100 Best Product Design Books of All Time (Updated for 2026)

1

The Design of Everyday Things

Don Norman

5.0

Even the smartest among us can feel inept as we fail to figure out which light switch or oven burner to turn on, or whether to push, pull, or slide a door. The fault, argues this ingenious—even liberating—book, lies not in ourselves, but in product design that ignores the needs of users and the principles of cognitive psychology. The problems range from ambiguous and hidden controls to arbitrary r

Recommended by Andrew Chen, Marissa Mayer, Nir Eyal, and 23 others.

Grey Baker

I mainly read to decompress and change my state of mind, so it’s hard to point to an insight I read that helped me. Reading fiction has pulled me out of a bad mood more times than I can count, though, and always reenergises me to attack problems that had stumped me again. That said, I read and loved Norman Norman’s “The Design of Everyday Things”, and it’s helped me think through design problems ever since. [source]

Julia Enthoven

For people interested in designing or building software products: The Design of Everyday Things by Don Norman and The Lean Product Playbook by Dan Olsen. Both books have informed my product sense and helped me make decisions about great UX. [source]

Kaci Lambe

These three books are about how people actually use design in their lives. They helped me understand this very basic idea: There are no dumb users, only bad designers. Take the time to create based on how your design will be interacted with. Test it. Iterate. That's how you become a good designer. [source]

2

Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products

Nir Eyal

4.7

Preview Summary

How do successful companies create products people can’t put down?

Why do some products capture widespread attention while others flop? What makes us engage with certain products out of sheer habit? Is there a pattern underlying how technologies hook us?
Nir Eyal answers these questions (and many more) by explaining the Hook Model—a four-step process embedded into the products of many successful com

Recommended by Andrew Chen, Nir Eyal, Ken Norton, and 41 others.

Matt Mullenweg

Founder & CEO/Automattic

Hooked gives you the blueprint for the next generation of products. Read Hooked or the company that replaces you will. [source]

Boris Veldhuijzen van Zanten

The book everyone in Silicon Valley is talking about. [source]

Chandini Jain

One of the five books Chandini would you recommend to young people interested in her career path. [source]

3

Thinking, Fast and Slow

Kahneman

4.6

Preview Summary

Major New York Times bestseller
Winner of the National Academy of Sciences Best Book Award in 2012
Selected by the New York Times Book Review as one of the best books of 2011
A Globe and Mail Best Books of the Year 2011 Title
One of The Economist's 2011 Books of the Year
One of The Wall Street Journal's Best Nonfiction Books of the Year 2011
2013 Presidential Medal of Freedom Recipient

In the internatio

Recommended by Barack Obama, Bill Gates, Ev Williams, and 45 others.

Barack Obama

Former USA President

A few months ago, Mr. Obama read “Thinking, Fast and Slow,” by Daniel Kahneman, about how people make decisions — quick, instinctive thinking versus slower, contemplative deliberation. For Mr. Obama, a deliberator in an instinctive business, this may be as instructive as any political science text. [source]

Bill Gates

CEO/Microsoft

On Bill Gates's reading list in 2012. [source]

Marc Andreessen

Co-Founder/Andreessen Horowitz

Captivating dive into human decision making, marred by inclusion of several/many? psychology studies that fail to replicate. Will stand as a cautionary tale? [source]

4

Steve Jobs

Walter Isaacson

4.5

Preview Summary

From the author of the bestselling biographies of Benjamin Franklin and Albert Einstein, this is the exclusive, New York Times bestselling biography of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs.

Based on more than forty interviews with Jobs conducted over two years—as well as interviews with more than a hundred family members, friends, adversaries, competitors, and colleagues—Walter Isaacson has written a riveti

Recommended by Bill Gates, Elon Musk, Brian Chesky, and 38 others.

Bill Gates

CEO/Microsoft

On Bill Gates's reading list in 2012. [source]

Elon Musk

Founder/SpaceX

Quite interesting. [source]

Brian Chesky

Co-Founder & CEO/AirBnb

For Chesky, a source may come in the form of a biography of a business hero such as Steve Jobs or Walt Disney. His primary book source on management technique is Andy Grove’s High Output Management. [source]

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5

Sprint: How to Solve Big Problems and Test New Ideas in Just Five Days

Jake Knapp, John Zeratsky, Braden Kowitz

4.5

Preview Summary

Recommended by Nir Eyal, Eric Ries, Ken Norton, and 14 others.

Eric Ries

Founder/Long-Term Stock Exchange

A fantastic, proven formula for moving from idea to prototyping to decision making within five days, based on a process he developed while working at Google and later GV. [source]

Cat Williams-Treloar

Jake Knapp, John Zeratsky & Braden Kowitz "Sprint" - the go-to guide on how to sprint. You may not follow everything to the tee, but it's simple, clean and full of great examples of how to move fast with structure. [source]

Javed Khatri

This book details the "sprint" process used at Google Ventures. We follow a similar process at Kustard to validate business ideas and to solve problems without wasting much time, money and energy. If you want to quickly validate an idea, this is a proven model and a must read. [source]

6

The Lean Startup: How Today's Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses

Eric Ries

4.5

Preview Summary

Most startups fail. But many of those failures are preventable. The Lean Startup is a new approach being adopted across the globe, changing the way companies are built and new products are launched.

Eric Ries defines a startup as an organization dedicated to creating something new under conditions of extreme uncertainty. This is just as true for one person in a garage or a group of seasoned profes

Recommended by Sheryl Sandberg, Andrew Chen, Ben Horowitz, and 75 others.

Sheryl Sandberg

COO/Facebook

Provides a great inside look at how the tech industry approaches building products and businesses. [source]

Ben Horowitz

Co-founder/Andreessen Horowitz

Great. [source]

Dustin Moskovitz

Co-founder/Facebook and Asana

At Asana, we've been lucky to benefit from the author's advice firsthand; this book will enable him to help many more entrepreneurs answer the tough questions about their business. [source]

7

Don't Make Me Think, Revisited: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability

Steve Krug

4.5

Since Don’t Make Me Think was first published in 2000, over 400,000 Web designers and developers have relied on Steve Krug’s guide to help them understand the principles of intuitive navigation and information design.

In this 3rd edition, Steve returns with fresh perspective to reexamine the principles that made Don’t Make Me Think a classic-–with updated examples and a new chapter on mobile usabil

Recommended by Brian Armstrong, Jeff Atwood, Ken Norton, and 13 others.

Anoop Anthony

Krug was teaching usability two decades ago when UX wasn't a buzzword, and the WWW was still in its nascent stages. (The first edition of this book was published in 2000!) I cut my teeth on Don't make me think back when I first started out in the industry. It is now in its third edition and still relevant — it offers compelling insights into building great user experiences into websites and applications. [source]

Auston Bunsen

I’m actually a self-taught programmer, so these books have really helped me with practical skills that I could put to use & yield results. The return on investment for these kinds of books is off the charts for me! [source]

Chris Goward

Here are some of the books that have been very impactful for me, or taught me a new way of thinking: … Don't Make Me Think. [source]

8

Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions

Dan Ariely

4.5

Preview Summary

Why do our headaches persist after taking a one-cent aspirin but disappear when we take a 50-cent aspirin?

Why does recalling the Ten Commandments reduce our tendency to lie, even when we couldn't possibly be caught?

Why do we splurge on a lavish meal but cut coupons to save twenty-five cents on a can of soup?

Why do we go back for second helpings at the unlimited buffet, even when our stomachs are a

Recommended by Max Levchin, Vinod Khosla, Vinod Khosla, and 22 others.

Max Levchin

Co-founder/PayPal, CEO/Affirm, Investor

Max Levchin recommended this book as an answer to "What business books would you advise young entrepreneurs read?" [source]

Andra Zaharia

'While I was thinking of the best books to add to this short list, I realized that not even half of them are directly related to digital marketing. This is because I believe that the best marketers are people who understand human nature deeply and aim to bring out the best in it. Call me naive, but that’s how I see it. If I were to want to pursue a career in marketing, I’d read … Predictably Irrational. [source]

Chris Goward

Here are some of the books that have been very impactful for me, or taught me a new way of thinking: … Predictably Irrational. [source]

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9

Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness

Richard H. Thaler

4.5

Preview Summary

Every day, we make decisions on topics ranging from personal investments to schools for our children to the meals we eat to the causes we champion. Unfortunately, we often choose poorly. The reason, the authors explain, is that, being human, we all are susceptible to various biases that can lead us to blunder. Our mistakes make us poorer and less healthy; we often make bad decisions involving educ

Recommended by Dan Ariely, Vinod Khosla, Vinod Khosla, and 18 others.

Dan Ariely

Author

Nudge is a very important book. One of the reasons Nudge is so important is because it’s taking these ideas and applying them to the policy domain. Here are the mistakes we make. Here are the ways marketers are trying to influence us. Here’s the way we might be able to fight back. If policymakers understood these principles, what could they do? The other important thing about the book is that it describes, in detail, small interventions. It’s basically a book about cheap persuasion. [source]

Eric Ries

Founder/Long-Term Stock Exchange

A pioneer in behavioral economics and just recently awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics, his classic book on how to make better decisions. [source]

Ryan Holiday

Author

This might feel like a weird book to include, but I think it presents another side of strategy that is too often forgotten. It’s not always about bold actors and strategic thrusts. Sometimes strategy is about subtle influence. Sometimes it is framing and small tweaks that change behavior. We can have big aims, but get there with little moves. This book has excellent examples of that kind of thinking and how it is changing politics, government and business. My favorite example is about the bumblebee that they started putting on urinals–which drastically reduced the amount of spray and spillage because it changed where men aimed when they peed. It’s not exactly the coolest strategy but it solved a problem. So we can learn from it. [source]

10

Inspired: How to Create Tech Products Customers Love

Marty Cagan

4.5

Preview Summary

The basic premise of Inspired is that the best tech companies create products in a manner very different from how most companies create products. The goal of the book is to share the techniques of the best companies. This book is aimed primarily at Product Managers working on technology-powered products. That includes the hundreds of "tech companies" like Google, Facebook, Amazon, Twitter and the

Recommended by Ken Norton and Marty Cagan.

11

Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration

Ed Catmull

4.5

Preview Summary

“What does it mean to manage well?”
From Ed Catmull, co-founder (with Steve Jobs and John Lasseter) of Pixar Animation Studios, comes an incisive book about creativity in business—sure to appeal to readers of Daniel Pink, Tom Peters, and Chip and Dan Heath. Creativity, Inc. is a book for managers who want to lead their employees to new heights, a manual for anyone who strives for originality, and t

Recommended by Mark Zuckerberg, Timothy Ferriss, Ezra Klein, and 21 others.

Mark Zuckerberg

Founder/Facebook

This book is written by the founder of Pixar and is about his experience building a culture that fosters creativity. His theory is that people are fundamentally creative, but many forces stand in the way of people being able to do their best work. I love reading first-hand accounts about how people build great companies like Pixar and nurture innovation and creativity. This should be inspiring to anyone looking to do the same, and hopefully there will be lessons we can apply to connecting the world! [source]

Timothy Ferriss

Author & Entrepreneur

No matter your circumstances, storytelling and creativity are two 'meta-skills' that can take your business and life to the next level. Ed is a master. [source]

Ezra Klein

An amazing, amazing book. [source]

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12

Rework

Jason Fried, David Heinemeier Hansson

4.5

Preview Summary

Most business books give you the same old advice: Write a business plan, study the competition, seek investors, yadda yadda. If you're looking for a book like that, put this one back on the shelf.

Rework shows you a better, faster, easier way to succeed in business. Read it and you'll know why plans are actually harmful, why you don't need outside investors, and why you're better off ignoring the c

Recommended by Jeff Bezos, Mark Cuban, Tony Hsieh, and 30 others.

Jeff Bezos

Founder/Amazon

Unperturbed by conventional wisdom, the authors start fresh and rewrite the rules of business. Their approach turns out to be as successful as it is counter-intuitive. [source]

Mark Cuban

Entrepreneur / Shark Tank

If given a choice between investing in someone who has read Rework or has an MBA, I'm investing in Rework every time. This is a must read for every entrepreneur. [source]

Tony Hsieh

CEO/Zappos.com

The wisdom in these pages is edgy yet simple, straightforward, and proven. Read this book multiple times to help give you the courage you need to get out there and make something great. [source]

13

Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die

Chip Heath, Dan Heath

4.4

Preview Summary

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - The instant classic about why some ideas thrive, why others die, and how to improve your idea's chances--essential reading in the "fake news" era.

Mark Twain once observed, "A lie can get halfway around the world before the truth can even get its boots on." His observation rings true: Urban legends, conspiracy theories, and bogus news stories circulate effortlessly. Mean

Recommended by Vinod Khosla, Vinod Khosla, Brian Armstrong, and 13 others.

Arvind Narayanan

@conorgil My all-time favorite example of research communication is The Selfish Gene. Astonishingly effective at explaining deep research ideas/findings to a lay reader. A book with great advice: https://t.co/QD1sM2o0z6 (It isn't specific to research but still super valuable.) [source]

Bill Liao

The Book "Made to Stick" combined with "The Poetics" by Aristotle really helped me to see the power of telling great stories with surprises in them and every time I meet a start-up I can always make a contribution to their pitch. [source]

Cristian-Dragos Baciu

I highly recommend all the books written by the Heath brothers, especially Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive And Others Die. This one's a must-read for marketers. The reason I enjoyed their work so much is because they offer real-life stories and insights that makes it so much easier for the reader to imprint that information in his mind [source]

14

Crossing the Chasm: Marketing and Selling Disruptive Products to Mainstream Customers

Geoffrey A Moore

4.4

Preview Summary

The bible for bringing cutting-edge products to larger markets--now revised and updated with new insights into the realities of high-tech marketing

In Crossing the Chasm, Geoffrey A. Moore shows that in the Technology Adoption Life Cycle--which begins with innovators and moves to early adopters, early majority, late majority, and laggards--there is a vast chasm between the early adopters and the ea

Recommended by Andrew Chen, Drew Houston, Ev Williams, and 28 others.

Drew Houston

CEO/Dropbox

It’s about how do technology products make their way from early adopters t the mainstream. [source]

Ron Conway

Bestselling guide that created a new game plan for marketing in high-tech industries. [source]

Seth Godin

Author, Marketer, Entrepreneur

This is a key component in my Purple Cow thinking, but with a twist. I'm not as worried about the chasm as I am about the desire of marketers to go for the big middle. [source]

15

The 48 Laws of Power

Robert Greene

4.4

Preview Summary

This amoral, cunning, ruthless, and instructive book synthesizes the philosophies of Machiavelli, Sun Tzu, and Carl Von Clausewitz with the historical legacies of statesmen, warriors, seducers, and con men throughout the ages.

Recommended by Charlamagne Tha God, Marvin Liao, Ryan Holiday, and 10 others.

Charlamagne Tha God

Radio Presenter/The Breakfast Club

These are the books I recommend people to listen to on @applebooks. [source]

Marvin Liao

Partner/500 Startups

My list would be (besides the ones I mentioned in answer to the previous question) both business & Fiction/Sci-Fi and ones I personally found helpful to myself. The business books explain just exactly how business, work & investing are in reality & how to think properly & differentiate yourself. On the non-business side, a mix of History & classic fiction to understand people, philosophy to make sense of life and Science fiction to picture what the future could be like (not always utopian). [source]

Ryan Holiday

Author

There is no living writer (or person) who has been more influential to me than Robert Greene. I met him when I was 19 years old and he’s shaped me as a person, as a writer, as a thinker. You MUST read his books. His work on power and strategy are critical for anyone trying to accomplish anything. In life, power is force we are constantly bumping up against. People have power of over us, we seek power ourselves that we might be free enough and influential enough to accomplish our goals—so we must understand where power comes from, how it works and how to get it. But pure power is meaningless. It must be joined to mastery and purpose. So read his book Mastery so that you can figure your life’s task and how to dedicate yourself to it. [source]

16

Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action

Simon Sinek

4.4

Preview Summary

Why do you do what you do?

Why are some people and organizations more innovative, more influential, and more profitable than others? Why do some command greater loyalty from customers and employees alike? Even among the successful, why are so few able to repeat their success over and over?

People like Martin Luther King Jr., Steve Jobs, and the Wright Brothers might have little in common, but they a

Recommended by Richard Branson, Tony Robbins, Tony Hsieh, and 24 others.

Richard Branson

Founder/Virgin Group

Today is World Book Day, a wonderful opportunity to address this #ChallengeRichard sent in by Mike Gonzalez of New Jersey: Make a list of your top 65 books to read in a lifetime. [source]

Tony Robbins

Life Coach

The basis of this book is so important to anyone looking to increase their influence, profits or impact. People won't truly buy into a product, service, movement, or idea until they understand the WHY behind it. When you start with the why, everything else falls into place. This book is so impactful, I consider it required reading. [source]

Tony Hsieh

CEO/Zappos.com

Over the years he’s recommended well over 20 business books — including his own, the 2010 bestseller Delivering Happiness and you can always find what he’s currently reading atop his cluttered desk. Start with Why is amogst those titles. [source]

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17

The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business

Charles Duhigg

4.3

Preview Summary

A young woman walks into a laboratory. Over the past two years, she has transformed almost every aspect of her life. She has quit smoking, run a marathon, and been promoted at work. The patterns inside her brain, neurologists discover, have fundamentally changed.

Marketers at Procter & Gamble study videos of people making their beds. They are desperately trying to figure out how to sell a new produ

Recommended by Naval Ravikant, Blake Irving, Alden Mills, and 15 others.

Naval Ravikant

CEO & Co-Founder/AngelList

I also recently finished The Power of Habit, or close to finish as I get. That one was interesting, not because of its content necessarily, but because it’s good for me to always keep on top of mind how powerful my habits are. … I think learning how to break habits is a very important meta-skill that can serve you better in life than almost anything else. Although you can read tons of books on it, the reality is you’re never going to learn how to break bad habits until you just break them. [source]

Blake Irving

CEO/GoDaddy

You know, there's a book called The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg. Simple read book about just how to build positive habits that can be I think I what I'd call you know whether in your personal life or whether in your business life to help you build you know, have a loop that can build your success and that's one I mean there are so many great books out there. [source]

Alden Mills

More recent books that have had a significant impact on me are The Power of Habit and The Diamond Cutter. Both represent different forces for me – the former helps me tactically with making incremental improvements in my life. [source]

18

The Mom Test: How to talk to customers & learn if your business is a good idea when everyone is lying to you

Rob Fitzpatrick

4.3

Preview Summary

The Mom Test is a quick, practical guide that will save you time, money, and heartbreak.

They say you shouldn't ask your mom whether your business is a good idea, because she loves you and will lie to you. This is technically true, but it misses the point. You shouldn't ask anyone if your business is a good idea. It's a bad question and everyone will lie to you at least a little . As a matter of fa

Recommended by Chandini Jain, Mikhail Dubov, and Roxana Bitoleanu.

Chandini Jain

Very recently, I read The Mom Test: How to talk to customers & learn if your business is a good idea when everyone is lying to you. The book talks about how to design user interviews to make sure you're not asking users/customers leading questions and get unbiased feedback. [source]

Mikhail Dubov

One of the five books recommends to young people interested in his career path. [source]

Roxana Bitoleanu

I would definitely start my list with The Mom Test because there is no resource on how to ask questions without being too eager or too revealing. I think this skill should be trained, be it an entrepreneur or not. [source]

19

Value Proposition Design: How to Create Products and Services Customers Want

Alexander Osterwalder, Yves Pigneur, Gregory Bernarda, and Alan Smith

4.3

If you liked "Business Model Generation," you'll love "Value Proposition Design." The sequel builds on the same visual format and practical tools that made the first one so useful. It shows you how to use the Value Proposition Canvas, a practical business tool to design, test, create, and manage products and services customers want. It compliments and perfectly integrates with the Business Model C

Recommended by Nir Eyal, Steve Blank, Ashley Hathaway, and 2 others.

Ashley Hathaway

I could probably name a dozen books here, but I’ll point out The Business Model Generation and Value Prop Design from Strategyzer. I steal from these constantly and are engrained in my work process. These books put into practice really taught me how to think. As soon as I saw that everything should have a foundation of empathy, what good user-testing looks like, how to test and iterate it changed everything. After that any problem could be solved. It wasn’t solving one big monolithic problem. It was going through a process. [source]

Chandini Jain

One of the five books Chandini would you recommend to young people interested in her career path. [source]

20

The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing: Violate Them at Your Own Risk

Al Ries

4.3

Preview Summary

World-renowned marketing consultants and bestselling authors Al Ries and Jack Trout reveal 22 laws of marketing, with hundreds of examples that illustrate their success, in this innovative and sensible guide to marketing. Each law is described in detail and backed up by numerous examples of what worked and what didn't in the international marketplace.

Recommended by Timothy Ferriss, Brian Armstrong, Aaron Watson, and 6 others.

Aaron Watson

Question: What books would you recommend to young people interested in your career path? Answer: Purple Cow by Seth Godin End of Jobs by Taylor Pearson Rework by Jason Fried & DHH Trust Me I’m Lying by Ryan Holiday The Complacent Class by Tyler Cowen The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing by Al Ries and Jack Trout Losing My Virginity by Richard Branson [source]

Chase Jarvis

A classic. [source]

Christopher Lochhead

Question: What five books would you recommend to young people interested in your career path & why? Answer: I know this is sounds self-serving but I’d recommended both of my books, the soon to be released, “Niche Down: How to Become Legendary by Being Different” and Harper Collins’ “instant classic,” “Play Bigger: How Pirates, Dreamers and Innovators Create and Dominate Markets” In addition: The Effective Executive, by Peter Drucker The E-Myth, by Michael Gerber Radical Candor: Be a Kickass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity by Kim Scott Back from the Dead, by Bill Walton The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing, by Al Ries and Jack Trout [source]

21

Alchemy: The Surprising Power of Ideas That Don't Make Sense

Rory Sutherland

4.3

Preview Summary

The legendary advertising guru—Ogilvy UK’s vice chairman—and star of three massively popular TED Talks, blends the science of human behavior with his vast experience in the art of persuasion in this incomparable book that decodes successful branding and marketing in the vein of Freakonomics, Thinking Fast and Slow, and The Power of Habit.

When Rory Sutherland was a trainee working on a direct mail

Recommended by Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Geoffrey Miller, Graeme Dixon, and 1 others.

Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Author

4 hours dinner conversation with @rorysutherland and Rohan @Silva in a Pakistani restaurant in London (2 bottles of wine, but no Negroni). You must buy two copies of Rory's book, in case one is stolen, lost, damaged (by the rain), or self-destructs. https://t.co/Xa5WFOGCNt [source]

Geoffrey Miller

Agree. This is a great book by @rorysutherland that will shake up how you think about lots of things. Try it, and you'll realize you're nowhere near as epistemically humble as you should be. https://t.co/8U1iAxji8Z [source]

Graeme Dixon

@rorysutherland your book ”Alchemy: The surprising power of ideas that don't make sense” is superb. Really useful for what we do and why some don't get it. Silly questions are so powerful. Book of the year so far for me. Thank you. https://t.co/BjoGz9C7dt [source]

22

Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

4.3

Preview Summary

Psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's famous investigations of "optimal experience" have revealed that what makes an experience genuinely satisfying is a state of consciousness called flow. During flow, people typically experience deep enjoyment, creativity, and a total involvement with life. In this new edition of his groundbreaking classic work, Csikszentmihalyi demonstrates the ways this posit

Recommended by Austin Kleon, Brian Tracy, Dan Pink, and 1 others.

Austin Kleon

While re-reading Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s wonderful book Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience, I came across this passage on working crossword puzzles. I think he could just as well be talking about making blackout poems: "There is much to be said in favor of this popular pastime, which in its best form resembles the ancient riddle contests. It is inexpensive and portable, its challenges can be finely graduated so that both novices and experts can enjoy it, and its solution produces a sense of pleasing order that gives one a satisfying feeling of accomplishment. It provides opportunities to experience a mild state of flow to many people who are stranded in airport lounges, who travel on commuter trains, or who are simply whiling away Sunday mornings." [source]

Tom Chatfield

The notion of flow is the idea that there is a state that is characterised by complete immersion in an activity, by a constant response to stimuli, and a perfect match between your ability and the challenge in front of you. [source]

23

Contagious: Why Things Catch On

Jonah Berger

4.3

Preview Summary

New York Times bestseller and named Best Marketing Book of 2014 by the American Marketing Association

What makes things popular? Why do people talk about certain products and ideas more than others? Why are some stories and rumors more infectious? And what makes online content go viral?

If you said advertising, think again. People don't listen to advertisements, they listen to their peers. But why d

Recommended by Vinod Khosla, Vinod Khosla, Andrew Medal, and 10 others.

Andrew Medal

The world is #CONTAGIOUS ☢️☢️☢️ • • My dog and I love this book. I read to him when he wants to learn about marketing techniques. The last time I read this book was in 2013. If you want a read that dissects how and… https://t.co/6v0ckSnSQe [source]

Ee Ling Lim

Contagious by Jonah Berger is another interesting one for those trying to figure out how to market their business. In Contagious, Jonah identifies what makes some things go viral, and narrowed it down to 6 principles STEPPS: Social currency (content that makes people look good when they talk about it), Triggers (top of mind topics), Emotion (content that we care about, especially high arousal ones like anger, awe, excitement and humor), Public, Practical and Stories. [source]

Erik Cheong

Explains why certain products and ideas become popular while others fail. It reveals the secret science behind word-of-mouth and social transmission. Discover how six basic principles drive all sorts of things to become contagious, from consumer products and policy initiatives to workplace rumors and YouTube videos. [source]

24

Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things

William McDonough

4.3

"Reduce, reuse, recycle," urge environmentalists; in other words, do more with less in order to minimize damage. But as architect William McDonough and chemist Michael Braungart point out in this provocative, visionary book, such an approach only perpetuates the one-way, "cradle to grave" manufacturing model, dating to the Industrial Revolution, that creates such fantastic amounts of waste and pol

Recommended by Joe Gebbia, Jerry McNerney, and Kate Raworth.

Joe Gebbia

Co-founder/Airbnb

Was hugely influential. [source]

Kate Raworth

Helped me to reimagine how industry could be designed to work with, rather than against, the cycles of the living world. [source]

25

Sketching: Drawing Techniques for Product Designers

Koos Eissen and Steur Roselien

4.2

A must have for product design students!

Are designers still making drawings by hand? Isn't it more advanced to use a computer in this computer era? Some may think sketching is a disappearing skill, but if you ever enter a design studio, you will find out differently. Studios still make sketches and drawings by hand and in most cases, quite a lot of them. They are an integral part of the decision-m

26

Competing Against Luck

Clayton M. Christensen

4.2

Preview Summary

The foremost authority on innovation and growth presents a path-breaking book every company needs to transform innovation from a game of chance to one in which they develop products and services customers not only want to buy, but are willing to pay premium prices for.

How do companies know how to grow? How can they create products that they are sure customers want to buy? Can innovation be more th

Recommended by Ken Norton, Amir Salihefendic, and Chris Oliver.

Chris Oliver

As for my favorite business book, I'd probably say Competing Against Luck. It talks about the "Jobs to be Done" mindset when you're thinking about why your customers buy your product. I found that it puts you in the right mindset to understand the perspective of your customers so you can serve them better. It's surprisingly hard to understand the reasons why people buy things and this book helps you look at it from a much better angle. [source]

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27

Universal Principles of Design, Revised and Updated: 125 Ways to Enhance Usability, Influence Perception, Increase Appeal, Make Better Design Decisions, and Teach through Design

William Lidwell, Kritina Holden, Jill Butler

4.2

Whether a marketing campaign or a museum exhibit, a video game or a complex control system, the design we see is the culmination of many concepts and practices brought together from a variety of disciplines. Because no one can be an expert on everything, designers have always had to scramble to find the information and know-how required to make a design work—until now. Universal Principles of Desi

Recommended by Benjamin Humphrey and Jane Pyle.

Benjamin Humphrey

Essentially a reference book for product designers, the universal principles is a smartly curated and neatly presented guide to the key terms you'll come across as a designer, with examples and diagrams. A beautiful book. [source]

28

Emotional Design: Why We Love (or Hate) Everyday Things

Don Norman

4.2

Did you ever wonder why cheap wine tastes better in fancy glasses? Why sales of Macintosh computers soared when Apple introduced the colorful iMac? New research on emotion and cognition has shown that attractive things really do work better, a fact fans of Don Norman's classic The Design of Everyday Things cannot afford to ignore.In recent years, the design community has focused on making products

Recommended by Jakob Nielsen and 1 others.

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29

100 Things Every Designer Needs to Know about People

Susan Weinschenk

4.2

We design to elicit responses from people. We want them to buy something, read more, or take action of some kind. Designing without understanding what makes people act the way they do is like exploring a new city without a map: results will be haphazard, confusing, and inefficient. This book combines real science and research with practical examples to deliver a guide every designer needs. With it

Recommended by Jane Pyle.

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30

Designing Design

Kenya Hara

4.2

Representing a new generation of designers in Japan, Kenya Hara (born 1958) pays tribute to his mentors, using long overlooked Japanese icons and images in much of his work. In Designing Design, he impresses upon the reader the importance of emptiness in both the visual and philosophical traditions of Japan, and its application to design, made visible by means of numerous examples from his own wor

Recommended by Ryan Len.

Ryan Len

When asked what books he would recommend to youngsters interested in his professional path, Ryan mentioned Designing Design. [source]

31

Build Better Products

Laura Klein, Kate Rutter

4.2

It’s easier than ever to build a new product. But developing a great product that people actually want to buy and use is another story. Build Better Products is a hands-on, step-by-step guide that helps teams incorporate strategy, empathy, design, and analytics into their development process. You’ll learn to develop products and features that improve your business’s bottom line while dramatically

Recommended by Laura Klein.

32

Manufacturing Processes for Design Professionals

Rob Thompson

4.2

Today's product designers are presented with a myriad of choices when creating their work and preparing it for manufacture. They have to be knowledgeable about a vast repertoire of processes, ranging from what used to be known as traditional "crafts" to the latest technology, to enable their designs to be manufactured effectively and efficiently. Information on the internet about such processes is

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33

Product Design

Alex Milton and Paul Rodgers

4.2

Product Design offers a broad and comprehensive introduction to the field of product design and the key role of product designers. Following through all the stages and activities involved in the creation of a new product from concept design to manufacture, prototyping to marketing this book also explores the diverse nature of product design, including new and emerging forms of practice. A rich ove

34

How to Draw: Drawing and Sketching Objects and Environments from Your Imagination

Scott Robertson

4.1

35

User Friendly: How the Hidden Rules of Design Are Changing the Way We Live, Work, and Play

Cliff Kuang, Robert Fabricant

4.1

Preview Summary

In User Friendly, Cliff Kuang and Robert Fabricant reveal the untold story of a paradigm that quietly rules our modern lives: the assumption that machines should anticipate what we need. Spanning over a century of sweeping changes, from women's rights to the Great Depression to World War II to the rise of the digital era, this book unpacks the ways in which the world has been--and continues to be-

Recommended by Debbie Millman and J Wolfgang Goerlich.

Debbie Millman

“Design presumes that we can make objects humane, but doing so requires a different way of seeing the world.” 21 lessons from @cliffkuang and @fabtweets’ brilliant new book, USER FRIENDLY: https://t.co/AT87gFmDht https://t.co/hhj51lMHgR [source]

J Wolfgang Goerlich

@APhoenixinflame User Friendly, Cliff Kuang, is my favorite Audible book I’ve read this year. Very applicable to tech. [source]

36

Escaping the Build Trap: How Effective Product Management Creates Real Value

Melissa Perri

4.1

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37

About Face: The Essentials of Interaction Design

Alan Cooper, Robert Reimann, et al.

4.1

The three editions of "About Face" have shaped and evolved the landscape of interaction design, bringing it from the research labs into every day lexicon and development. The fourth edition of this groundbreaking book will be no less game changing.

The 4th edition of "About Face "is the most significant revision yet, with a new unique design and 4-color interior, dedicated web site, and classroom a

Recommended by Jeff Atwood, Bret Victor, and 1 others.

38

The Design Thinking Toolbox: A Guide to Mastering the Most Popular and Valuable Innovation Methods

Michael Lewrick, Patrick Link, et al.

4.1

How to use the Design Thinking Tools

A practical guide to make innovation happen

The Design Thinking Toolbox explains the most important tools and methods to put Design Thinking into action. Based on the largest international survey on the use of design thinking, the most popular methods are described in four pages each by an expert from the global Design Thinking community. If you are involved in i

39

The Cold Start Problem: How to Start and Scale Network Effects

Andrew Chen

4.1

Preview Summary

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40

The Inmates are Running the Asylum: Why High-tech Products Drive Us Crazy and How to Restore the Sanity

Alan Cooper

4.1

Recommended by Andrew Chen, Brian Armstrong, Jeff Atwood, and 1 others.

41

Solving Product Design Exercises: Questions & Answers

Artiom Dashinsky

4.1

Practice your product design and UX skills. Prepare for your next job interview.

"Redesign the NYC metrocard system. Design a dashboard for a general practitioner. Redesign an ATM".
Learn how to solve and present exercises like these, that top startups use to interview designers for product design and UI/UX roles.

Today top companies are looking for business-minded designers who are not just focused

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42

Less and More: The Design Ethos of Dieter Rams

Klaus Klemp

4.1

"In the more than 40 years that he spent working at Braun, Dieter Rams established himself as one of the most influential designers of the twentieth century. His elegantly clear visual language not only defined product design for decades, but also our fundamental understanding of what design is and what it can and
should do. Dieter Rams created ten rules of design more than twenty years ago. Somet

43

The Laws of Simplicity: Design, Technology, Business, Life

John Maeda

4.1

Ten laws of simplicity for business, technology, and design that teach us how to need less but get more.

Finally, we are learning that simplicity equals sanity. We're rebelling against technology that's too complicated, DVD players with too many menus, and software accompanied by 75-megabyte "read me" manuals. The iPod's clean gadgetry has made simplicity hip. But sometimes we find ourselves caught

Recommended by Ryan Len.

Ryan Len

There are just way too many books that impacted the way I live and see things. One of them is The Laws of Simplicity by John Maeda. [source]

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44

As Little Design as Possible

Sophie Lovell, Jonathan Ive, Klaus Kemp

4.1

Dieter Rams is one of the most influential product designers of the twentieth century. Even if you don't immediately recognize his name, you have almost certainly used one of the radios, clocks, lighters, juicers, shelves or hundreds of other products he designed. He is famous not only for this vast array of well-formed products, but for his remarkably prescient ideas about the correct function of

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45

User Story Mapping: Discover the Whole Story, Build the Right Product

Jeff Patton and Peter Economy

4.1

How do you build a product that delights users? You must first know who your users are and how they plan to use what you're building. With this practical book, you'll explore the often-misunderstood practice of user story mapping, and learn how it can help keep your team stay focused on users and their experience throughout the development process.

You and your team will learn that user stories are

Recommended by Marty Cagan.

46

Continuous Discovery Habits: Discover Products That Create Customer Value and Business Value

Teresa Torres

4.1

47

How to Build a Car: The Autobiography of the World’s Greatest Formula 1 Designer

Adrian Newey

4.1

'Adrian has a unique gift for understanding drivers and racing cars. He is ultra competitive but never forgets to have fun. An immensely likeable man.' Damon Hill

The world’s foremost designer in Formula One, Adrian Newey OBE is arguably one of Britain’s greatest engineers and this is his fascinating, powerful memoir.

How to Build a Car explores the story of Adrian’s unrivalled 35-year career in For

48

How to Render: communicating form and rendering a wide range of materials

Scott Robertson

4.1

Scott Robertson explains how the human brain interprets the visual world around us. He then explains the subject of visually communicating the form of an object in easy to understand step-by-step lessons through the use of drawings, photography and even 3D digital imagery that will enlighten and empower an artist.

Written as an introductory book of rendering strategies and techniques as applied to

49

Open Circuits: The Inner Beauty of Electronic Components (Packaging may vary)

Windell Oskay, Eric Schlaepfer

4.1

Open Circuits is a photographic exploration of the beautiful design inside everyday electronics. Its stunning cross-section photography unlocks a hidden world full of elegance, subtle complexity, and wonder.Our phones, computers, and appliances are made of hundreds of internal components, each precisely engineered to perform a certain function, but none intended to actually be seen. Through painst

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50

Product Design And Development

Karl Ulrich, Steven Eppinger

4.1

Product Design and Development, Fifth Edition, blends the perspectives of marketing, design, and manufacturing into a single approach to product development. As a result, the book provides students with an appreciation for the realities of industrial practice and for the complex and essential roles played by the various members of product development teams. For industrial practitioners, in particu

51

Creative Confidence: Unleashing the Creative Potential Within Us All

Tom Kelley, David Kelley

4.1

IDEO founder and Stanford d.school creator David Kelley and his brother Tom Kelley, IDEO partner and the author of the bestselling The Art of Innovation, have written a powerful and compelling book on unleashing the creativity that lies within each and every one of us.

Too often, companies and individuals assume that creativity and innovation are the domain of the "creative types." But two of the l

Recommended by Cristina Riesen, Kimberly Gloria Choi, and Robert Katai.

Cristina Riesen

First, a word on career paths. In time, I realised that career paths are like one-way streets. Magic happens in unexplored territories. Plus life is how you choose to live every moment, every day. So today, rather than building a career, I prefer to make lateral moves in life, working with great people and being part of ambitious projects impacting the world. There are a few books that got me here: … Tom and David Kelley "Creative Confidence". [source]

Kimberly Gloria Choi

I read about this during my first job in a startup (luxola) now Sephora SEA as a designer. This is before I started my small business - www.marchbabycollective.com. I have always wanted to do something on my own besides my full time job, it’s always a great way to express yourself with other designing task, you know, just to keep your creative juices flowing. The Stanford D. School and IDEO U have always interested me, and here I came across this book that was written by David Kelley. [source]

Robert Katai

Another book that has helped me in a specific moment was “Creative Confidence”. I don’t remember which part helped me, but I can remember that I had some mornings in which I woke up at 5 or 6 o'clock in the morning just to start my day reading something creative. [source]

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52

Prototyping and Modelmaking for Product Design

Bjarki Hallgrimsson

4.1

Building prototypes and models is an essential component of any design activity. Modern product development is a multi-disciplinary effort that relies on prototyping in order to explore new ideas and test them sufficiently before they become actual products. A comprehensive modern prototyping approach is crucial to making informed design decisions, and forms a strategic part of a successful design

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53

Our Q&A a Day: 3-Year Journal for 2 People

Potter Gift

4.1

With this one-sentence journal, couples can create a three-year time capsule of their relationship in the easiest way possible. Our Q&A a Day provides a question for every day of the year, with enough space for two people to jot down a one- or two-sentence response. The journal offers a variety of questions; some may address the relationship ("Where would you like to travel with your partner?"); o

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54

Validating Product Ideas: Through Lean User Research

Tomer Sharon, Noam Lamdan

4.1

Recommended by Steve Krug.

55

Ferrari (Extra Large)

Pino Allievi

4.1

Few men, women or brand names have come to define a century. For seven decades and counting, the Italian powerhouse founded by Enzo Ferrari in 1947 hasn’t only set the standard for high-performance engineering, but made an indelible red mark on popular culture, enthralling fans and collectors across the globe. More than just a car manufacturer, Ferrari is synonymous with beauty, excellence, and un

56

Product Roadmaps Relaunched: How to Set Direction while Embracing Uncertainty

C. Todd Lombardo

4.1

57

The Principles of Product Development Flow: Second Generation Lean Product Development

Donald G. Reinertsen

4.1

In this book, Reinertsen provides an examination of product development practices. He explains why invisible and unmanaged queues are the underlying root cause of poor product development performance. He shows why these queues form and how they undermine the speed, quality, and efficiency in product development.

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58

The Four Steps to the Epiphany: Successful Strategies for Products That Win

Steve Blank

4.1

The bestselling classic that launched 10,000 startups and new corporate ventures - The Four Steps to the Epiphany is one of the most influential and practical business books of all time. The Four Steps to the Epiphany launched the Lean Startup approach to new ventures. It was the first book to offer that startups are not smaller versions of large companies and that new ventures are different than

Recommended by Andrew Chen, Ron Conway, Azeem Azhar, and 5 others.

Ryan Hoover

Too much (good) info but thankfully there's a summary in the Appendix. [source]

Antonio Eram

This book was recommended by Antonio when asked for titles he would recommend to young people interested in his career path. [source]

Craig Pearce

If you are reading to learn skills that can be implemented in your startup, I’d recommend The Lean Startup: How Today's Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful by Eric Reis and actually avoid its predecessor The Four Steps to the Epiphany: Successful Strategies for Products That Win by Steve Blank until later in your career. [source]

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59

The Best Interface Is No Interface: The Simple Path to Brilliant Technology

Golden Krishna

4.1

Our love affair with the digital interface is out of control. We've embraced it in the boardroom, the bedroom, and the bathroom.

Screens have taken over our lives. Most people spend over eight hours a day staring at a screen, and some "technological innovators" are hoping to grab even more of your eyeball time. You have screens in your pocket, in your car, on your appliances, and maybe even on your

Recommended by Paul Boag.

60

Swipe to Unlock: The Primer on Technology and Business Strategy

Neel Mehta

4.1

An alternative cover edition for this ISBN can be found here.

Authored by Product Managers at Google, Microsoft, and Facebook, Swipe to Unlock is a guide which enables anyone to understand the core concepts of tech and the business strategy behind it in order to succeed in the tech industry or even just be an informed digital citizen and consumer.

This #1 Amazon Business Bestseller has been featured

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61

Jony Ive: The Genius Behind Apple's Greatest Products

Leander Kahney

4.1

“Different and new is relatively easy. Doing something that’s genuinely better is very hard.” —Jony Ive
In 1997, Steve Jobs returned to Apple as CEO with the unenviable task of turning around the company he had founded. One night, Jobs discovered a scruffy British designer toiling away at Apple’s corporate headquarters, surrounded by hundreds of sketches and prototypes. It was then that Jobs realiz

Recommended by Amir Salihefendic.

62

The Art of the Fold: How to Make Innovative Books and Paper Structures (Learn paper craft & bookbinding from influential bookmaker & artist Hedi Kyle)

Hedi Kyle

4.1

"The influential artist Hedi Kyle and renowned architecture graduate Ulla Warchol shows you how to create their unique designs using folding techniques. From creating flag books and fishbones, to blizzards and nesting boxes, you'll gain an invaluable insight into the work of two skilled artists with this fun read! With the help of their thorough instructions and simple illustrations, you'll be on

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63

Talking to Humans: Success starts with understanding your customers

Giff Constable

4.1

Recommended by Ron Conway, Steve Blank, Ash Maurya, and 1 others.

Ron Conway

Explains how to do the customer development interviews in a way that will get you the most accurate and actionable feedback. [source]

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64

The User's Journey: Storymapping Products That People Love

Donna Lichaw, Eva-Lotta Lamm

4.1

Like a good story, successful design is a series of engaging moments structured over time. The User’s Journey will show you how, when, and why to use narrative structure, technique, and principles to ideate, craft, and test a cohesive vision for an engaging outcome. See how a “story first” approach can transform your product, feature, landing page, flow, campaign, content, or product strategy.

65

The Art of Innovation: Lessons in Creativity from IDEO, America's Leading Design Firm

Tom Kelley, Jonathan Littman, Tom Peters

4.1

IDEO, the widely admired, award-winning design and development firm that brought the world the Apple mouse, Polaroid's I-Zone instant camera, the Palm V, and hundreds of other cutting-edge products and services, reveals its secrets for fostering a culture and process of continuous innovation.

There isn't a business in America that doesn't want to be more creative in its thinking, products, and proc

Recommended by Seth Godin.

Seth Godin

Author, Marketer, Entrepreneur

I don't know if you can teach this kind of creativity, but you can certainly raise your expectations by seeing how well they do design. [source]

66

Laws of UX: Design Principles for Persuasive and Ethical Products

Jon Yablonski

4.1

Every designer today should learn the fundamentals of psychology. Instead of forcing users to conform to a product design or experience, designers need to learn how users behave and interact with various digital interfaces.

This guide provides some key principles from psychology to help you design more intuitive, human-centered products and experiences. Humans have an underlying blueprint for how w

67

Figure Drawing: Design and Invention

Michael Hampton

4.1

Figure Drawing: Design and Invention is an instructional figure drawing book geared towards the novice and experienced artist alike. This book emphasizes a simplified understanding of surface anatomy, in order to clarify the mechanics of the figure, facilitate invention, and ultimately create a skill-set that can be successfully applied to other media. In addition, this book focuses very strongly

68

Design as Art

Bruno Munari

4.0

One of the last surviving members of the futurist generation, Bruno Munari's Design as Art is an illustrated journey into the artistic possibilities of modern design translated by Patrick Creagh published as part of the 'Penguin on Design' series in Penguin Modern Classics.

'The designer of today re-establishes the long-lost contact between art and the public, between living people and art as a liv

Recommended by Coleen Baik.

69

It's Not How Good You Are, It's How Good You Want To Be

Paul Arden

4.0

It’s Not How Good You Are, It’s How Good You Want to Be is a handbook of how to succeed in the world: a pocket bible for the talented and timid alike to help make the unthinkable thinkable and the impossible possible.

The world’s top advertising guru, Paul Arden, offers up his wisdom on issues as diverse as problem solving, responding to a brief, communicating, playing your cards right, making mist

Recommended by Casey Neistat.

Casey Neistat

Founder/368 Creative Space

The reason why I gift this book is because you can read it in 40 minutes. [source]

70

Design for How People Learn

Julie Dirksen

4.0

Products, technologies, and workplaces change so quickly today that everyone is continually learning. Many of us are also teaching, even when it's not in our job descriptions. Whether it's giving a presentation, writing documentation, or creating a website or blog, we need and want to share our knowledge with other people. But if you've ever fallen asleep over a boring textbook, or fast-forwarded

Recommended by Fabio Sasso.

71

Creative Selection: Inside Apple's Design Process During the Golden Age of Steve Jobs

Ken Kocienda

4.0

An insider's account of Apple's creative process during the golden years of Steve Jobs.

Hundreds of millions of people use Apple products every day; several thousand work on Apple's campus in Cupertino, California; but only a handful sit at the drawing board. Creative Selection recounts the life of one of the few who worked behind the scenes, a highly-respected software engineer who worked in the f

Recommended by Patrick Thornton.

Patrick Thornton

@kocienda @jgulden @DanHigbie @mayli Read the book and loved it. Is the idea of outsourcing product work to a designated product manager antithetical to building great products at Apple? [source]

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72

Testing Business Ideas: A Field Guide for Rapid Experimentation

Alexander Osterwalder, David J. Bland, Yves Pigneur, Gregory Bernarda, Alan Smith, and Trish Papadakos

4.0

A practical guide to effective business model testing

7 out of 10 new products fail to deliver on expectations. Testing Business Ideas aims to reverse that statistic. In the tradition of Alex Osterwalder's global bestseller Business Model Generation, this practical guide contains a library of hands-on techniques for rapidly testing new business ideas.

Testing Business Ideas explains how systematical

Recommended by Nichole Elizabeth Demeré B2b Saas.

Nichole Elizabeth Demeré B2b Saas

This is probably my favorite career book of 2019. https://t.co/gS1yEFIdlj [source]

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73

Lean UX: Designing Great Products with Agile Teams

Jeff Gothelf, Josh Seiden

4.0

Lean UX has become the preferred approach to interaction design, tailor-made for today's agile teams. In the second edition of this award winning book, leading advocates Jeff Gothelf and Josh Seiden expand on the valuable Lean UX principles, tactics, and techniques covered in the first edition to share how product teams can easily incorporate design, experimentation, iteration, and continuous lear

Recommended by Andy Budd and Laura Klein.

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74

The Industrial Design Reference & Specification Book: Everything Industrial Designers Need to Know Every Day

Dan Cuffaro and Isaac Zaksenberg

4.0

To make designs that work and endure (and are also legal), designers need to know-or be able to find-an endless number of details. Whether it's what kind of glue needs to be used on a certain surface, metric equivalents, thread sizes, or how to apply for a patent, these details are essential and must be readily available so designers can create successful products efficiently. "The Industrial Desi

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75

Design for the Real World: Human Ecology and Social Change

Victor Papanek

4.0

Design for the Real World has, since its first appearance twenty-five years ago, become a classic. Translated into twenty-three languages, it is one of the world's most widely read books on design. In this edition, Victor Papanek examines the attempts by designers to combat the tawdry, the unsafe, the frivolous, the useless product, once again providing a blueprint for sensible, responsible design

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76

Making It: Manufacturing Techniques for Product Design

Chris Lefteri

4.0

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77

Creative Marker Techniques: In Combination With Mixed Media

Yoshiharu Shimizu

4.0

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78

How Design Makes the World

Scott Berkun

4.0

Everything we use, from social media, to our homes, to our highways, was designed by someone. But how did they decide on what was good for the rest of us? What did they get right and where have they let us down? And what can we learn from the way these experts think that can help us in how we make decisions in our own lives?

In How Design Makes The World, bestselling author and designer Scott Berku

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79

The Product Book: How to Become a Great Product Manager

Product School, Carlos Gonzalez de Villaumbrosia, et al.

4.0

"Nobody asked you to show up." Every experienced product manager has heard some version of those words at some point in their career. Think about a company. Engineers build the product. Designers make sure it has a great user experience and looks good. Marketing makes sure customers know about the product. Sales get potential customers to open their wallets to buy the product. What more does a com

Recommended by Chris Mobbs.

Chris Mobbs

The Product Book: How to Become a Great Product Manager https://t.co/c7ICAIcZZ0 via @chrisifg [source]

80

Change by Design, Revised and Updated: How Design Thinking Transforms Organizations and Inspires Innovation

Tim Brown

4.0

The subject of “design thinking” is the rage at business schools, throughout corporations, and increasingly in the popular press—due in large part to the work of IDEO, a leading design firm, and its celebrated CEO, Tim Brown, who uses this book to show how the techniques and strategies of design belong at every level of business.

The myth of innovation is that brilliant ideas leap fully formed from

Recommended by Doug McMillon.

Doug McMillon

CEO/Walmart

Here's a list of the top books that taught and inspired me this year. I go back to Sam Walton's book frequently and was struck, this year, by some common principles between Sam and General McChrystal. It seems they learned some similar things about what works when it comes to leading teams. For example, fostering a shared consciousness and empowering execution delivers results. Greg Foran shared The Good Jobs Strategy with me and I see a connection to Tim Brown's Change by Design. We are making progress in designing a "system" for our associates that results in opportunities for them and an even better work environment. [source]

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81

This is Service Design Thinking: Basics – Tools – Cases

Marc Stickdorn

4.0

This is Service Design Thinking introduces an inter-disciplinary approach to designing services. Service Design is a bit of a buzzword these days and has gained a lot of interest from various fields. This book, assembled to describe and illustrate the emerging field of service design, was brought together using exactly the same co-creative and user-centred approaches you can read and learn about i

Recommended by Andy Budd.

82

Ultimate Lego Star Wars

Andrew Becraft

4.0

The definitive guide to the LEGO® Star Wars™ universe, showcasing the vast collection of LEGO Star Wars sets and minifigures released over the last 20 years.

This is a complete, unrivalled encyclopedia of the LEGO Star Wars theme. Fans will have an all-encompassing companion to the LEGO Star Wars cultural phenomenon. Produced in large format and featuring beautiful imagery, this is an indispensable

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83

Universal Methods of Design: 100 Ways to Research Complex Problems, Develop Innovative Ideas, and Design Effective Solutions

Bruce Hanington, Bella Martin

4.0

This comprehensive reference provides a thorough and critical presentation of 100 research methods, synthesis/analysis techniques, and research deliverables for human centered design, delivered in a concise and accessible format perfect for designers, educators, and students.

Universal Methods of Design serves as an invaluable compendium of methods that can be easily referenced and used by cross-di

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84

Number Fill-Ins - Volume 1: 100 Fun Crossword-Style Fill-In Puzzles with Numbers Instead of Words

Printed Fun

4.0

Enjoy hours of fun solving these 100 Number Fill-In puzzles WITH starter numbers. (See Volume 2 at https: //www.amazon.com/dp/1541398513 if you would like puzzles WITHOUT starter numbers.)

If you enjoy word search and crossword puzzles, then you will LOVE Number Fill-Ins!

100 puzzles for hours of fun and challenge
Numbers instead of words so no "knowledge" needed
Starter number on each puzzle to get y

85

Designing for People

Henry Dreyfuss

4.0

From the first answering machine ("the electronic brain") and the Hoover vacuum cleaner to the SS Independence and the Bell telephone, the creations of Henry S. Dreyfuss have shaped the cultural landscape of the 20th century. Written in a robust, fresh style, this book offers an inviting mix of professional advice, case studies, and design history along with historical black-and-white photos and t

Recommended by Bret Victor.

86

Cracking the PM Interview: How to Land a Product Manager Job in Technology

Gayle Laakmann McDowell and Jackie Bavaro

4.0

How many pizzas are delivered in Manhattan? How do you design an alarm clock for the blind? What is your favorite piece of software and why? How would you launch a video rental service in India? This book will teach you how to answer these questions and more. Cracking the PM Interview is a comprehensive book about landing a product management role in a startup or bigger tech company. Learn how the

87

Dieter Rams: The Complete Works

Klaus Klemp

4.0

88

The Right It: Why So Many Ideas Fail and How to Make Sure Yours Succeed

Alberto Savoia

4.0

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89

Elements of Design: Rowena Reed Kostellow and the Structure of Visual Relationships (Hands-on Design Book, Industrial Design Book)

Gail Greet Hannah

4.0

A hands-on book design students and designers alike will welcome.Elements of Design is a tribute to an exceptional teacher and a study of the abstract visual relationships that were her lifelong pursuit. Rowena Reed Kiostellow taught industrial design at Pratt Institute for more than fifty years and the designers she trained-and the designers they're training today-have changed the face of America

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90

Become a Professional Inventor: The Insider's Guide to Companies Looking for Ideas

Stephen Key

4.0

91

Eames

Gloria Koenig

4.0

Visual impact: Nothing says modernist perfection like an Eames design The creative duoCharles Eames (1907 1978)andRay Kaiser Eames (1912 1988)transformed the visual character of America. Though best known for their furniture, the husband and wife team were also forerunners in architecture, textile design, photography, and film.The Eames work defined anew, multifunctional modernity, exemplary for i

92

The Design Thinking Playbook: Mindful Digital Transformation of Teams, Products, Services, Businesses and Ecosystems

Michael Lewrick, Patrick Link, et al.

4.0

A radical shift in perspective to transform your organization to become more innovative

The Design Thinking Playbook is an actionable guide to the future of business. By stepping back and questioning the current mindset, the faults of the status quo stand out in stark relief--and this guide gives you the tools and frameworks you need to kick off a digital transformation. Design Thinking is about ap

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93

Mental Models: Aligning Design Strategy with Human Behavior

Indi Young

4.0

There is no single methodology for creating the perfect product--but you can increase your odds. One of the best ways is to understand users' reasons for doing things. Mental Models gives you the tools to help you grasp, and design for, those reasons. Adaptive Path co-founder Indi Young has written a roll-up-your-sleeves book for designers, managers, and anyone else interested in making design str

Recommended by David Kadavy.

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94

Microinteractions: Designing with Details

Dan Saffer

4.0

It’s the little things that turn a good digital product into a great one. With this practical book, you’ll learn how to design effective microinteractions: the small details that exist inside and around features. How can users change a setting? How do they turn on mute, or know they have a new email message?

Through vivid, real-world examples from today’s devices and applications, author Dan Saffer

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95

DIY Lithium Batteries: How to Build Your Own Battery Packs

Micah Toll

4.0

Are you a hands on person? Do you prefer making things yourself? Are you working on a project that requires lithium batteries? If so, then this book is for you! We'll cover everything you need to know about lithium batteries. From choosing the right cells to designing a battery pack and building it yourself, this book includes all the steps for building safe, effective custom lithium battery packs

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96

How We Decide

Jonah Lehrer

4.0

The first book to use the unexpected discoveries of neuroscience to help us make the best decisions.

Since Plato, philosophers have described the decision-making process as either rational or emotional: we carefully deliberate, or we “blink” and go with our gut. But as scientists break open the mind’s black box with the latest tools of neuroscience, they’re discovering that this is not how the mind

Recommended by Vinod Khosla, Vinod Khosla, and Seth Godin.

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97

Monolith to Microservices: Evolutionary Patterns to Transform Your Monolith

Sam Newman

4.0

How do you detangle a monolithic system and migrate it to a microservice architecture? How do you do it while maintaining business-as-usual? As a companion to Sam Newman’s extremely popular Building Microservices, this new book details a proven method for transitioning an existing monolithic system to a microservice architecture.

With many illustrative examples, insightful migration patterns, and a

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98

Design for How People Think: Using Brain Science to Build Better Products

John Whalen Ph. D.

4.0

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99

The Steampunk Tarot

Barbara Moore

4.0

Where the past and future converge . . .

With a turn of the wheel and a spin of the cog, the oracular machinery lumbers into action. The curtains slowly draw back; the time has come to reveal your destiny.

Created by award-winning tarot expert Barbara Moore and brilliantly brought to life by artist Aly Fell, The Steampunk Tarot deck offers a glimpse of the future through a lens to the past. Retoolin

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100

Light Science & Magic: An Introduction to Photographic Lighting

Fil Hunter, Steven Biver, et al.

4.0

Photographic lighting is a topic that will never go out of style, no matter how sophisticated cameras and other technology get. Even with the most high-tech gear, photographers still need to put a lot of thought and vision into lighting their photographs in order to get great results. This key skill has the power to dramatically and quickly improve photographs.

Light Science and Magic provides you