The philosophy of minimalism can be defined as a way of living in which you identify the essential things in your life and eliminate the rest. It is the antithesis of the modern Western-influenced consumerist lifestyle of accumulating as much stuff as possible and being constantly stimulated by digital clutter.

Personally, I practice minimalism in some ways, and I think it’s a way of living everyone can benefit from.

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Does Modern Society Ruin Mental Health?

My personal interest in minimalism stems not from any particularly bad spending habits, but from a nagging disillusionment with some aspects of modern society. I think the constant titillation of our senses can be detrimental to mental health; certainly to mine. Consumerism sells us better versions of ourselves to keep us buying things we don’t really need.

Of course, it’s also helpful to recognize that modern society is the safest, most prosperous, and least hunger-afflicted society in human history. That doesn’t mean it’s idyllic though. Anxiety, depression, and loneliness are rife.

The British philosopher Alan Watts called out the problems with modern society as far back as the 1960s. Bearing in mind that the Internet didn’t exist back then and television broadcasts were mostly transmitted in black and white, Watts was a man well ahead of his time. Here’s a quote from his book, The Wisdom of Insecurity, which could’ve been written yesterday and it would be equally valid:

“When belief in the eternal becomes impossible, men seek happiness in the joys of time. However much they try to bury it in their minds, they are aware these joys are uncertain and brief. Consequently, our age is one of frustration, anxiety, agitation, and addiction to “dope”.

We must grab what we can while we can, and drown out the realization that the whole thing is futile and meaningless. This dope we call our high standard of living; a violent and complex stimulation of the senses…a panorama of sights, sounds, thrills, and titillations.”

Books About Minimalism

Here are my select favourite books about minimalism. Read the descriptions and opt to buy the books that sound like they would best suit you. If you prefe listening versus reading, I recommend signing up to Audible, which you can do by clicking the below button. You’ll get two free audiobooks and a 30-day free trial. All of the books in this article are available on Audible.

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Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport

Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport is probably the type of minimalism that most resonates with me because I spend too much time reading shit online that doesn’t impact my life. The entire ethos of the book is to reevaluate our relationship with technology and only keep the technologies that add genuine value to our lives.

Newport describes how few of us actually want to spend so much time online reading shit we don’t care about, but that the tools we use online, such as social media, cultivate behavioral addictions. They keep us coming back for more. Every link clicked is like a pull of a slot machine handle. I’ve often had upward of 30 tabs open at once on a single Chrome window, so I know the pull of this online slot machine all too well.

Below is a screenshot of a Chrome window of mine from as recently as a few days ago:

The author recommends a digital declutter period in which we abstain for 30 days from any optional apps or websites that are meant to entertain, inform, or connect us. Newport adds that the idea that we need to maintain vast numbers of weak-tie social connections is an invention of the last decade.

He’s on to something there. The average twentysomething back in the 1990s wouldn’t have ever cared much what former work colleagues or ex-classmates were getting up to in life. Now, we’re exposed to the lives of dozens or even 100s of people whom we don’t actually care about, truth be told.

After the declutter, if you still want to consume attention-grabbing technologies like social media or news websites, Newport recommends having set periods for these rather than mindlessly browsing throughout the day. Personally, I only now visit news websites on Saturdays for two hours and I don’t bother with any social media other than Reddit. I feel much less stressed as a result of minimalizing my digital life.

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The Joy of Less by Francine Jay

The Joy of Less is about traditional minimalism. Getting rid of physical clutter that often clogs up space in our homes and in our minds too. What I really enjoyed about this book was the middle part, which is a detailed ten-step plan to declutter your house.

Towards the end of the book, Francine Jay delivers some powerful moral messages about how decluttering has wider positive ramifications for the planet. The overarching message is to become more mindful of our immediate environment in terms of the possessions we store.

We should only keep things that we need, use, or bring us joy. Far too many of us accumulate things that don’t meet those criteria. This book serves as a nice guide to minimalism, although it gets a tad repetitive and preachy in parts.

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The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo

Written by a Japanese cleaning consultant, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up attempts to help us clear clutter in our homes by designating items into categories rather than taking a room-by-room approach. Its usefulness is in how the author helps the reader organize their living space with intention. Our possessions should essentially reflect who we are and what we get joy from.

In fact, Kondo believes we should focus the decision to keep something on whether it “sparks joy”. That’s where I disagree. I don’t feel joy about the 200 aspirin I have in my medicine cabinet, but I won’t be throwing them out because they are useful. I think if you follow Kondo’s advice and replace the word “joy” with usefulness”, you’ll probably get a lot out of this book. It does get a bit woo-woo at times, though.

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The Power of Less by Leo Babauta

The Power of Less is a well-written, succinct book about dealing with the plethora of distractions that vie for our attention in modern life. It doesn’t only approach the topic of minimalism in terms of physical possessions: Babauta also talks about the importance of minimalism in terms of our attention. When we do one thing at once and do it with intentionality, we end up being more efficient than when we multi-task.

Here are some quotes from the book that particularly resonated with me:

Principle 1: By setting limitations, we must choose the essential. So in everything you do, learn to set limitations. Principle 2: By choosing the essential, we create great impact with minimal resources. Always choose the essential to maximize your time and energy.

The Power of Less is an easy read with actionable advice. In other words, it’s the epitome of what all books about minimalism should aspire to be. No drivel, no padding of words, just practicality.

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Walden by Henry David Thoreau

Published as far back as 1854, Walden is a classic book on living the simple life. Thoreau espoused the virtues of living in harmony with nature, and he felt that even the Western consumerist lifestyle of the 19th century was not conducive to this harmony.

Many of the concepts Thoreau described are relevant to the current discourse on minimalism. In fact, quite a few leading proponents of minimalism undoubtedly draw inspiration from this book and other writings by Thoreau.

Among his ideas about simple living are fixing up old clothes instead of buying new ones, minimizing purchases, and renouncing the desire for external progress, which is the driving force behind much of our unnecessary spending. When we think external success will bring us happiness, we end up buying expensive cars when a cheap one will suffice, we buy houses that are too big for us, and we buy the latest smartphones even though our current one is fine.

Walden is a short read and is one of the main books about minimalism that caused me to reevaluate how I live my life. Check it out for sure.

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Closing Thoughts

Minimalism is one of those self-development or self-improvement tropes that can become a bit tedious due to the oversaturation of content about it. YouTube is filled with minimalists such as Matt D’avella and the Internet is chock-full of minimalist blogs. That said, minimalism, whether digital or physical, is a way of life with a number of virtues that I believe everyone can benefit from in some ways.

Digital minimalism played an important role in my own battle to reduce my neuroticism.

The books about minimalism that I’ve recommended here contain the essence of pretty much anything you need to know about minimalism. If I had to read just one of these books, Digital Minimalism was the most useful for me so I’d pick that. As mentioned before, but in case you missed it, you can also listen to all of these books by signing up to Audible for a free 30-day trial below: ↓↓↓ 

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Consciousness and Spirituality

I like Thomas Nagel’s succinct definition of consciousness as “what it is like to be something”.  That you can sum up consciousness with such simplicity of language juxtaposes the mind-bending quest to understand where consciousness comes from or what it actually is. No scientist has given a satisfactory answer as to why matter gives rise to consciousness. It’s arguably the biggest and most important unsolved scientific mystery.

An opinion that states consciousness pervades the universe, which you’re likely to hear in several spiritual traditions, is still just as plausible as saying that consciousness is merely what happens when billions of neurons fire together in an organized system (the brain). The latter is a hypothesis many scientists would agree with. It says that consciousness is merely an emergent property of matter.

Whatever the underlying characteristics of consciousness and its origins, reading about consciousness and spirituality has always been a fascinating topic for me. I’m a sucker for different perspectives! So, without further ado, let’s get onto my favourite books on spirituality and consciousness.

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Who Am I? by Sri Ramana Maharishi

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Ramana Maharishi was a Hindu sage who spent the majority of his 70 years on Earth in a state of seeming bliss and peacefulness. People came from far and wide to listen to him. After an intense fear of death experience in his adolescence, he claimed to have got in touch with the non-personal, all-inclusive awareness that he believed was the ultimate reality of consciousness.

Maharishi’s face is eminently recognizable—you’ve likely encountered a photo of his wonderful smile and all-knowing eyes if you are in any way spiritually inclined. Maharishi’s main teaching was the method of self-enquiry, in which he instructs us to keep asking ourselves who we actually are.

The book itself is derived from a series of Q&A sessions that Maharishi participated in with a philosophy scholar in 1901. At its heart, the book keeps trying to get us to come back to where our thoughts originate from. It’s an interesting read that warrants deep contemplation.

The Nature of Consciousness by Rupert Spira

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Continuing the trend of Hindu philosophy and self-inquiry, I would like to direct you to The Nature of Consciousness by Rupert Spira. Similar to how I found out about Alan Watts, I first stumbled upon Rupert Spira’s teachings while going down a YouTube rabbit-hole that probably began with a search for an apple crumble recipe.

Rupert follows the Advaita Vedanta tradition, which teaches that the nature of the self is the same as the nature of the metaphysical reality of the universe. This is equivalent to saying that consciousness pervades the universe and that we are, deep down at our core, this very all-pervading indivisible consciousness.

What I really like about this book is that its central argument is logically well-structured and well-reasoned in much the same way as any scientific argument should be. Spira argues that consciousness is primal and he does so in such a way as to make it a credible and sensible ontological idea.

He persuades is to use experience as a guide to what consciousness is, which aligns with that provocative Oriental allure of prioritizing experiential knowledge as much as intellectual knowledge. Overall, The Nature of Consciousness is a mind-expanding book that is well worth reading.

The Doors of Perception by Aldous Huxley

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The Doors of Perception also features on my list of books about psychedelics but its importance as a book transcends different domains of knowledge. Huxley combines some wild experiences on mescaline with his linguistic prowess to give an extremely interesting hypothesis on what consciousness is and how it interacts with the brain.

According to Huxley, the brain is kind of like a radio antenna that filters information from “Mind at Large”. This filtering mechanism is an evolutionarily beneficial function that prevents us all from being overwhelmed during normal waking states of experience.

Under the influence of a psychedelic (with your consciousness altered), a cup of tea can become a point of contemplation about the meaning of life and the nature of the universe. From Huxley’s perspective, and from a rational standpoint, if we were all overwhelmed so easily by seemingly mundane things, we’d never get anything done and we’d probably have died off as a species by now.

Tao Te Ching by Lao Tze

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The Tao Te Ching is a classic Chinese text that formed the basis of the philosophical and spiritual teachings of Taoism. It’s a profoundly insightful book, full of gems of wisdom and it warrants several return readings. For example, the book’s advice on comparing ourselves with others is perennially relevant; arguably even more so now in the age of social media:

“When you are content to be simply yourself and don’t compare or compete, everyone will respect you.”

In terms of its perspective on consciousness, the Tao Te Ching teaches that a life force (termed the Tao) pervades the entire cosmos. We can experience the Tao everywhere, but we cannot grasp it and cannot name it. The whole point of Taoism is to teach us to live in harmony with the Tao rather than speculate about it or try to put it into words.

The Tao Te Ching is a book I’d recommend pretty much everyone read, regardless of whether you’re interested in books on spirituality and consciousness. It’s that important.

The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle

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The Power of Now was really the first book I read that exposed me to a different way of thinking about who I am fundamentally, beyond that angsty, neurotic ego. I listened to the audio version of the book on Audible and it immediately struck a chord with me. Tolle’s voice is incredibly soothing and I enjoyed the Q&A format that the book takes on as it develops.

In terms of its views on consciousness, The Power of Now says that all our problems in life arise from identification with the mind. Tolle invites the readers to focus solely on the present moment wherein we’ll find ourselves in touch with the inner stillness and peacefulness that is always there.

The Power of Now has its critics—some regard it as a sort of New Age re-hashing of ideas that one would find in Zen teachings and other traditions like Christian Mysticism. However, what makes The Power of Now stand out for me is its accessibility and its simplicity of language. I really recommend seeking out the audio version if you can.

Waking Up by Sam Harris

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Sam Harris is someone I really admire. He identifies as an atheist, so it might seem strange to see his work recommended on books about spirituality and consciousness. The Guardian referred to him in a 2019 interview as an atheist with a spiritual side, and I drew a similar conclusion after reading Waking Up.

His book, Waking Up, is essentially an essay about Harris’s own journey to understand consciousness. He was lucky enough to spend much of his 20s in India and Nepal, meditating and being exposed to traditions such as Dzogchen. His ability to live that way was the product of an upper-middle-class background, but I don’t think that detracts from his experiences.

His openness to spiritual teachings can be summed up in the following quote from the book:

“Spirituality must be distinguished from religion—because people of every faith, and of none, have had the same sorts of spiritual experiences.”

And

“How we pay attention to the present moment largely determines the character of our experience and, therefore, the quality of our lives. Mystics and contemplatives have made this claim for ages—but a growing body of scientific research now bears it out.”

Harris’s views on consciousness, based on experience, are that the ego is merely a habitual thought pattern and that we all can access the same underlying awareness if we just pay attention. He goes no further than that, but the book is worth reading for the intrigue of his own journey.

Closing Thoughts

That just about concludes my list of six favourite books on spirituality and consciousness. If you have a Kindle, you can read all of these books by signing up for a Kindle Unlimited membership, which I really recommend:

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I welcome any contributions you might have to add to this list. Please comment below the article if you got something of value here. Thank you.

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(Disclaimer #1: This blog post contains affiliate links. Disclaimer #2: Psychedelic substances are powerful and not legal in many countries. This blog post does not condone or recommend their use.)

The Value of Reading Books About Psychedelics

Before taking psychedelics, it’s wise to do your research and know what you’re getting into. These are powerful substances, after all. Given that this blog is aimed at introspective/introverted people who get as much stimulation from books as extroverts get from parties, I have a feeling that a list of books about psychedelics will be well-received Even if you don’t actually plan on taking psychedelics any time soon (or possibly ever), they are an undeniably fascinating topic and well worth exploring intellectually.

DMT: The Spirit Molecule by Rick Straussman

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I could think of no better place to start from than with one of the most fascinating research experiments in history on psychedelics. Between 1990 and 1995, Dr. Rick Straussman, a clinical psychiatrist, conducted psychedelic research on 60 healthy volunteers at the University of New Mexico. He injected the 60 study participants with DMT, which is one of the strongest psychedelic substances known, and he recorded their experiences.

The intensity of DMT is such that within moments of exposure to a powerful enough dose, you are blasted from your body into an entirely alien dimension. You can meet dancing jesters and geometric patterns made of love, as Joe Rogan once said on the JRE podcast. The fact that Dr. Straussman managed to get approval for such an experiment during a period in which psychedelics were regarded with disdain and fear in the scientific community was incredible.

Using the patient experiences as a guide, Straussman explores whether DMT is a spirit molecule that “may lead us to an acceptance of the coexistence of opposites, such as life and death, good and evil; a knowledge that consciousness continues after death; a deep understanding of the basic unity of all phenomena.”

The body produces DMT—it’s known as an endogenous monoamine. My only advice is to read this book and come to your own conclusion about whether DMT is inextricably linked to the nature of consciousness. Whatever your conclusion, DMT: The Spirit Molecule is a fascinating read.

How to Change Your Mind by Michael Pollan

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Michael Pollan is an award-winning journalist who is best known for his books on food and agriculture, such as Cooked and The Omnivore’s Dilemma. He writes with an invigorating clarity of language, a scientific approach, and a refreshingly open mind. When I heard Pollan was writing a book about psychedelics, I took note and bought it as soon as it was released.

How To Change Your Mind is a fascinating read. Pollan researches the history of psychedelics and investigates their current therapeutic use. He takes hefty doses of psilocybin mushrooms and 5-Meo-DMT during his journey and documents his thoughts. His first-hand psychedelic experiences and investigative research result in some diamond quotes, such as:

“Normal waking consciousness feels perfectly transparent, and yet it is less a window on reality than the product of our imaginations-a kind of controlled hallucination.”

and

“You go deep enough or far out enough in consciousness and you will bump into the sacred. It’s not something we generate; it’s something out there waiting to be discovered. And this reliably happens to nonbelievers as well as believers.”

If you are at all interested in psychedelic exploration from the point of view of a brilliant writer who takes a totally agnostic, open-minded approach to the topic, I cannot recommend How to Change Your Mind enough.

The Doors of Perception by Aldous Huxley

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Any list of the best books about psychedelics could not be taken seriously if it didn’t include this absolute classic by one of my favourite authors, Aldous Huxley. The genius of Huxley is that he was able to express his linguistic prowess equally well in both fiction and non-fiction formats. In the book, which is more like an extended essay, he details his own experiences with the psychedelic drug mescaline, which naturally occurs and is found in various cacti, such as the peyote cactus and the San Pedro cactus.

The Doors of Perception is regarded as an influential book that helped spark the 1960s counterculture movement. Huxley’s perspective was that the brain acts as a reducing valve for consciousness, filtering out tons of sensory data that would be overwhelming and incompatible with our need to survive if we were exposed to it all the time. Huxley believed that taking mescaline and other psychedelics toned down the brain’s function as a reducing valve and opened the doors to perception.

You might walk away from The Doors of Perception thinking Huxley was an idealist who used flowery language to mask pseudoscientific ideas. Or, you might wake away with a different perspective on what life means. Either way, it’s an excellent read.

The Psychedelic Explorer’s Guide by James Fadiman

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The reason I include The Psychedelic Explorer’s Guide on my list of best books about psychedelics is less to do with its insights and quality of writing and more to do with its practical utility. If you are sincere about exploring psychedelics not just intellectually—but experientially, you shouldn’t do so before reading this book.

The Psychedelic Explorer’s Guide goes into detail on the importance of having a guide or trip-sitter. There are also sections on set and setting that are must-reads. Overall, it’s an essential book for the safe exploration of psychedelic substances.

The Joyous Cosmology by Alan Watts

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I discovered Alan Watts by accident one day on YouTube, and I was quickly hooked. I remember wandering around second-hand book stores in northern Thailand a few years ago, and a book named The Joyous Cosmology by Watts caught my eye.

At the time, I had read The Wisdom of Insecurity and The Book (both written by Watts). I enjoyed them thoroughly but I never realized he had a whole host of other publications to his name. The Joyous Cosmology is pretty much the Alan Watts equivalent of The Doors of Perception.

In the book, Watts details his experiences on LSD, mescaline, and psilocybin. He also discusses these topics with the type of open-mindedness and intelligence characteristic of his exposure to Oriental traditions. Some quotes:

“Whether it is organic or inorganic, we are learning to see matter as patterns of energy—not of energy as if energy were a stuff, but as energetic pattern, moving order, active intelligence.”

And

“Is this, perhaps, an inner view of the organizing process which, when the eyes are open, makes sense of the world even at points where it appears to be supremely messy?”

True Hallucinations by Terence Mckenna

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Terence Mckenna was a fascinating character and a brilliant public speaker. He was also a bit outlandish in his ideas and had a tendency to veer on the side of quackery. However, his book, True Hallucinations, makes it onto my list of the best books about psychedelics completely on merit.

True Hallucinations is like no other book about psychedelics. It’s mesmerizing and bizarre in equal measure. The book details the adventures of Terence and his brother Denis through the Amazon Basin as the two of them seek out shamanic rituals and hallucinogens.

If you take a biological reductionist approach to the idea of psychedelics, you’ll probably dislike this book, but the same could be said for this entire list. On the other hand, if you are open-minded and agnostic about what psychedelics can teach us, True Hallucinations is a fascinating book.

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Buddhism is not only a religion. Buddhism is a philosophy; a way of approaching life and dealing with its ups and downs.  The beauty of Buddhism is in its universality. You don’t need to be a practicing Buddhist to get something of value from it. I’ve decided to write this blog post highlighting what I believe are the best Buddhism books that you simply must read. These books will give you an amazing understanding of what Buddhism is about and how you can apply it to your life.

What Are The Benefits of Buddhism?

The benefits of Buddhism are how the philosophy addresses the nature of human suffering and how it teaches us ways to train our minds and live our lives so that we can overcome this suffering. More specifically, learning about Buddhism can bring some positives to your life such as:

• Buddhism can improve your mental health by reframing how readily you attach to your thoughts.
• Buddhist meditation can help you achieve inner peace and tranquility of mind.
• Buddhism teaches mindfulness, which enables you to become more present in your life.
• Buddhism is secular; it doesn’t depend on believing in a higher power.
• Buddhism teaches the value of compassion towards our fellow humans.

With all of these great benefits in mind, let’s now move on to some of the best Buddhism books that encapsulate what Buddhism is about and how you can apply it.

1. The Heart of the Buddha’s Teaching by Thich Nhat Hanh

Thich Nhat Hanh is a Vietnamese Buddhist monk and a prolific writer. His bibliography includes over 70 books, all of which are marked by a wonderfully poetic use of language. The Heart of the Buddha’s teaching is an excellent book and it serves as a wonderful guide to how you can apply Buddhist philosophies and ideas to your life.

The book covers important Buddhist teachings like the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path. Hanh, who is known affectionately by his followers as Tai, presents the ideas of Buddhism with excellent lucidity. I think this book should be on any list of the best Buddhist books.

2. Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind by Shunryu Suzuki

This little gem of a book is a compilation of teachings from Shrunryu Suzuki, a Zen master. One of the reasons I like Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind so much is that it focuses mostly on the benefits of meditation. In Zen, which is a school of Buddhism, the practice of sitting and letting go of attachment to thoughts is known as zazen.

Zen monks and practitioners often talk about the virtue of maintaining an attitude of Shoshin (初心). This is a mindset in which one approaches a subject, no matter how much knowledge they have about it, with the eagerness and lack of preconceived ideas that a beginner would. I like to think of it as approaching a topic like a child would; with that eagerness and curiosity to learn and listen. One of the important ways to cultivate this mindset is to meditate.

As Suzuki says in the book, “If your mind is empty, it is always ready for anything, it is open to everything. In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s mind there are few.” I like this quote because it is so relevant in the modern world of divisive online discourse. Everyone has an opinion, everyone expresses those opinions strongly, and everyone thinks they are an expert. But an untrained mind is always clouded by preconceived notions.

3. Buddhism for Beginners by Thubten Chodron

This is perhaps the best Buddhist book that gets across to the reader the fundamental ideas behind Buddhism. The beauty of its book is its use of language and a Q&A format that answers common questions on Buddhism with impressive clarity.

I also like how Buddhism for Beginners answers more general existential questions in relation to Buddhism. This is not a dry book based on acquiring theoretical knowledge. Some of the questions you’ll get answers to (from a Buddhist perspective) include:

• How can you deal with fear better?
• How do you establish a regular meditation practice?
• If the world is emptiness, does nothing exist?

Buddhism for Beginners provides essential Buddhist knowledge for people who aren’t interested in reading dry, strictly theoretical texts. Therevada Buddhism, which is practiced widely in Thailand, Cambodia and Myanmar, is filled with thousands of discourses aimed at improving understanding of its ideas. This is a Western-friendly Buddhist book that knows what its aim is and sticks to it well.

4. Buddhism the Religion of No-Religion by Alan Watts

Self-proclaimed spiritual entertainer Alan Watts is one of my favourite people to read and listen to. His lectures have gained prominence on YouTube recently, with thousands of videos uploaded by different channels, some of which are mixed with questionable music. As a person who enjoys reading as much as listening, I am grateful Alan watts was as talented at writing as he was at public speaking.

This book is actually taken from a series of lectures Watts gave, so it is not actually his writing, but these lectures translate beautifully to text.   The great achievement of this book is how well it conveys Buddhist ideas and the evolution of Buddhism through both Watts’ impressive knowledge of the Orient and his classic British wit. The great achievement of this book is that it manages to be an excellent self-help manual, which pretty why Buddhism is so important.

5. The Miracle of Mindfulness by Thich Nhat Hanh

Thich Nhat Hanh’s second appearance on this list. But I couldn’t write about the best books on Buddhism without including this all-time classic on mindfulness.  If you were to distill what aspect of Buddhism is most secular and most applicable to everyone’s lives, it’d surely be mindfulness.

Other than how applicable it is, mindfulness has also been rigorously studied by scientists. An intriguing 2015 paper entitled ‘The Neuroscience of Mindfulness Meditation’ delves into the intersection between mindfulness meditation and neuroscience. Tons of brain changes are discussed, including changes in areas that regulate emotions, self-awareness, and attention.

The Miracle of Mindfulness is essentially a manifesto on mindfulness and how to apply it to our daily lives. Life seems to fly by and part of the reason for that is we are not ordinarily present enough throughout each day. Each activity, every second, provides an opportunity to be present. What Tai conveys beautifully in The Miracle of Mindfulness is that by focusing our entire attention on whatever we happen to be doing, we can achieve a state of mental calmness.

The profundity of this book is how it can transform a simple act like shaving or washing the dishes into something meaningful that we appreciate and are fully present for. This approach to the apparent mundanities of life contrasts sharply with how must of us in the West are conditioned to approach mundane tasks. We always worry about the future and think about the past, so that we miss the present, which is where life actually happens.

6. Siddhartha by Herman Hesse

The only fiction book on this list and it is an absolute corker. I read Siddhartha in one sitting at my local library while waiting for my mother to undergo a routine medical procedure in a nearby hospital. The book is essentially a riff on the true story of Gautama Buddha, the founder of Buddhism.

Gautama Buddha was a wealthy Indian royal whose father sheltered him from death, disease, hunger, and destitution for the first 28 years of his life.  Siddhartha then left the grounds of the palace in which he had been sheltered on his 29th birthday. He encountered everything his father sheltered him from and he was left wondering what is the meaning of life if such suffering exists in the world.

Gautama Buddha renounced his worldly possessions and became an ascetic who depended on the kindness of others to share food with him. But extreme asceticism didn’t provide the meaning that the Buddha strived for. He then underwent a serious study of the nature of his own mind by meditating continuously under a Bodhi tree for 49 days. After 49 days, the Buddha became awakened. (Buddha means awakened one).

Hesse’s Siddhartha is an exquisite book both in terms of the depth of its themes and its simple use of language to convey complex ideas. It is the ultimate book on finding meaning and it is a profound example of the Buddhist idea of finding The Middle Way between outright asceticism and being a functioning member of society who embraces the world. Siddhartha is one of very few books that is bound to stick with you even if you only ever read it once in your life.

Closing Thoughts

Whether you want to read one of these books or all six, I believe there is something in here for everyone. My personal favourite from this list of best Buddhism books is Siddhartha even though it is the only book here that doesn’t directly explain Buddhist ideas.

I firmly believe that Buddhism is by a long way the most relevant and interesting of the world’s religions in terms of providing plausible answers to the important questions in life. At the very least, learning about Buddhism makes you reconsider who you are and what you deem important in life.

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