Books that made me richer
I changed my life so I went from a debt-ridden smoker with Jasper's Pizza on speed-dial to being where I am now: I own my own house and have no debt. I pay off my two credit cards every month and only really have them for the points and convenience. I am the weight I want to be and my VO2 max is above 42. I'm still a bit of a dickhead, but financially, I'm solid. Here are the 15 books that helped me most on this journey. I’ve read many of them more than once, and I practice something from each of them every single day.
When I was at my lowest financial point ever, with not even enough money for food, I went to the library and read The Money Diet by Martin Lewis. This was in around 2004. No one had even really heard of Martin Lewis then. Although the book was more about how to be savvy with money rather than what to do if ever letter you receive comes from a debt collector, it was the first step in my slow realisation that you can control money. It doesn't have to control you.
Quite a few years later, I read The Naked Trader by Robbie Burns and had a fun couple of years dabbling in the stock market and learning about finance and the weird poetry of it all.
I read the Freakonomics books and learned that people make decisions based on human psychology and that you can't really predict a lot of it. Many of the decisions people make are fascinatingly not-sensible.
I read The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho and dreamed of leaving my day job to do more of what I wanted (but no more trying to be a day-trader, which is basically posh gambling)
The book What Matters Most by James Hollis helped me to get out of a nervous breakdown I had after playing too much tennis (don't ask). It's main message is this: face up to dark things. If some horror comes to get you in the middle of the night, don't run away and hide - face that shit down. If you have to go through a dark forest, go through a dark forest. You'll be stronger at the end. And it's the same with money. Just face it.
Steve Peters's book The Chimp Paradox: The Mind Management Programme to Help You Achieve Success, Confidence and Happiness literally changed my life. For the first time I understood why I'm sometimes a complete arsehole. And also why I like buying shiny things to make myself feel better (and how to stop doing this).
The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo taught me about feeling the spark of joy - I've used this method ever since to work out what I want and what I don't want.
The Curated Closet by Anuschka Rees helped me to identify my style, which helped me to jump on Project 333
Project 333 is how I do my wardrobe now - it's changed my life.
John Yorke's brilliant book Into the Woods supplemented everything about storytelling theory I'd learned and taught in my own book Monkeys with Typewriters. It helped me develop my own theory of five-act structure, which has made me a much more successful writer.
All Byron Katie's books have had a profound impact on me. She is a tough-as-boots proponent of the idea that you make your own reality and cannot blame others for your own shit. You can get the general idea by visiting her website: thework.com
I read Frugal Hedonism by Annie Raser-Rowland and Adam Grubb and for the first time felt like I'd found my people. I literally re-read this book every time I'm ill or need comforting.
I had no idea what compound interest was or what it could do until I read I Will Teach You To Be Rich by Ramit Sethi. After reading this book I invested in index funds for the first time and got an ISA. I understood what an ISA was!!!
I read Your Money or your Life, rightly a personal finance classic, and for the first time started to think about what my time was really worth. I am always doing some version of the steps in this book - but also recrafting them into steps you can take today that don't necessarily involve making a wall-chart from paper (I believe in the Big Spreadsheet myself)
I read The Psychology of Money, which blew my mind by reminding me that someone with a Porsche isn't someone who has lots of money - all you really know about them is they've just spent lots of money.
I was reminded by The Happiness Trap by Russ Harris to accept what's happening and keep pursuing my values.
Books mentioned:
Burns, R., 2008. The Naked Trader: How Anyone Can Make Money Trading Shares. 2nd ed. London: Harriman House.
Carver, C., 2020. Project 333: The Minimalist Fashion Challenge That Proves Less Really Is So Much More. New York: TarcherPerigee.
Coelho, P., 1993. The Alchemist. Translated by A.R. Clarke, London: HarperCollins.
Dominguez, J. and Robin, V., 2008. Your Money or Your Life: 9 Steps to Transforming Your Relationship with Money and Achieving Financial Independence. 2nd ed. New York: Penguin.
Harris, R., 2008. The Happiness Trap: How to Stop Struggling and Start Living. Boston: Trumpeter.
Hollis, J., 2009. What Matters Most: Living a More Considered Life. New York: Gotham Books.
Housel, M., 2020. The Psychology of Money: Timeless Lessons on Wealth, Greed, and Happiness. Petersfield: Harriman House.
Kahneman, D., 2011. Thinking, Fast and Slow. London: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
Kondo, M., 2014. The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing. London: Ten Speed Press.
Levitt, S.D. and Dubner, S.J., 2005. Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything. New York: William Morrow.
Levitt, S.D. and Dubner, S.J., 2009. SuperFreakonomics: Global Cooling, Patriotic Prostitutes, and Why Suicide Bombers Should Buy Life Insurance. New York: William Morrow.
Lewis, M., 2008. The Money Diet: A Step-by-Step Guide to Transforming Your Finances. London: Viking.
Peters, S., 2012. The Chimp Paradox: The Mind Management Programme to Help You Achieve Success, Confidence, and Happiness. London: Vermilion.
Raser-Rowland, A. and Grubb, A., 2015. Frugal Hedonism: Living Well on Less. Melbourne: The New Internationalist.
Rees, A., 2016. The Curated Closet: A Simple System for Discovering Your Personal Style and Building Your Dream Wardrobe. New York: Ten Speed Press.
Sethi, R., 2009. I Will Teach You to Be Rich. New York: Workman Publishing.
Yorke, J., 2014. Into the Woods: How Stories Work and Why We Tell Them. London: Penguin Books.
