Life is Nonfiction Revisited

(The featured photo is a beautiful sunset in Central Oregon, photographed while on my evening walk, listening to a nonfiction audiobook!)

Back in October 2014 I began a series of posts discussing my favorite non fiction audiobooks beginning with Life is Nonfiction. In the subsequent post: Life is Nonfiction: Part II, Life is Nonfiction: Part III, Life is Nonfiction: Part IV, and Life is Nonfiction: Part V.

My sister is a Student Advisor for the Department of Social Work for a university. She contacted me yesterday to see if I had a list of inspirational books I recommended for their resource library for Social Work students (she knows about my addiction to self-improvement books).

I sent her the links to the above posts and then realized that since posting the original series, I have mentioned or discussed numerous other nonfiction audiobooks.

Somedays I cannot believe just how many nonfiction audiobooks (primarily in the “self-improvement” genre) I listened to over the past several years. Most of these audiobooks are from my local public library’s free digital downloads/audiobook loans; a couple of the books I purchased through audible.com.

I go on two walks each day for approximately 75 – 90 minutes of walking each day. This leaves a lot of time to listen to audiobooks. I also listen to them on the weekend while working on quilting projects.

If I am not listening to an audiobook, then I am listening to one of my favorite podcasts: The Miminalists, The TED Radio Hour, Freakonomics Radio, or The Moth Radio Hour. I am drawn to listening to material in which I learn something or I am inspired by someone’s personal story. Occasionally I do listen to a Science Fiction/Fantasy novel (I love Neil Gaiman!) or Young Adult Fiction (yes I have listened to the Hunger Game series, Twilight, etc.) but I continue to primarily seek out inspirational listens.

I put together the list below for my sister of my favorite inspirational nonfiction books and  I am sharing in this post as a summary of all my recommendations posted on this blog to date. (Disclaimer: In graduate school, we were required to use American Psychological Association (APA) format for citing references and bibliographies; this list is not in proper bibliography format and if you are a stickler for correct format – my apologies!):

Favorite Nonfiction Audiobooks Mentioned on the tierneycreates Blog:

• Acuff, Jon – Do Over: Rescue Monday, Reinvent Your Work, and Never Get Stuck
• Brown, Brené  – Daring greatly: how the courage to be vulnerable transforms the way we live, love, parent, and lead
• Burroughs, Augusten –  This is how: proven aid in overcoming shyness, molestation, fatness, spinsterhood, grief, disease, lushery, decrepitude & more – for young and old alike
• Cain, Susan – Quiet: the power of introverts in a world that can’t stop talking.
• Dyer, Wayne – 101 Ways to Transform Your Life
• Dyer, Wayne – Excuses Begone!: How to Change Lifelong, Self-Defeating Thinking Habits
• Duhigg, Charles – The power of habit: why we do what we do in life and in business
• Fey, Tina – Bossypants
• Fiore, Neil – The Now Habit: A Strategic Program for Overcoming Procrastination and Enjoying Guilt-Free Play
• Gilbert, Elizabeth – Committed: a skeptic makes peace with marriage
• Gilbert, Elizabeth – Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear
• Gladwell, Malcom – What the dog saw and other adventure stories
• Gladwell, Malcom –  David and Goliath: underdog, misfits, and the art of battling giants
• Gordon, John – The Energy Bus: 10 Rules to Fuel Your Life, Work, and Team with Positive Energy
• Guillebeau, Chris – The art of nonconformity: Set your own rules, live the life you want, and change the world
• Heath, Chip – Decisive: how to make better choices in life and work
• Heath Chip & Health, Dan – Switch: how to change things when when is hard.
• Huffington, Arianna – Thrive: the third metric to redefining success and creating a life of well-being, wisdom, and wonder
• Huffington, Arianna – The Sleep Revolution: Transforming Your Life, One Night at a Time
• Iyer, Pico – The Art of Stillness: Adventures in Going Nowhere
• Jeffers, Susan – Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway
• Kaplan, Janice – The Gratitude Diaries: How a Year Looking on the Bright Side Can Transform Your Life
• Kelly, Matthew – Off balance: getting beyond the work-life balance mouth to personal and professional satisfaction
• Kondo, Marie – The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing
• Lamott, Anne – Small Victories: Spotting Improbable Moments of Grace
• Levitin, Daniel – The Organized Mind: Thinking Straight in the Age of Information Overload
• Levitt, Steven and Dubner, Stephen – Think Like a Freak
• Loyd, Alexander- Beyond Willpower
• McGonigal, Jane  – SuperBetter
• Patchett, Ann – This is the Story of a Happy Marriage
• Robinson, Ken  – Finding your element: how to discover your talents and passions and transform your life
• Rubin, Gretchen – Better Than Before: Mastering the Habits of Our Everyday Lives
• Singer, Michael – The untethered soul: the journey beyond yourself
• Souza, Brian – Become Who You Were Born to Be
• Stulz, Phil and Michels, Barry – The Tools: Transform Your Problems Into Courage, Confidence, and Creativity
• Taleb, Nassim – Antifragile: things that gain from disorder
• Tolle, Eckhart – A new earth: awakening to your life’s purpose
• Tolle, Eckhart – The power of now: a guide to spiritual enlightenment
• Weber, Lauren – In cheap we trust: the story of a misunderstood American virtue
• White, Jennifer – Work less, make more