Smoke’s 2023 Booklist: Inspirational, Thought Provoking and Life Affirming
We create our world with what we think, feel and do.
As we bid a grateful farewell to 2023, I am excited to share with you my journey through 120+ books, each offering a unique world of thought and exploration. I set out to dramatically expand my horizons and read widely things beyond the typical business books and biographies that have become my norm. I intentionally chose some deep and sometimes complex topics. Understanding broader context on important issues in the world and to everyone, gives me ever greater perspective personally and in my global business. I used my significant time traveling globally doing mergers and acquisitions as a partner at STS Capital to both read and listen to audio books extensively, while eliminating 99% of normal television, news, movies, and social media.
This year was not about the quantity of reading, though it was admittedly my biggest year ever (a bit more on how I did this below), but more importantly, the depth and diversity of knowledge and the profound inspiration and wisdom I encountered. As we age, we have two options: to stop growing, which means to decline, or to continue to grow. Our minds are an incredible organ in our human bodies with way more potential than any of us fully understand. The way to grow our ability to use our minds (at any age) is to actively challenge it with new activities, new material, and new ways of thinking. This literally creates increases in neuroplasticity. I asked ChatGPT to define it: “Neuroplasticity refers to the brain's ability to reorganize itself by forming new neural connections throughout life. This adaptability allows the brain to compensate for injury and disease and to adjust activities in response to new situations or changes in the environment. Essentially, it's the brain's way of fine-tuning itself for optimal performance.” In other words, if you want to live a long time AND have a fully functioning mind (aka be aware to enjoy it), it’s a must to crack the code on this. Everyone I read or talk to at the leading edge of the longevity and “healthspan” movements are reenforcing this.
Before I touch on some of the content and learnings, I thought it might be useful to share how I approached it, so that it might help some of you who feel overwhelmed with even this idea.
Format is irrelevant: The point is to learn and challenge your brain. I used a combination of print, eBook, audiobooks and even YouTube (yes there are people reading whole books there). Some books I read in print, and I listened to the audio which gave me a much different and deeper understanding of the material.
Do it whenever, wherever it works: Just as format is flexible, where I do it was flexible. Usefully Audible© was best for exercising/hiking, on planes or long car rides, and in bed in the evening. I still enjoy real books so when I had the time at home, I always choose paper copies to read. While traveling, eBooks are always preferred to keep the load light.
Reading/Tackling Material: We all work and learn differently. Do what feels good to you. Some of the books I read as written. Others I jumped around in a non-linear fashion. Some I started and didn’t put down until done. Still, some I never finished as either I got the essence of it and felt I had enough, or it didn’t speak to me and I got disinterested. Of this year’s list here are my stats: approximately 80% fully completed, 25% multiple times, 20% got essence and stopped for lack of interest/enthusiasm, 20% still going back to and either rereading or reading bits I didn’t originally.
I’m sharing this list in the hope that it may inspire some of you, or simply point you in the direction of highly useful, life-affirming content that you may find beneficial. Those of you who follow this column will recognize part of the inspiration of my newfound fondness expressing ideas through poetry. Here is a link to the full list google doc that covers over 120 titles (don’t’ worry, some are quite short) with brief descriptions of each book and its approximate rating on Hawkins Scale of Consciousness (you’ll have to read the book to understand this). 📚✨
🌟🧘♂️ Themes of Transformation, Enlightenment and Manifestation
A significant portion of my reading was immersed in themes of personal transformation and enlightenment. I’m passionate about this topic and believe increasing our consciousness is vital for humanity. With so much mental illness impacting so many people in some way, the amount of suffering is staggering. The clearest path for the alleviation of suffering is consciousness. It has been transformative to me, and I hope by sharing some of my learnings it can be helpful to you.
Ancient wisdom took precedence, with deep dives into The Upanishads, The Bhagavad Gita, The Dhammapada, select books of the Bible (printed form and also on my friend Steve Gatena’s app Pray.com), and the Tao Te Ching both traditional and Wayne Dyer’s reading of it, often revisiting them for deeper understanding in multiple formats.
Profound spiritual and consciousness insights also came from late 19th and early 20th-century “New Thought” leaders like James Allen in "As A Man Thinketh," Ernest Holmes’ “Science of Mind,” Joseph Murphy’s “The Miracle Power of Your Mind,” and Ralph Waldo Trine’s “In Tune With The Infinite.” Their articulation of manifesting and belief is powerful and absolutely works. I’ve certainly experienced versions of this my whole life through years of entrepreneurship and deal making and I am now having fun manifesting extraordinary exits for clients.
Carl Jung’s “Man and His Symbols” filled in some gaps in my understanding of the human psyche in his final and only book written for a wider audience. More modern thought leaders like David Hawkins, with works like “Power vs Force,” and his whole body of work and my wonderful enlightened teacher Ivan Rados’ “Create Yourself,” AND “The Truth” along with "A New Earth" by Eckhart Tolle and "A Course in Miracles" transcribed by Helen Schucman, provided powerful insights into present-moment awareness and the transformative power of forgiveness and love. What as pleasure to add little storytelling and poetry from my father Luke Wallin’s new book The Night We Called The Owls as well. Layering in some regular @YouTube shows that helped elaborate the “Direct Path” by Rupert Spira and Francis Lucille brought some of the concepts to life experientially.
I hosted our YPO Pacific One President’s Leadership Retreat on “Consciousness” in Sedona, where we brought a lot of these themes to life as we experienced the majesty and beauty of that magical place (see Sedona by Dick Sutphin). My friend and retreat leader Bart Foster skillfully facilitated (his great book/philosophy Business Outside: Discover Your Forward Path) and one of our star speakers Danielle L. Brooks (highly practical techniques for getting beyond our shadows and forgiving “the Extraordinary Ordinary You”) really made it impactful to our members.
🌐 Bridging Science and Understanding Our World
Books such as “The Beginning of Infinity” by David Deutsch (still working through this one, but fascinating), “The Principles for Dealing with the Changing World Order” by Ray Dalio, John List’s “The Voltage Effect,” and "Nudge: The Final Edition" by Richard Thaler offered insights into the scientific, economic, political, and psychological forces shaping our world. My discussion with John on applying the principles in The Voltage Effect to our efforts at scaling DignityMoves as we work to end unsheltered homeless were particularly fruitful. These were topics I had the privilege to discuss and debate in depth during the University of Chicago Booth YPO Leadership program I attended in April (some of it was required reading 👨🏽🎓)
The combination of these and regular viewing of the not to miss All-In Podcast with Chamath Palihapitiya, Jason Calacanis, David Sacks, and David Friedberg and reading “What’s Our Problem” by Tim Urban, gave me an excellent and sane perspective on understanding politics and what needs to happen around these topics.
💚 Health & Wellness
Cutting-edge discussions of health and longevity in Peter Attia's "Outlive," and "The Age Of Scientific Wellness" by Leroy Hood and Nathan Price who spoke at our YPO event in May, made my reading list a tapestry of enlightenment, self-discovery, and intellectual challenge. Combined with regular additions of the Huberman Lab and Joe Dispenza’s book “Becoming Supernatural” and his series on Gaia, I feel armed with a much greater understanding of the leading edge thinking. Also, many spiritual texts, especially those by Ivan Rados and the New Thought leaders, delve extensively and persuasively into the power of the mind in health. I’ve personally experienced the positive health impacts of this eliminating a whole host of serious ailments over the past 18 months which I will talk about in another post. I’m also seeing an increasing number of health and wellness related deals in my M&A pipeline and staying current on the leading edge of this has become important both personally, for business and for society at large. The amount of spending on healthcare in the US is staggering and I’m convinced if we educated ourselves, we could eliminate 80% by focusing on preventive health and wellbeing instead of waiting to treat the symptoms of disease.
As I shared these literary journeys with many of you, your thoughts and discussions enriched the experience along the way. Your perspectives often challenged me to think deeper and appreciate the multifaceted nature of knowledge.
🌱 Looking Ahead
As we step into 2024, I encourage each of you to embrace learning and broadening your perspectives as a way of life. Whether it's a book on philosophy, science, spirituality, personal development, or simply a biography of someone you admire, each page offers an opportunity to expand our horizons and understand our world a little better. I look forward to continuing to do my part in making our world as elevated as possible. Our strong commitment at STS Capital to not only help owners sell their businesses to strategic buyers but to help create billions of dollars in philanthropic capital that otherwise would not exist is front and center for me.
If you’ve enjoyed any of these thoughts or books and have any thoughts to add please do so in the comments or reach out any time. Also depending on your interest, I’m happy to direct you to specific books on the list. Here's to another year of learning, growth, and transformation! 🌟
In Gratitude,
Smoke❤️🙏🏽