Here’s a list of some of the most influential books for me over the last few years – I’ve written a little bit about each book but feel free to ask me about them if you want more details. I read them in pretty much this order (although not back-to-back) which was useful for me in my journey.
Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes are High
Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan, Al Switzler, Stephen R. Covey
Good look at how the mind works in stress situations and how to lower the stress barrier to encourage good communication
The Inmates Are Running the Asylum: Why High Tech Products Drive Us Crazy and How to Restore the Sanity (2nd Edition)
Alan Cooper
Plenty of flaws in the text but the basic premise about how interacting with technology makes people feel is pretty interesting
The God Instinct: The Psychology of Souls, Destiny and the Meaning of Life
Jesse Bering
An exploration of the way our brains evolved – looking at the current Psych literature to understand why we think the way we do. I found this book a very interesting – basically a manual for the human brain. It helped me understand the way my mind works and to question some assumptions about others.
Community: The Structure of Belonging: Restoring the Possible
Peter Block
An look at how communities could work and what people are looking for in their communities. It’s a little dry and takes some wading through but an interesting insight nonetheless.
The 7 Laws of Magical Thinking: How Irrationality Makes us Happy, Healthy, and Sane
Matthew Hutson
Similar to Thinking Fast and Slow – explores cognitive biases in the way our brains work and why they have evolved with these biases.
Consumerology: The Market Research Myth, the Truth about Consumers and the Psychology of Shopping
Philip Graves
If you want to understand how people behave in commercial spaces then this book is great – it gives a real insight into why products that test well fail from the perspective of how our brains work and how we respond to stimulus.
The Joy of Sin
Simon Laham
A cheeky inclusion – this is a quick tour of the “7 deadly sins” and why some of them are not so deadly – in fact some might be necessary for our success as a species.
Being Wrong: Adventures in the Margin of Error: The Meaning of Error in an Age of Certainty
Kathryn Schultz
This is great read – I found it incredibly challenging. Really made me think about the way I respond to situations.
How Many Friends Does One Person Need?: Dunbar’s Number and Other Evolutionary Quirks
Robin Dunbar
Lighter than some of the others on this list – it’s a more concise overview of concepts that are covered in more depth in other books on this list.
Everything is Obvious
Duncan J. Watts
Again an interesting and challenging read – really made me think about the assumptions I make, what is obvious to some might not be to others.
The Epigenetics Revolution: How Modern Biology is Rewriting our Understanding of Genetics, Disease and Inheritance
Nessa Carey
This is pretty technical but after reading about how our thought patterns evolved I was keen to learn more about how the brain is formed. This is an interesting read and helps to understand why there is so much variety in humans. Be prepared to learn about proteins and the way they function in our bodies, how cells are formed and replicated etc.
Pieces of Light: The new science of memory
Charles Fernyhough
A truly fascinating book about how we remember (or not!). This challenged my understanding of how we define right and wrong and the culpability of human action.
Social: Why our brains are wired to connect
Matthew D. Lieberman
Not as detailed maybe as some of the others on the list but rounds off some of the missing pieces left by others.
Running with the Pack: Thoughts From the Road on Meaning and Mortality
Mark Rowlands
Way more philosophical that the other books on the list. Having explored the science of the mind it was interesting to read something on the practical application of this.
Brett's babble 
Leave a comment