Dr Rangan Chatterjee, a prominent physician and author, has emerged as a key figure in health and lifestyle improvement, especially following his appearance on the reality documentary series Doctor in the House in 2015. He has since become well-known as the resident doctor on BBC Breakfast and a contributor to BBC Radio, alongside launching his popular podcast Feel Better, Live More in 2018, which now ranks as Europe’s leading health podcast, garnering significant listener numbers in the UK in 2024, reports BritPanorama.
Chatterjee’s body of work, which includes seven books with the recently reissued Happy Mind, Happy Life, focuses on distilling complex health information into accessible advice aimed at improving overall well-being.
With an eye towards 2026, Chatterjee has identified five influential books that have greatly impacted his perspective on health and could assist others in enhancing their well-being. These selections reflect a blend of psychological insight, neuroscience, and mindfulness practices.
Fear less by Dr Pippa Grange
“Remember when Gareth Southgate took over the England football team and revolutionised their whole mindset? He hired Pippa to do that. She was the England football team psychologist for a number of years. To be clear, the book is not about football, but I like the way Pippa thinks. Fear Less gets to the heart of what holds so many of us back in our lives: fear. That book had a really profound impact on me. It helped me understand the various places that fear tends to show up in our lives and taught me how to move beyond it. It’s a great book, and an easy read too,” Chatterjee states.
Silence: In the age of noise by Erling Kagge
“Norwegian explorer Kagge is an incredible guy. He’s one of the first humans to walk to the South Pole completely unaided. He spent over 50 days in complete silence. In the book, he talks about the power of silence, and how in the modern world, silence has been stolen from us. Silence, he argues, is where we learn about ourselves and gain perspective on our life. It’s where we learn what it is we really want to do with our lives,” Chatterjee reflects on Kagge’s insights.
The ageless brain by Dr Dale Bredesen
“Neurologist Dr Dale Bredesen has boldly claimed that you can reverse the symptoms of Alzheimer’s – and he did that back in 2014. He’s written a few books on this subject, but what I really like about The Ageless Brain (which comes with the subtitle, How To Sharpen and Protect Your Mind for a Lifetime) is that it’s really well written but, crucially, there are lots of simple, practical things in there that we can all do to keep our mind healthy. This is for people who are interested in reducing the risk of getting Alzheimer’s in the future,” Chatterjee emphasizes.
Original love by Henry Shukman
“Henry Shukman grew up in Oxford but for 30 years now he’s lived in New Mexico teaching meditation and becoming a Zen master. This book gets to the heart of what meditation is really about. Too often we think about what the science tells us about meditation. ‘It’s good for my focus, this part of my brain gets bigger’ and so on. That’s all great, and I love that stuff, but that’s a very Western, reductionist way of looking at something like meditation. Instead, here he probes the essence of meditation. Why are we better human beings when we meditate? Why are we even here in the first place? And how does meditation help us become kinder and more compassionate people? I really love it – and it’s helped me look at the world through different eyes,” Chatterjee explains.
Awe by Dacher Keltner
“What I love about this book is that it puts words to something we all intuitively know: that there’s more to life than just getting up each morning, getting the kids to school, getting to work on time, doing our emails, earning enough to take a holiday, and so on. Keltner breaks down the eight sources of awe in life – among them nature, birth, and death. We’re so busy these days. I love books like this that help us step outside of that and make us reflect that we maybe do have 10 minutes for, say, nature each day,” Chatterjee concludes.
Happy Mind, Happy Life by Dr Rangan Chatterjee is published by Penguin Life, £10.99.
