90+ Creative Reading Recommendations for Entrepreneurs
Jun 13, 2021
I think it’s really important to find ways to continue to evolve. I notice that when I’m no longer challenged or inspired, I feel stagnant, and it affects my personal life, my family life, and my work/business. For me, finding new ways to challenge or inspire myself is as simple as opening a book!
I prioritize reading pretty highly in my schedule. It’s a special time to enrich myself, and I really enjoy that regular deposit into my personal development bank. Over the years, as I dive more and more into the world of creative entrepreneurship, I’ve cultivated a list of favorites and must-reads that stems from personal finds, recommendations from peers and mentors, and Goodreads suggestions.
Beyond simply reading to fill your time and minds, I believe it’s important to enjoy a variety of materials. You can’t find balance by adding more and more to one facet of your knowledge — becoming an expert in one niche is not of interest or value to me.
My creative reading recommendations are listed below, organized by category for your convenience! I hope you find a new favorite among these suggestions. Leave me a comment at the bottom of this post if you’ve read any of these or have any more to add to my list!
ORGANIZATION
Organizing for Your Brain Type by Lana Hakone
FINANCIAL
The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey
CONSUMERISM
Cheap: The High Cost of Discount Culture by Ellen Ruppel Shell
Born to Buy: The Commercialized Child and the New Consumer Culture by Juliet B. Shor
The WalMart Effect: How the World's Most Powerful Company Really Works and How It's Transforming the American Economy by Charles Fishman
The Culture Code: An Ingenious Way to Understand Why People Around the World Live and Buy as They Do by Clotaire Rapaille
Going Local: Creating Self-Reliant Communities in a Global Age by Michael Shuman
THE HUMAN EXPERIENCE
Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy By Eric Mataxas
Michelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling by Ross King
Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood by Marjan Satrapi
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz
The Glass Castle: A Memoir by Jeanette Wells
My Name is Asher Lev by Chaim Potok
The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary by Simon Winchester
Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl
The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down by Addie Fadiman
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert M. Pirsig
The Servant: A Simple Story About the True Essence of Leadership by James Hunter
Feeding the Rat: A Climber's Life on the Edge by A. Alvarez
Into the Wild by John Krakaur
Hitchcock and Bradbury Fistfight in Heaven by Dave Eggers
Gifted Hands by Ben Carson
HEALTH
Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All American Meal by Eric Schlosser
The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals by Michael Pollan
Sugar Blues by William Dufty
Wheat Belly by William Davis
RELIGION
The LDS Gospel of Light by N. Eldon Tanner
Walking on Water: Reflections on Faith and Art by Madeline L'Engle
The Book of Mormon by Mormon/Moroni
Yearning for the Living God by Enziano Busche
The Screwtape Letters by C. S. Lewis
Dhammapada: Essential Teachings of Shakyamuni Buddha by Dge-dun-chos-phel
The God Who Weeps by Terryl and Fiona Givens
The Crucible of Doubt by Terryl and Fiona Givens
The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch
SUSTAINABILITY
The Hannover Principles: Design for Sustainability by William McDonough
The Unsettling of America: Culture and Agriculture by Wendell Berry
Requiem For a Species: Why We Resist the Truth About Climate Change by Clive Hamilton
The Ecology of Commerce: A Declaration of Sustainability by Paul Hawken
Natural Capitalism: Creating the Next Industrial Revolution by Hunter Lovins, Amory Lovins, Paul Hawken
Silent Spring by Rachel Carson
Recycled Papers: The Essential Guide by Claudia Thompson
American Canopy by Eric Rutkow
Design For the Real World: Human Ecology and Social Change by Viktor Papanek
Slow Death by Rubber Duck: The Secret Danger of Everyday Things by Rick Smith and Bruce Lourie
Cradle to Cradle by Michael Braungart and William McDonough
CREATIVITY
Steal Like an Artist by Austin Kleon
The Substance of Style: How the Rise of Aesthetic Value is Remaking Commerce, Culture, andConsciousness by Virginia Postrel
The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It for Life by Twyla Tharp
A Whole New Mind: Why Right Brainers Will Rule the Future by Daniel S. Pink
Lovemarks: The Future Beyond Brands by Kevin Roberts
No Logo by Naomi Klein
A Technique for Producing Ideas by James Webb Young
Design Studies: Theory and Research in Graphic Design by Audrey Bennett
Spark: How Creativity Works by Audrey Bennett
Seeing What Others Don’t: The Remarkable Ways We Gain Insights by Gary Klein and Christopher Lane
Neil Gaiman's "Make Good Art" Speech by Neil Gaiman
Art as Experience by John Dewey
Where Good Ideas Come From by Steven Johnson
Lateral Thinking by Edward de Bono
The Genius Machine by Gerald Sindell
Design and Truth by Robert Grudin
Visual Thinking by Rudolf Arnheim
Imagine by Jonah Lehrer
Asymmetric Typography by Jan Tschichold
Never Use White Type on a Black Background: And 50 Other Ridiculous Design Rules by Anneloes van Gaalen
Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell
Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die by Chip Heath and Dan Heath
Script and Scribble: The Rise and Fall of Handwriting by Kitty Burns Florey
ADVERTISING
Hey Whipple, Squeeze This: A Guide to Creating Great Advertising by Luke Sullivan
Truth, Lies, and Advertising: The Art of Account Planning by Jon Steel
Permission Marketing: Turning Strangers Into Friends and Friends Into Customers by Seth Godin
Ogilvy on Advertising by David Ogilvy
Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind by Al Ries
HISTORY
Liberal Facism: The Secret History of the American Left, From Mussolini to the Politics of Meaning by Jonah Goldberg
A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson
The Story of Ancient History
The World is Flat by Thomas L. Friedman
Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin
UNDERSTANDING MAN
How To Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference by Malcolm Gladwell
Win: The Key Principles to Take Your Business from Ordinary to Extraordinary by Frank I. Luntz
How To Hug a Porcupine: Dealing with Toxic and Difficult-to-love Personalities by John L. Lund
You Are What You Speak: Grammar Grouches, Language Laws, and the Politics of Identity by Robert Lane Greene
The Anatomy of Peace: Resolving the Heart of Conflict by Arbinger Institute
Mind Wide Open: Your Brain and the Neuroscience of Everyday Life by Stephen Johnson and Steven Johnson
Hug Your People by Jack Mitchell
Wild by Cheryl Strandberg
SOCIAL ISSUES
Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn
Life is a Miracle: An Essay Against Modern Superstition by Wendell Berry
Distracted: The Erosion of Attention and the Coming Dark Age by Maggie Jackson
Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us by Seth Godin
The Harmless People by Elizabeth Marshall Thoma