O k. So I’m waaaay overdue in sharing my top book picks for this (actually last) month. So without further delay, here they are:

The Master Key System
Charles Francis Haanel
A little over a year ago, a friend of mine told me of this video he’d seen called, “The Secret”. He spoke of it in such cryptic and conspiratorial tones that I was instantly intrigued. Not too long after that, I happened upon The Master Key System. From the description my friend had given me and from the impression I’d formed after seeing a brief excerpt of The Secret, I thought, “To hell with that, this is the book for me.” 
Originally published in the 1930s(?), the book is rumored to have been the inspiration for both ”The Secret” and Napleon Hill’s “Think and Grow Rich”. This is one of those foundational books that rank alongside The Celestine Prophecy and The Kybalion – you can see strains of the wisdom in this book in each of the world’s major religions and philosophies. The writing is a bit archaic, and depending on your spiritual / religious beliefs, you may not gibe with it 100%, but it’s definitely one to add to your collection of metaphysical tomes. I keep it next to my Bible.

The Souls of Black Folk
W.E.B. DuBois
Once upon a time there was a horrible thing called slavery… some time later, Martin Luther King was born. Tell me this isn’t an almost dead-on synopsis of the Black history education you received in school! Well, for those of us that suspect that there might have been something that happened between slavery and MLK, there is W.E.B. Dubois’ The Souls of Black Folk. The book is many things: an example of early 20th century American literature, a brilliant sociological examination of a country in the midst of one of the most significant transitions of its history, and a collection of essays on the race question that still has poignance and relevance today.
Dubois’ writing is nothing short of ELEGANT. He uses imagery and allusion to effectively paint a series of post-Reconstruction backdrops over which he relays some real-life accounts of what happened in Black America and in America in general after the Civil War. His indictments of our country’s missteps in managing the after-effects of slavery are sober and well-intentioned, not propagandist finger-pointing. Dubois lays it all out on the table, and simply asks, “Ok, America. What next?” This book should be required reading in all U.S. history / Social Studies classes.

The Artist’s Way
Julia Cameron
This book was recommended to me by my friend Robert a few months back, and actually played some part in my finally getting this blog going. The subtitle is, “A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity” – I know it sounds a little self-help-ish, but that’s because, well….it kinda is. The book is composed of a series of concepts and related exercises that are to be examined and performed over a 12-week period, with the whole aim being to get you out of the habit of blocking your own creativity – sort a self-driven creative recovery program. The unifying concept in each chapter is that by expressing your creativity, you are reinforcing and celebrating your connection with the Creator. I’ve in no way been faithful to performing all of the exercises as prescribed in the book, but I’ve still benefitted from it tremendously. Each chapter is teeming with little ‘parables’, inspirational quotes, and meaningful activities that are designed to help you recognize the past events and current life patterns that stifle your creativity. Even after spending just a few moments a day perusing the pages, I would get such a rush of inspiration – it was literally like feeling floodgates open within me.

If you’ve ever uttered the words, “I’m not creative”, or if you feel the muse has abandoned you…Get this book. Now.

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Tags: good reads, social commentary