August 6, 2024

Books that have shaped my practice

A list of books that I regularly recommend; they're fundamental to my way of thinking, working, and collaboration—books on craft, leadership, business, and writing.

If you’ve ever met me, talked with me at any length, or have seen my tsundoku, scattered piles of books that I’ll read someday.

In these conversations, I typically will:

• reference a book;

• search for a book;

• search in a book;

• suggest a book; or

• talk about a book.

I’ve had the longest desire to create a /lists/books page on my website, full of direction-guiding, impactfully-shaping books. It’d be a repository of my often—and not so often—recommendations: curated, described, tagged, and categorized.

I tend to complicate things.

Easier, less complex: create a list of books here that I can send people back to and reference.

That’s this post.

Overview

This is a list of books I’ve found guidance in over the years. While I’ve read more than these that have been impactful, these are the ones I return to.

As I compiled the titles, authors, and links, I found that you can understand the context of how I’m thinking about. Where my head’s at, my mindset; my approach.

These are the that books actively shape various practices in craftwork, leadership, business, and writing. These are the books I’d be recommending to people I’m consulting, advising, coaching, and mentoring.

Then, it wouldn’t be me without some culture, history, and philosophy thrown in.

On craft

• The Craftsman
  Richard Sennett

• The Manual
  A design journal for the web
  Andy McMillan

• Offscreen Magazine
  The Human Side of Technology
  Kai Branch

• Technically Wrong
  Sexist Apps, Biased Algorithms, and Other Threats of Toxic Tech
  Sara Wachter-Boettcher

• The Shape of Design
  Frank Chimero

• Understanding Comics
  The Invisible Art
  Scott McCloud

• Reinventing Comics
  The Evolution of an Art From
  Scott McCloud

On leadership

• The Culture Map
  Breaking Through the Invisible Boundaries of Global Business
  Erin Meyer

• Creativity, Inc.
  Overcoming the Unseen Forces that Stand in the Way of True Inspiration
  Ed Catmull

• Making Spaces Safer
  A Guide to Giving Harassment the Boot Wherever You Work, Play, and Gather
  Shawna Potter

• The Art of Gathering
  How We Meet and Why it Matters
  Priya Parker

• We Should All Be Feminists
  Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

• The Inclusive Leadership Handbook
  Balancing People and Performance for Sustainable Growth
  Donald Thompson and Kurt Merriweather

• The Other Half
  Creating Gender-Balanced Teams for Sustainable Success
  Simona Scarpaleggia

On business

• Profit Without Oppression
  A Blueprint for Building an Antiracist Organization
  Kim Crayton

• Reinventing Organizations
  An Illustrated Invitation to Join the Conversation on Next-Stage Organizations
  Frederic Laloux

• Integrated Investing
  Impact investing with Head, Heart, Body, and Soul
  Bonnie Foley-Wong

• Build the Damn Thing
  How to Start a Successful Business if You’re Not a Rich White Guy
  Kathryn Finney

• Twenty Bits I Learned about Design, Business, and Community
  Dan Cederholm

• The Business Birthing Handbook
  A Theory of Trimesters
  Jennifer Armbrust

• Conscious Business
  How to Build Value through Values
  Fred Kofman

On writing

• The Practice
  Shipping Creative Work
  Seth Godin

• Steering the Craft
  A Twenty-First Century Guide to Sailing the Sea of Story
  Ursula le Guin

• Zen in the Art of Writing
  Essays on Creativity
  Ray Bradbury

• Write Useful Books
  A modern approach to designing and refining recommendable nonfiction
  Rob Fitzpatrick

• The Art and Business of Online Writing
  How to Beat the Game of Capturing and Keeping Attention
  Nicolas Cole

• Our Endless and Proper Work
  Starting (and Sticking to) Your Writing Practice
  Ron Hogan

• 100 Ways to Improve Your Writing
  Proven Professional Techniques for Writing with Style and Power
  Gary Provost

On culture, history, and philosophy

• Wanderlust
  A History of Walking
  Rebecca Solnit

• Neuroqueer Heresies
  Notes on the Neurodiversity Paradigm, Autistic Empowerment, and Postnormal Possibilities
  Nick Walker

• The Art of Asking
  How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Let People Help
  Amanda Palmer

• The Shape of a Pocket
  John Berger

• Oak
  The Frame of Civilization
  William Bryant Logan

• Feel-Good Productivity
  How to Do More of What Matters to You
  Ali Abdaal

• Hands
  What We Do with Them—and Why
  Darian Leader

• The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
  Benjamin Franklin

• Slow Productivity
  The Lost Art of Accomplishment Without Burnout
  Cal Newport

• The Social Photo
  On Photography and Social Media
  Nathan Jurgenson

• Gumption
  Relighting the Torth of Freedom with America’s Gutsiest Troublemakers
  Nick Offerman

• The Art of Travel
  Alain de Botton