Anthropology, identity and social commentary

Top picks:

The Lonely Crowd: A Study of the Changing American Character by Riesman, David

The Nature of Technology: What It Is and How It Evolves by Arthur, W. Brian

The Fate of Empires and Search for Survival by Glubb, John Bagot

Bullshit Jobs: A Theory by Graeber, David

The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements by Hoffer, Eric

The Power Paradox: How We Gain and Lose Influence by Keltner, Dacher

—

Bobos in Paradise: The New Upper Class and How They Got There by Brooks, David

Bright-Sided: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking Has Undermined America by Ehrenreich, Barbara

Buying In: The Secret Dialogue Between What We Buy and Who We Are by Walker, Rob

Hit Makers: How Things Become Popular by Thompson, Derek

I, Pencil by Read, Leonard Edward

Identity Economics: How Our Identities Shape Our Work, Wages, and Well-Being by George A. Akerlof 

Irresistible: The Rise of Addictive Technology and the Business of Keeping Us Hooked by Alter, Adam

Political Tribes: Group Instinct and the Fate of Nations by Chua, Amy

Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Harari, Yuval Noah

Self-Renewal: The Individual and the Innovative Society by Gardner, John W.

Shop Class as Soulcraft: An Inquiry into the Value of Work by Crawford, Matthew B.

Status Anxiety by de Botton, Alain

Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now by Lanier, Jaron

The 48 Laws of Power by Greene, Robert

The Ape that Understood the Universe: How the Mind and Culture Evolve by Stewart-Williams, Steve

The Evolution of Cooperation by Axelrod, Robert

The Fairness Instinct: The Robin Hood Mentality and Our Biological Nature by Sun, L.

The Handicap Principle: A Missing Piece of Darwin's Puzzle by Zahavi, Amotz

The Great Stagnation: How America Ate All The Low-Hanging Fruit of Modern History, Got Sick, and Will (Eventually) Feel Better by Cowen, Tyler

The Lies that Bind: Rethinking Identity by Appiah, Kwame Anthony

The Little Book of Hygge: Danish Secrets to Happy Living by Wiking, Meik

The Origins of Virtue: Human Instincts and the Evolution of Cooperation by Ridley, Matt

The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains by Carr, Nicholas

The Spell of the Sensuous: Perception and Language in a More-Than-Human World by Abram, David

The Stupidity Paradox: The Power and Pitfalls of Functional Stupidity at Work by Alvesson, Mats

The Why of Consumption by Huffman, Cynthia

Understanding Human Values by Rokeach, Milton

Business biography, narrative and journalism

Top picks:

Skunk Works: A Personal Memoir of My Years at Lockheed by Rich, Ben R. 

Driving Ambition: The Official Inside Story of the McLaren F1 by Nye, Doug 

Against the Odds: An Autobiography by Dyson, James  

The Outsiders: Eight Unconventional CEOs and Their Radically Rational Blueprint for Success by Thorndike Jr., William N.

— 

A Life Decoded: My Genome: My Life by Venter, Craig J. 

Augustine's Laws by Augustine, Norman R.  

Brick by Brick: How LEGO Rewrote the Rules of Innovation and Conquered the Global Toy Industry by Robertson, David, C.

Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future by Vance, Ashlee  

Faster, Higher, Farther: The Volkswagen Scandal by Ewing, Jack

Getting There: A Book of Mentors by Sega, Gillian Zoe 

How To Build A Car by Newey, Adrian 

IBM and the Holocaust by Black, Edwin 

Let My People Go Surfing: The Education of a Reluctant Businessman by Chouinard, Yvon

Losing the Signal: The Untold Story Behind the Extraordinary Rise and Spectacular Fall of BlackBerry by McNish, Jacquie 

Made in Japan: Akio Morita and Sony by Morita, Akio

My Story by Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum

Never Leave Well Enough Alone: The Personal Record of an Industrial Designer by Loewy, Raymond

Muji by Morrison, Jasper

Norman Foster - Talking And Writing by Foster, Norman

Oakley by Oakley

Poor Charlie's Almanack: The Wit and Wisdom of Charles T. Munger by Munger, Charles T.

Scoring Points: How Tesco Continues to Win Customer Loyalty by Humby, Clive 

Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike by Knight, Phil

Small Giants: Companies That Choose to Be Great Instead of Big by Burlingham, Bo

Sony: A Private Life by Nathan, John

Steve Jobs by Isaacson, Walter

The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers by Horowitz, Ben

The Martians of Science: Five Physicists Who Changed the Twentieth Century by Hargittai, István

The Real Mad Men: The Remarkable True Story of Madison Avenue's Golden Age Cracknell, Andrew

The Toyota Way: 14 Management Principles from the World's Greatest Manufacturer by Liker, Jeffrey K.

Business, General

Top picks:

Only the Paranoid Survive: How to Exploit the Crisis Points that Challenge Every Company and Career by Grove, Andrew S.

Slack: Getting Past Burnout, Busywork, and the Myth of Total Efficiency by DeMarco, Tom

The Icarus paradox: How exceptional companies bring about their own downfall by Miller, Danny

The Halo Effect: ... and the Eight Other Business Delusions That Deceive Managers by Phil Rosenzweig 

The Tyranny of Metrics by Muller, Jerry Z.

— 

David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants by Gladwell, Malcolm

High Output Management by Grove, Andrew S.

How Life Imitates Chess: Making the Right Moves, from the Board to the Boardroom by Kasparov, Garry

How to Make the World Add Up: Ten Rules for Thinking Differently About Numbers by Tim Harford

Images of Organization by Morgan, Gareth

Information Rules: A Strategic Guide to the Network Economy by Shapiro, Carl

Parkinson's Law by Parkinson, C. Northcote

Principles: Life and Work by Dalio, Ray

Psychological Safety: The key to happy, high-performing people and teams by Radecki, Dan

The Difference: How the Power of Diversity Creates Better Groups, Firms, Schools, and Societies by Page, Scott E.

Experimentation Works: The Surprising Power of Business Experiments by Thomke, Stefan H.

Managing Your Boss by Gabarro, John J.

Measure What Matters: How Google, Bono, and the Gates Foundation Rock the World with OKRs by Doerr, John

Rework by Fried, Jason

The Clayton M. Christensen Reader by Christensen, Clayton M.

The Daily Drucker: 366 Days of Insight and Motivation for Getting the Right Things Done by Drucker, Peter F.

The Responsible Company: What We've Learned From Patagonia's First 40 Years by Chouinard,  Yvon

The Three Rules: How Exceptional Companies Think by Raynor, Michael E.

Understanding Michael Porter: The Essential Guide to Competition and Strategy by Magretta, Joan

Winning with Data: Transform Your Culture, Empower Your People, and Shape the Future by Tunguz, Tomasz

The Innovator's Dilemma: The Revolutionary Book that Will Change the Way You Do Business by Christensen, Clayton M.

The Innovator's Solution: Creating and Sustaining Successful Growth by Christensen, Clayton M.

The Knowing-Doing Gap: How Smart Companies Turn Knowledge into Action by Pfeffer, Jeffrey

The Practice of Management by Drucker, Peter F.

Decision-making

Top picks:

Thinking in Bets: Making Smarter Decisions When You Don't Have All the Facts by Duke, Annie

Thinking, Fast and Slow by Kahneman, Daniel

The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right by Gawande, Atul

— 

How We Decide by Lehrer, Jonah

Decision Making under Deep Uncertainty: From Theory to Practice by Marchau, Vincent A. W. J.

The Art of Thinking Clearly by Dobelli, Rolf

Design, General

Top picks:

Universal Principles of Design by Lidwell, William

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

Manufacturing Processes for Design Professionals by Thompson, Rob

— 

A Fine Line: How Design Strategies Are Shaping the Future of Business by Esslinger, Hartmut

Apple Design by Schulze, Sabine

Beauty by Scruton, Roger

Collapsibles, The Genius of Space-Saving Design by Mollerup, Per

Design: Intelligence Made Visible by Bayley, Stephen

Design in Britain by Design Museum

Designed for Kids by Richardson, Phyllis

Designing Design by Hara, Kenya

Evocative Objects: Things We Think With by Turkle, Sherry

Geometry of Design: Studies in Proportion and Composition by Elam, Kimberly

Humble Masterpieces: Everyday Marvels of Design by Antonelli, Paola

Less but Better / Weniger, aber besser by Dieter Rams

Popular Mechanics The Art of Mechanical Drawing: A Practical Course for Drafting and Design by Willard, William

Prototyping for Designers: Developing the Best Digital and Physical Products by McElroy, Kathryn*

The Design of Everyday Things by Norman, Donald A.

The Elements of Design: Rediscovering Colors, Textures, Forms, and Shapes by Oei, Loan

The Genius of Design by Sparke, Penny

The Laws of Simplicity (Simplicity: Design, Technology, Business, Life) by Maeda, John

The Power of Limits: Proportional Harmonies in Nature, Art, and Architecture by Doczi, György

The Simplicity Shift: Innovative Design Tactics in a Corporate World by Jenson, Scott

The Violin Maker: A Search for the Secrets of Craftsmanship, Sound, and Stradivari

by Marchese, John

What Is a Designer: Things, Places, Messages by Potter, Norman

What Is Product Design?(Essential Design Handbooks) by Slack, Laura

Development workflow and management

Top picks:

Adrenaline Junkies and Template Zombies: Understanding Patterns of Project Behavior by DeMarco, Tom

Waltzing With Bears: Managing Risk on Software Projects by DeMarco, Tom

Writing Better Requirements by Alexander, Ian F.

—

Agile Estimating and Planning by Cohn, Mike 

Business Analysis by Paul, Debra 

Death March by Yourdon, Edward 

Managing Humans: Biting and Humorous Tales of a Software Engineering Manager by Lopp, Michael 

Scaling Lean & Agile Development Thinking and Organizational Tools for Large-Scale Scrum by Vodde, Craig

Scenarios, Stories, Use Cases: Through the Systems Development Life-Cycle by Alexander, Ian F.

The Art of Agile Development: Pragmatic Guide to Agile Software Development by Shore, James 

The Mythical Man-Month: Essays on Software Engineering by Brooks Jr., Frederick P.

User Stories Applied: For Agile Software Development by Cohn, Mike

Economics and finance

Top picks:

Financial Intelligence by Berman, Karen

Success and Luck: Good Fortune and the Myth of Meritocracy by Frank, Robert H.

Small Is Beautiful: Economics as if People Mattered by Schumacher, Ernst F.

—

50 Economic Ideas by Conway, Edmund

Activity-Based Cost Management: An Executive's Guide by Cokins, Gary

Cost Management Guidebook by Bragg, Steven M.

Cost Reduction Analysis: Tools and Strategies by Bragg, Steven M. 

Driving Down Cost: How to Manage and Cut Costs--Intelligently by Wileman, Andrew

Economics as Religion: From Samuelson to Chicago and Beyond by Nelson, Robert H.

Financial Statements: A Step-by-Step Guide to Understanding and Creating Financial Reports by Ittelson, Thomas R.

Fixing the Game: Bubbles, Crashes, and What Capitalism Can Learn from the NFL by Martin, Roger L.

Stabilizing an Unstable Economy: A Twentieth Century Fund Report by Minsky, Hyman P.

Technological Revolutions and Financial Capital: The Dynamics of Bubbles and Golden Ages by Pérez, Carlota

The Most Important Thing: Uncommon Sense for the Thoughtful Investor by Marks, Howard

Error and incompetence

Top picks:

Human Error by Reason, James

The Human Contribution by Reason, James

Mistakes Were Made (But Not by Me): Why We Justify Foolish Beliefs, Bad Decisions, and Hurtful Acts by Tavris, Carol

—

Inviting Disaster: Lessons From the Edge of Technology: An Inside Look at Catastrophes and Why They Happen by Chiles, James R.

Managing the Risks of Organizational Accidents by Reason, James

On the Psychology of Military Incompetence by Dixon, Norman F.

Ubiquity: Why Catastrophes Happen by Buchanan, Mark

Why We Make Mistakes: How We Look Without Seeing, Forget Things in Seconds, and Are All Pretty Sure We Are Way Above Average by Hallinan, Joseph T.

Intellectual property

Essentials of Intellectual Property by Poltorak, Alexander I.

Examples & Explanations for Intellectual Property by McJohn, Stephen M.

Harvesting Intangible Assets: Uncover Hidden Revenue in Your Company's Intellectual Property by Sherman, Andrew J.

Intellectual Property Strategy by Palfrey, John

The Economist Guide to Intellectual Property: What it is, How to protect it, How to exploit it by Johnson, Stephen

Innovation and creativity

Top picks:

Alchemy – The Surprising Power of Ideas That Don’t Make Sense by Sutherland, Rory

The Creative Act: A Way of Being by Rubin, Rick

— 

A Technique for Producing Ideas by Young, James Webb

A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future by Pink, Daniel H.

Conceptual Blockbusting: A Guide to Better Ideas by Adams, James L.

Six Thinking Hats by de Bono, Edward

Stanley Kubrick: Interviews by Phillips, D. Gene

Subject To Change: Creating Great Products & Services for an Uncertain World by Merholz, Peter

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

The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It for Life by Tharp, Twyla

The Grace of Great Things: Creativity and Innovation by Robert Grudin

The Myths of Innovation by Berkun, Scott

Thinkertoys: A Handbook of Creative-Thinking Techniques by Michalko, Michael

Interpersonal skills

Top picks:

Influence by Caldini, Robert 

Time to Think: Listening to Ignite the Human Mind by Kline, Nancy

Give and Take: Why Helping Others Drives Our Success by Grant, Adam M.

— 

Charm: An Essay by Bayley, Stephen

Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ by Goleman, Daniel

Friend & Foe: When to Cooperate, When to Compete, and How to Succeed at Both by Galinsky, Adam

How to Win Friends and Influence People by Carnegie, Dale

Just Listen: Discover the Secret to Getting Through to Absolutely Anyone by Goulston, Mark

Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It by Chris Voss

The Like Switch: An Ex-FBI Agent's Guide to Influencing, Attracting, and Winning People Over by Schafer, Jack

Management consulting

Top picks:

The Management Myth: Why the Experts Keep Getting it Wrong by Stewart, Matthew

The Lords of Strategy: The Secret Intellectual History of the New Corporate World by Kiechel III, Walter 

— 

Dangerous Company: The Consulting Powerhouses and the Businesses They Save and Ruin

by O'Shea, James

The Seven C's of Consulting: The Definitive Guide to the Consulting Process by Cope, Mick

The Witch Doctors by Micklethwait, John

Personal development and performance

Top picks:

Accelerating Excellence: The Principles That Drive Elite Performance by King, James A.

Four Thousand Weeks by Burkeman, Oliver 

Mastery by Greene, Robert

Man's Search for Meaning by Frankl, Viktor E.

I Can't Accept Not Trying: Michael Jordan on the Pursuit of Excellence by Jordan, Michael

Daily Rituals: How Artists Work by Currey, Mason

The War of Art: Winning the Inner Creative Battle by Pressfield, Steven

— 

Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones by Clear, James

Belong: Find Your People, Create Community, and Live a More Connected Life by Agrawal, Radha

Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World by Newport, Cal

Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World by Newport, Cal

Endure: Mind, Body, and the Curiously Elastic Limits of Human Performance by Hutchinson, Alex

Finding Your Element: How to Discover Your Talents and Passions and Transform Your Life by Robinson, Ken

Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance by Duckworth, Angela

Healing and Recovery by Hawkins, David R.

How to Find Fulfilling Work by Krznaric, Roman

How to Stop Worrying and Start Living: Time-Tested Methods for Conquering Worry by Carnegie, Dale

How Will You Measure Your Life? by Christensen, Clayton M.

Human Performance by Matthews, Gerald

Make Your Bed: Little Things That Can Change Your Life...And Maybe the World by McRaven, William H.

Mastery: The Keys to Success and Long-Term Fulfillment by Leonard, George

Micromastery: Learn Small, Learn Fast, and Unlock Your Potential to Achieve Anything by Twigger, Robert

Pathways to Bliss: Mythology and Personal Transformation by Campbell, Joseph

Practicing: A Musician's Return to Music by Kurtz, Glenn

Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard by Heath, Chip

The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Can't Stand Positive Thinking by Burkeman, Oliver

The Buddha In Daily Life: An Introduction to the Buddhism of Nichiren Daishonin by Causton, Richard G.

The Comfort Crisis: Embrace Discomfort To Reclaim Your Wild, Happy, Healthy Self

by Michael Easter

The Happiness Trap: How to Stop Struggling and Start Living by Russ Harris

The Inner Game of Tennis: The Classic Guide to the Mental Side of Peak Performance

by W. Timothy Gallwey

The Nordic Theory of Everything: In Search of a Better Life by Partanen, Anu

The Rise of Superman: Decoding the Science of Ultimate Human Performance by Kotler, Steven 

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change by Covey, Stephen R.

The Psychology of Money: Timeless lessons on wealth, greed, and happiness by Morgan Housel

The Soul of Money: Transforming Your Relationship with Money and Life by Twist, Lynne

Philosophy

Top picks:

Meditations by Marcus Aurelius

Ego Is the Enemy by Holiday, Ryan

— 

42 Fallacies by LaBossiere, Michael

Being a Man by Twigger, Robert

Ideas and Opinions by Einstein, Albert

Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life by Garcia Puigcerver, Hector

On Bullshit by Frankfurt, Harry G.

Science and Human Values by Bronowski, Jacob

The Moral Sayings of Publius Syrus, a Roman Slave: From the Latin (1856) by Syrus, Publilius

The Obstacle Is the Way: The Timeless Art of Turning Trials into Triumph by Holiday, Ryan

The System of Objects by Baudrillard, Jean

Pricing

Top picks:

Confessions of the Pricing Man: How Price Affects Everything by Simon, Hermann

The Strategy and Tactics of Pricing: A Guide to Growing More Profitably by Nagle, Thomas T.

Don't Just Roll the Dice - a usefully short guide to software pricing by Davidson, Neil 

— 

Pricing with Confidence: 10 Ways to Stop Leaving Money on the Table by Holden, Reed K.

The Psychology of Price: How to use price to increase demand, profit and customer satisfaction by Caldwell, Leigh

Priceless: The Hidden Psychology of Value by Poundstone, William

The 1% Windfall: How Successful Companies Use Price to Profit and Grow by Mohammed, Rafi

Psychology

Top picks:

Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience by Csíkszentmihályi, Mihály

Destructive Goal Pursuit: The Mt. Everest Disaster by Kayes, D. Christopher

The Origin of Everyday Moods: Managing Energy, Tension, and Stress by Thayer, Robert E.

The Pursuit of Pleasure by Tiger, Lionel

— 

A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance by Festinger, Leon

Belief: What It Means to Believe and Why Our Convictions Are So Compelling by Alcock, James E.

Beliefs, Attitudes and Values: A Theory of Organization and Change by Rokeach, Milton

Beyond Pleasure and Pain: How Motivation Works by Higgins, E. Tory

Change: Principles of Problem Formation and Problem Resolution by Watzlawick, Paul

Deceit and Self-Deception: Fooling Yourself the Better to Fool Others by Robert Trivers

Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us by Pink, Daniel H. *

Emotion: The Science of Sentiment by Evans, Dylan

Emotions Revealed: Recognizing Faces and Feelings to Improve Communication and 

Emotional Life by Ekman, Paul

How Emotions Are Made: The Secret Life of the Brain by Barrett, Lisa Feldman

How Pleasure Works: The New Science of Why We Like What We Like by Bloom, Paul

Intrinsic Motivation and Self-Determination in Human Behavior by Deci, Edward L.

Psychology of Emotion by Niedenthal, Paula M.

The Biology of Belief: Unleashing the Power of Consciousness, Matter & Miracles by Lipton, Bruce H.

The Influential Mind: What the Brain Reveals About Our Power to Change Others by Sharot, Tali

The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil by Zimbardo, Philip G.

The Memory Illusion: Remembering, Forgetting, and the Science of False Memory by Shaw, Julia

The Nature of Human Values by Rokeach, Milton

The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less by Schwartz, Barry

The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business by Duhigg, Charles

Understanding Human Values by Rokeach, Milton

This Means This, This Means That: A User's Guide to Semiotics by Hall, Sean

Randomness, risk and uncertainty

Top picks:

The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable by Taleb, Nassim Nicholas

Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets by Taleb, Nassim Nicholas

Against the Gods: The Remarkable Story of Risk by Bernstein, Peter L. 

Reckoning With Risk : Learning to Live With Uncertainty by Gigerenzer, Gerd

— 

Judgment under Uncertainty: Heuristics and Biases by Kahneman, Daniel

Risk Savvy: How to Make Good Decisions by Gigerenzer, Gerd

Skin in the Game: Hidden Asymmetries in Daily Life by Taleb, Nassim Nicholas

Superforecasting: The Art and Science of Prediction by Tetlock, Philip E.

Synergetics: Explorations in the Geometry of Thinking by Fuller, R. Buckminster

The Drunkard's Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives by Mlodinow, Leonard

The Taming of Chance by Hacking, Ian

Ubiquity: Why Catastrophes Happen by Buchanan, Mark

Research

Top picks:

Strategic Market Research: A Guide to Conducting Research That Drives Businesses by Beall, Anne E.

Validating Product Ideas: Through Lean User Research by Sharon, Tomer

Contextual Design: Design for Life (Interactive Technologies) by Holtzblatt, Karen

—

Market Research in Practice: An Introduction to Gaining Greater Market Insight by Harrison, Matthew

Interviewing Users: How to Uncover Compelling Insights by Portigal, Steve

Rapid Contextual Design by Holtzblatt, Karen 

Understanding Your Users: A Practical Guide to User Research Methods by Baxter, Kathy

Sales and marketing

Top picks:

Gap Selling: Getting the Customer to Yes by Keenan

How Brands Grow: What Marketers Don't Know by Sharp, Byron

Loyalty Myths: Hyped Strategies That Will Put You Out of Business -- and Proven Tactics That Really Work by Keiningham, Timothy L.

Simply Better: Winning and Keeping Customers by Delivering What Matters Most by Barwise, Patrick

Stop Listening to the Customer: Try Hearing Your Brand Instead by Ferrier, Adam

— 

Advertising for People Who Don't Like Advertising by KesselsKramer

Building Distinctive Brand Assets by Romaniuk, Jenni

Connecting With Consumers: Marketing For New Marketplace Realities by Kimmel, Allan J.

Consumer Behaviour: Applications in Marketing by East, Robert

Contagious: Why Things Catch On by Berger, Jonah

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

Moore, Geoffrey A.

Fanatical Prospecting: The Ultimate Guide to Opening Sales Conversations and Filling the Pipeline by Leveraging Social Selling, Telephone, Email, Text, and Cold Calling by Jeb Blount

How Brands Grow: Part 2: Emerging Markets, Services, Durables, New and Luxury Brands by Romaniuk, Jenni

Key Marketing Metrics by Farris, Paul W.

Market Segmentation: How to do it, how to profit from it by McDonald, Malcolm

Marketing Services: Competing Through Quality by Berry, Leonard L.

Mastering Customer Value Management: The Art and Science of Creating Competitive Advantage by Kordupleski, Ray

Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind by Ries, Al

Sensory Marketing: Research on the Sensuality of Products by Krishna, Aradhna

SPIN Selling by Neil Rackham

The Business of Belief: How the World's Best Marketers, Designers, Salespeople, Coaches, Fundraisers, Educators, Entrepreneurs and Other Leaders Get Us to Believe by Asacker, Tom

The Challenger Sale: Taking Control of the Customer Conversation by Dixon, Matthew

The Effortless Experience: Conquering the New Battleground for Customer Loyalty by Dixon, 

Matthew

The Essence of Value: Secrets of Desired Products. 80 Inspiring Strategies for Creative Companies by Pricken, Mario

The Wallet Allocation Rule: Winning the Battle for Share by Keiningham, Timothy L.

Wired to Care: How Companies Prosper When They Create Widespread Empathy by Patnaik, Dev

Startups and entrepreneurship

Top picks:

The Messy Middle: Finding Your Way Through the Hardest and Most Crucial Part of Any Bold Venture by Belsky, Scott

Loonshots: How to Nurture the Crazy Ideas That Win Wars, Cure Diseases, and Transform Industries by Bahcall, Safi

Founders at Work: Stories of Startups' Early Days by Livingston, Jessica

— 

Effectuation: Elements of Entrepreneurial Expertise by Sarasvathy, Saras D.

Innovation and Entrepreneurship by Drucker, Peter F.

European Founders at Work by Santos, Pedro Gairifo

The Startup Owner's Manual: The Step-By-Step Guide for Building a Great Company by Blank, Steve

The Lean Startup by Ries, Eric

Strategy

Top picks:

Good Strategy Bad Strategy: The Difference and Why It Matters by Rumelt, Richard P.

Strategy by Hart, B.H. Liddell

Strategy Safari by Mintzberg, Henry

The Art of War by Sun Tzu

— 

A Book of Five Rings: The Classic Guide to Strategy by Miyamoto Musashi

Competitive Advantage: Creating and Sustaining Superior Performance by Porter, Michael E.

Competitive Strategy: Techniques for Analyzing Industries and Competitors by Porter, Michael E.

Customer Moat: How Loyalty Drives Profit by Sung, Eddie

Jane Austen, Game Theorist by Chwe, Michael Suk-Young

Playing to Win: How Strategy Really Works by A.G.Lafley and Roger Martin

The Business Model Navigator: 55 Models That Will Revolutionise Your Business by Gassmann, Oliver

The Five Most Important Questions You Will Ever Ask About Your Organization by Drucker, Peter F.

Uncommon Sense, Common Nonsense: Why some organisations consistently outperform others by Goddard, Jules

Winners Take All - The 9 Fundamental Rules of High Tech Strategy by Seba, Tony

System dynamics and complexity

Top picks:

Thinking In Systems: A Primer by Meadows, Donella H.

Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder by Taleb, Nassim Nicholas

Complexity and the Economy by Arthur, W. Brian

—

Complexity: A Guided Tour by Mitchell, Melanie

Goldratt and the Theory of Constraints: The Quantum Leap in Management by Techt, Uwe

Increasing Returns and Path Dependence in the Economy by Arthur, W. Brian

Living With Complexity by Norman, Donald A.

Panarchy: Understanding Transformations in Human and Natural Systems by Gunderson, L.H.

Seeing the Forest for the Trees: A Manager's Guide to Applying Systems Thinking by Sherwood, Dennis

The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement by Goldratt, Eliyahu M.

The Overview Effect: Space Exploration and Human Evolution by White, Frank

UX/UI and service design

Top picks:

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

by Ken Kocienda*

Designing Visual Interfaces: Communication Oriented Techniques by Mullet, Kevin E.

Engineering Psychology and Human Performance by Wickens, Christopher D.

Primer of Visual Literacy by Dondis, Donis A.

Designing the Obvious: A Common Sense Approach to Web Application Design by Hoekman Jr, Robert

Bringing Design to Software by Winograd, Terry

Defensive Design for the Web: How to Improve Error Messages, Help, Forms, and Other Crisis Points by Linderman, Matthew

— 

About Face 3: The Essentials of Interaction Design by Cooper, Alan

Buyer Personas: How to Gain Insight into your Customer's Expectations, Align your Marketing Strategies, and Win More Business by Revella, Adele *

Designing Interactions by Moggridge, Bill

Designing for Interaction: Creating Smart Applications and Clever Devices by Saffer, Dan

Designing for the Digital Age: How to Create Human-Centered Products and Services by Goodwin, Kim

Designing the Moment: Web Interface Design Concepts in Action by Hoekman Jr, Robert

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

Getting Real: The Smarter, Faster, Easier Way to Build a Web Application by Fried, Jason

HCI Remixed: Essays on Works That Have Influenced the HCI Community by Erickson, Thomas

Homepage Usability: 50 Websites Deconstructed by Nielsen, Jakob

Implementing Responsive Design: Building Sites for an Anywhere, Everywhere Web by Kadlec, Tim

Information Architecture for the World Wide Web: Designing Large-Scale Web Sites by Morville, Peter

Information Dashboard Design: The Effective Visual Communication of Data by Few, Stephen

Interaction Design: Beyond Human-Computer Interaction by Preece, Jenny

Landing Page Optimization: The Definitive Guide to Testing and Tuning for Conversions by Ash, Tim

Mental Models: Aligning Design Strategy with Human Behavior by Young, Indi

Sketching User Experiences: Getting the Design Right and the Right Design by Buxton, Bill

The Elements of User Experience: User-Centered Design for the Web by Garrett, Jesse James

The Essential Persona Lifecycle: Your Guide to Building and Using Personas by Adlin, Tamara

The Information Design Handbook by O'Grady, Jenn Visocky

The User Is Always Right: A Practical Guide to Creating and Using Personas for the Web by Mulder, Steve

This Is Service Design Doing: Applying Service Design Thinking in the Real World by Marc Stickdorn

This is Service Design Thinking: Basics – Tools – Cases by Stickdorn, Marc

Visual Grammar: A Design Handbook by Christian Leborg

Web Design for ROI: Turning Browsers into Buyers & Prospects into Leads by Loveday, Lance

Web ReDesign 2.0: Workflow that Works by Cotler, Emily

Writing and presentation skills

Top picks:

The Writer's Diet: A Guide to Fit Prose by Sword, Helen

The Elements of Eloquence: Secrets of the Perfect Turn of Phrase by Forsyth, Mark *

The Pyramid Principle: Logic in Writing and Thinking by Minto, Barbara

On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by King, Stephen

Envisioning Information by Tufte, Edward R.

— 

Fucking Good Content by Kelsall, Dan

Presentation Zen: Simple Ideas on Presentation Design and Delivery by Reynolds, Garr

Shoptalk: Learning to Write with Writers by Murray, Donald M.

Speak Like Churchill, Stand Like Lincoln: 21 Powerful Secrets of History's Greatest Speakers by Humes, James C.

Talk Like TED: The 9 Public-Speaking Secrets of the World's Top Minds by Gallo, Carmine

The Anatomy of Story: 22 Steps to Becoming a Master Storyteller by Truby, John

The Elements of Style by Strunk Jr., William

The Visual Display of Quantitative Information, 2nd Ed. by Tufte, Edward R.

What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Murakami, Haruki

Words Like Loaded Pistols: Rhetoric from Aristotle to Obama by Leith, Sam

Words That Work: It's Not What You Say, It's What People Hear by Luntz, Frank

Wired for Story: The Writer's Guide to Using Brain Science to Hook Readers from the Very First Sentence by Cron, Lisa *

Write to the Point: A Master Class on the Fundamentals of Writing for Any Purpose by Leith, Sam