Books like A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose

01

The Power of Now

Eckhart Tolle · Religion & Spirituality

The Power of Now is Eckhart Tolle's argument that the root of human suffering is identification with the stream of thought — the restless inner commentary that most people mistake for who they are.

Shares ego and consciousness with A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose.

02

The Untethered Soul

Michael A. Singer · Religion & Spirituality

The Untethered Soul is Michael Singer's guide to liberation through the direct investigation of consciousness — specifically, the question of who or what is aware of the constant stream of thoughts, emotions, and sensations that constitute ordinary experience.

Shares consciousness and presence with A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose.

03

Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion

Sam Harris · Religion & Spirituality

Waking Up is Sam Harris' argument that the insights of contemplative traditions — particularly Buddhism's claim that the sense of self is an illusion — can be separated from religious metaphysics and investigated directly through meditation and introspection.

Both dig into consciousness.

04

Peace Is Every Step

Thich Nhat Hanh · Religion & Spirituality

Peace Is Every Step is Thich Nhat Hanh's most accessible work — a short, warmly written invitation to bring mindfulness practice into the texture of daily life.

A kindred religion & spirituality read.

05

The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying

Sogyal Rinpoche · Religion & Spirituality

The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying is Sogyal Rinpoche's comprehensive introduction to the Tibetan Buddhist understanding of death and the dying process, written for a Western audience unfamiliar with the tradition.

Both dig into consciousness.

06

The Varieties of Religious Experience

William James · Religion & Spirituality

The Varieties of Religious Experience originated as the Gifford Lectures delivered at Edinburgh in 1901–1902 and immediately became one of the most celebrated works in the study of religion.

Both dig into consciousness.

07

The Way of Zen

Alan Watts · Religion & Spirituality

The Way of Zen was Alan Watts' most widely read and carefully argued work, published in 1957 at a time when Zen was largely unknown to English-speaking audiences.

Both dig into consciousness.

08

Why Buddhism Is True

Robert Wright · Religion & Spirituality

Why Buddhism Is True is Robert Wright's argument that modern evolutionary psychology and neuroscience provide independent confirmation for core Buddhist claims about the mind, suffering, and the nature of the self.

Both dig into consciousness.

09

Being and Nothingness

Jean-Paul Sartre · Philosophy

Being and Nothingness is Sartre's major philosophical treatise and the founding text of French existentialism.

Both dig into consciousness.

10

Blindsight

Peter Watts · Science fiction

Blindsight follows a crew of post-human specialists sent to intercept an alien object at the edge of the solar system in 2082.

Both dig into consciousness.

11

Consciousness Explained

Daniel C. Dennett · Philosophy

Consciousness Explained is Daniel Dennett's attempt to replace what he calls the Cartesian Theater — the intuitive picture of consciousness as a single unified stream of experience observed by a self — with a model he calls Multiple Drafts.

Both dig into consciousness.

12

Descartes' Error: Emotion, Reason, and the Human Brain

Antonio Damasio · Psychology

Antonio Damasio is a neurologist at USC whose work challenges the centuries-old idea that reason and emotion are separate faculties, with reason the reliable guide and emotion the unreliable interference.

Both dig into consciousness.