Next time we get together it would be great to have some books in common to discuss. In each of the categories below, books are generally listed in order from top to bottom in order of my personal preference.
Here’s what I’m currently listening to:
The Good Life: Lessons from the World’s Longest Scientific Study of Happiness
by Robert Waldinger M.D. and Marc Schulz Ph.D
My top favorites
Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art
by James Nestor
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
by Robert M. Pirsig
The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement
by Eliyahu M. Goldratt
Design and Innovation Methods
The Design of Everyday Things
by Donald A. Norman
The Statue in the Stone: Decoding Customer Motivation with the 48 Laws of Jobs-to-be-Done Philosophy
by W. Scott Burleson (book review)
Design for the Real World
by Victor Papanek
Turning the Flywheel: A Monograph to Accompany Good to Great
by Jim Collins
Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action
by Simon Sinek (associated blog post)
Entrepreneurship
The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It
by Michael E. Gerber
Great by Choice
by Jim Collins, Morten T. Hansen
The Great Game of Business, Expanded and Updated: The Only Sensible Way to Run a Company
by Jack Stack, Bo Burlingham
A Stake in the Outcome
Building a Culture of Ownership for the Long-Term Success of Your Business
by Jack Stack and Bo Burlington
Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future
by Peter Thiel
The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference
by Malcolm Gladwell
They Ask You Answer: A Revolutionary Approach to Inbound Sales, Content Marketing, and Today’s Digital Consumer
by Marcus Sheridan
Small Giants: Companies That Choose to Be Great Instead of Big
by Bo Burlingham
The Third Wave: An Entrepreneur’s Vision of the Future
by Steve Case
Play Bigger: How Pirates, Dreamers, and Innovators Create and Dominate Markets
by Play Bigger LLC, Dave Peterson, Christopher Lochhead, Kevin Maney
Peak: How Great Companies Get Their Mojo from Maslow
by Chip Conley
Traction: Get a Grip on Your Business
by Gino Wickman
Life Lessons
The Universe in a Single Atom
by His Holiness the Dalai Lama
Principles: Life and Work
by Ray Dalio
The Art of Racing in the Rain
by Garth Stein
Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance
by Angela Duckworth
The Mental Game of Baseball: A Guide to Peak Performance
by H.A. Dorfman, Karl Kuehl, et al.
The Book: On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are
by Alan Watts
The War of Art
by Steven Pressfield
12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos
by Jordan B Peterson
Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder
by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
Leadership, Collaboration, & Teamwork
The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable
by Patrick Lencioni
Scott and Amundsen: Their Race to the South Pole
by Roland Huntford
Inspired: How to Create Tech Products Customers Love
by Marty Cagan
Empowered: Ordinary People, Extraordinary Products
by Marty Cagan, Chris Jones
Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win
by Jocko Willink, Leif Babin
Classic Science Fiction
Stranger in a Strange Land
by Robert A. Heinlein
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
by Douglas Adams
Dune
by Frank Herbert
Social & Environmental Topics
Winners Take All: The Elite Charade of Changing the World
by Anand Giridharadas
The Overstory
by Richard Powers
The Ministry for the Future: A Novel
by Kim Stanley Robinson
While Justice Sleeps: A Novel
by Stacey Abrams
Other
Murder on Birchleaf Drive
by Steven B. Epstein
Play It Loud: An Epic History of the Style, Sound, and Revolution of the Electric Guitar
by Brad Tolinski, Alan di Perna, Carlos Santana – foreword
The Premonition: A Pandemic Story
by Michael Lewis