I admit to ALWAYS seeking out self help and personal development books online. Now, first of all, I do NOT have a Kindle (yet) and so I tend to read my books the old-fashioned way (that is, by actually holding a BOOK).
I really love books. I love the feel of books. The smell of books.
My home is FULL of books (John & I lost count – I think we have several thousand though).
But I still look for self help and personal development books online. Sometimes I buy and download the PDF versions, and other times I just buy the books outright. The thing I think I like best about holding and reading a physical book – other than the fact that it’s a little easier on my eyes – is that I can outline and mark up my book.
John doesn’t much like marking up books. But please understand that he’s been a rare and used book dealer for many years (shameless plug: You can see John’s very own website here at Buying and Selling to Make Money which we just got started a couple of months ago). So, when he sees me marking up a book, he says, “Remember, every time you write in the book you lower its resale value…”)
But, I have no intention of reselling them. Even if I bought my self help and personal development books online for next to nothing, I bought them as part of my own journey on the path of self development.
Which is why I have probably 100 of them!
Ok, I admit that recently (because we’re selling our house and we’re trying to lighten our “going into storage” load) I donated a big bag of some of my older self help books to the local St. Vincent de Paul thrift store. My problem will, of course, be to avoid RE-buying them next time I’m in there and see them on the shelf! 🙂
When I bagged up that bunch of books, I realized that there were some I just could not bare to part with. I confess to having a few favorites. These books have been a really big part of my life in recent years, and they continue to inspire and motivate me.
Wanna hear what some of them are?
Today, I’ll go over 3 of my favorite authors. There are many more, but for now let’s start with these classics!
Ernest Holmes
ANYTHING by Ernest Holmes. Right now I am totally buried in the Science of Mind Textbook and Living the Science of Mind. I got turned on to Ernest Holmes purely by what some would call coincidence – another one of those yard sale finds! I happened to be at a yard sale in Myrtle Beach back in December, and came across Ernest Holmes’ Creative Mind and Success. It was a small book, and I poured over it and over it – re-reading passage after passage. I KNEW I needed more. So, off I trotted to Amazon, where I found both The Science of Mind
Paramahansa Yogananda
Paramahansa Yogananda’s Autobiography of a Yogi
I have adored Paramahansa Yogananda’s teachings since 1997, when I came across his wonderful autobiography at a used book store in Portland, ME (Hah! You thought I was going to say “at a yard sale” didn’t you!) 🙂
I have read the book at least 3 or 4 times, and it goes almost everywhere with me (except on vacation where I travel MUCH lighter.)
Charles Haanel
I admit that when I first looked up The Master Key System by Charles Haanel, I was surprised to see that the information – written back in 1916 or so – was first offered as a mail-order course. Fascinating! Anyway, I found myself very intrigued by his work – and liked the way he presented the information (bullet points). It makes it very easy for me to go through. I was fortunate enough to get to know one of the Unites States’ foremost experts on Charles Haanel, Tony Michalski, whose website is an EXCEPTIONAL resource for “all things Charles Haanel” and MUCH more.
Not only can you get every one of Charle’s Haanel’s books there, you can also join Tony on live calls where he talks about the different chapters of The Master Key System and how to incorporate these strategies for success in life for TODAY’S life. In other words, Tony helps bring the words from 1916 into the 2000s and make it applicable for today’s world. Finally, Tony has additional authors he features on his site that you might find inspiring and motivational.
In a future post, I’ll go over where you can find a few OTHER of my favorite self help and personal development books online if you are interested in learning from some of these classics and masters. I know that they have helped me a great deal in my own life.
In the meantime, here are a few of the books I just mentioned, here at Amazon!