The short excerpt from The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde alone makes the read worth it. Description: “Assembled by a mask maker and a fiction writer, this eclectic mix of prose, poetry, and art explores the meanings and metaphors of the Mask. From historical overview to educated debate to fanciful imaginings, these writings traverse psychology, culture, and spirit to give us enlightening glimpses into a fundamental human condition.”

This is a short and wonderful book. It found me at exactly the right time, and I read it in two afternoons. I’ve reread my highlights many times since. My favorite tracker maxim from its pages is from Renias Mhlongo: “I don’t know where we are going, but I know exactly how to get there.” I reread the book in preparation for my podcast interview with Boyd, which turned out better than I ever could have hoped.

This was gifted to me by a dear friend and ultra-high performer. He and I both feel that getting more comfortable with death is a critical part of living fully. From the description: “Although the consciousness of death is, in most cultures, very much a part of life, this is perhaps nowhere more true than in Japan, where the approach of death has given rise to a centuries-old tradition of writing jisei, or the ‘death poem.’ Such a poem is often written in the very last moments of the poet’s life. Hundreds of Japanese death poems, many with a commentary describing the circumstances of the poet’s death, have been translated into English here, the vast majority of them for the first time.

Special thanks to the amazing Susan Cain (@susancain) for sending this beautiful book to me, which is full of bite-size philosophy and much-needed imagination. These days, a little light goes a long way. From the description: “Advice, strong opinions, and personal revelations by the world’s greatest artists—exclusively researched for this new book.”

Filmmaker David Lynch describes his personal methods of capturing and working with ideas and the immense creative benefits he has experienced from the practice of meditation. This book has been recommended to me by many high-caliber creatives, including drummer Dave Elitch.

Mentioned and highly praised multiple times by Tim Ferriss

It’s a fantastic book. I would recommend people get the edition with the illustrations by the author.

“Would you have a great empire? Rule over yourself.” — PUBLILIUS SYRUS The last two weeks [May 2014] have been disaster after disaster for me: A dear friend died unexpectedly, only miles from my home. (RIP, Seth Roberts) A seven-figure business deal fell apart at the last minute. Only days ago, Turner Broadcasting let me know that the May 27th digital launch of The Tim Ferriss Experiment has been canceled. Some (not all) of the higher-ups want to try selling it to traditional outlets. Over the last 14 days, I have carried one book in my backpack to cope, all day and every day: The Obstacle Is The Way.

I actually took — God, this is bringing back a memory. I actually took an entire class on the Tao Te Ching at Princeton when I was an undergrad in East Asian Studies. And, it seems on some level, that that book does what you do for musicians. Meaning that it sort of reflects back truths that they were not aware of themselves, or they could not verbalize themselves.  Rick Rubin: There are many. The first one that comes to mind is the Tao Te Ching. It’s the Stephen Mitchell translation of the Tao Te Ching.

It ended up exceeding all my expectations – it really had a profound impact on my life.

Very powerful book that I recommend to everyone.

One of my favorites of last year easily. This is Seneca. This is a very old book. Seneca: Letters from a Stoic. Seneca was a very well-known Stoic thinker of the school of Stoicism of philosophy of the Hellenistic period.  All of the letters of this book are exactly that. They're letters written to a student of his. And it's very much, 'you had this problem, I had a similar problem, this is how I handled it.  Seneca was the advisor, basically, the mentoring guide to Nero, obviously there are interesting historical points there. But as far as someone who is able to not only help control an empire indirectly, but also amass wealth without being controlled by it, Seneca is an outstanding thinker and this is one of his most successful books. Definitely one of the books I've recommended the most.  I’m going to be coming out with my own print or ebook version with original artwork just for the fuck of it.  Wow.  That’s the wine bringing the F bombs.  I was born on Long Island.  Keep that in mind, folks—rat tail and all.  In any case, so Seneca. There’s a good Penguin classics translation called Letters From a Stoic. The audio version that I produced is the Tao of Seneca.  That’s one. 

Hafiz is one of my favorites.

A beautiful little book of essays written by Oliver Sacks in the last two years of his life, in the face of terminal cancer. It’s a quick read that showcases what he was best at — finding beauty in the smallest details and living with gratitude. A very short book, but it’s very powerful. It’s very moving. And it’s a reminder of how much we have to be grateful for, even in the face of adversity and death.

This short book has completely captured me. And just in the last two years, I’ve probably reread it five or six times. And when I feel myself bleeding into overwhelm or feeling scattered, this is one of the first break-glass-in-case-of-emergency steps that I take.