Library

This is a living collection of books, essays, and talks I return to for perspective on design, technology, leadership, strategy, creativity, and a meaningful life.

It is not a definitive canon or a record of everything I have read. I do not agree with everything in these works—or with any author in full—but each has stretched my thinking, sharpened my judgment, or given me language for something I was trying to understand.

Books

Books about creativity, design, typography, product building, strategy, leadership, resilience, writing, and the inner life. Select any title to open it.

• The Courage to Create — Rollo May
• The Art of Living — Epictetus interpreted by Sharon Lebell
• The Courage to Be Disliked — Ichirou Kishimi and Fumitake Koga
• What Is a Designer: Things, Places, Messages — Norman Potter
• Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder — Nassim Nicholas Taleb
• High Output Management — Andy Grove
• Function, Restraint, and Subversion in Typography — J. Namdev Hardisty
• A *New* Program for Graphic Design — David Reinfurt
• Detail in Typography — Jost Hochuli
• Are We Human? Notes on Archaeology of Design — Beatriz Colomina & Mark Wigley
• Beauty — Stefan Sagmeister & Jessica Walsh
• Becoming Steve Jobs: The Evolution of a Reckless Upstart Into a Visionary Leader — Brett Schendler & Rick Tetzeli
• Designer Maker User — The Design Museum
• Alchemy: The Dark Art and Curious Science of Creating Magic in Brands, Business, and Life — Rory Sutherland
• The 33 Strategies of War — Robert Greene
• Build Better Products: A Modern Approach to Building Successful User-Centered Products — Laura Klein
• Collaborative Product Design: Help Any Team Build a Better Experience — Austin Govella
• Leadership, Strategy, and Tactics — Jocko Willink
• Aesthetic Intelligence: How to Boost It and Use It in Business and Beyond — Pauline Brown
• Practical Design Discovery — Dan Brown
• Just Enough Research — Erika Hall
• A Guide to The Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy — William Irvine
• Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future — Peter Thiel & Blake Masters
• Several Short Sentences About Writing — Verlyn Klinkenborg
• Siddhartha — Herman Hesse
• The Second Mountain: The Quest for a Moral Life — David Brooks
• Be Water, My Friend: The Teachings of Bruce Lee — Shannon Lee
• Leading With Soul: An Uncommon Journey of Spirit — Lee Bowman and Terrence Deal

Essays

Arguments and observations that have stayed with me because they changed how I notice, decide, make, or lead.

• Fundamental Truths — Rebekah Cox
• Tech as a Taste-Based Industry — Jong-Moon Kim
• The Importance of Being Ruthless — Jon Schlossberg
• Where We Can Go — Dan Eden
• How to Make Things High Quality — Julie Zhou
• Managing Product Development by Integrating Around Concerns — Ryan Singer
• Finding Fulfilling Work — Sean Rose
• Fuck Content — Michael Rock
• There is No Such Thing as Neutral Graphic Design — Ellen Lupton & Leslie Xia
• Youth Mode: A Report on Freedom — K-Hole
• No to NoUI — Timo Arnall
• Intuitive Means Familiar — Jef Raskin
• The Secret Tesla Motors Master Plan (just between you and me) — Elon Musk
• Divine Discontent: Disruption’s Antidote — Ben Thompson
• Letter to the Equity Partners of Philadelphia 76ers — Sam Hinkie
• My Urge to Fail and Fail Again — David Duchovny

Talks

Talks, presentations, and speeches I return to for perspective on technology, design, identity, creativity, and how to live.

• Applied Discovery — David Cole
• Five Things We Need to Know About Technological Change — Neil Postman
• Insights: 2020 — Leland Maschmeyer
• Understanding Identity, Power, & Equity in Design Leadership — Antionette D. Carroll
• Ten Things I Have Learned — Milton Glaser
• This is Water — David Foster Wallace