Books & Audiobooks Collection
The books behind the layers.
Wow. My official nerd reference card has been stamped and approved after putting this together. And these are just the ones referenced in the newsletter. The main video above is some of my bookshelves and the video to the right is me scrolling through my audiobooks — many years in the making.
Every book listed here is referenced in a specific week of The Rebel Onion newsletter. As the journey continues, so does this collection. Some I return to often. Some changed everything the first time. All of them earned their place.
How This Works
Each book shows the week it appears in. Note the week number, click the button above to visit the newsletter, find that week, and scroll past the coaching section to read the full context behind why that book made the list.
Your Roadmap to the Collection
Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself
By Dr. Joe Dispenza
Book in Week 1 Newsletter
The book that started it all. Dispenza breaks down the neuroscience of change and why most people stay stuck repeating the same patterns. Referenced in Week 1 of The Rebel Onion.
The 48 Laws of Power
By Robert Greene
Book in Week 2 Newsletter
Greene's ruthless breakdown of how power actually works — and why most people are unconsciously playing by rules they never agreed to. Referenced in Week 2 of The Rebel Onion.
The Element
By Ken Robinson
Book in Week 3 Newsletter
Robinson's case for why most people never find their true calling — and what happens when they finally do. Referenced in Week 3 of The Rebel Onion.
It Didn't Start with You
By Mark Wolynn
Book in Week 4 Newsletter
Wolynn reveals how inherited family trauma lives in the body and shapes our fears, relationships, and patterns — often without us knowing it. Referenced in Week 4 of The Rebel Onion.
The Bhagavad Gita
By Eknath Easwaran
Book in Week 5 Newsletter
One of the oldest maps for navigating duty, identity, and inner conflict ever written. Easwaran's translation makes it accessible without losing its depth. Referenced in Week 5 of The Rebel Onion.
Supercharged Self-Healing
By RJ Spina
Book in Week 6 Newsletter
Spina writes from direct experience — paralyzed from the chest down, he healed himself through consciousness alone. A radical book about what the body is actually capable of. Referenced in Week 6 of The Rebel Onion.
The Prophet
By Kahlil Gibran
Book in Week 7 Newsletter
Gibran's timeless meditation on love, work, joy, and pain — written in 1923 and still more honest than most modern self-help. A book you return to at different seasons of life and find something new every time. Referenced in Week 7 of The Rebel Onion.
Daring Greatly
By Brené Brown
Book in Week 8 Newsletter
Brown's research-backed argument for why vulnerability isn't weakness — it's the birthplace of everything worth having. Courage, connection, creativity. All of it starts with being willing to be seen. Referenced in Week 8 of The Rebel Onion.
Nature and the Human Soul
By Bill Plotkin
Book in Week 9 Newsletter
Plotkin maps human development through the lens of nature's cycles — arguing that most adults in modern culture never actually finish growing up. A deep and quietly radical book. Referenced in Week 9 of The Rebel Onion.
The Icarus Deception
By Seth Godin
Book in Week 10 Newsletter
Godin flips the myth — the real danger was never flying too high, it was flying too low. A book about why playing it safe is the riskiest thing a creative person can do. Referenced in Week 10 of The Rebel Onion.
The Body Keeps the Score
By Bessel van der Kolk M.D.
Book in Week 11 Newsletter
The landmark book on how trauma lives in the body long after the mind has moved on. Van der Kolk's research changed how the world understands stress, pain, and healing. Referenced in Week 11 of The Rebel Onion.
Quiet
By Susan Cain
Book in Week 12 Newsletter
Cain's defense of the introvert in a world that won't stop talking. A book that reframes what strength, leadership, and contribution actually look like for people who think deeply and speak carefully. Referenced in Week 12 of The Rebel Onion.
Who's in Your Room
By By Ivan Misner, Rick Sapio
Book in Week 13 Newsletter
A deceptively simple question that changes everything. The people you allow into your life shape your energy, your decisions, and your identity more than most people realize. Referenced in Week 13 of The Rebel Onion.
The Body Keeps the Score
By Bessel van der Kolk M.D.
Book in Week 14 Newsletter
Trauma doesn't just live in the mind, it takes up residence in the body, quietly shaping every choice, reaction, and pattern we carry. In Week 14 the focus turns to dormant potential, the parts of us buried under old decisions to choose safety over authenticity. Referenced in Weeks 11 and 14 of The Rebel Onion.
The Gifts of Imperfection
By Brené Brown
Book in Week 15 Newsletter
Brown's permission slip to stop performing and start living. Ten guideposts for letting go of who you think you should be and embracing who you actually are. Referenced in Week 15 of The Rebel Onion.
Let Your Life Speak
By Parker J. Palmer
Book in Week 16 Newsletter
Palmer's quiet and honest case for listening to your life rather than forcing it into someone else's shape. Vocation isn't something you choose, it's something you uncover. Referenced in Week 16 of The Rebel Onion.
Multiplicity
By Rita Carter
Book in Week 17 Newsletter
Carter's fascinating argument that we are not one self but many, each with its own voice, agenda, and history. Understanding which part of you is speaking changes everything. Referenced in Week 17 of The Rebel Onion.
It Didn't Start with You
By Mark Wolynn
Book in Week 18 Newsletter
Wolynn reveals how inherited family trauma lives in the body and shapes our fears, relationships, and patterns, often without us knowing it. In Week 18 the focus sharpens on the ancestral code we inherit from our fathers, the invisible operating system running quietly beneath every decision we make. Referenced in Weeks 4 and 18 of The Rebel Onion.
The Power of Place
By Winifred Gallagher
Book in Week 19 Newsletter
Your surroundings shape your thoughts, mood, and identity more than you know. Gallagher makes the case that environment is not just backdrop but an active force in who you become. Referenced in Week 19 of The Rebel Onion.
Range
By David Epstein
Book in Week 20 Newsletter
Brown's research-backed argument for why vulnerability isn't weakness — it's the birthplace of everything worth having. Courage, connection, creativity. All of it starts with being willing to be seen. Referenced in Week 8 of The Rebel Onion.
Belonging
By Toko-pa Turner
Book in Week 21 Newsletter
Turner explores the deep human ache for belonging and why so many of us feel like outsiders even in our own lives. True community requires knowing who you actually are first. Referenced in Week 21 of The Rebel Onion.
Transitions
By William Bridges
Book in Week 22 Newsletter
Bridges reframes change not as an event but as a process, and the most important part is the uncomfortable middle where the old is gone and the new has not yet arrived. That neutral zone is not empty. It is where transformation actually happens. Referenced in Week 22 of The Rebel Onion.
The Power of One More
By Ed Mylett
Book in Week 23 Newsletter
Mylett's relentless case that the difference between where you are and where you want to be is almost always one more decision, one more attempt, one more day of showing up. Referenced in Week 23 of The Rebel Onion.
The War of Art
By Steven Pressfield
Book in Week 24 Newsletter
Pressfield names the invisible force that stops every creative person from doing their best work and calls it Resistance. Identifying it is the first step to defeating it. Referenced in Week 24 of The Rebel Onion.