11 Books That Will Change Your Life

Updated October 7, 2023 | 10 min read

Don’t miss this list of books that will change your life (really!).

Books are like mentors; they are powerful tools in helping us transform our lives.

They can guide us, inspire us, and motivate us to try new things.

Below we have compiled a list of books everyone can appreciate and use to enhance their lives.

Every now and then, we just need something- advice, a new perspective, or a story to help us fulfill our potential and allow us to live the life we were destined to live.

Here are 12 of the best books to help you fulfill your potential and live your best life.

12 Inspirational Books That Will Change Your Life

#1. The Traveler’s Gift by Andy Andrews

David Ponder lost his job as a successful executive.

Faced with financial uncertainly, David embarks on an amazing adventure that will help him uncover the “Seven Decisions of Success.”

“You have been created in order that you might make a difference. You have within you the power to change the world.” ― Andy Andrews

“It is not enough to recognize what is right and true. One must control the impulse to do what is wrong and easy.” ― Andy Andrews

“The Traveler’s Gift effectively combines self-help with fiction . . . sustaining momentum while simultaneously passing on instructions for positive thinking . . . an exemplary job at providing positive suggestions for overcoming life’s obstacles.” – Publishers Weekly

#2. You Ain’t Hungry Until I’m Starving by Vid Lamonte’ Buggs Jr.

Simultaneously touching and gritty, this book promotes peace and equality by offering a unique insight into some of the most complicated issues of our time.

Never one to shy away from the harsh realities of life, Vid instead chooses to redirect our human confusion and frustration toward finding amicable solutions that express the best of humanity.

This book fulfills our deepest inner cravings and provides much-needed nutrition for the soul.

“You Ain’t Hungry Until I’m Starving is a unique and deeply personal collection of thoughts, essays, emotions, stories, introspection, and poetry. Vid Buggs tackles everything from life, love, and faith, to society, living, striving, overcoming challenges, breaking down barriers to make a positive impact on the world, and more. Thought-provoking and inspirational, it’s the type of book I’ll return to over time. Reading it made me feel like I had just spent time with a wise and beautiful soul who had given me a wonderful gift – a glimpse into his thoughts and being” — Linda Coss, author of Food Allergy

#3. The Secret by Rhonda Bryne

Modern-day teachers come together to explain how using the Laws of the Universe will unlock the power that is within you so you can have a life full of prosperity.

“Be grateful for what you have now. As you begin to think about all the things in your life you are grateful for, you will be amazed at the never-ending thoughts that come back to you of more things to be grateful for. You have to make a start, and then the law of attraction will receive those grateful thoughts and give you more just like them.” ― Rhonda Byrne

“There is no such thing as a hopeless situation. Every single circumstance of your life can change! ” ― Rhonda Byrne

Also, check out our collection of The Secret quotes.

More Books That Will Change Your Life

#4. The Noticer by Andy Andrews

Jones is a mysterious man who shows up around the town of Orange Beach in the most interesting ways.

Jones has a gift of “noticing,” which helps anyone who listens to his advice live a life of fulfillment.

Becoming a noticer will change your life forever.

“If one makes a mistake, then an apology is usually sufficient to get things back on an even keel. However, and this is a big ‘however’- most people do not ever know why their apology did not seem to have any effect. It is simply that they did not make a mistake; they made a choice…and never understood the difference between the two.” ― Andy Andrews

“My life – my personality, my habits, even my speech – is a combination of the books I choose to read, the people I choose to listen to, and the thoughts I choose to tolerate in my mind” ― Andy Andrews

#5. As A Man Thinketh by James Allen

This classic is an inspirational and self-help literary essay by James Allen.

He challenges the reader to make their circumstances better by first improving themselves.

Within is where true fulfillment is found.

“A man’s mind may be likened to a garden, which may be intelligently cultivated or allowed to run wild; but whether cultivated or neglected, it must, and will, bring forth. If no useful seeds are put into it, then an abundance of useless weed seeds will fall therein, and will continue to produce their kind.” ― James Allen

“A strong man cannot help a weaker unless the weaker is willing to be helped, and even then the weak man must become strong of himself; he must, by his own efforts, develop the strength which he admires in another. None but himself can alter his condition.” ― James Allen

Motivational Books That Will Change Your Life

#6. The Game of Life and How to Play It by Florence Scovel Shinn

This book helps the reader understand that life is a game and that whatever you give to the universe, you will receive from the universe.

Written in the 1920s, this jewel influenced millions of people to find their purpose.

Books like The Secret and What the Bleep Do We Know are off-springs of this classic.

“The game of life is a game of boomerangs. Our thoughts, deeds, and words return to us sooner or later with astounding accuracy.”
― Florence Scovel Shinn

“People think by running away from a negative situation, they will be rid of it, but the same situation confronts them wherever they go. They will meet the same experiences until they have learned their lessons.”
― Florence Scovel Shinn

#7. The Richest Man In Babylon by George S. Carson

Hailed as one of the greatest personal wealth books of all time, this classic had advice for those who are trying to reach their overall potential.

“Learning was of two kinds: the one being the things we learned and knew, and the other being the training that taught us how to find out what we did not know?”
― George S. Clason

“Will power is but the unflinching purpose to carry the task you set for yourself to fulfillment.” ― George S. Clason

More Inspirational Books That Will Change Your Life

#8. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

It is an inspiring tale of a boy named Santiago who is seeking his treasure.

But on his journey, he finds a lot more than treasure.

Santiago must fulfill his greatest potential to discover what he has been looking for.

“Everything that happens once can never happen again. But everything that happens twice will surely happen a third time.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist

“People are capable, at any time in their lives, of doing what they dream of.” ― Paulo Coelho

**#9. Man’s Eternal Quest by Paramahansa Yogananda**

This book was given to me by a friend, and as soon as I opened up the pages, my spiritual journey began.

“It is not your passing thoughts or brilliant ideas so much as your plain everyday habits that control your life… Live simply. Don’t get caught in the machine of the world— it is too exacting. By the time you get what you are seeking, your nerves are gone, the heart is damaged, and the bones are aching. Resolve to develop your spiritual powers more earnestly from now on. Learn the art of right living. If you have joy, you have everything, so learn to be glad and contented… Have happiness now.” ― Paramahansa Yogananda

“Be afraid of nothing. Hating none, giving love to all, feeling the love of God, seeing His presence in everyone, and having but one desire – for His constant presence in the temple of your consciousness – that is the way to live in this world.” ― Paramahansa Yogananda

“For all who have ever sought to understand the enigmas of life, for those who have held within their hearts an uncertain hope about the reality of God, and for seekers who have already turned toward the Supreme in their quest, this anthology of talks by the author of Autobiography of a Yogi offers illuminating insights and encouragement. In its pages, Paramahansa Yogananda explores little-known and rarely explained aspects of such subjects as meditation, life after death, health and healing, the unlimited powers of the human mind, the equality of man and woman, and the inter-relatedness of all life.” —amazon.com

**#10. The Prophet by Khalil Gibran**

26 poetry essays that discuss everything from life, death, pain, pleasure, love and more.

“Let there be spaces in your togetherness, And let the winds of the heavens dance between you. Love one another but make not a bond of love: Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls. Fill each other’s cup but drink not from one cup. Give one another of your bread but eat not from the same loaf. Sing and dance together and be joyous, but let each one of you be alone, Even as the strings of a lute are alone though they quiver with the same music. Give your hearts, but not into each other’s keeping. For only the hand of Life can contain your hearts. And stand together, yet not too near together: For the pillars of the temple stand apart, And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other’s shadow.” ― Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet

“If you love somebody, let them go, for if they return, they were always yours. If they don’t, they never were.” ― Kahlil Gibran

“Cadenced and vibrant with feeling, the words of Kahlil Gibran bring to one’s ears the majestic rhythm of Ecclesiastes . . . If there is a man or woman who can read this book without a quiet acceptance of a great man’s philosophy and a singing in the heart as of music born within, that man or woman is indeed dead to life and truth.”— Chicago Post