Person
Every book Martha Beck recommended on podcasts
Across 5 podcasts. Every show Martha Beck appears on, in one place — not just one.
Martha Beck is a sociologist, life coach, and author who has appeared on prominent podcasts such as Huberman Lab, The Tim Ferriss Show, and Modern Wisdom. Beck has frequently discussed and recommended several books that deeply influenced her personal philosophy and psychological framework. On The Tim Ferriss Show and Modern Wisdom, she cited Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching as her absolute favorite book, utilizing its Eastern principles of perfection and effortless action to explain how the right hemisphere of the brain operates beyond speech. On Huberman Lab, she recommended Jill Bolte Taylor's Whole Brain Living and discussed Iain McGilchrist's The Master and his Emissary in relation to brain hemispheres and meaning. During her appearance on On Purpose with Jay Shetty, Beck revealed that she has used Dante Alighieri's The Divine Comedy as a private self-help guide throughout her life, noting that she first read the literary epic at age eighteen while experiencing severe depression to help navigate a difficult period. In the same interview, she appreciated Jay Shetty's Think Like a Monk to highlight his dedication to his true nature. Additionally, Beck discussed her own autobiographical work Leaving the Saints on The Mel Robbins Podcast to explain how writing about her past experiences helped her break away from her former community and find personal freedom.
Books recommended by Martha Beck
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Tao Te Ching
Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu is a foundational text of Eastern philosophy and Taoism that explores the nature of reality, effortless action, and spiritual enlightenment.
Discussed“As it says in my favorite book, the daajing, the Chinese daajing, th that which talks does not know, that which knows does not talk.”
Where to get it
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Whole Brain Living
Whole Brain Living by Jill Bolte Taylor is a neuroscience-based book that examines the four distinct characters of the human brain to help readers achieve emotional balance and self-awareness.
Recommended“whole brain living is her latest book”
Where to get it
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Leaving the Saints
Discussed“and then 10 years later I waited 10 years and then I wrote a book about it called leaving the Saints how I left the Mormons and found my faith because it was about how I had been set free by the experience of dealing with that”
Where to get it
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The Divine Comedy
The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri is a monumental medieval epic poem that charts a spiritual journey through Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise.
Discussed“I have been using Dante's Divine Comedy as my own private self-help book my entire life.”
Where to get it
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The master and his emissary
The Master and His Emissary by Iain McGilchrist is a detailed exploration of brain hemispheric lateralization and its cultural consequences.
Discussed“his book The Master and his Emissary says the part of the brain that knows meaning should be the master”
Where to get it
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Think Like A Monk
Think Like a Monk is a self-help book by Jay Shetty that translates ancient wisdom and monastic practices into practical, modern frameworks for overcoming negativity and finding purpose.
Discussed“And I love your story in Think Like a Monk about giving your first presentation to an empty room on a college campus and just nobody showed up and you still gave the presentation.”
Where to get it
Books Martha Beck wrote
- The Way of Integrity
- Beyond Anxiety
- The 4-Hour Workweek
- Expecting Adam
- Leaving the Saints
- Finding Your Way in a Wild New World
Appearances
Other mentions (8: passing, ad reads, own books)
“It's funny that you use um the term physics because I wrote a book called The Way of Integrity where I said you have to be in the truth, the truth of your own experience.”
“so after I wrote The Way of Integrity where I say look if you Integrity to me means that you are whole and in that's the what the word means”
“what I found in in the wonderful books I wrote I read about anxiety they always talked about how to get your anxiety to calm down”
“well there's to me there's a three-step process and there are three sections in the book the first one I I use it with the acronym cat calm art and Transcendence”
“this is so interesting because my friend Liz Gilbert of Eat Pray Love Fame that she wrote something before she was famous”
“Yeah, I know, and I call it what I—in the book that I just wrote called Beyond Anxiety.”
“I gave your 4-Hour Workweek to my then-teenage children.”
“And I actually wrote a book that's coming out next year, after I wrote The Way of Integrity , because I was so tough on myself in the integrity thing and it was making people anxious.”