I don’t recommend books often. But there’s a handful of books I...
Pep@peptalksblog
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Oct 01, 2025
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I don’t recommend books often.
But there’s a handful of books I find myself recommending over and over to different clients.
Here’s the list 🧵
(**More precisely, 11 handfuls. 1 book is already a handful.)
But there’s a handful of books I find myself recommending over and over to different clients.
Here’s the list 🧵
(**More precisely, 11 handfuls. 1 book is already a handful.)
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1/
The Six Pillars of Self-Esteem
by Nathaniel Branden
The daily sentence stems in this book are some of the best journal prompts I’ve worked with.
They can lead to small tangible shifts in a person’s behavior and mental state, that compound into big changes over time.
The Six Pillars of Self-Esteem
by Nathaniel Branden
The daily sentence stems in this book are some of the best journal prompts I’ve worked with.
They can lead to small tangible shifts in a person’s behavior and mental state, that compound into big changes over time.
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2/
Getting the Love You Want
by Harville Hendrix
When couples feel like they hit a dead end despite loving each other, I recommend this as a 12 week experiment.
Initially, most people feel resistant to commit to it. But when they do, I've seen it work wonders.
Getting the Love You Want
by Harville Hendrix
When couples feel like they hit a dead end despite loving each other, I recommend this as a 12 week experiment.
Initially, most people feel resistant to commit to it. But when they do, I've seen it work wonders.
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3/
Your Money or Your Life
by Vicki Robin
Most finance books focus on setting rules for budgetting.
But financial behavior is often emotionally driven.
This is a book that helps you discover your relationship to money and adjust your finances based on it.
Your Money or Your Life
by Vicki Robin
Most finance books focus on setting rules for budgetting.
But financial behavior is often emotionally driven.
This is a book that helps you discover your relationship to money and adjust your finances based on it.
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4/
Addicted to Love
by Jan Geurtz
The practical advice here isn’t unique. But pondering how each phrase applied to me was like rocket fuel for my self-awareness.
It helped me and others map out our defense mechanisms & unconscious manipulations without seeing them as bad.
Addicted to Love
by Jan Geurtz
The practical advice here isn’t unique. But pondering how each phrase applied to me was like rocket fuel for my self-awareness.
It helped me and others map out our defense mechanisms & unconscious manipulations without seeing them as bad.
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5/
Multipliers
by Liz Wiseman
If you struggle with managing teams, employees or anything involving hierarchical coordination:
The experiments in here can illuminate how our behavior as leaders impacts those we serve—and how to use our role to empower them.
Multipliers
by Liz Wiseman
If you struggle with managing teams, employees or anything involving hierarchical coordination:
The experiments in here can illuminate how our behavior as leaders impacts those we serve—and how to use our role to empower them.
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6/
Too Good to Leave, Too Bad to Stay
by Mira Kirshenbaum
If you’re doubting whether to leave a relationship, this book offers a series of questions that create clarity.
(And as with coin flips: If you disagree with the decision it gave, you now know your own heart’s choice.)
Too Good to Leave, Too Bad to Stay
by Mira Kirshenbaum
If you’re doubting whether to leave a relationship, this book offers a series of questions that create clarity.
(And as with coin flips: If you disagree with the decision it gave, you now know your own heart’s choice.)
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7/
Trust Me, I’m Lying
by Ryan Holiday
When people are negatively impacted by their relationship to the media they consume, this book can help loosen that grip.
Also gives good real-world examples that explain hyperstition without going abstract.
Trust Me, I’m Lying
by Ryan Holiday
When people are negatively impacted by their relationship to the media they consume, this book can help loosen that grip.
Also gives good real-world examples that explain hyperstition without going abstract.
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8/
The Book of Not Knowing
by Peter Ralston
The problem with people warning you against psyops is that warning someone against psyops is a 1 of the best ways to psyop them.
This is a book that can help you avoid them, including from yourself, while making life more wonderful.
The Book of Not Knowing
by Peter Ralston
The problem with people warning you against psyops is that warning someone against psyops is a 1 of the best ways to psyop them.
This is a book that can help you avoid them, including from yourself, while making life more wonderful.
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9/
Opening Up
by Tristan Taormino
On the surface, it's book about open relationships. But I recommend it to monogamous couples too.
It prompts crucial conversations we rarely think of having because we often unconsciously assume our boundaries & expectations are universal ones.
Opening Up
by Tristan Taormino
On the surface, it's book about open relationships. But I recommend it to monogamous couples too.
It prompts crucial conversations we rarely think of having because we often unconsciously assume our boundaries & expectations are universal ones.
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10/
Iron John
by Robert Bly
Many men end up developmentally stuck when progressing requires humbling or revealing themselves (often perceived as losing masculinity).
When they’ve read this book, referencing a chapter (“you’re in the ashes”) can often oneshot that resistance.
Iron John
by Robert Bly
Many men end up developmentally stuck when progressing requires humbling or revealing themselves (often perceived as losing masculinity).
When they’ve read this book, referencing a chapter (“you’re in the ashes”) can often oneshot that resistance.
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11/
King, Warrior, Magician, Lover
by Douglas Gilette & Robert Moore
This book introduces something I find very useful for working with any archetype or trait:
Pyramid diagrams to illustrate the relationship between an archetype in its fulness, its shadows & its child.
King, Warrior, Magician, Lover
by Douglas Gilette & Robert Moore
This book introduces something I find very useful for working with any archetype or trait:
Pyramid diagrams to illustrate the relationship between an archetype in its fulness, its shadows & its child.
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Here’s an example of archetypes visualized with both shadows + their child version:
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What all these books (except for #7) have in common is that they invite some degree of active participation:
Contemplations, conversations, reflection prompts or real world experiments.
This allows the reader to gather their own insights instead of internalizing the writers'.
Contemplations, conversations, reflection prompts or real world experiments.
This allows the reader to gather their own insights instead of internalizing the writers'.
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This is my preferred way of teaching too.
I'd rather facilitate a game or exploriment that can lead people to individual discoveries on a topic than tell them to internalize my current perspective.
There are many other benefits to this approach, but that's for another thread!
I'd rather facilitate a game or exploriment that can lead people to individual discoveries on a topic than tell them to internalize my current perspective.
There are many other benefits to this approach, but that's for another thread!
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Follow me @peptalksblog for more explorations on connecting with ourselves, each other and reality.
If you think others could benefit from this thread, I'd deeply appreciate you sharing the first post:
If you think others could benefit from this thread, I'd deeply appreciate you sharing the first post:
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What if the many ways you “sabotage” yourself (resistance, emotions, excuses…) are actually forms of wisdom we don’t fully understand yet?
"Effortless: Transcending the Illusions of Self-Development" is a Pep Talk on that paradox:
amazon.com/Effortless-Tra…
"Effortless: Transcending the Illusions of Self-Development" is a Pep Talk on that paradox:
amazon.com/Effortless-Tra…