Ancient wisdom, personal stories, and secrets to happiness
It’s time to make your life bigger and better.
Books on today’s list cover a wide variety of topics. Each of them is important in its own way. These have been recommended by Joe Rogan.
Joe Rogan is an actor, comedian, and former UFC commentator. He hosts a podcast called The Joe Rogan Experience.
He discusses just about everything on his podcast. The topics include politics, culture, current events, science, and of course martial arts.
Let’s dive into the books!
The case for a tribal life.
Humans were born to be social.
We look after each other in happy and sad times. But modern society is not letting us connect as we should.
The author starts by discussing the fact that American colonists, abducted by Native Americans, didn’t want to come back when rescued. They showed an affinity for the tribal lifestyle.
“Today’s veterans often come home to find that, although they’re willing to die for their country, they’re not sure how to live for it.”
The author goes on to provide an unconventional view of the war and other disasters. Such incidents make humans grow closer instead of apart. The loss of material belongings brings everyone to the same level.
Societies are the most human at the time of a disaster.
“As affluence and urbanization rise in a society, rates of depression and suicide tend to go up rather than down.”
Junger goes on to discuss the experiences of war veterans once they come home. He shares his own as well.
In a war zone, all soldiers are brothers. They look out for each other. It is like a tribe.
When soldiers return, they don’t find this sense of brotherhood in society.
This book will make you think long and hard about the human need for belonging.
Strategies for success from a master.
This book explores Kenjutsu, a type of Japanese martial arts involving a sword.
Musashi’s words are intended to guide swordsmen. But many people take advice from this book for all parts of their lives.
“A thousand days of training to develop, ten thousand days of training to polish. You must examine all this well.”
Musashi’s book is divided into 5 parts, with each named after an element from Buddhist philosophy.
Earth
Water
Fire
Wind
Void
The author adopts a straightforward approach. He tells us that a swordsman should be ready to kill their opponent, otherwise, they will be killed.
He also discusses the importance of training hard and gaining skillfulness.
“When your opponent is hurrying recklessly, you must act contrarily and keep calm. You must not be influenced by the opponent.”
The book tells us to keep calm in easy and hard times. I guess this is an important lesson that can be applied anywhere.
How one person discovered the wisdom of his ancestors!
Ruiz’s mother and grandfather were practicing Toltecs.
After taking a different path in life, the author returned to his roots. He learned all he could and then started giving lectures and writing books about the Toltec spiritual way.
This book is jam-packed with important words that can help you in life.
“Whatever happens around you, don’t take it personally… Nothing other people do is because of you. It is because of themselves.”
The author tells us that when someone doesn’t treat you right, their walking away is a blessing.
He also tells us to not dwell on the past. He encourages us to be in the here and the now.
“Not enjoying what is happening right now is living in the past and being only half alive. This leads to self pity, suffering and tears.”
The author gives us 4 agreements to act on:
Be Impeccable With Your Word
Don’t Take Anything Personally
Don’t Make Assumptions
Always Do Your Best.
I’d say it is solid stuff.
On the quest for happiness.
Happiness.
We all want it.
But how do we get it?
This book is here to help you with that. In short, the lesson of the book is that happiness comes from within. Outside circumstances do not hold the power to make you happy or sad unless you allow them to.
“As a first step, work less, earn less, accumulate less, and “consume” more family time, vacations, and other enjoyable activities.”
Research continuously shows that people who volunteer are happier than those who don’t. But a question arises.
Does volunteering make people happy, or are happy people more likely to volunteer?
Different studies support the second hypothesis.
“Happy people are kinder and more helpful than those in the control group.”
The book tells us that happiness arises from balance. East and West, Science and Religion, Liberal and Conservative… We need wisdom from all the ideologies.
Honestly, I love that this book focuses on finding the middle way everywhere.
Mouth breathing is making us ill.
James Nestor explores the importance of nasal breathing in his book. He tells us how mouth breathing is negatively affecting the health of humans.
“The fix is easy: breathe less. But that’s harder than it sounds.”
The author stresses on the importance of slow and deep breathing.
And this is connected to our posture and diet. Nestor advises us to stick to a natural and hard diet which requires us to chew, using our facial muscles.
The book quotes Nobel laureate Albert Szent-Györgyi:
“More than sixty years of research on living systems has convinced me that our body is much more nearly perfect than the endless list of ailments suggests… Its shortcomings are due less to its inborn imperfections than to our abusing it.”
This book also gives tips on how to breathe the proper way. Such a way that leads to the optimal absorption of oxygen in the lungs.
Keep a handle on your sweet cravings!
This book explores how sugar grew to become a staple part of our diet.
The author traces the roots of obesity and diabetes to sugar consumption. He says that fats are wrongly assumed to be the culprit of certain health issues.
“When blood-sugar (glucose) levels rise, the pancreas secretes insulin in response, which then signals the muscle cells to take up and burn more glucose. Insulin also signals the fat cells to take up fat and hold on to it.”
When we ingest sugar, our blood glucose rises leading to insulin production. Insulin tells our muscles to burn glucose as well as our fat cells to hold on to it. Hence, with overconsumption of sugar, a person becomes obese.
Sugar is like a drug.
Consuming it activates the same reward center in the brain that is activated by alcohol and other drugs.
The author tells us that the sugar industry has tried to hide the negative information about sugar for far too long.
“Rats given sweetened water in experiments find it significantly more pleasurable than cocaine, even when they’re addicted to the latter, and more than heroin as well (although the rats find this choice more difficult to make).”
This book will make you wary of putting sugar in your coffee.
Turning pain into fuel.
Goggins was born in a poor and abusive household.
Through an extraordinary journey of using his suffering to his advantage, Goggins has come a long way.
“You are in danger of living a life so comfortable and soft, that you will die without ever realizing your true potential.”
The author’s story inspires the reader to become comfortable with the fact that life will not go our way.
He warns us to not look for a quick fix. There are no shortcuts in life. He also tells us to make pain our friend and use it to propel our way forward.
“The most important conversations you’ll ever have are the ones you’ll have with yourself.”
But what if we are feeling low?
Goggins advises starting from small victories. Only then, you can achieve your big dreams.
Is gene editing a blessing or a curse?
This book goes into the depth of genetic engineering.
The author tells us about the scope of genetic engineering for mankind’s future. This technology can help humans evolve as per their will.
“Scientists are also now using CRISPR not just to change the genes but also to alter the epigenetic marks dictating how the genes are expressed.”
The author touches on embryo genetic screening. He gives the example of Tay-Sachs disease which suddenly manifests itself after affecting an infant’s brain and spinal cord.
This disease was prevalent in Ashkenazi Jews but thanks to genetic screening, it has been almost eliminated.
The author discusses the ethical issues with genetic engineering technology. There is a strong possibility that instead of preventing and curing genetic diseases, it is used to create superhumans.
“As we tinker with the code of life, we must grapple with the ethical implications and ensure that our advancements benefit all of humanity.”
The author makes a controversial claim. He says that IVF will replace natural conception as a much safer option. I mean, what?
This book is a great resource on genetic engineering technology and its ethical issues.
The rise and fall of the Comanche Nation.
This book goes into the detailed history of the Comanches.
The Comanches migrated from the Northern regions to the Southern plains. There, they tamed the Spanish Mustangs.
“Abandoned by the Spanish, thousands of mustangs ran wild into the open plains that resembled so closely their ancestral Iberian lands… This event has become known as the Great Horse Dispersal.”
The book tells us how the Comanches were a strong tribe who raided their rivals. This established their dominance in the region. Their fierceness was so well known that the Spanish dropped the plans of conquering their areas.
However, the conflicts with American settlers continued. The Parker family was raided by the Comanches. A girl named Cynthia Ann was captured by them. She went on to marry a Comanche chief and birthed a boy, Quanah Parker.
“In a fight with Comanches, dismounting on open ground was like signing your own death warrant.”
Quannah Parker led the tribe in their last battles against the American army. Even after defeat, he continued to be the leader of his tribe on their reservation.
MKUltra and Charles Manson, is there a secret connection?
7 people were killed on the nights of 9 and 10 August. The perpetrators were the members of the Manson family, a cult led by Charles Manson.
“And so, feeling the line between “researcher” and “conspiracy theorist” blurring before me, I hunkered down in the library to read about the many ways our government has deceived us.”
The narrative given by the prosecution at trial is that the murders were inspired by Helter-Skelter. Helter-Skelter is the prediction of an apocalyptic war between the whites and the blacks as predicted by Charles Manson.
Tom O’Neill was given an assignment by a film magazine to write about how the murders shaped Hollywood.
His research led him down a long path spanning over 20 years. He didn’t write the article but instead wrote a book.
“As reported in the New York Times that May, the committee’s final report determined that “FBI headquarters approved more than 2,300 actions in a campaign to disrupt and discredit American organizations ranging from the Black Panthers to Antioch College”…”
O’Neill pokes holes in the official narrative through the resources he uncovered in his quests. Official documents, correspondences, interviews, and more.
O’Neill’s book leads to an ominous connection between Charles Manson and the CIA’s MKUltra program.
Although many questions remain, the book will force you to think, ‘What else are the authorities hiding from us?’
Buy Chaos: Charles Manson, the CIA, and the Secret History of the Sixties by Tom O’Neill and Dan Piepenbring On Amazon
If you found this article useful and want to support NovelNest, join my email list below to get notified whenever I publish something new.
If you enjoyed these book recommendations, check out the rest of my book lists on my blog- https://www.thenovelnest.com/blog
Affiliate Disclaimer: This post features Amazon affiliate links, which means I may earn a small commission if you make a purchase through these links.
