So, your best friend just read this new book and can’t stop talking about it — it’s the best book ever, it’s totally going to change your life, you’ve got to read it, etc etc. Everyone has a list of books that are truly life-changing, which book carries all the secrets to the Universe, which book is the only book that can tell you how to get what you want. Don’t listen to them! These lists consist of books that are rated by one person, and one person only: the author of the list. This means that the books in that list were helpful to the author, and will only be helpful to people who are very similar to the author and have very similar goals to him/her.

So, what do you do if you have a different personality from the author or different goals that you want to achieve? It is for that reason that we at mentorist.app have compiled this following list of books that are universally applicable. This means that no matter who you are, no matter what you hope to achieve in life, the following books will probably be able to help you. Each book has been rated by thousands of people from all over the world on Goodreads.com, which means that it has helped thousands of people from all walks of life. In fact, from our calculations, we can conclusively say roughly 1 million people have read at least one book from our list and become inspired. Check out the list below and you just might find that special book that will turn your life around!

How has the data been generated?

We built an algorithm to collect data about the 300 most popular nonfiction books on Goodreads.com. We then shortened the list to the top 10 nonfiction books that achieved the highest ratings. Our criteria are very strict — for a book to qualify as one of the top 10, it must have an average rating higher than 4.3/5, as well as a minimum of 80 new rates per week.

1. The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel A. Van Der Kolk

Rating: 4.62/5

One of the saddest and unknown facts of life is that nearly every single person on this planet has had a traumatic experience. An even lesser known fact is that undergoing trauma can actually alter a person’s brain chemistry and make them unable to feel emotions of trust and happiness easily. Unfortunately, most people do not have the resources to cope with their trauma and pain. Bessel A. Van Der Kolk thus wrote The Body Keeps the Score as a guide for survivors of traumatic events — be it sexual abuse, physical violence, or even emotional abuse — to rewire their brain back to how it originally was. This book is truly a godsend for anyone who has suffered a traumatic event and is still deeply affected by it today.

2. The Book of Joy by Dalai Lama XIV, Desmond Tutu & Douglas Carlton Abrams

Rating: 4.54/5

If you don’t know how to achieve happiness, listen to the advice of two great spiritual leaders and Nobel Prize winners — the 14th Dalai Lama and Desmond Tutu. Known for being the happiest people on the planet, this book was compiled by Douglas Carlton Abrams to allow all of us to access the secrets to their happiness.