Apart from reading academic books, it is highly recommended and equally important for students to read books of other genres as well for their personal development. The importance of reading personal development books should not be ignored because they potentially bring about positive changes in students and help them lead a more meaning full life. Personal development books even help you to develop into the person you want to be.
In this article, we have complied some of the top best personal development books that you should read. Even if you can’t read all of them but only one of these books, you will surely learn a few lessons that could stay with you for the rest of your life.
1. How to Win Friends & Influence People by Dale Carnegie
This is a highly recommended personal development book for every student out there. This book gives you an insight on how to connect with the outside world. Carnegie discusses the personal habits that lead to success. It also helps its readers in knowing how to have a meaningful conversation with people and how to win the hearts of your friends. This book is essential for every student as it teaches how to be influential, which is fruitful for a social life and good career.
2. The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch
The Last Lecture is based on Randy’s last lecture as a computer science professor after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. This book is not about dying but rather teaching you to live your life to the fullest. In this book, Randy focuses on meeting your childhood dreams without limiting them to society’s desires. A must-read book combined with humor and intelligence.
3. The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin
This book is all about finding the way to happiness. Even though the definition of happiness is different for everyone, Gretchen gave an insight of how one can create their own happiness. This book is a perfect read for you as it will help you find ways to remain happy and improve the quality of your life. Sounds interesting, right?
4. Failing Forward: Turning Mistakes into Stepping Stones for Success by John C. Maxwell
From a very young age, we are all taught how not to fail, avoid it at any cost because it will make us look like losers. But the truth is that every person out there fails at some point in their life. Mistakes help us learn better and make us a better person. In this book, John Maxwell writes: “When achievers fail, they see it as a momentary event, not a lifelong epidemic.” In this book, you will learn how to own up to your mistakes, observe your failures, analyze them and learn from them. A good read.
5. The 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss
This book is for all those students who want to become entrepreneurs or want to be productive for a couple of hours. This book is a voice for all those who don’t believe in the typical 9 to 5 job. Timothy provides essential lessons on how it is possible to earn more with the reduced working hours. A must-read book for sure.
6. The Attention Revolution: Unlocking the Power of the Focused Mind by Alan Wallace
Nowadays, we are surrounded by so much technology that it’s hard for us to stay focused. Social media, smart phones and so many notifications are the main cause of our lack of focus. These things also add another layer of distraction to our everyday lives. However, Wallace in his book, The Attention Revolution, has taken the initiative to help many readers by sharing a bunch of techniques for meditation. These techniques help people to be more focused and attentive towards the things they get easily distracted from. It also helps with self-control and directs our minds towards more important things in life.
7. Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg
Lean In is a must-read book for all the girl students out there. This book highlights the experiences of Sandberg as a former Google employee as well as the Chief Executive officer of Facebook and of other women too. The book goes on to tell how the women made their way by leaning in and claimed what they aimed for. Sandberg shows how to draw a path and advice women on how to break the stereotypes and face professionalism. It also teaches a valuable lesson on how to learn to take risks and not give up on your career.
8. Getting Things Done by David Allen
If you want to read a book about productivity in your life, then make it this one. The main theme of this book is that you should get all your tasks and thoughts out of your mind so that they don’t end up cluttering your headspace. This book simply states to follow the 2-minute rule but if a task takes less than 2 minutes then do it now and don’t leave it to do later. But if it takes longer, then follow a simple five-step workflow: capture, clarify, organize, reflect and engage. Set these rules in your life, be it anywhere, whether it’s your workplace or school, and your life will be much simpler and easier. A must-read book.
‘The Diary of a Young Girl’ is the original diary of teenage Anne Frank, who commences writing her accounts on 12 June 1942 in the diary which she receives as a birthday gift at the age of thirteen. The diary details the life of her family, which lives in Frankfurt, Germany, and her own concerns about life. The diary also contains a portrayal of her family hiding from the threat of SS forces and Nazi party’s treatment of Jews during the Second World War. The accounts within the diary end abruptly on 1 August 1944. Apart from an important historical document, the diary is a beautiful work, which exhibits the world seen through the innocent eye of a teenage girl. The diary provides a number of wise lines and quotes about courage, suffering, and freedom, which also reveals the prodigious talent of the young Anne.
Beginning with the famous line “Life is difficult”, The Road Less Travelled is a treasure trove of wisdom gleaned from various traditions, literature, and books across the world. The prominent self-help classic discusses in a lucid style the issues which are of immediate concern to every growing adult, such as love, family, vocation, career, trauma, depression etc., and much more. Peck employs psychotherapy and traditional wisdom regarding life from various traditions and develops ideas about real-life themes and the steps leading to self-actualization. In the life of a student, the university years happen to be more troublesome as they somewhat expose one into to the throes of independence, practicality and decision making by one’s self. The Road Less Travelled might not have answers to all your problems but it will definitively prove to be a helpful guide in keeping your head high in bleak times.
Although presented as a children’s book, Sophie’s World is a novel for young adults regarding the history of philosophy. Sophie Amundsen, whose 15th birthday is approaching, receives a letter from a stranger Albert Knox, who commits to educate her. The novel is not a dry assortment of philosophical essays as it blends together the life of Sophie with simplified explanations of some of the most prominent philosophical ideas in Europe. The novel is written with the aim of evoking basic curiosity regarding life and everything it subsumes and helps one to return to the state of childhood when everything was an amazing mystery. It is one of the most recommended novels for students of humanities because they would find many ideas and themes sprinkled across the novel, which are relevant to their class studies too.
Understanding Power: The Indispensable Chomsky comprises of a collection of unpublished talks, question-and-answer sessions, and seminars of Noam Chomsky, the famous American political philosopher. In these talks and seminars, Chomsky interprets with his radical lenses the significant political events of the last three decades, including the Vietnam War, Clinton administration, Palestine-Israel problem, and American imperialist foreign policy. Chomsky elucidates in these talks a rigorous critique of the modern world and analyses the dynamics of power in the modern world. Although some might label the writings of Chomsky esoteric, these talks are lucid and easily understandable. Not only the students of political science, history, and international relations, but every university student needs to read this book to gain an informed perspective about politics, power, and social change in the modern world.
Stephen Hawking wrote one of the most famous and widely read books of science ‘A Brief History of Time’ for non-specialist readers, who did not have any previous knowledge of scientific laws and theories. In his book, Hawking presents his theories about the origin, structure, development, and consequent destiny of the universe without employing cryptic jargon. He covers topics like space, time, elemental units called quarks, Big Bang, black holes, quantum mechanics, and many others. Towards the end, he searches for a merging theory that could explain the universe in an appropriate and coherent manner. Like other books on the list about philosophy, self-help, and international politics, this book gives a vigorous account of the scientific discoveries of modern age regarding the universe. The book is essential because it gives immense knowledge about quantum physics and universe without demanding prior knowledge from its readers.