The Bookshelf
The books that built Normal Like Peter: 93 of them on thirteen shelves, from trauma and the nervous system to theology, time loops and the business side.
Updated September 25, 2026 · Stardate 2026.268
← Back to the Reading Room The original list: Master Canon v4.0 Listening instead: NORMAL Music
Starting points
Not sure where to begin? Pick the question closest to yours.
If trauma lives in your body
If you grew up with emotional neglect
If attachment keeps looping
If your faith fell apart
If you think in loops and timelines
If you're building something
The shelves
- Where it started 1
- Trauma, somatic healing and the nervous system 7
- Childhood emotional neglect, inner child and family of origin 5
- Attachment, relationships and divorce 11
- Identity, selfhood and boundaries 4
- Theology, covenant and spiritual deconstruction 19
- AI, future tech and digital eschatology 5
- Business, leadership and the entrepreneur operating system 16
- Time travel, multiverse and recursion fiction 9
- Mythology, fantasy and world-building 6
- Culture, behavior and pop psychology 4
- Communication and human connection 2
- Local lore, humor and light energy 4
Where it started
The first book on the record, at a library, at age six.
- The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
The first book Matt asked for by name, at six, listening to the library's volunteer readers. The fence Tom turns into a privilege was his first business lesson.
Trauma, somatic healing and the nervous system
The core healing shelf underneath the Nervous System Theology primers.
- The Body Keeps the Score
How trauma is stored in the body; somatic memory and complex PTSD symptoms.
- Complex PTSD: From Surviving to Thriving
Emotional flashbacks, the freeze response and the inner critic.
- The Complex PTSD Workbook
Practical exercises, grounding and somatic tools.
- Waking the Tiger
Freeze, shaking and nervous-system discharge.
- Man's Search for Meaning
Meaning as a way through suffering.
- Becoming Supernatural
Mind-body connection, meditation and emotional rewiring.
- The Introvert Advantage
Energy, pacing and introversion.
Childhood emotional neglect, inner child and family of origin
How a childhood shapes the adult, and where parts work begins.
- Running on Empty
The core model of childhood emotional neglect.
- Running on Empty No More
Emotional neglect in relationships, marriage and parenting.
- I'm Glad My Mom Died
A memoir of enmeshment and parental control, told with humor.
- Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents
Emotional role reversal, neglect and arrested emotional development.
- The Journey from Abandonment to Healing
The phases of an abandonment wound, panic cycles and recovery.
Attachment, relationships and divorce
Attachment, repair, and what happens when a covenant breaks.
- Attached
Attachment styles, anxious and avoidant dynamics, and secure repair.
- Red Flags
High-risk traits and manipulation patterns.
- Dead Bedroom Fix
Sexual shutdown, resentment and intimacy collapse.
- Divorce Panic
Panic cycles and instability during separation.
- How to Talk to Your Kids About Divorce
Co-parenting and emotional safety for children.
- Swing
Midlife honesty about desire inside a marriage.
- How to Be a 3% Man
Relationship behavior and framing; an early influence.
- Mastering Yourself
Self-leadership and emotional self-control.
- The Five Love Languages
An early relationship framework.
- The Time Traveler's Wife
Romance and loss across time.
- The Art of Letting Go
Essays on breakup grief and emotional release.
Identity, selfhood and boundaries
From caretaker to presence.
- No More Mr. Nice Guy
Covert contracts, approval-seeking and self-recovery.
- How to Be a Great Boss
Leadership and boundaries on a team.
- Beyond Order
Chaos, order and personal responsibility.
- The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
Personal effectiveness and ethical alignment.
Theology, covenant and spiritual deconstruction
Collapse, rebirth and the Infinite Game theology, in three parts.
Classic and evangelical
- Systematic Theology
The evangelical doctrinal scaffold.
- Providence
Sovereignty, control and determinism.
- What Jesus Demands from the World
A high-demand obedience model.
- Future Grace
Faith, perseverance and suffering.
- A Father Who Keeps His Promises
Covenant theology and the structure of biblical promises.
- ESV Study Bible
- Purple Leather Reference Bible
Mysticism, awakening and nonduality
- Dark Night of the Soul
Spiritual desolation and rebirth; the path of "nothing, nothing" up the mountain.
- Dark Night of the Soul
Psychology meets spiritual crisis.
- The Interior Castle
Inner transformation through seven mansions.
- Awake: It's Your Turn
Nonduality, awakening and shifts in perception.
- No Nonsense Spirituality
Grounded spirituality after deconstruction, and nihilism as a waystation rather than a destination.
- Universal Christ
The cosmic Christ and a theology of presence.
- The Wisdom of Insecurity
Psychedelic Christianity, esoterica and metamodern theology
- Recapture the Rapture
Psychedelic spirituality and metamodern mythmaking.
- The Immortality Key
The psychedelic question in early Christian mysteries.
- Dreaming Wide Awake
Lucid dreaming and shamanic healing.
- History of the Occult
- Egyptian Book of the Dead
AI, future tech and digital eschatology
Behind the DSI Warnings and the Infinite Game tech theology.
- The Coming Wave
Advanced AI and the problem of containment.
- The Singularity Is Nearer
Acceleration and the posthuman future.
- The Alignment Problem
The ethics and engineering of AI behavior.
- Algorithms to Live By
Computational thinking for everyday life.
- Solve for Happy
An engineer's logic of happiness and suffering.
Business, leadership and the entrepreneur operating system
The backbone of the business side of the work.
- The Infinite Game
Finite and infinite games; the frame behind the Infinite Game theology.
- Good to Great
Culture, momentum and mission clarity.
- ITIL Foundation (4th edition)
The IT service-management framework behind the managed-services work.
- Traction
The Entrepreneurial Operating System in practice.
- Rocket Fuel
The visionary and integrator partnership.
- Entrepreneurial Leap
Entrepreneur identity.
- Scaling Up
Growth systems and scaling architecture.
- The E-Myth Revisited
From technician to manager to entrepreneur.
- Profit First
Cash-flow architecture.
- Conscious Capitalism
Purpose-driven business.
- Everybody Matters
Human-centered leadership.
- Start Your Own Corporation
Legal structure for a small company.
- Rich Dad Poor Dad
A wealth mindset.
- Managed Services in a Month
The managed-services operating model.
- Cloud Services in a Month
- Managed Services Operations Manual, Vol. 3
SOPs, tickets, labor and service boards.
Time travel, multiverse and recursion fiction
The Loopwalker's mythic DNA.
- Middle Falls Time Travel Omnibus (Books 1–4)
Lifetime recursion as healing loops.
- The Future of Another Timeline
Alternate histories and time travel.
- Recursion
Memory rewriting and parallel timelines.
- Relive
A life on loop, and trauma correction.
- Time Tunnel: The Twin Towers
- A Gift of Time
- Paradox Bound
American myth and paradox loops.
- This Is How You Lose the Time War
A cosmic romance across time.
- Time Machines Anthology
Mythology, fantasy and world-building
Where the BluVerse cosmology comes from.
- The Children of Húrin
Tragedy, fate and ancestral trauma.
- Gods, Heroes and Monsters
Mythic archetypes.
- Dungeon Crawler Carl
Chaotic humor and RPG energy.
- Galaxy Outlaws (Black Ocean)
Ensemble space opera.
- Star Wars: Darth Bane Trilogy
Path of Destruction, Rule of Two and Dynasty of Evil; the shadow archetype.
- Ready Player One
The metaverse, identity and mythic quests.
Culture, behavior and pop psychology
Models for society, meaning and emotional behavior.
- The Coddling of the American Mind
Cultural overprotection and emotional fragility.
- Drive
Motivation: autonomy, mastery and purpose.
- A Whole New Mind
Creativity as the future.
- Who Moved My Cheese?
Adapting to change.
Communication and human connection
- How to Win Friends and Influence People
- The Power of 2
Local lore, humor and light energy
- Silly Boobies: A Love Story
Playfulness and parenting.
- Memory: The Science Behind How We Remember
- Salem Witch Trials (4th Edition)
- Game Master's Book of Random Encounters
The published Master Canon also counts ten internal sources: Matt's own logs, transcripts and liturgies. They stay private and are not listed here.