This is a list of books that I highly recommend for their accessibility to the lay and professional reader. Although most of the authors have impeccable academic credentials, they write with clarity, authenticity, and with little jargon. These are qualities in writers that I prize. I hope you find it worth your while to explore them.
Aizenstat, Stephen. Dream Tending: Awakening to the Healing Powers of Dreams (2011).
Brach, Tara. Radical Acceptance: Awakening the Love That Heals Fear and Shame (2003).
Cameron, Julia. The Listening Path: The Creative Art of Attention (2021).
Campbell, Joseph. Pathways to Bliss: Mythology and Personal Transformation (2004).
Chödron, Pema. Getting Unstuck (2005).
Chödrön, Pema. When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times (1997).
Coates, Ta-Nehisi. Between the World and Me (2015).
Davis, Viola. Finding Me (2022).
Epstein, Mark. The Trauma of Everyday Life (2013).
Estés, Clarissa Pink. Women Who Run with the Wolves: Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype (1995).
Hillman, James. The Soul’s Code: In Search of Character and Calling (1996).
Hollis, James. Living an Examined Life: Wisdom for the Second Half of Life (2018).
Hollis, James. Living Between Worlds: Finding Personal Resilience in Changing Times (2020).
Ingerman, Sandra. Soul Retrieval: Mending the Fragmented Self (2011).
Jung, C. G. Memories, Dreams, and Reflections (1963).
Kalsched, Donald. Trauma and the Soul (2013).
Meade, Michael. The Genius Myth (2016).
Merton, Thomas. Seeds (edited by Robert Inchausti, 2002).
Moore, Thomas. Care of the Soul (2016, 25th Anniversary Edition).
Moore, Thomas. Dark Nights of the Soul: A Guide to Finding Your Way Through Life’s Ordeals (2004).
Pollan, Michael. How to Change Your Mind: The New Science of Psychedelics (2018).
Shapiro, Dani. Inheritance: A Memoir of Genealogy, Paternity, and Love (2019).
Stein, Murray. Jung’s Map of the Soul: An Introduction (1998).
Suzuki, Shunryu. Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind (2006).
Tucker, Angela. You Should Be Grateful: Stories of Race, Identity, and Transracial Adoption (2023).
Turner, Toko-Pa. Belonging: Remembering Ourselves Home (2017).
Van der Kolk, Bessel. The Body Keeps the Score (2015).
Whyte, David. Consolations: The Solace, Nourishment and Underlying Meaning of Everyday Words (2021).
Woodman, Marion. Dancing in the Flames: The Dark Goddess in the Transformation of Consciousness (1997).