Books: Personal Development, Body, Business and Mind

This year more than ever I dove into some really complex topics from the medical world, some really “meta” style books in the personal development world and some more strategy/tactical concepts in the business world. Where ever my brain and headspace were in that month I just went wild. I scheduled one hour of physical reading per day in my calendar, and then usually set aside another hour of audiobook listening while commuting.

I have decided to share a reading list with the top 5 in every major category I went through in the past year. I will highlight some points for the top ranking book in each category, the rest are just listed. Every one has a link to Amazon if you are interested in checking them out. Enjoy!

Personal Development

1 – Principles (Dalio)

I don’t think I have ever read a book that provided more value than Principles. Ray Dalio is a legend in the business and personal development world. I tore through this book because I felt like every page was offering fantastic ground level, every day, practical advice. I also gifted it to two of my best friends because I felt it was so well designed. I’ll be the first to admit I know nothing about the international or finance world, but it didn’t matter. The foundational values he developed through repeated failure and reflection were really incredible, despite having some areas that may not be directly related to your field of work or interest. It’s no wonder it was the #1 Amazon Best Business Book Of The Year. I highly recommend people check it out.

2 – The Road to Character (Brooks)

3 – If You’re So Smart, Why Aren’t You Happy? (Raghunathan)

4 – Good People (Tjan)

5 – Unf*** Yourself (Bishop)

Honorable Mention – H3 Leadership (Lomenick)

Audiobooks

(I found these better for car rides to hear author live, but everyone’s different)

1. The Great Courses Series: Stress and Your Body (Sapolsky)

Robert Sapolsky and George Fink are my spirit animals. I absolutely love their work, learn so much, and think they are hilarious educators. Dr. Sapolsky uses the “Stress and your Body” lectures from Stanford to go through nitty-gritty neuroendocrinology and system-level effects that chronic stress has on the body. I’ve been away in the trenches for this kind of stuff, to get my next big area of study. I have a few really in-depth blog posts coming up in a few weeks for everyone, but definitely check it out.

Also check out Being Human: Lessons from the Frontiers of Science and

Biology and Human Behavior: The Neurological Origins of Individuality

2. High-Performance Habits (Bouchard)

3. Resilience: Hard Won Wisdom For Living A Better Life (Greitens)

4. Extreme Ownership: How U.S. NACY Seals Lead and Win (Babin & Willick)

5. Stealing Fire: How Silicon Valley, the NAVY Seals, and Maverick Scientists are Revolutionizing The Way We Work and Live (Kotler & Wheal)

Honorable Mention – Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future (Vance)

Business

1 – The Medici Effect: What Elephants and Epidemics Can Teach Us About Innovation (Johansson)

In a weird way, I feel like I was living this book out in real life over the last two years. This book covers the incredible neuroscience and psychology of how finding the intersections between seemingly unrelated fields leads to incredible new insight or innovation. By looking at the overlap between various fields, combinations of ideas can be engineered for new concepts to emerge. I spent 1/3 of my continuing education time this year studying fields not related to rehabilitation, personal development, or business on purpose based on this book.

2 – The Invisible Selling Machine (Deiss)

3 – Superfandom (Fraade – Blanar & Glazer)

4 – Innovating: A Doer’s Manifesto for Starting from a Hunch, Prototyping Problems, Scaling Up, and Learning to Be Productively Wrong (Breva)

5 – What They Don’t Teach You at Harvard Business School (McCormack)

Honorable Mention – Ego Free Leadership (Hughes)

Nerdy Medical / Rehabilitation Books

1 – Progress in the Biology and Translational Science: Mechanotransduction (Engler & Kumar)

In the past year I really tried to dig into the histological and physiological foundations of things we do every day in the rehabilitation, strength & conditioning, or sports training world. Mechanotransduction has become quite a big buzzword and emerging topic in these fields. Rather than just take the concepts people promote about mechanotransduction at face value, I took it upon myself to find the most current research written by scientists doing the lab data to read. This was the same for every book in this category, which is why there are some epically nerdy titles below. Despite being dense, these types of books really helped me understand the concepts and grasp the ideas fully for myself. It also sparked lots of practical application thoughts while reading.

2 – Handbook of Stress Vol 1: Concepts, Cognition, Emotion, and Behavior / Handbook of Stress Vol 2: Neuroendocrinology and Neurobiology (Fink)

3 – Allostasis, Homeostasis, and the Cost of Physiological Adaptation (Schulk)

4 – Hip Arthroscopy and Hip Preservation Surgery Vol 1 and Vol 2 (Nho et. al)

5 – Nonlinear Analysis of Human Movement Variability (Stergiou)

Honorable Mention – Biomechanics and Motor Control (Latash & Zatsiorsky)

Strength and Conditioning / Sport Training Books

1 – Advanced Strength & Conditioning: An Evidence-Based Approach (Turner & Comfort)

I’ve read a lot of Strength and Conditioning books, many of which unfortunately were painfully dry to read or feel like they are just restating a lot of well-known basics. I felt like this book was very different, being able to blend really high-quality evidence, with basic science, and still offer practical level takeaways. I also really appreciated their chapters embracing some of the newer non-tissue level physiology like workload ratios and daily training environments. Definitely recommend this for new and seasoned people working in the strength and conditioning field.

2 – The Physiology and Training for High Performance (Macdougall & Sale)

3 – Handbook of Sports Medicine: Gymnastics (Russell)

and because they are closely related, I love gymnastics, and this just came out –

3b – The Science of Gymnastics: Advanced Concepts (Jemmi)

4 – Sport, Recovery, and Performance (Kellman & Beckmann)

5 – Strength and Conditioning for Sports Medicine (Jeffreys & Moody)

Honorable Mention – Monitoring Training and Performance of Athletes (McGuigan)

Randoms

1 – Behave (Sapolsky)

You’re probably noticing a trend of Robert Sapolsky’s work popping up on my reading list. Truth be told, I’ve taken a very real and nerdy obsession with stress neuroendocrinology, epigenetics, structural neuroplasticity, and the role environment/culture plays in altered transcriptional level gene expression. I know, it’s getting weird. I promise in blogs to come I’ll outline why I think this actually matters to the fields I work in. Behave walks through some really incredible insights related to what makes us tick as humans. He outlines the timeline from seconds before a behavior (bad or good) occurs, and traces back the “why” influencing the behavior chronologically through minutes before, hours before, months before, and thousands of years before. If you’re interested in this type of work, this is a must-read.

2 – Tribe of Mentors (Ferris)

3 – Chasing Excellence (Sapolsky)

4 – American Girls: Social Media and the Secret Lives of Teenagers (Sales)

5 – The Origins of Creativity (Wilson)

Honorable Mention – How Emotions are Made (Barrett)

*Published in collaboration with Shift: Movement Science and Gymnastics Education

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ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTOR

Dave Tilley DPT, SCS, CSCS is a Physical Therapist who graduated in 2013 from Springfield College. Dave comes from an extensive gymnastics background, being a former athlete and currently still coaching optional level gymnastics in Boston. Dave was a competitive gymnast for 18 years, 4 of them collegiately as part of the Springfield College Men’s Team. Dave has also been coaching gymnastics for 12 years, being involved in beginner, national, and elite levels. His unique background as a former athlete and current coach gives him a one of a kind approach for the performance and rehabilitation of gymnasts. He has successfully treated some of the most talented high school, collegiate, and junior elite level gymnasts in the country. Along with gymnastics, Dave enjoys treating athletes of all sports as well as the specialized treatment of Olympic Weightlifters and CrossFit athletes. He has worked with regional and national level Olympic Weightlifters, as well as Regional and Games level CrossFit Athletes. Dave graduated from Springfield College with his Bachelors in Science, a Minor in Psychology, and Doctorate in Physical Therapy. He became Board Certified in Sports Physical Therapy in February of 2016, and became a Certified Strength and Conditioning Coach in 2017. His current interests include prevention and rehabilitation of extension based spine injuries, shoulder and hip instability, periodization and strength and conditioning models, as well as the science involved in long-term athletic development, mobility training, and motor control. He participates in ongoing continuing education by attending various courses, collaborating with other professionals, and staying up to date with the most current medical research. Along with treating in the clinic, Dave is also the CEO/Founder of “SHIFT Movement Science and Gymnastics Education”. This company was started in 2014 to help educate those involved in gymnastics, medical fields, Olympic weightlifting, CrossFit, and more about optimal performance and preventative rehabilitation strategies. By combining his roles as a healthcare provider, current coach, and athlete Dave looks to help remold the gymnastics world with current, scientifically backed principles that optimize a gymnast’s long-term potential. His new forward-thinking ideas have been nationally recognized with members of USA Gymnastics, being implemented into JO, Collegiate, and Elite level programs. Dave travels to speak both nationally and internationally at various events across the country including Make It Right Elite Gymnastics Camp, USAG Regional, and National Congress, Power Monkey Camp in Tennessee, and has consulted with many NCAA Division 1 Men’s and Women’s Gymnastics. Dave is very passionate about his work both in the clinic and gymnastics training arena. He aims to deliver the best possible care to the clients he sees and athletes he trains. He hopes to soon become more active in the role of conducting research studies related to gymnastics. Dave is the newest addition to the Champion Physical Therapy and Performance Team.

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