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Original poster

A book that changed your life

66 replies

JaffaCake70 · 09/05/2023 18:57

Just that really.

A book that changed your mindset, your habits, your beliefs.

I'm looking for something to listen to on Audible and trust the Mumsnetters to provide good recommendations.

OP posts:
OwlSock · 09/05/2023 19:05

Walden by Henry David Thoreau.

Leggingslife · 09/05/2023 19:05

With the end in mind. It's about dying. But so uplifting and reassuring too. Non fiction.

ModeWeasel · 09/05/2023 19:06

Jack Canfield - The Success Principles. Listened to it in the 90s and got the degree result I really wanted based on applying what I read.

It’s pretty simple stuff really but it helped really internalise and understand some useful things, including it being ok to make mistakes.

no idea what I would make of it now if I read it 25-30 years on mind you!

ModeWeasel · 09/05/2023 19:07

I had it on a cassette tape 🤣

endofthecorridoor · 09/05/2023 19:09

Alan Carr how to give up smoking. Does what it says Retrains your brain. I’ve just bought a copy for my friend who want to stop

XBealtaine · 09/05/2023 19:11

I'd say The courage to be disliked by two japanese authors. It was what I needed at the time.

Original poster
JaffaCake70 · 09/05/2023 19:43

XBealtaine · 09/05/2023 19:11

I'd say The courage to be disliked by two japanese authors. It was what I needed at the time.

That sound interesting, I always feel like I need to care a bit less about what people think of me. I might give that a go :-)

OP posts:
SilentHedges · 09/05/2023 19:51

"Your money or your life" by Vicki Robin and Jose Dominguez. I read it 11 years ago and have gone from very little net worth, to having a house paid off in 3 years (bought solo in 2019) , a decent pension, and a net worth I wouldn't have thought possible. Zero family help, no inheritances, just working a full time job and understanding how money works. It's changed my life and I'll retire 10 years earlier.

ZoraMipha · 09/05/2023 19:55

Siddhartha

StarbucksKaren · 09/05/2023 19:56

SilentHedges · 09/05/2023 19:51

"Your money or your life" by Vicki Robin and Jose Dominguez. I read it 11 years ago and have gone from very little net worth, to having a house paid off in 3 years (bought solo in 2019) , a decent pension, and a net worth I wouldn't have thought possible. Zero family help, no inheritances, just working a full time job and understanding how money works. It's changed my life and I'll retire 10 years earlier.

I second that recommendation

OwlSock · 09/05/2023 20:29

StarbucksKaren · 09/05/2023 19:56

I second that recommendation

Show quote history

I third it.

Nearly 20 years ago, these were the three books I read that changed my life at a time when I was completely lost. Newly divorced at 30 I had an awakening - Walden (as I mentioned), Your Money or Your Life (as quoted) and Voluntary Simplicity by Duane Elgin.

Still my favourites. Happily, some years later, I married a man who also had these as his favourites.

SiouxsieSiouxStiletto · 09/05/2023 22:31

SilentHedges · 09/05/2023 19:51

"Your money or your life" by Vicki Robin and Jose Dominguez. I read it 11 years ago and have gone from very little net worth, to having a house paid off in 3 years (bought solo in 2019) , a decent pension, and a net worth I wouldn't have thought possible. Zero family help, no inheritances, just working a full time job and understanding how money works. It's changed my life and I'll retire 10 years earlier.

It is a fabulous book isn't it?

Reasonableadjustments · 09/05/2023 22:32

Why does he do that by Lindy Bancroft

Made me See abuse in plain sight.

Stopsnowing · 09/05/2023 22:36

Four thousand weeks
aAtomic Habits
feel the fear and do it anyway

JobChangeSoonPlease · 09/05/2023 22:38

Being Mortal - by Atul Gawande
It's given me a totally different perspective to aging and how the human mind works. I have a completely newfound empathy for my parent's wishes as they grow older and what's important to them even if they don't make sense to me. I've read it several times and loaned it out to many. Most people end up buying their own copy as it's one of those you can read every few years and gain new insight from.

Youthinkyoureuniqueyourejustastatistic · 09/05/2023 22:38

I will teach you to be rich - Ramit Sethi
Goodbye Things - Fumio Sasaki

Mandalayblonde · 09/05/2023 22:48

Riders and Rivals. Jilly Cooper.

SilentHedges · 09/05/2023 22:53

SiouxsieSiouxStiletto · 09/05/2023 22:31

It is a fabulous book isn't it?

Show quote history

@SiouxsieSiouxStiletto I think it should be on the school curriculum.

Your user name is very well timed. I was just looking at Siouxsies set list and reviews for her latest tour. I used to obssesively see her with the Banshees in the 80s+

CassTheFox · 09/05/2023 22:56

Happy by Derren Brown

He has a wonderful way of talking about human nature. It’s very comforting.

AlbertCampion · 09/05/2023 23:00

The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing. Transformed my views on feminism.

Hellokittymania · 09/05/2023 23:03

Too tired to think of one at the moment, apart from Genevieve Caulfield‘s biography, she was a blind woman who set up a school for blind children in Thailand and went by ship to Japan and was there during the 1923 earthquake. She’s a woman that most people don’t know about, many people know about Helen Keller, but not about her. She was a remarkable woman who I admire so much. Yes, I also have a visual impairment. Unlike Genevieve, I am also an adventure who does a lot of work to improve the situation for people with disabilities, right now my adventure is in Greece. I did just buy a copy of the courage to be disliked, thank you to the poster who mentioned this, since I am going through this at the moment. Ever since I bought my home, and it’s tough going, but renting was a nightmare and unfortunately I had very limited renting options due to my disk disability and a lot of discrimination, anyway, I have been losing friends and hearing peoples negative opinions about my choices. So hopefully this book will help.

Original poster
JaffaCake70 · 10/05/2023 17:40

Thank you for all of your suggestions, I'm definitely going to purchase a few of them :-)

OP posts:
JaneyGee · 10/05/2023 18:25

Aldous Huxley's Point Counter Point. I grew up in suburban Essex, where people talked about money, cars, reality TV, celebrity gossip, etc. Huxley introduced me to another world, where people talked about Shakespeare and quantum mechanics and the meaning of life. Intellectually, of course, he was way beyond me (and still is), but it gave me a taste for something more. He showed me how much more interesting life could be. Certain writers really do inspire you. Richard Feynman is like that, and so are Carl Sagan and Oscar Wilde.

saxendaqs · 15/05/2023 00:28

Educated by Tara westover

Abracadabra12345 · 24/05/2023 13:41

JobChangeSoonPlease · 09/05/2023 22:38

Being Mortal - by Atul Gawande
It's given me a totally different perspective to aging and how the human mind works. I have a completely newfound empathy for my parent's wishes as they grow older and what's important to them even if they don't make sense to me. I've read it several times and loaned it out to many. Most people end up buying their own copy as it's one of those you can read every few years and gain new insight from.

I was coming in to say the same. My then Vicar gave it to his team as Christmas gifts, not because it's religious - it isn't- but because it's a brilliant and insightful book. He was discussing it so I bought it and have read it twice so far