Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones
By creating small habits over time (sometimes months or even years) you are more likely to achieve your goals. All these incremental changes combine and compound to help get you to your final destination.
By James Clear – Amazon
Brotopia: Breaking Up the Boys’ Club of Silicon Valley
Emily talks about how the early Silicon Valley scene has been seriously underrepresented by females and minorities and the serious implications this has on emerging technologies. Diversity provides greater perspectives and ultimately a better design solution.
By Emily Chang – Amazon
The $100 Startup: Reinvent the Way You Make a Living, Do What You Love, and Create a New Future
Practical advice on how you can start a micro business for $100… or less. Combining your passion with something people are willing to buy and then making it as easy as possible for them to pay for what your selling. Chris mentions, you’ll have greater success if whatever you’re offering solves a problem and/or helps people so this should be at the heart of all your business ideas.
By Chris Guillebeau – Amazon
Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup
Based on the true story of a Silicon Valley startup which claimed it could analyse a single drop of human blood to get a complete picture of a person’s health. It starts off raising a few questions and gets more and more bizarre the further into the book you go. A fascinating peek into the cross-section of startups and venture capitalism. A real smoke and mirrors tale.
By John Carreyrou – Amazon
Inspired: How to Create Tech Products Customers Love
Marty talks about creating a strong alliance between Design/Technology/Business to collaborate and create products customers love. By taking the customer’s voice (design), infrastructure constraints (technology) and ROI (business) to find the sweet spot. Ideally, solving problems for customers while generating revenue for the business… win/win.
By Marty Cagan – Amazon
How To Win Friends and Influence People
This book has stood the test of time, and for good reason. It covers the fundamental techniques in dealing with people, ways to make people like you, how to win people to your way of thinking and how to become a better leader. The style of writing is a little dated, however, the content is timeless and can be used during everyday interaction.
By Dale Carnegie – Amazon
How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big: Kind of the Story of My Life
Scott Adams, the creator of Dilbert, talks about how you can create systems (daily habits) instead of goals (the final destination). By focusing on the “here and now” instead of focusing on the bigger picture you’ll have more success. A huge emphasis is placed on focusing on health, wealth and family in order to live a more rewarding and meaningful life.
By Scott Adams – Amazon
Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win
Jocko and Leif are ex-Navy Seals who have taken what they’ve learned in the field and adopted it for their strategy and leadership business. Very rarely do business decisions have fatal consequences, however, we need to take extreme ownership for both our successes and failures.
By Jocko Willink and Leif Babin – Amazon
Don’t Make Me Think, Revisited: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability (Voices That Matter)
You’ll find this in the bookshelves of most designers and it will most likely look well-read. Steve provides a common-sense approach to usability for web and mobile. By removing confusion (which makes people think even for a second) you’ll be well on your way to creating engaging and intuitive products/services. When I was at Design School this was recommended reading and it’s a great addition to any book collection.
By Steve Krug – Amazon
Design Is a Job
Mike has a reputation of not mincing words and telling it like it is – which I really appreciate. The book covers professional design advice on contracts, presenting design, managing feedback and setting expectations.
By Mike Monteiro – Amazon
The Design of Everyday Things: Revised and Expanded Edition
This one is in my Top 5 best books I’ve ever read (both design and non-design). It was an absolute game-changer when I was first starting out in User Experience Design and forced me to look at the world from a different angle. Highly recommended.
By Don Norman – Amazon
