Books from Evan Sharma

The Creative Act

From the legendary music producer, a master at helping people connect with the wellsprings of their creativity, comes a beautifully crafted book many years in the making that offers that same deep wisdom to all of us“I set out to write a book about what to do to make a great work of art. Instead, it revealed itself to be a book on how to be.” —Rick RubinMany famed music producers are known for a particular sound that has its day. Rick Rubin is known for something else: creating a space where artists of all different genres and traditions can home in on who they really are and what they really offer. He has made a practice of helping people transcend their self-imposed expectations in order to reconnect with a state of innocence from which the surprising becomes inevitable. Over the years, as he has thought deeply about where creativity comes from and where it doesn’t, he has learned that being an artist isn’t about your specific output, it’s about your relationship to the world. Creativity has a place in everyone’s life, and everyone can make that place larger. In fact, there are few more important responsibilities.The Creative Act is a beautiful and generous course of study that illuminates the path of the artist as a road we all can follow. It distills the wisdom gleaned from a lifetime’s work into a luminous reading experience that puts the power to create moments—and lifetimes—of exhilaration and transcendence within closer reach for all of us.
Evan Sharma
“Living life as an artist is a practice. You are either engaging in the practice or you’re not. It makes no sense to say you’re not good at it. It’s like saying, “I’m not good at being a monk.” You are either living as a monk or you’re not. We tend to think of the artist’s work as the output. The real work of the artist is a way of being in the world.”
Books from Evan Sharma

Contagious

The New York Times bestseller that explains why certain products and ideas become popular. “Jonah Berger knows more about what makes information ‘go viral’ than anyone in the world.” —Daniel Gilbert, author of the bestseller Stumbling on HappinessWhat makes things popular? If you said advertising, think again. People don’t listen to advertisements, they listen to their peers. But why do people talk about certain products and ideas more than others? Why are some stories and rumors more infectious? And what makes online content go viral? Wharton marketing professor Jonah Berger has spent the last decade answering these questions. He’s studied why New York Times articles make the paper’s own Most E-mailed list, why products get word of mouth, and how social influence shapes everything from the cars we buy to the clothes we wear to the names we give our children. In Contagious, Berger reveals the secret science behind word-of-mouth and social transmission. Discover how six basic principles drive all sorts of things to become contagious, from consumer products and policy initiatives to workplace rumors and YouTube videos. Learn how a luxury steakhouse found popularity through the lowly cheesesteak, why anti-drug commercials might have actually increased drug use, and why more than 200 million consumers shared a video about one of the most boring products there is: a blender. Contagious provides specific, actionable techniques for helping information spread—for designing messages, advertisements, and content that people will share. Whether you’re a manager at a big company, a small business owner trying to boost awareness, a politician running for office, or a health official trying to get the word out, Contagious will show you how to make your product or idea catch on.
Evan Sharma
“People don't think in terms of information. They think in terms of narratives. But while people focus on the story itself, information comes along for the ride.” “Making things more observable makes them easier to imitate, which makes them more likely to become popular.” “When we care, we share.”
Books from Evan Sharma

Invisible Influence

In Invisible Influence, the New York Times bestselling author of Contagious explores the subtle influences that affect the decisions we make—from what we buy, to the careers we choose, to what we eat. “Jonah Berger has done it again: written a fascinating book that brims with ideas and tools for how to think about the world.” —Charles Duhigg, author of The Power of HabitIf you’re like most people, you think your individual tastes and opinions drive your choices and behaviors. You wear a certain jacket because you liked how it looked. You picked a particular career because you found it interesting. The notion that our choices are driven by our own personal thoughts and opinions is patently obvious. Right? Wrong. Without our realizing it, other people’s behavior has a huge influence on everything we do at every moment of our lives, from the mundane to the momentous. Even strangers have an impact on our judgments and decisions: our attitudes toward a welfare policy shift if we’re told it is supported by Democrats versus Republicans (even though the policy is the same). But social influence doesn’t just lead us to do the same things as others. In some cases we imitate others around us. But in other cases we avoid particular choices or behaviors because other people are doing them. We stop listening to a band because they go mainstream. We skip buying the minivan because we don’t want to look like a soccer mom. By understanding how social influence works, we can decide when to resist and when to embrace it—and learn how we can use this knowledge to exercise more control over our own behavior. In Invisible Influence, Jonah Berger “is consistently entertaining, applying science to real life in surprising ways and explaining research through narrative. His book fascinates because it opens up the moving parts of a mysterious machine, allowing readers to watch them in action” (Publishers Weekly).
Evan Sharma
“The right blend of familiarity and novelty also drives what becomes popular.”
Books from Evan Sharma

The Richest Man in Babylon

Read by millions, this classic offers today's readers a path to success, prosperity, and happiness. Easy to read stories packed with wisdom use parables set 6,000 years ago in ancient Babylon.
Evan Sharma
“The sun that shines today is the sun that shone when thy father was born, and will still be shining when thy last grandchild shall pass into the darkness.” “It costs nothing to ask wise advice from a good friend” “Our acts can be no wiser than our thoughts” “A part of all I earn is mine to keep.' Say it in the morning when you first arise. Say it at noon. Say it at night. Say it each hour of every day. Say it to yourself until the words stand out like letters of fire across the sky.”
Books from Evan Sharma

The 48 Laws of Power

Amoral, cunning, ruthless, and instructive, this multi-million-copy New York Times bestseller is the definitive manual for anyone interested in gaining, observing, or defending against ultimate control – from the author of The Laws of Human Nature. In the book that People magazine proclaimed “beguiling” and “fascinating,” Robert Greene and Joost Elffers have distilled three thousand years of the history of power into 48 essential laws by drawing from the philosophies of Machiavelli, Sun Tzu, and Carl Von Clausewitz and also from the lives of figures ranging from Henry Kissinger to P.T. Barnum. Some laws teach the need for prudence (“Law 1: Never Outshine the Master”), others teach the value of confidence (“Law 28: Enter Action with Boldness”), and many recommend absolute self-preservation (“Law 15: Crush Your Enemy Totally”). Every law, though, has one thing in common: an interest in total domination. In a bold and arresting two-color package, The 48 Laws of Power is ideal whether your aim is conquest, self-defense, or simply to understand the rules of the game.
Evan Sharma
“When you show yourself to the world and display your talents, you naturally stir all kinds of resentment, envy, and other manifestations of insecurity... you cannot spend your life worrying about the petty feelings of others” “Do not accept the roles that society foists on you. Re-create yourself by forging a new identity, one that commands attention and never bores the audience. Be the master of your own image rather than letting others define if for you. Incorporate dramatic devices into your public gestures and actions – your power will be enhanced and your character will seem larger than life.”
Books from Evan Sharma

The Master Key System

The Master Key System is a system that teaches the ultimate principles, causes and effects, as well as the spiritual laws that underlie all attainment and success. When you want to attain something, The Master Key System will show you how to get it. The results you will attain from using this system are so startling as to appear incredible. For this reason, more and more people are becoming students of The Master Key System than ever before, even almost a hundred years after it was first published. The Master Key sets out the fundamental principles of life and conscious, rightful living. Basic to his teaching is the correct development and use of mental power — the key to truly creative power and action, harmony and health, love and happiness, and abundant possibilities. Charles Haanel‘s numbered common-sense messages still have a freshness almost one hundred years after they were first assembled. It was Napoleon Hill, author of "Think and Grow Rich", who thanked Charles Haanel in a personal letter for publishing the Master Key System, as Hill deemed it invaluable in achieving his own personal success. That alone speaks volumes.
Evan Sharma
“Why is intuition superior to reason? - Because it does not depend upon experience or memory and frequently brings about the solution to our problems by methods concerning which we are in entire ignorance.” “Whatever you desire for yourself, affirm it for others, and it will help you both. We reap what we sow. If we send out thoughts of love and health, they return to us like bread cast upon the waters; but if we send out thoughts of fear, worry, jealousy, anger, hate, etc., we will reap the results in our own lives.” “You can not entertain weak, harmful, negative thoughts ten hours a day and expect to bring about beautiful, strong and harmonious conditions by ten minutes of strong, positive, creative thought.”
Books from Evan Sharma

The Upanishads

Evan Sharma
“Dreams are real as long as they last. Can we say more of life?” “He who sees all beings in his Self and his Self in all beings, he never suffers; because when he sees all creatures within his true Self, then jealousy, grief and hatred vanish.” “You are what your deep, driving desire is. As your desire is, so is your will. As your will is, so is your deed. As your deed is, so is your destiny.”
Books from Evan Sharma

Tao Te Ching

Although translations and interpretations of the Tao te Ching abound and new editions are released yearly, few accomplish the hard work of linking and bridging the Tao's profound message to the needs of modern readers. There may be a profusion of versions, but our lives and our world reflect little of the deep, transformative potential of this important text.Marc S. Mullinax's new translation grows from extensive teaching experience and combines a deep understanding of the Tao's fourth-century BCE Chinese context with an exciting two-part application of that text to contemporary life.First, each of the eighty-one verses is joined by a richly curated array of quotes, sayings, poems, and stories from wisdom traditions around the globe. With quotes ranging from Emerson to Pink Floyd, and from the apostle Paul to Margaret Atwood, the Tao's meaning comes alive in conversation with others.Second, a brief reflection puts the verse in historical context and highlights the transformative power of Wu-Wei, the "non-interfering action, perfectly timed, to promote peace and prevent injury," to bring joy and justice to a hurting world.
Evan Sharma
Although translations and interpretations of the Tao te Ching abound and new editions are released yearly, few accomplish the hard work of linking and bridging the Tao's profound message to the needs of modern readers. There may be a profusion of versions, but our lives and our world reflect little of the deep, transformative potential of this important text.Marc S. Mullinax's new translation grows from extensive teaching experience and combines a deep understanding of the Tao's fourth-century BCE Chinese context with an exciting two-part application of that text to contemporary life.First, each of the eighty-one verses is joined by a richly curated array of quotes, sayings, poems, and stories from wisdom traditions around the globe. With quotes ranging from Emerson to Pink Floyd, and from the apostle Paul to Margaret Atwood, the Tao's meaning comes alive in conversation with others.Second, a brief reflection puts the verse in historical context and highlights the transformative power of Wu-Wei, the "non-interfering action, perfectly timed, to promote peace and prevent injury," to bring joy and justice to a hurting world.
Books from Evan Sharma

The Way of the Superior Man

What is your true purpose in life? What do women really want? What makes a good lover? If you're a man reading this, you've undoubtedly asked yourself these questions - but you may not have had much luck answering them. Until now. In The Way of the Superior Man David Deida explores the most important issues in men's lives - from career and family to women and intimacy to love and spirituality - to offer a practical guidebook for living a masculine life of integrity, authenticity, and freedom. Join this bestselling author and internationally renowned expert on sexual spirituality for straightforward advice, empowering skills, body practices, and more to help you realize a life of fulfillment, immediately and without compromise.....Acknowledged as one of the most insightful and provocative teachers of our time, bestselling author David Deida continues to revolutionize the way that men and women grow spiritually and sexually. His books have been published in more than twenty languages. His workshops on a radically practical spirituality have been hailed as among the most original and authentic contributions to the field of self-development currently available.
Evan Sharma
“Your woman knows your weaknesses better than anybody. She knows where you will falter and give up. She knows the degree of mediocrity you will settle for. And, she knows your true capacity as a full man, a man of free consciousness and love. Her gift, if she is a good woman, is to test you with her darkest moods, over and over and over, until your consciousness is unperturbed by feminine challenge, and you are able to pervade her with your love, just as you are here to pervade the world. In response to your fearless consciousness, she will drench your world in love and light.”
Books from Evan Sharma

Three Magic Words

A revised and updated edition of a groundbreaking self-help classic, with a foreword by Eckhart Tolle, bestselling author of The Power of Now and A New Earth Three Magic Words presents a simple but profound truth: we can shape the outer world by shaping our inner thoughts. Instead of being controlled by circumstances, we can become architects of our reality by harnessing the power of consciousness itself. Throughout the book, U. S. Andersen illustrates this principle with meditations to help you reframe difficult situations and cultivate liberating thoughts. He also empowers you to: • understand the true relationship between mind and matter • free yourself from limiting beliefs • program your thoughts for success • tap the power of the subconscious mind • develop your innate intuitive abilities As Andersen puts it, this book is “aimed at revealing to you your power over all things. You will learn that there is only one mover in all creation, and that mover is thought.”
Evan Sharma
“Choose love, believe in yourself, and embrace the magic of life” “You are God”
Books from Evan Sharma

Wherever You Go, There You Are

Find quiet reflective moments in your life--and reduce your stress levels drastically--with this classic bestselling guide. In this 10th anniversary edition of the bestselling mindfulness powerhouse, you receive a new afterward from the author along with ageless wisdom on how to find peace. Split into three sections that guide you through the foundational principles of mindfulness and then on the physical, mental, and emotional practice of incorporating it into your daily routine, there is a reason that Wherever You Go, There You Are has continued to be *the* mindfulness book for nearly 30 years. It makes mindfulness straightforward, accessible, and filled with potential to reduce your stress and find your calm.
Evan Sharma
“Perhaps the most "spiritual" thing any of us can do is simply to look through our own eyes, see with eyes of wholeness, and act with integrity and kindness.”
Books from Evan Sharma

Autobiography of a Yogi

In a colorful and engaging style, Paramahansa Yogananda chronicles his life; highlights include his remarkable childhood, his search throughout India for an enlightened teacher, ten years of training in the hermitage of a renowned yoga master, and thirty years of growth and teaching in America. Yogananda also chronicles his meetings with well-known spiritual leaders Mahatma Gandhi, Rabindranath Tagore, Luther Burbank, and the Catholic stigmatist Therese Neumann.
Evan Sharma
In a colorful and engaging style, Paramahansa Yogananda chronicles his life; highlights include his remarkable childhood, his search throughout India for an enlightened teacher, ten years of training in the hermitage of a renowned yoga master, and thirty years of growth and teaching in America. Yogananda also chronicles his meetings with well-known spiritual leaders Mahatma Gandhi, Rabindranath Tagore, Luther Burbank, and the Catholic stigmatist Therese Neumann.