Let’s check out a few of the best Russell Brand book recommendations.
Russell Brand is a comedian, actor, and more recently a political commentator and activist. You may know him from movies like Forgetting Sarah Marshall, and Get Him to the Greek. He has published 8 books, created a political-comedy web series called The Trews, and hosts the Stay Free podcast.
Russell Brand seems like a pretty avid reader. He is constantly recommending books on his podcasts and during interviews with other people. He even has his own segment called Books with Brand.
You may think that most of Russell Brand’s book recommendations will be political, but that’s not the case. He recommends many books outside of the political and even nonfiction genres.
If you are a fan of Russell Brand, then you may want to read all of his favorite books.
List of Russell Brand Book Recommendations
Here is the full list of Russell Brand’s book recommendations:
- The Creative Act by Rick Rubin
- A Place of Refuge by Tobias Jones
- 33 Myths of the System by Darren Allen
- Is This Anything? by Jerry Seinfeld
- Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
- Rising in Love by Ram Das Batchelder
- Revolution by Russell Brand
The Creative Act by Rick Rubin
The Creative Act: A Way of Being by Rick Rubin is the first Russell Brand book recommendation. This book was published in 2023, and is 432 pages long.
Russell Brand once recommended this book on Twitter, sharing, “Rick Rubin created genres. He is like Oppenheimer; a destroyer and creator of worlds, a true genius. Read this fantastic book.”
The Creative Act is, according to the author, supposed to be a book about creating amazing works of art, but ultimately is a guide on how to live a great life.
Rick Rubin was once a legendary music producer who helped create works of art from bands like the Beastie Boys, Run-DMC, Public Enemy, LL Cool J, and more. Needless to say, he knows a thing or two about being creative.
That’s exactly what he wants from his book. He wants to teach anyone and everyone to unlock the creativity within. You may think you aren’t a creative person, but Rick Rubin disagrees. He believes everyone is creative in their own way, but just doesn’t know how to unlock it yet.
The Creative Act is the perfect path to take to extending your creativity beyond its bounds. After reading this book, there is no doubt that you will be able to create beyond your wildest dreams.
A Place of Refuge by Tobias Jones
A Place of Refuge: An Experiment in Communal Living – The Story of Windsor Hill Wood by Tobias Jones was published in 2015, and it is 368 pages long.
Another book that Russell Brand recommended on Twitter is A Place of Refuge. He said, “This book by Tobias Jones is a beautiful account about the challenges and joys of communal living. Have a look at it!”
A Place of Refuge takes a look at one very important, fundamental question – why does it seem like the more society advances, the less happy people become?
In order to answer this question, Tobias Jones and his wife opened up a ten-acre woodland and invited anyone who was going through a crisis in their life to join them. Many people who suffered from addiction, depression, and general loneliness took the invite and came to live on the woodland.
They ended up building on the land things that everyone could enjoy like a chapel, pig pens, gardens, and farms that anyone could work and benefit from.
What they found was an intense generosity from those “outcasts” who lived with them. They figured out a way to help people turn their lives around simply by living off the land and helping those who lived on the commune.
This is an inspiring story about rejected normal society and living with a group of people where everyone depends on each other for support.
33 Myths of the System by Darren Allen
33 Myths of the System was written by Darren Allen, and published in 2021. This book is 304 pages long.
A short book recommendation by Russell Brand, saying, “A powerful book. A great title. A brilliant communicator… Breaks down many of the institutions that we believe in and see as somehow irreproachable and unassailable… fantastic stuff.”
He even posted on Instagram with a picture of the book saying that he is re-reading it!
33 Myths of the System doesn’t care if you are politically on the left or the right. What the book aims to do is take all the fabrications from both sides and expose them for the world to see.
Obviously, as the title states, you will get to read about 33 myths about society and the system that we belong to. These are criticisms about our current system, and what can be done to change this.
Everything from capitalism to socialism, from the left to the right, from atheism to theism, everything gets challenged in this book.
For many, it may be hard to read as you start to see the book taking aim at your ideals, but nothing helps you grow more than having your own thoughts be challenged.
Is This Anything? by Jerry Seinfeld
Russell Brand is a big fan of Jerry Seinfeld, so when he recommended the book he said, “What a brilliant and funny book by a great man. All Jerry Seinfeld material. On the page they are like haikus or incantations of mirth.”
Everyone knows Jerry Seinfeld from his hilarious, highly acclaimed TV sitcom, Seinfeld, but not many people know that he has a whole book full of jokes that he has come up with.
Jerry Seinfeld basically saves every single bit that he has ever come up with, even the ones he has never used for his show or in his standup routine. That’s what makes this book so special, only those who read the book will ever hear these jokes.
The cool thing about Is This Anything? is that it’s sorted out by decade. So if you liked Jerry Seinfeld better at any particular point in his career, you can just hop to that section and start laughing.
The other great thing is by starting at the very beginning and reading until the end, you can see just how he evolved into being one of the most funny people on earth.
Jerry Seinfeld’s book will give you amazing insights into not only his career, but his thoughts and entire life. He might even help you out with your own stand up career if that’s what you like to do. Otherwise it’s just a hilarious book to endless laugh at.
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland was written by Lewis Carroll, published back in 1865, and is about 100 pages long.
Another Russell Brand book recommendation from Twitter. He said, “It has so much to teach us. It’s an archetypal tale about recognising that there are different layers of reality.”
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is normally considered a children’s book, but it definitely hits differently as an adult. As a child, you are bewildered at all the crazy creatures, but as an adult you understand things on a deeper level.
You may already know the basic story of Alice in Wonderland, but in case you don’t, it follows a little girl named Alice who falls down a rabbit hole into a crazy, fantasy world. Here live weird and wild anthropomorphic creatures.
You will meet whacky creatures like the Cheshire Cat, the Mad Hatter, the White Rabbit, and many, many more. She goes on such a weird adventure the book is considered literary nonsense, yet it is quite entertaining to see the creativity.
You can check out some of the other books by Lewis Carroll.
Fun fact: Alice was actually inspired by one of Lewis Carroll’s friend’s daughters!
Rising in Love by Ram Das Batchelder
Rising in Love: My Wild and Crazy Ride to Here and Now, with Amma, the Hugging Saint is a book written by Ram Das Batchelder. It was published in 2014, and is about 383 pages long.
When Russell Brand recommended the book Rising in Love, he said, “Beautiful book I’m reading by an adorable, devoted lunatic about the incomparable Amma.”
Rising in Love is an autobiography of Ram Das Batchelder’s search for enlightenment. It started as a spiritual awakening during his tie in America, where he said that he met an angel.
He then met Ammu, a guru known as the Hugging Saint, and from there he spent most of the next 27 years of his life in India searching for enlightenment with Ammu.
He began this journey because he was addicted to drugs. He realized he cannot continue his life the way he was living it, and something needed to change. Rising in Love will inspire anyone to change their despair into a beautifully fulfilled life.
The book is at some points a psychological thriller that will keep you in suspense, but turn around and be funny at other points. It definitely keeps you on your toes.
The best thing about Rising in Love is that the author has been donating all the proceeds from the book to an orphanage that he spent time at in India.
Revolution by Russell Brand
Revolution is just one of the many books that Russell Brand has written and published. This one might just so happen to be his best and most inspiring. It was published in 2014, and is 320 pages long.
About the book, he was quoted as saying, “Imagining the overthrow of the current political system is the only way I can be enthused about politics.”
The inspiration to write the book came from a question he was asked in an interview about the quote above, “How, may I ask, is this revolution going to come about?” The book is the lengthy answer to that question.
Russell Brand believes that the current system is just not working. Keep in mind, this book was written in 2014, so many argue it has gotten even worse since then. However, the points in the book still stand.
He takes inspiration from his own experiences and those around him to craft a society that is more fair and fun for everyone living in it. He claims that eventually a revolution is inevitable. But that doesn’t mean violence. He argues revolution can happen through love.
Even though the book takes on a serious subject matter, Russell Brand does a great job of making you laugh the whole time.