The Book Store
the book store

Welcome to the Metanoeo Book Store

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A curated selection of books to help you live life well and to develop your coaching practice.

Looking for core texts for our coach training courses?

Please note that the book links on this page earn a commission from any qualigying purchase made through the Amazon Associates programme. This commission supports us in our mission to make living life well accesible for all.

Therapeutic books

Viktor Frankl

Man's Search for Meaning

Providing a personal account of his experiences in a Nazi concentration camp, this book by Viktor Frankl is yet full of love, hope, freedom and beauty. His ability to observe and reflect in the most dire of circumstances eventually became foundational to his theory of logotherapy. Frankl’s methodology, explored in the book, explores how it is finding meaning and purpose, rather than our circumstances, which can inform a life of personal happiness and wellbeing.

The Tools by Phil Stutz and Barry Michels (2012)

As a psychotherapist Stutz was disillusioned by the idea of not being able to offer advice to his clients when offering them a person centred approach to his counselling. So, reflecting on years of experience, Stutz started to develop 5 key tools which would enable people to tackle some of the common challenges of life. Covering concepts as welcoming adversity, channelling love, embracing your whole self, creating a gratitude loop and keeping a sense of urgency, Stutz’ methods are practical and yet embrace a mystical approach to life.

Peter Levine & Ann Fredrick

Walking the Tiger - Healing Trauma

Grounded in observations as to how animals deal with trauma, this book offers an alternative or complimentary approach to talking therapy to deal with unresolved stress. The book shows how animals process their trauma in a physical manner, finding ways to deal with ‘stuck energy’. Using this it explores how humans too can use somatic experiencing techniques to replicate this form of trauma processing.

Russ Harris

The Happiness Trap

Harris explores the core principles of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy as a means of beating the trap of being driven by temporary instantaneous happiness to move us toward a meaningful long term vision of life which helps us respond well to the challenges we face.
Starting with the idea that we need to recognise the mechanisms of our observing and thinking selves, he shows us how to defuse unhelpful thoughts, expand our capacity to deal with negative emotions and connect with the present. He continues looking at developing personal values as a foundation for acting in a consistent way for a meaningful and genuinely happy life.

Self-help books

Kevin Hart

This is how we do it

One of the fifteen tools for living Hart introduces in his mental bootcamp book is that of cowboying up. To cowboy up is to take responsibility for the mistakes we’ve made and determine to move forward. It’s an idea, along with positivity, humility, hunger for growth and being relational sits at the core of this pep talk by Hart.






Barbara Sher & Barbara Smith

I Could do Anything if I Only Knew What it


Written for people who don’t know what they want in life, are struggling with the next step or feel there is something missing, this book provides  practical guidance to making a life plan. It tackles some of the most common obstacles  preventing people from moving forward and helps to develop a personalised approach using four key ideas: (1) The importance of overcoming expectations, non-action and resistance. (2) The importance of small actions. (3) The importance of doing something different when things aren’t working out. (4) Engaging all our experiences in finding purpose.

Matt Higgins

Burn the Boats


Just in case anyone has any doubt, this has nothing to do with the boats the Conservative party keep going about! Higgins, a guest investor on the US version of Dragon's Den and co-founder of the multi-billion dollar investment company RSE Ventures begins his story in abject poverty. In this book he tells his journey and what he has learned about backing himself, chasing the fear in tough times and consolidating gains by burning the boats.

Gary Bishop

Unfu*k Yourself

If you find your own internal dialogue prevents you from doing the things you want then try reading Bishop’s Unfu*k Yourself. Exploring the idea that it is often ourselves that get in the way of us making progress, Bishop suggests strategies to correct this exploring how we live through our (un)conscious choices, through setting our own game, taking perspective, embracing uncertainty and being self-defined through our actions instead of our thoughts.

Gina Senarighi

Love More Fight Less

Whilst primarily a book written for couples to improve their communication skills, the principles it covers can be traced back further to some core values for all relationships. These include; being aware of ourselves, being willing to have uncomfortable conversations, and recognising the influences on ourselves and others. All critical points of being a health assertive communicator.




Judy Ho

Stop Self-Sabotage


Ho’s book offers a clear six-point plan for addressing self-sabotaging thoughts which includes both theory and practical exercises. She starts by encouraging us to recognise our troublesome thinking patterns before looking at the sequence of these thoughts so we can learn to shut triggering thoughts down. Step three involves looking at the ABC (antecedents - behaviour - consequences) chain which leads to step four, setting the goal using mental contrasting and implementation intentions. The final two steps lead the reader through how to maintain their focus and develop a visual plan.

Gloria Mark

Attention Span

If you find yourself frequently distracted, Attention Span will help you explore why our ability to be distracted is useful rather than a problem, and how we can best work with this feature of our brain function. Mark helpfully dispels a number of myths about concentration and sets all her work in the real life context of living in a digital age. A great read for anyone worried about their attention span.



Jenny Odell - Saving Time

Odell’s book looks at re-introducing the concept of time as a crisis of opportunity. Referring to ancient Greek, there are two words and concepts of time, chronos, the more common idea of linear time, and kairos which is closer to seeing time as a crisis in which we seize the moment. Refuting claims like ‘time is money’ and an unhealthy emphasis on ‘time-management’, this book proposes that our focus should be on making meaningful choices through being more present in our experience of time.

Trey Gowdy

Start, Stay or Leave


How do we make decisions about our life choices in a way which has integrity, authenticity and helps guide us forward in life? In this book Trey Gowdy considers how to set your direction and ultimate goal in life. He considers the role of crashing through our comfort zone, the three pillars of decision making and when to call it a day on our efforts.

All age wellbeing

Grace Bryers

I Am Enough


This is a beautifully illustrated book primarily for children aged 5-8. With the accompanying words written as a lyrical ode, this book is a great way to explore self-worth and the respect of others with children in a world in which there is immense pressure, not in the least from social media, to compare self with others.

Meaghan Axel

The Power in Words


This book for children helps them to explore the impact of their words on themselves and others. With links to resources for parents and teachers, this will help you to support your child to become more confident, resilient and kind. Full of positive affirmation statements and points for discussion this little book can help make a big difference toward a better world.

Skills for life

Laura Vanderkam

What the most succesful people do before breakfast


When Vanderkam studied the morning routines of successful people she discovered having a productive morning, prioritising what is important and non-urgent was a common feature. She concluded that our willpower is strongest in the morning as willpower drops with exhaustion so successful people tend to do the most boring or challenging tasks in the morning. If you want to know how to start your day well, and become more productive, then this book will give you a great start.

Spirituality, Philosophy and change

John Mark Comer

The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry


As the Pastor of an American mega-church Comer was finding himself gradually drawn step-by-step into an increasingly hurried life. Whilst everything looked successful from the outside, inside he could feel himself dying. This book describes the problem of living in a fast paced, social-media focused world and the impact this has on us as individuals and a community. He then turns to the life of Jesus to create a manifesto for an unrushed, life affirming approach to living. A great inspirational read for anyone wanting to renew a faith approach to contemplating life in the slow lane.

Tricia Hersey

Rest is Resistance


How do you start a revolution? Well one way, and one which has a real benefit for our own mental and physical health, is to rebel through rest. Yep, that’s right, rebelling against the idea that we are consumer units or our value lies in our productivity, through sleeping or just doing something we enjoy for nothing but fun. Hersey, the self-titled nap-bishop with a nap-ministry, links rest as resistance historically to one of the ways slaves were able to rebel against their owners. So, if you want to learn how to rebel through rest, this is a great place to start.

The Little Book of Stoicism by Jonas Salzgeber (2019)


The ancient philosophy of stoicism offers us a contemporary approach to developing emotional resilience in the form of eudaimonia. This book demonstrates how a fulfilling life is about seeking authentic alignment with our real self rather than convenient instant gratification. This type of excellence isn't about perfection in an abstract sense but adapting to situations to achieve the underlying purpose rather than our instantaneous plan working with what we can influence (our reaction and decision) rather than what we can’t (the situation and circumstances).

People and change

Tim Urban

What's our problem?


Want to think about what an awesome future might look like? Might want to have a laugh whilst doing it instead of being resigned to a pit of despair at the current state of affairs? Then this could be the book for you. Whilst Urban thinks liberal societies are going through an existential crisis he is positive about the future. In this book he suggests tools we can all use that will improve our lives both as communities and individuals.

Please note that the book links on this page earn a commission from any qualigying purchase made through the Amazon Associates programme. This commission supports us in our mission to make living life well accesible for all.