll, look, touch and smell the books as I always do. Living Untethered caught my eye since it has the same color scheme on the cover as the last two books of Michael Singer. I did not know there was a third one. I knew I had to buy it and I finished it in a few days as always with lots of marked and highlighted sentences. I learn so much from him. This book felt more like “let me explain how this untethered living can be done”. He tells more about the “how “ so that it is easier to practice his teachings. I don’t know if you read his other two books but I would read them all to really grasp what he is talking about. His first book Untethered Soul is one of my top five books of all times in self-help, self-development genre. The notion of not being caught up in your thoughts and being an observer, when I can do it, serves me well.

So this is my short list of the last year. Already started some good books and look forward to what I will discover in 2024 to enrich my life.

Happy reading!

Ozlem Brooke Erol

I?am passionate about making sure we have more people who enjoy what they do and find happiness at work. I make this happen as an individual coach helping my clients find what they are good at and get out of their way to experience joy at work. I also work work with organizations. I work with head of People and Culture, executive teams, and Founders to increase employee engagement, lower turnover rates, and hire the right people who will also want to stay.?I save organizations thousands and millions of dollars by reducing turnover. I write, I speak, I train, I consult and coach for the same goal. I am the author of Create a Life You Love.??The book I co-authored with amazing writers, From Hierarchy to High Performance, became an Amazon International Bestseller in August 2018. I love going around the world talking about Purpose, Purpose-Driven Leadership and Organizations.

You can connect with me here at LinkedIn. My websites are (www.yourbestlifeinc.com and www.purposeful.business). I also add short videos and clips on YouTube Purpose Channel to talk about purpose in life and at work as well as a new series I started where I interview Purpose-Driven Leaders: https://www.youtube.com/c/purposefullifechannel