I’ve read close to 1,000 personal development books in my life.

Most of them were pretty good, some of them were kinda crappy, and a small percentage were FASCINATING and had a profound impact on my life.

This is not a complete list, but here are 7 books in my library that I find fascinating.

#1 – The Ultimate Secrets to Total Self-Confidence by Dr. Robert Anthony

The reason I list this book as #1 on my list is because it is actually THE very first personal development book I ever read in my life.

I was still in high-school when I picked up this book and decided to read it.

A lot of what I read in the book aligned with how I thought about this, and a few concepts that the author taught really blew my mind.

I would definitely recommend this book, especially to young adults just graduating from high-school or in college.

Of course if you’re an adult and you feel like you could use a bit more self-confidence, you might really enjoy this book.

#2 – Awaken the Giant Within by Tony Robbins

Tony Robbin’s book Awaken the Giant Within was another one of the very first books I read in personal development.

This is one of those books that contains a LOT of content.

Tony totally over-delivers in this book and I still see it as one of the fundamental building block books that shaped my life.

It’s a “meat and potatoes” type book which covers virtually every area of life, and helps you to understand how your mind works.

 #3 – Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill

I don’t know of any other book that more multi-millionaires credit their success to than Think and Grow Rich.

Virtually every wealthy person I have ever met in my life has read this book and most of them have personally recommended that I read it.

I’ve read it many times over the years and I still get something new out of it every time I read it.

If you want to learn how to be rich, and you haven’t read this book yet, order it now and read it!

When you finish, read it again!

#4 – The Science of Getting Rich by Wallace D. Wattles

The Science of Getting Rich by Wallace D. Wattles is the book that inspired the movie “The Secret”.

I read the book back in 2001 and to this day it stands as the MOST READ book in my library.

I have read this book DOZENS and DOZENS and DOZENS of times.

The first time I read it, I couldn’t put it down.  When I finished, I read it again and again.

There is some sort of energetic field that surrounds this book, and it completely changed my life.

After years and years of financial struggle, after reading this book and applying what was taught inside I started making a 6-figure income.

It’s still one of my favorite books of all time.

In fact I might just re-read it again today or tomorrow.

It’s a short read, but it’s awesome.

#5 – A Course in Miracles

I have to admit – I haven’t finished reading this book.

This thing is literally as thick, if not thicker than a Bible and just as difficult to read.

It is not something you just pick up and casually read.

It is essentially a handbook on enlightenment.

The book is broken up into two parts – the text and the workbook.

I had a tough time getting through the text, so instead I focused on the workbook.

The way the workbook is designed is that you read one lesson and you do one lesson per day for 365 days minimum.

Meaning, you are not supposed to do more than one lesson per day, but you can stay on one less for any number of days that you like.

So for example on Day 1 you might do Lesson 1, and if you’re ready then on Day 2 you can move onto Lesson 2, and then if you’re ready on Day 3 you can move onto Lesson 3 etc.

But if you get to Lesson 10 and you’re not yet ready to move onto Lesson 11, then you can stay on Lesson 10 for a few days, a few weeks, months, years or even for the rest of your life.

I can’t remember how far I got into the lessons, but I do know I didn’t finish.

However, the lessons that I DID get through had a huge impact on my life.

It’s a very powerful book and I’d recommend it to anyone seeking to learn about enlightenment, forgiveness, peace and love.

#6 – Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely

This book also had a huge impact on my life, but from a totally different perspective.

Up until the point when I read this book, I was unconsciously living my life based on the assumption that human beings are RATIONAL.

I thought that *I* was RATIONAL and that other people are RATIONAL.

It’s not something that I consciously thought about, or that I remember deciding at any point in my life, it was just something I ASSUMED was true, just like the majority of the people in this world.

We ASSUME that people are rational beings, and when they behave in irrational ways we become confused, irritated and even angry at them for breaking that assumption.

The concepts taught in the book and the experiments revealed took me to a whole new level of understanding of how human beings think and work.

I recommend this book to EVERYONE, but if you’re a marketer or a sales rep, it’s a MUST READ!

#7 – Influence – The Psychology of Persuation by Robert B. Cialdini

This is another book I haven’t finished reading yet.

In fact, I’m only on the 2nd or 3rd chapter in this book.

It’s not an easy read, because each chapter in this book reveals some incredibly mind-blowing information that will enlighten you to understand how we are influenced as human beings.

Every time I read a page or even just a few paragraphs in this book I have to stop and re-think my entire understanding of how I approach marketing and how I communicate with people.

It’s a very “potent” book…. that’s probably the best way to describe it.

Have you read any of these books?  If so, which ones, and what did you think?

 Which other books have you read and found to be fascinating?