70 books (not novels) I’m glad I read

As I was assembling my list of 70 novels I’m glad I read for yesterday, my eyes kept passing over books on my shelves and in my memory that had a deep impact on me but were not novels — poem collections, non-fiction, short stories, and all that.

I realized I needed another list of 70 books for all those other volumes. The first one I thought of was my first collection of Ray Bradbury short stories, the second was Bradbury’s fine book about writing, and the third was my well-worn book of poems by another person on my short list of heroes.

Here’s the whole list, in no particular order — I only numbered them to make sure I hit 70. And no doubt I’ve forgotten something important.

1. R is for Rocket – Ray Bradbury

2. Zen in the Art of Writing – Ray Bradbury

3. 100 Selected Poems – E.E. Cummings

4. Do It (Let’s Get Off Our Buts) – Peter McWilliams

5. Thou Shall Prosper – Rabbi Daniel Lapin

6. Bird by Bird – Anne Lamott

7. The War of Art – Steven Pressfield

8. Resistance to Civil Government – Henry David Thoreau

9. How to Win Friends and Influence People – Dale Carnegie 

10. As A Man Thinketh – James Allen

11. Writing Into the Dark – Dean Wesley Smith

12. The Write Attitude – Kristine Kathryn Rusch

13. See You at the Top – Zig Ziglar

14. The Art of Loving – Erich Fromm

15. How to Kill the Job Culture Before It Kills You – Claire Wolfe

16. Out of Step – Frank Chodorov

17. 48 Days to the Work You Love – Dan Miller

18. Laugh Your Way to a Better Marriage – Mark Gungor

19. Folks, This Ain’t Normal – Joel Salatin

20. Trivia – Logan Piersall Smith

21. The Sacrament of the Present Moment – Jean-Pierre De Caussade 

22. Why Wages Rise – F.A. Harper

23. Steal Like An Artist – Austin Kleon

24. A Simple Act of Gratitude – John Kralik

25. On Writing – Stephen King

26. Disobey – Johnny B. Truant

27. The Art of Being Free – Wendy McElroy

28. the princess saves herself in this one – amanda lovelace 

29. Reinvent Yourself – James Altucher 

30. I Am Not Spock – Leonard Nimoy

31. I Am Spock – Leonard Nimoy

32. Guesswork: A Reckoning with Loss – Martha Cooley

33. Wishwork – Alexa Fischer

34. The Practice – Seth Godin 

35. Me, the Mob and the Music – Tommy James with Martin Fitzpatrick

36. The Right to Write – Julia Cameron 

37. The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck – Mark Manson

38. Lever Action – L. Neil Smith

39. Olive, Mabel and Me – Andrew Cotter 

40. Several short sentences about writing – Verlyn Klinkenborg 

41. Take Back Your Time – Christy Wright

42. The Real Anthony Fauci – Robert F. Kennedy Jr. 

43. How, Then, Shall We Live? – Wayne Muller

44. Born to Run – Bruce Springsteen

45. Amusing Ourselves to Death – Neil Postman

46. How to Survive Dystopia (With Your Humanity Intact) – Starr O’Hara

47. Woody Guthrie: A Life – Joe Klein 

48. The Path Between the Seas: The Creation of the Panama Canal 1870-1914 – David McCollough 

49. Quit: The Power of Knowing When to Walk Away – Annie Duke

50. The Year of Less – Cait Flanders 

51. Composed – Roseanne Cash

52. Big Magic – Elizabeth Gilbert

53. Language in Thought and Action – S.I. Hayakawa

54. Selected Short Stories of Nathaniel Hawthorne

55. Poems of Emily Dickinson

56. Leaves of Grass – Walt Whitman

57. The Total Money Makeover – David Ramsey

58. The Golden Apples of the Sun – Ray Bradbury

59. Autumn of Liberty – Paul Harvey

60. But We Were Born Free – Elmer Davis

61. They Thought They Were Free – Milton Mayer

62. The Great Comic Book Heroes – Jules Feiffer

63. The Freedom Lover’s Handbook – Claire Wolfe

64. Doorways – Norbert Blei

65. The Clearing – Jens Jensen

66. Listen to the Echoes: The Ray Bradbury Interviews – Sam Weller

67. Firefly Magic – Lauren Sapala

68. Finding Serenity – Edited by Jane Esperson

69. The God Who Is There – Francis A. Schaeffer

70. Storyteller – Kate Wilhelm

Published by WarrenBluhm

Wordsmith and podcaster, Warren is a reporter, editor and storyteller who lives near the shores of Green Bay with his wife, two golden retrievers, Dejah and Summer, and Blackberry, an insistent cat. Author of It's Going to Be All Right, Echoes of Freedom Past, Full, Refuse to be Afraid, Gladness is Infectious, 24 flashes, How to Play a Blue Guitar, Myke Phoenix: The Complete Novelettes, A Bridge at Crossroads, The Imaginary Bomb, A Scream of Consciousness, and The Imaginary Revolution.

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