Audiobooks That Changed My Life

Growing up I was never a big reader. Aside from what was necessary to get me through school, I had essentially no significant reading habit until the age of 22, when I discovered audiobooks. At the time of discovery, I was working a rather mindless entry-level mill job. Having just recently completed my university studies, where I majored in Geophysics, I was feeling like my time and brain were being wasted. In the critical eyes of society, I was a failure. After I was done brooding over my current situation I made a conscious decision to expand my knowledge through audiobooks. Little did I know just how radically this would change my life.

I have no affiliation with Audible, but will emphatically recommend their services. Audible had teamed with this amazing series called The Great Courses; which were essentially entire university level courses packed into lecture series of 30 to 40 hours. The value of these courses was astounding - they cost just 1 credit (approx $13 CAD), compared to the hundreds of dollars I was typically paying for a course. No assignments of course, but the presenting professors were so filled enthusiasm and brilliant in their delivery that I was absolutely captivated by them. Sometimes I would bore of lectures all day, so I began to mix in a little sci-fi. After that I found myself dabbling a little bit in self-help books. Before I knew it, I was hooked. My days at work began to fly by! I legitimately enjoyed my time there. 

This new hobby of mine started around January 2017, just over 5 years ago, and since then I have listened to about 140 audiobooks (and read a handful of physical books). I now also spend a significant amount of time listening to podcasts, so while my yearly audiobook rate has dropped, my passion for audio education and entertainment has not wavered one bit.

On this blog I plan to share some of my favourite books and podcasts over the years. I have discovered there is a bit of an art to planning ones audio content diet; books are truly a powerful life experience, and intelligently pairing these experiences with other life experiences, or consciously choosing the sequence of content can have profound effects on the experience of each text. My most transformative reading/listening experiences were the right book at the right time. Keep this in mind while assessing my recommendations and when deciding which rabbit hole of information you wish to explore next.

My Top 5 Spiritual Books

 The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle

This book seems to have an almost magical ability to waking people up. Read by Eckhart Tolle himself the wisdom contained in this book spoke directly to my soul. In fact, this is the first spiritual text that I left behind my mind, following suggestions from Tolle, and I listened to it from my Heart. Early in the book, Tolle recommends this way of "reading", and I soon discovered the value of allowing such wisdom texts to be absorbed into your Being; as opposed to analyzed with the mind. Suffice to say it had a profound impact on my life - about half way through, I had a sudden awakening experience. The experience occurred while practicing nondual meditations, and on the backend of a number of other profound synchronisties and experiences, but there was an undeniable relationship between my awakening experience and this book. Eckhart has a beautiful way of pointing one back to the Source of Being.

The Five Invitations by Frank Ostaseski

OK, this book is frankly phenomenal, pun intended. It was easily one of my most enjoyable, enlightening reads ever! I have recommended this book countless times. Frank is everything you wish a spiritual teacher to be; compassionate, grounded, wise. He co-founded the Zen Hospice Project; where he accompanied more than 2000 people in their transition into death, while also teaching mindfulness practices to the staff and volunteers at the center. The man is oozing with compassion, which can be palpably felt simply through the tone of his voice. His line of work has placed him in some of the most vulnerable human interactions imaginable, and he courageously faced them with grace and love. And from those experiences, this inspiring man has brought back an immense amount of practical wisdom to help one make the most of their life. If thinking about death scares you, I recommend this book to you even more! I love love loved this listen.

After the Ecstacy, the Laundry by Jack Kornfield

The experience of this book was very similar to that of The Power of Now. Very little mind needed, and immense wisdom transferred through every sentence. Jack Kornfield is a renowned mindfulness teacher; he is one of the key practitioners to bring eastern spiritual practices to the west. The title says it all; Jack brilliantly weaves the world of transcendental awakening experiences with practical advice on how to live a good life day to day. This is surely a book worth reading and rereading.

Waking Up by Sam Harris

This list would simply not be complete without this book. Sam Harris in many ways was my first guru, though he would never claim such a title. Sam released an app, called Waking Up, which I used in parallel to the book. I believe Sam's gift is 'Waking Up' cynics of the spiritual path to the spiritual path. He is a bridge between rational critical thinking, and the mysterious spiritual world. He focuses much of his current work on philosophical/political discourse to help make sense of humanity and steer us away from self destruction; he is a New York Times bestseller and is the host of a very successful podcast called Making Sense. Though spiritual discourse has been seldom part of the work which brought him his fame and success, Sam has been putting more and more time into sharing meditation, which he professes is of utmost importance; Sam wants us to wake up to the nature of mind and freeing ones self from the illusions which are the source of our suffering. After spending nearly 3 years of his life in total silence over the course of decades, Sam happens to be an incredibly adept meditator and meditation teacher. His focus is particularly on sudden awakening experiences. The "Waking Up" meditations guide one to notice the inherent freedom of consciousness itself, free from self - free from suffering. My awakening experience happened during one of his guided meditations, after 4 months of diligently practicing and studying his work. This is as much a recommendation to his book as it is to the Waking Up app; which is an ever growing resource of profound meditations and discourse.

On Having No Head by Douglas Harding

Douglas Harding is a fascinating character with very creative poetic ways of describing the awakened state. This book was on my radar after extremely high praise from Sam Harris. I consider this one of the more advanced spiritual texts I have read. Direct experiences of nondual awareness I believe are important prerequisites to reading this text, though not necessary. It is a short read, so can be read easily before and after one has a deep direct experiential understanding of nondual awareness. Douglas was a true visionary when it comes to describing and mapping out these experiences. I believe his most significant contribution to nondual practices is 'nondual seeing' - open eyed meditation exercises which can have the profound effect of guiding one to see directly through the illusion of personal identity, and launch one into an experience of full awareness that has the power to change their life. Douglas is all about connecting us to who we really are.