Top 10 Most Profound & Deep Books to Read
This article is meant as a help to people who are looking for something deep to read. It’s just my personal list of the most profound and overall interesting books I have ever read (I do read a lot). Many of you might want to add some more so please do so in the comments since it’s impossible to make this list ideal for everyone. I have also made another list of deep books related to religions and spirituality. If you find the books below too hard to read, then you might like my another list with deep but easy to read books.
So what exactly do I mean by deep? To me it’s a book that somehow makes me think about my life and the world around, a book that enriches my life, a book that I quote in my head quite often. I like when there is a message behind the story, something that is forcing me to stop and just meditate about what I’ve just read. I am not going to write a review here, I just want to mention why did I find each book worth reading. So here we go.
10. The Alchemist – Paulo Coelho
This is a very thin book but contains a lot of wisdom. You can read this in a day but many people return to this book, reading it over and over again. If you need some motivation in your life, this is the right book for you. This masterpiece is going to show you that even though we might feel lost sometimes, we are always walking forward on our way of life. Another great book from he same author I can recommend is The Fifth Mountain which is quite similar but focuses on the relationship of a man and God in a bit different way than most of the other books.
9. Demian – Hermann Hesse
Quite inspired by many religious teaching such as the concepts of illusion of this world in Buddhism and the view of God in Gnosticism. Many of us had this one friend who was older than we, teaching us the mysteries of the life, making us doubt some things we had taken for granted. This book is a story about maturing, physically and spiritually. If you need something even deeper, go for The Glass Bead Game. This book is an interesting story connecting arts, knowledge and spirituality. Also Steppenwolf is an unforgettable one.
8. Labyrinth of the World and Paradise of the Heart - John Amos Comenius
A book written in 1623 as an allegory to the society surprisingly still feeling like written today. Author describes people, how they talk, act, what are their motives and what’s more important, how they want the others to see them. There is not much of philosophy but this books made me wonder where do I belong in this labyrinth of the world.
7. Sensei of Shambala - Anastasia Novykh
This book is really strange. On one hand there are some ridiculous miracles and plot twists but on the other hand there are some totally amazing thoughts and insights about the world. If you want a set of unique and enlightening thoughts described in a mysterious and exciting story of a bunch of kids learning from their martial arts master, this book might be the right one for you. It’s a mix of many legends, teachings, religions so it doesn’t bring anything new but for some reason I have really enjoyed this book since you have all the cool ideas at one place.
6. Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoevsky
If you like psychological books then this is a paradise for you (along with all the other books from this author such as The Idiot, Demons, The Brothers Karamazov). It describes the human mind so accurately. Committing a crime, getting away and hiding is one thing but is it really that easy to hide from yourself?
5. The Man Who Wanted to Be Happy - Laurent Gounelle
As simple as it sounds. We care about our bodies, we care about our carrier, we care about our status in the society, we care about the others but there is one important question: Are we happy?
4. The Egyptian – Mika Waltari
Seriously, this author is just amazing. All his books are exciting to read and full of hidden meditations about life. I can also recommend The Secret of the Kingdom and The Etruscan. In the Egyptian we are witnessing the fight between belief, power, love and human nature that is the same, unchanging through the ages.
3. The Philosopher's Stone - Johannes Anker Larsen
Looking for the ultimate goal of a human life. That’s the main theme of this book. There are multiple characters taking part in the story and all have a different way to spirituality. Someone is trying hard to learn all the mysteries, someone is losing his way in all the teachings, someone is just living a peaceful life and someone is not thinking about his life at all, just acting as the nature commands. Yet they all are getting closer to the goal.
2. The Rubaiyat - Omar Khayyam
A poetry. I couldn’t decide whether to mention this here or not. Well here it is. The book consists of short verses by this poet and mathematician. The bittersweet quatrain sometimes make you smile but also shows the reality as it is, somehow freeing the soul from what binds it be it a religion, culture, nation. The main reason I’ve included this book here is that some verse really made me put the book down, staring in the wall just thinking about it.
1. Citadelle - Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
In English also called The Wisdom of the Sands but I prefer to call it just Citadel. One can read this book over and over again always finding something new that he can relate to. An old ruler of a desert city is teaching his son all the wisdom of ruling over a nation. The wisdom can however be applied in our every day's lives. Struggle is what makes us strong, our enemies are what gives our fight a meaning, hard choices need to be made sometimes with no place for regrets. This book doesn’t try to inspire nor to show some stunning scenes and epic tales. It’s just a meditation about life, about experience people gain during their lives. This book is for me a definition of deep and profound. I have also read other books from this author such as The Little Prince, Night Flight, The Aviator etc. and I have to say that all his books are an incredible journeys into the most frequent and also most forgotten questions we all ask ourselves every day.
And that’s it! I would also like to mention thought-provoking books by Olga Tokarczuk. Her work is very unique and leaves the reader with questions about his own view of the world. Of course I haven’t mentioned religious texts like Bible, Bhagavad Gita, Dhammapada and Buddhist suttas that are super deep too. Regarding Buddhism, a book called Opening the Door of Your Heart by Ajahn Brahm is very enlightening. Focusing by Eugene Gendlin is also a great book about human inner feelings and can be very helpful to many people who are dealing with conflicts and obstacles in the mind. It’s just that I wanted to mention books that are not that well known and that some of you might discover here as a hidden gems.
Published:Keywords: literature,psychological,meditative,novels
#books #profoundwisdom #deepbooks #profoundbooks #reading
Privacy Terms