Books are mind-meld devices. The good ones give you perspective; the great ones give you a ringside view of the author’s mind and her ideas — like cheat codes that let you replay life from different viewpoints.

This is a list of books I've found useful, and hope they help you too. (Note: stars indicate especially insightful books)

⛩ Architecture & Cities

• A Pattern Language - Christopher Alexander **

• The Nature Of Order: The Phenomenon Of Life - Christopher Alexander **

• Geoffrey Bawa: The Complete Works - Geoffrey Bawa *

• The Timeless Way Of Building - Christopher Alexander

• Walkable City: How Downtown Can Save America - Jeff Speck

• The Smart Growth Manual - Andres Duany

  
  

✒️ Biographies

• Let My People Go Surfing - Yvon Chouinard **

• Benjamin Franklin: An American Life - Walter Isaacson *

• Steve Jobs - Walter Isaacson *

• Jony Ive: The Genius Behind Apple’s Greatest Products - Leander Kahney *

• Elon Musk: Tesla, Spacex, And The Quest For A Fantastic Future - Ashlee Vance

• Shoe Dog - Phil Knight

  
  

👩‍💻Design & Product

• Badass: Making Users Awesome - Kathy Sierra **

• Creative Selection: Inside Apple's Design Process – Ken Kocienda **

• Designing With The Mind In Mind - Jeff Johnson **

• Understanding Comics - Scott Mccloud **

• Envisioning Information - Edward Tufte *

• Don't Make Me Think - Steve Krug *

• The Art Of Game Design - Jesse Schell *

• Universal Principles Of Design - William Lidwell *

• Inspired: How To Create Tech Products Customers Love - Marty Cagan *

• Designing With Type - James Craig

• The Art Of Photography - Bruce Barnbaum

• The Visual Display Of Quantitative Information - Edward Tufte

• The Design Of Everyday Things - Don Norman

  
  

❤️ Health

• Eat, Drink & Be Healthy - Walter Willett *

• Your Brain At Work – David Rock

  
  

🎭 History & Culture

• Guns, Germs & Steel - Jared Diamond **

• The Lessons Of History - Will & Ariel Durant **

• Sapiens - Yuval Harari **

• The Better Angels Of Our Nature - Steven Pinker *

• Myths To Live By - Joseph Campbell

• Genghis Khan And The Making Of The Modern World - Jack Weatherford

  
  

🙏 Life

• Be As You Are - Ramana Maharishi **

• Being Conscious Presence - Wu Hsin **

• The Lost Writings Of Wu Hsin: Pointers To Non-Duality (Series) - Wu Hsin **

• Man's Search For Meaning - Viktor Frankl **

• Tao Te Ching - Lao Tzu *

• Freedom From The Known - Jiddu Krishnamurti *

• The Four Agreements - Don Miguel Ruiz *

• Mindfulness In Plain English - Bhante Henepola Gunaratana

• Siddhartha - Hermann Hesse

• Meditations - Marcus Aurelius

  
  

📢 Marketing

• Positioning - Al Ries **

• How Brands Become Icons: The Principles Of Cultural Branding - D.B Holt **

• Ogilvy On Advertising - David Ogilvy **

• The 22 Immutable Laws Of Marketing - Al Ries *

• Crossing The Chasm - Goeffrey Moore *

• Made To Stick - Chip & Dan Heath *

• Scientific Advertising - Claude Hopkins

• Crystallizing Public Opinion - Edward Bernays

• Tested Advertising Methods - John Caples

  
  

💵 Money

• Rich Dad, Poor Dad - Robert Kiyosaki **

• The Millionaire Next Door - Thomas Stanley *

• The Four Pillars Of Investing - William J. Bernstein

• The Richest Man In Babylon - George Clason

  
  

⏱ Personal Productivity

• The 7 Habits Of Highly Effective People - Stephen Covey **

• The Effective Executive - Peter Drucker *

• Decisive: How To Make Better Choices In Life And Work - Chip & Dan Heath

• Do The Work - Steven Pressfield

• Getting Things Done - David Allen

  
  

👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Psychology

• Influence: The Psychology Of Persuasion - Robert Cialdini **

• Leadership And Self-Deception - The Arbinger Institute *

• Games People Play - Eric Berne *

• Crucial Conversations - Kerry Patterson *

• We Why Do What We Do - Edward Deci *

• How To Win Friends And Influence People - Dale Carnegie

• Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus - John Gray

• Never Split The Difference - Chris Voss

• Man And His Symbols - Carl Jung

  
  

🏢 Strategy & Business

• The Innovators Dilemma - Clayton Christensen **

• Getting Real - Jason Fried, Dhh **

• Zero To One - Peter Thiel **

• Rework - Jason Fried, Dhh *

• The Score Takes Care Of Itself - Bill Walsh *

• Turn The Ship Around - David Marquet *

• High Output Management - Andy Grove *

• The Master Switch: The Rise And Fall Of Information Empires - Tim Wu *

• The Profit Zone - Adrian Slywotzky & David Morrison

• Founders At Work - Jessica Livingston

• Business Model Generation - Alexander Osterwalder

• Viral Loop - Adam Penenberg

• Thinking In Systems – Donella Meadows

• The Hard Thing About Hard Things - Ben Horowitz

• Creativity Inc - Ed Catmull

• Certain To Win: The Strategy Of John Boyd - Chet Richards

• Layman's Guide To Law - Venkateshwara Rao

• Behind The Cloud - Marc Benioff

• Predictable Revenue - Aaron Ross

• Joel On Software - Joel Spolsky

• Designing Freedom - Stafford Beer

  
  

✍️ Writing

• The Elements Of Style - Strunk & White **

• The Elements Of Eloquence - Mark Forsyth **

• 100 Ways To Improve Your Writing - Gary Provost

• The Ultimate Sales Letter - Dan Kennedy

• The Story Template - Amy Deardon