#This is my formal application to make Austin the heart

[cheese-water]

Generation Loss is a comedic tragedy in every sense of the word. Every character we see exemplifies this fact, but no one other than The Austin Show proves its truth.

We begin at the carousel. Austin, Gay, takes his turn by pleading for himself to live because he has a wife and children back home. The rest of the cast interrogates him about his “wife and kids,” clearly suspicious of his truthfulness without even knowing his dubbed “title.” Everyone in the room treats Austin like a joke.

In turn, so do we.

Next, we reach the closet and shortly after the failed drag show, Austin remarks, “Look, I uh… I didn’t expect to die here.” It’s a moment of pure honesty, whether we like it or not. It happens again when the Puzzler tries to party with them, and Austin has to angrily remind him that they are his captives and are actively trying to kill them.

Austin: “What are you doing? What are you doing? What are you doing? We're trying to get out of here. I have children and wives— wife. One wife! What is this some sort of game? I’ve been stuck in hear for hours it seems. We’re trying to get out. Why is nobody else freaking out? We’ve got C4 strapped to our neck…”

It isn’t until Ethan’s death, his blood pooling out from underneath the door, Austin screaming at the others, begging them to have a reaction, to care about their circumstances, to care about death, that we finally understand Austin’s role in Generation Loss.

After all, in every great comedy, someone always has to play the straight man.

[rollinbrigittenv8]

Interview: Bunkhouse’s Liz Lambert on Going Local With Hospitality Outsiders

Liz Lambert, the COO of the Bunkhouse Group, got her hospitality start at the Hotel San Jose in Austin when it was catering to down-and-out residents. Bunkhouse Group

Skift Take: Here's one of hospitality's most interesting thinkers on hiring, her approach to service, and the importance of community when launching a development.

— Colin Nagy

When canvasing interesting hoteliers and hospitality figures for who they look up to in the industry, one name is a recurring fixture: Liz Lambert, the chief operating officer of the Bunkhouse Group.

Raised in West Texas and educated in Austin, Lambert pivoted an early career in law at the District Attorney’s office in Manhattan into a varied and vivid career in hospitality. She has launched extremely thoughtful boutique properties along the entire range of price points, from the Austin Motel to the Hotel San Jose and the higher-end, discrete rock and roll hideout, the Hotel Saint Cecila.

Recently, she’s expanded her vision outside of Austin and Texas into a new property in Todos Santos, Mexico, an hour north (but a world away) from Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, and is in the process of a significant edit of a classic rock and roll hotel, the Phoenix Hotel, in San Francisco.

Liz Lambert, COO of the Bunkhouse Group, is speaking at Skift Global Forum 2017. Get Tickets Now

Skift caught up with the hotelier and queried her on her thoughts on hiring, what constitutes her approach to hospitality, and the importance of community when launching a development. The interview has been lightly edited for clarity.

Skift: Can you describe your start in hospitality?

Liz Lambert: When I bought the San José, I wasn’t able to raise the money to do the renovation right away and ended up running it for awhile as the residential hotel it was when I bought it  – it was a pay-by-the-week home for folks who had fallen on hard times in one way or another. I saw a lot of things and learned a lot during those years. I was working the front desk, doing housekeeping shifts sometimes, and becoming intimately connected to the lives of the people who were living there.

I think those years are obviously some of the most formative in terms of my understanding of what it means to be a host, and what it means to provide shelter. I certainly learned how to perfect hospital corners during those years. 

Skift: You’ve since built several cult properties, each with a different feel but with an incredible approach to service. How do you hire? 

Lambert: When I first started, it was really important to me that we hire people with no hospitality experience. I wanted our employees to be able to think unconventionally, to work without a preconceived notion of service, and to bring their genuine personalities to the job. We look for people who have other things going on in their lives outside of work that they are passionate about. You can teach someone customer service but you can’t teach them how to be interesting, engaging human beings. We don’t have concierges, but we do have staff who are really excited to tell you about their favorite show happening in town that night. This is such an important part of who we are as a company. As we’ve evolved, we’ve hired a few people with hotel experience to broaden our overall expertise — but just a few.

Skift: You’re entering the San Francisco market, which is not known for great hotels. What attracted you to the Phoenix? 

Lambert: The Phoenix was my mentor Chip Conley’s first hotel ever.  His origins in the industry were similar to mine – we came from outside of the hotel world and wanted to create something different.  His first guests were down-on-their-luck folks as well; it was the Tenderloin in the 80’s, if you can imagine.

At the same time, the Phoenix has always been a beloved rest stop for touring bands, because it has a parking lot that can hold a tour bus and the hotel is in the epicenter of some of the city’s most important live music venues. So it became this sort of legendary place over the years, where the grittiness of the Tenderloin became the backdrop for the rock and roll scene traveling through town.  There were a lot of crazy memories born there. When Kurt Cobain died, he had a note in his pocket on Phoenix Hotel stationary. He had written joke wedding vows to Courtney on it. Pretty amazing.

It’s weird that San Francisco doesn’t have more interesting hotels, given the amazing history and culture of the city. We’re going to do our part to carve out a little bit of soul there if we can. 

Skift: How will you change or shape it? 

Lambert: We’re going to edit the Phoenix and make it a bit more cohesive from a design standpoint, and pay homage to its cultural heyday in the late 80’s and early 90’s. We want to acknowledge its roots and elevate the legend that it is, but at the same time we need to manage guests’ expectations. It’s still a motel in the heart of the Tenderloin. 

It is not a huge repositioning: a refresh of the rooms and courtyard, and a renovation of the lobby. We’re excited to add some cultural programming in the amazing little oasis of the courtyard to create more community there.

Skift: How are you viewing the state of modern hospitality and the opportunity for hotels? 

Lambert: Technology is of course changing hotels dramatically, much like it has changed the music industry, retail, film and television, and transportation. In hotels, AirBnB has been the great technological disruptor. But a good hotel, a hotel that is part of a fabric of a place, is something that can’t be replaced. Every day, a different community is created in the lobby and common spaces of a hotel. There is a collective energy and excitement that can’t happen when you are renting someone’s apartment while they are out of town.

Skift: What is your design philosophy?

Lambert: My brother Lyndon always said, “Let people be the color in the room.” Lots of hotels really over-design: there’s clutter and too much stuff everywhere. When you create a backdrop for things to happen, a kind of blank canvas for human experience then that’s where the magic is. 

Skift: What is special about your Austin roots?

Lambert: Austin is changing. South Congress is changing. But for me Austin is the perfect amalgamation of things that haven’t changed. It’s a university town, a capital, the converging point for hippies and rednecks.  It’s the home of the cosmic cowboy. It is the blue dot in the middle of a red state, a town built on an ancient underground aquifer, with a music-centric culture that has remained remarkably independent throughout its history. Austin has done really well at staying weird even as it changes and grows. 

Skift: How did you approach Todos Santos in terms of community and culture? 

Lambert: The hotel in Todos Santos was a new challenge for us since it isn’t our native culture. Building community is more than just paying lip service.  It’s about spending a lot of time in a region, getting to understand it deeply. It’s about elevating those people and businesses in the community that are doing meaningful things, from the artists to the musicians to the ladies who run the fish taco stand, and finding ways to connect our guests to them. Our goal is to try to eliminate the gated walls and barriers between guests and the people who live there.

For example, we want our guests to be able to walk down to the beach and interact directly with the fishermen to buy their daily catch that we can prepare for them in the hotel restaurant. We want people to make those real connections to this magical place and the people who live here.

For Hotel San Cristobal, one of our biggest concerns was about the idea of bringing in staff from Cabo. Todos Santos didn’t have a big service industry to tap into. It’s a small town that hasn’t had a lot of tourism over the years.  The service model in Cabo is generally very formal and rigid, and we didn’t want a bunch of people working at the hotel who were from out of town and unfamiliar with Todos Santos. And more than anything, we wanted to create opportunity and jobs among the local community.

Skift: How did you approach staffing the hotel? 

Lambert: Because so few people in the community had customer service experience, and because we didn’t want to bring in a bunch of staff from outside the community, we had to figure out how to build the talent within Todos Santos. We worked with an amazing organization called Saira Hospitality. They do pop-up training schools that focus on the deeper, intangible elements of hospitality. They don’t teach staff where to put the fancy fork on the table so much as they teach students how to connect genuinely with hotel guests. This isn’t something that is generally encouraged in other Mexican beachfront hotels.

One of my favorite things they do at the school is to expose students to the kinds of vacation experiences that guests are having. They do wine and culinary tastings, take students out on adventure trips etc. This allows future staff to really understand what a vacation here feels like from the guest’s perspective, which is so awesome and really translates to a more engaging relationship between staff and guests. 

Another thing I love is that is that we opened the school up to anyone in the community, not just those who wanted to work for us. We received over 100 applications and were able to accept 48 students. Of those, about 40 percent ended up getting jobs at our hotel while the other 60 percent are working elsewhere in town or have businesses of their own. In the end, over 98 percent of Hotel San Cristobal’s staff are locals. We’re really proud of that.

Skift: What are you inspired by in hospitality today? What are trends you see?

Lambert: I’m inspired by the ways really good hotels continue to reinvent themselves and create culture and meaning through programming. Little things like the music playing and the retail that’s being sold have such a strong ability to tell the story of a place and to make people leave with a sense of having been somewhere. We’ve got everything from 80’s-style water aerobics in the pool at the Austin Motel to an annual pet parade in the parking lot at the San Jose and way more.

I’m amazed what the teams at each of the properties come up with to continue to grow and build on the spirit of each of the hotels. It’s incredible to watch how the culture that our staff comes up with continues to build the identity of each of these places. It really does take a village, and I’m lucky that the Bunkhouse, village is as amazing as it is. I think this is the trend that most hospitality companies are trying to figure out. How to create real experiences. There’s no playbook for it. It’s really about the creativity and shared passion of the group doing the work.

[touristguidebuzz]

Interview: Bunkhouse’s Liz Lambert on Going Local With Hospitality Outsiders

Liz Lambert, the COO of the Bunkhouse Group, got her hospitality start at the Hotel San Jose in Austin when it was catering to down-and-out residents. Bunkhouse Group

Skift Take: Here's one of hospitality's most interesting thinkers on hiring, her approach to service, and the importance of community when launching a development.

— Colin Nagy

When canvasing interesting hoteliers and hospitality figures for who they look up to in the industry, one name is a recurring fixture: Liz Lambert, the chief operating officer of the Bunkhouse Group.

Raised in West Texas and educated in Austin, Lambert pivoted an early career in law at the District Attorney’s office in Manhattan into a varied and vivid career in hospitality. She has launched extremely thoughtful boutique properties along the entire range of price points, from the Austin Motel to the Hotel San Jose and the higher-end, discrete rock and roll hideout, the Hotel Saint Cecila.

Recently, she’s expanded her vision outside of Austin and Texas into a new property in Todos Santos, Mexico, an hour north (but a world away) from Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, and is in the process of a significant edit of a classic rock and roll hotel, the Phoenix Hotel, in San Francisco.

Liz Lambert, COO of the Bunkhouse Group, is speaking at Skift Global Forum 2017. Get Tickets Now

Skift caught up with the hotelier and queried her on her thoughts on hiring, what constitutes her approach to hospitality, and the importance of community when launching a development. The interview has been lightly edited for clarity.

Skift: Can you describe your start in hospitality?

Liz Lambert: When I bought the San José, I wasn’t able to raise the money to do the renovation right away and ended up running it for awhile as the residential hotel it was when I bought it  – it was a pay-by-the-week home for folks who had fallen on hard times in one way or another. I saw a lot of things and learned a lot during those years. I was working the front desk, doing housekeeping shifts sometimes, and becoming intimately connected to the lives of the people who were living there.

I think those years are obviously some of the most formative in terms of my understanding of what it means to be a host, and what it means to provide shelter. I certainly learned how to perfect hospital corners during those years. 

Skift: You’ve since built several cult properties, each with a different feel but with an incredible approach to service. How do you hire? 

Lambert: When I first started, it was really important to me that we hire people with no hospitality experience. I wanted our employees to be able to think unconventionally, to work without a preconceived notion of service, and to bring their genuine personalities to the job. We look for people who have other things going on in their lives outside of work that they are passionate about. You can teach someone customer service but you can’t teach them how to be interesting, engaging human beings. We don’t have concierges, but we do have staff who are really excited to tell you about their favorite show happening in town that night. This is such an important part of who we are as a company. As we’ve evolved, we’ve hired a few people with hotel experience to broaden our overall expertise — but just a few.

Skift: You’re entering the San Francisco market, which is not known for great hotels. What attracted you to the Phoenix? 

Lambert: The Phoenix was my mentor Chip Conley’s first hotel ever.  His origins in the industry were similar to mine – we came from outside of the hotel world and wanted to create something different.  His first guests were down-on-their-luck folks as well; it was the Tenderloin in the 80’s, if you can imagine.

At the same time, the Phoenix has always been a beloved rest stop for touring bands, because it has a parking lot that can hold a tour bus and the hotel is in the epicenter of some of the city’s most important live music venues. So it became this sort of legendary place over the years, where the grittiness of the Tenderloin became the backdrop for the rock and roll scene traveling through town.  There were a lot of crazy memories born there. When Kurt Cobain died, he had a note in his pocket on Phoenix Hotel stationary. He had written joke wedding vows to Courtney on it. Pretty amazing.

It’s weird that San Francisco doesn’t have more interesting hotels, given the amazing history and culture of the city. We’re going to do our part to carve out a little bit of soul there if we can. 

Skift: How will you change or shape it? 

Lambert: We’re going to edit the Phoenix and make it a bit more cohesive from a design standpoint, and pay homage to its cultural heyday in the late 80’s and early 90’s. We want to acknowledge its roots and elevate the legend that it is, but at the same time we need to manage guests’ expectations. It’s still a motel in the heart of the Tenderloin. 

It is not a huge repositioning: a refresh of the rooms and courtyard, and a renovation of the lobby. We’re excited to add some cultural programming in the amazing little oasis of the courtyard to create more community there.

Skift: How are you viewing the state of modern hospitality and the opportunity for hotels? 

Lambert: Technology is of course changing hotels dramatically, much like it has changed the music industry, retail, film and television, and transportation. In hotels, AirBnB has been the great technological disruptor. But a good hotel, a hotel that is part of a fabric of a place, is something that can’t be replaced. Every day, a different community is created in the lobby and common spaces of a hotel. There is a collective energy and excitement that can’t happen when you are renting someone’s apartment while they are out of town.

Skift: What is your design philosophy?

Lambert: My brother Lyndon always said, “Let people be the color in the room.” Lots of hotels really over-design: there’s clutter and too much stuff everywhere. When you create a backdrop for things to happen, a kind of blank canvas for human experience then that’s where the magic is. 

Skift: What is special about your Austin roots?

Lambert: Austin is changing. South Congress is changing. But for me Austin is the perfect amalgamation of things that haven’t changed. It’s a university town, a capital, the converging point for hippies and rednecks.  It’s the home of the cosmic cowboy. It is the blue dot in the middle of a red state, a town built on an ancient underground aquifer, with a music-centric culture that has remained remarkably independent throughout its history. Austin has done really well at staying weird even as it changes and grows. 

Skift: How did you approach Todos Santos in terms of community and culture? 

Lambert: The hotel in Todos Santos was a new challenge for us since it isn’t our native culture. Building community is more than just paying lip service.  It’s about spending a lot of time in a region, getting to understand it deeply. It’s about elevating those people and businesses in the community that are doing meaningful things, from the artists to the musicians to the ladies who run the fish taco stand, and finding ways to connect our guests to them. Our goal is to try to eliminate the gated walls and barriers between guests and the people who live there.

For example, we want our guests to be able to walk down to the beach and interact directly with the fishermen to buy their daily catch that we can prepare for them in the hotel restaurant. We want people to make those real connections to this magical place and the people who live here.

For Hotel San Cristobal, one of our biggest concerns was about the idea of bringing in staff from Cabo. Todos Santos didn’t have a big service industry to tap into. It’s a small town that hasn’t had a lot of tourism over the years.  The service model in Cabo is generally very formal and rigid, and we didn’t want a bunch of people working at the hotel who were from out of town and unfamiliar with Todos Santos. And more than anything, we wanted to create opportunity and jobs among the local community.

Skift: How did you approach staffing the hotel? 

Lambert: Because so few people in the community had customer service experience, and because we didn’t want to bring in a bunch of staff from outside the community, we had to figure out how to build the talent within Todos Santos. We worked with an amazing organization called Saira Hospitality. They do pop-up training schools that focus on the deeper, intangible elements of hospitality. They don’t teach staff where to put the fancy fork on the table so much as they teach students how to connect genuinely with hotel guests. This isn’t something that is generally encouraged in other Mexican beachfront hotels.

One of my favorite things they do at the school is to expose students to the kinds of vacation experiences that guests are having. They do wine and culinary tastings, take students out on adventure trips etc. This allows future staff to really understand what a vacation here feels like from the guest’s perspective, which is so awesome and really translates to a more engaging relationship between staff and guests. 

Another thing I love is that is that we opened the school up to anyone in the community, not just those who wanted to work for us. We received over 100 applications and were able to accept 48 students. Of those, about 40 percent ended up getting jobs at our hotel while the other 60 percent are working elsewhere in town or have businesses of their own. In the end, over 98 percent of Hotel San Cristobal’s staff are locals. We’re really proud of that.

Skift: What are you inspired by in hospitality today? What are trends you see?

Lambert: I’m inspired by the ways really good hotels continue to reinvent themselves and create culture and meaning through programming. Little things like the music playing and the retail that’s being sold have such a strong ability to tell the story of a place and to make people leave with a sense of having been somewhere. We’ve got everything from 80’s-style water aerobics in the pool at the Austin Motel to an annual pet parade in the parking lot at the San Jose and way more.

I’m amazed what the teams at each of the properties come up with to continue to grow and build on the spirit of each of the hotels. It’s incredible to watch how the culture that our staff comes up with continues to build the identity of each of these places. It really does take a village, and I’m lucky that the Bunkhouse, village is as amazing as it is. I think this is the trend that most hospitality companies are trying to figure out. How to create real experiences. There’s no playbook for it. It’s really about the creativity and shared passion of the group doing the work.

[justindavidcarl]

Books That Radically Transformed My Life

Reading is one of the things that brings me the most joy in life.

Reading also happens to be one of the most transformational growth-inducing activities I do daily.

I've been thinking about putting together a list of books that have radically transformed my life for the better for a long time.

I finally realized that I may as well start because I will never be done. And I can always come back & update this as I see fit.

So, without further ado, here are...

Books That Have Radically Alchemized (Transformed) My Life:

Creativity

The Artist's Way: A Spiritual Path To Higher Creativity by Julia Cameron

Julia Cameron is one of my biggest mentors. This book was groundbreaking & truly life-changing. It unleashed me as an artist, creative & writer. It taught me to fall in love with journaling--one of the most empowering transformational tools I have in my repertoire. It also linked creativity as a pathway for spiritual communion. This paradigm radically alchemized my life in infinite ways.

The Icarus Deception: How High Will You Fly? by Seth Goden

Seth Goden is a brilliant writer & thinker. This book unbound me from own creative suppression. It gave me permission to create & share and naturally allow an audience to form around my creative work.

Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing & Life by Anne Lamott

Anne Lamott is one of my favorite writers. This book makes me laugh, cry, reel with delight, soar in intellectual & emotional brilliance & so much more. Her writing makes me desperately want to write. Inspiring and great life advice even if one has no interest in writing.

Daily Rituals: How Artists Work by Mason Currey

Mason Currey showed me that art & creativity and the work that goes into producing it comes in all shapes, forms, sizes, colors, shades & walks-of-life. There is no one right way. There is a way that works for you. Our job is to find & harness our unique ways that empower our personal creative process.

Steal Like An Artist: 10 Things No One Told You About Being Creative by Austin Kleon

This book gave me permission to "steal" the work of others, combine it with other works in all fields & topics, and alchemize it all together to make it my own. Short. Fun. Powerful. Read this.

Show Your Work! by Austin Kleon

Austin Kleon taught me that it is not only okay but actually an integral part of the creative process to show your work even as your are developing it (aka before it's "done"). He empowered me to stop hiding my vulnerability & instead use it as a strength & pathway forward.

Human Potential, Personal Development & Money

Awaken The Giant Within by Anthony Robbins

First read this as a teenager. Radically transformed my life for the better. Went from loaner & playground bully to powerful social force for achievement as well as leader in all areas of life (school, sports, family, etc). It truly unlocked my potential. Aided me getting to Stanford University & beyond. Re-reading again in my 30s and diligently studying & applying. Having same effect it did when I was teenager.

Unlimited Power by Tony Robbins

Same case as above with Awaken The Giant Within.

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons In Personal Change by Stephen R. Covey

Foundational. We are our habits. Everyone should read. Also recommend the teenager version written by the author's son.

Willpower by Roy F. Baumeister & John Tierney

This book gave me an obsession with habits. Game-changer. Amazing parenting advice as well. 

Better Than Before by Gretchen Rubin

One of my favorite books on habits & optimal conscious habit-design for your unique temperament. 

Think & Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill

Probably one of the most timeless & popular success books ever written. There is a reason it's on so many incredibly successful people's must-read book-lists.

The Master-Key To Riches by Napoleon Hill

This is a lesser known gem by Napoleon Hill. Short & straightforward, yet you could study it daily for the rest of your life.

The Peaceful Warrior: A Book That Changes Lives by Dan Millman

Dan Millman and this book made me realize & finally "see" the woman of my dreams. For this I will be forever deeply grateful. It also happens to be a life-changing book in many other ways.

The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere & Join The New Rich by Tim Ferriss

I read this when it first came out in 2007. I instantly thought to myself "Finally! I understand who I want to become!" My vision was similar to Tim Ferriss with the human potential & positive transformation leadership, but with my own alchemical fashion-forward spiritual-hipster twist! Ten years later I am finally living that vision. Forever my deepest gratitude to you, Tim Ferriss for helping me understand, see & live my own personal vision.

Psycho-Cybernetics Maxwell Waltz

Read this at a super young age (thanks Dad!). Awesome book about harnessing your subconscious & building self-esteem.

The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene

Incredibly dense book. I don't agree with everything in it (in the sense of actually using the power to my advantage), but I can see how some people operate from some of these more questionable power-paradigms. That said, I strongly believe that having knowledge & awareness around power-dynamics is paramount to creating & protecting the life you do want to live.

Creating Money: Attracting Abundance by Sanaya Roman & Duane Packer

This book finally gave me the spiritual-connection to money that I had been seeking for so long.

How to Win Friends & Influence People by Dale Carnegie

Classic. Another book that is on many super-performers must-read lists. No matter what field of business you are in this will be of the utmost service to your life-journey.

Mindset: The New Psychology Of Success by Carol S. Dweck

For a "recovering-perfectionist" like myself this book was life-transforming. I recommend this book to all students (those in formal schooling like high-school & college as well a life-students) and anyone who has kids or ever wants to have kids. This book teaches you how to learn & grow. It teaches you how to cultivate a learning/growth-mindset in your children. Powerful stuff.

Grit: The Power of Passion & Perseverance by Angela Duckworth

This book gifted me with one of my core-values: grit (defined as passion & perseverance). A great companion to Mindset (above).

The Obstacle Is The Way: The Timeless Art of Turning Trials Into Triumph by Ryan Holiday

Ryan Holiday taught me to "follow the process, not the prize." This led me to fall in love with the journey of writing, blogging, business-building, etc. It is also an essential book to pick-up & re-read whenever one is feeling blocked by an obstacle.

Healing, Intuition & Spiritual

You Can Heal Your Life by Louise L. Hay

If I could only give others one book for the rest of my life this would probably be it. It taught me to truly love myself. Get the gift addition (I swear the artistic & colorful pictures empower the healing process).

The Four-Fold Way: Walking The Paths Of The Warrior, Teacher, Healer & Visionary by Angeles Arrien

Life-changing tools & easy-to-read guidebook on harnessing & building within these four aspects (warrior, teacher, healer & visionary). I grew up with this book thanks to my Mom. It holds a special place in my heart.

The Yamas & Niyamas: Exploring Yoga's Ethical Practice by Deborah Adele

Incredibly applicable way to live the philosophy of Yoga in modern-life. Super easy & fun read too.

Voyager Tarot: Way of The Great Oracle by James Wanless (plus Voyager Tarot Deck)

I've been practicing Tarot for over 7-years to cultivate my own intuition & build deep self-knowledge. This is my favorite Tarot Deck & it's in-depth companion guide.

The Tarot Handbook: Practical Applications of Ancient Visual Symbols by Angeles Arrien (plus Thoth Tarot Deck)

This is my favorite book on Tarot which is based on Aleister Crowley's Thoth Deck.

Animal Spirit Guides: An Easy-to-Use Handbook For Identifying & Understanding Your Power Animals & Animal Spirit Helpers by Steven D. Farmer Ph.D.

Spiritual Hipster incarnate. Yes I am! I traverse this magical world with my pack of Power Animals by my side. Want to discover your own power animal and/or develop your own totem animal pack? Read this book.

The Book Of Stones: Who They Are & What They Teach by Robert Simmons & Naisha Ashian

A key part of being Spiritual Hipster is working with gemstones. I've studied this book in-depth for years and know I will constantly go back to it for the rest of my life. Check it out if you've ever felt the energetic call of the enigmatic crystal-allies.

Women Food & God: An Unexpected Path To Almost Anything by Geneen Roth

For much of my life I abused food like a drug. As a result I had an incredibly damaging relationship with both food & body. This book was an integral part of the healing process. It was written for women, but if you have any food-issues this book will hit-home.

Awakening Spirits: A Native American Path To Inner Peace, Healing & Spiritual Growth by Tom Brown, Jr.

This book inspired me to go on a Vision Quest -- one of the most powerful transformational experiences I've ever undergone. The experience of the quest still continues to unfold it's awesome power in my life every day. Book also includes the teaching of a very powerful & easy-to-do meditation.

Fiction, Fantasy & Sci-Fi

The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan

My favorite Fantasy series of all time. Bar none.

The Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini

My favorite Dragon-themed fantasy series. Dragon is my main power animal so this series holds a special place in my heart. There are also Elves. Another magical soft-spot of mine.

The Kingkiller Chronicle by Patrick Rothfuss

Probably my second favorite fantasy series. It's not finished yet (only two books so far).

Redwall by Brian Jacques

This was the fantasy book that started my lifelong love-affair with fantasy (my favorite form of pleasure reading). I still vividly remember reading this during a childhood multi-day river-rafting/camping trip.

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

This book taught me to trust the journey and process even when what I am currently doing in life doesn't seem to be leading me where I am supposed to go. It is, it's just in disguise patiently waiting for me to understand, become aware & embrace the journey.

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

My favorite Sci-Fi book and the book that caused me to fall in love with Sci-Fi. Ender's Shadow is just as good. I like most whichever I've most recently read.

Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling

I made fun of my mom & younger brother for about a year for reading "children's books" (how I ignorantly categorized the Harry Potter books). Then I finally began one and I was hooked. Read the first 3-4 books in about a week. That's how good it was. It also happens to be one of the few fiction series I've read in entirety more than once.

And that's it!  For now... 🤓 📚 🙌🏼

Do you have any books that radically changed your life that are not on this list? If so, please share! Leave me a comment (scroll all the way down), email me, or send me a tweet with your suggestion! 🙏🏼

I am always on the look-out for life-alchemizing books and I would love to add your favorite to this list after falling in love with it myself!

In alchemy & service,

Justin David Carl 🌒

P.S. This is a living-resource that I will continuously curate so don't feel the need to get all of these right now. Just pick one book that catches your eye and come back here for the next one when you're done!