Collapse How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed by Jared Diamond Another masterpiece by Jared Diamond. I very much enjoyed Guns Germs & Steel, but Collapse is simply breathtaking. While GGS is arguably broader, grappling with a wider range of difficult issues, collapse is a much easier read for the lay-person, and I found it [...]

Fab The Coming Revolution on Your Desktop-from Personal Computers to Personal Fabrication by Neil Gershenfeld A really interesting perspective on the rapid prototyping machines we take for granted so easily as designers. I know that I, for one, have gotten too used to the power of the tools at my fingertips every day at work. [...]

Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies, New Edition by Jared Diamond Truly, it’s absolutely fascinating, and the most thorough case I’ve yet seen for the preeminence of environmental factors in determining the evolution of a given society. I’ll warn you: it’s not for the faint of heart (or the short of attention [...]

The best news source I know. Read it. Love it. Also available in podcast form each month. My wife and I read it religiously! http://www.economist.com/

Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything by Steven D. Levitt, Stephen J. Dubner Another fun read, similar in flavor to the Gladwell books, but with much more complete logic, and a much better understanding of the foundational logic behind claims made. Concise and enthralling, I definitely recommend this one!

The Design of Everyday Things by Donald A. Norman I recommend this book with a warning: The book is redundant and while Norman makes some very compelling points, his logic is often incomplete and/or flawed altogether. He’s a self-proclaimed pragmatist who sees little to no value in aesthetic whimsy. I do not agree with him [...]

The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference by Malcolm Gladwell Nice light “Junk” reading, full of fun and interesting anecdotes if nothing else. Gladwell has a tendency to jump to conclusions prematurely, and his logic is not always strictly correct. But the book is worth reading, if only for the fun [...]

Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things by William McDonough and Michael Braungart This book was a huge influence on my wife and I. We suddenly came to the realization that one can be practical, pragmatic, and even optimistic when thinking about and acting on our environmental future. A nice easy read, and [...]

The Effective Executive: The Definitive Guide to Getting the Right Things Done by Peter F. Drucker This book, read in parallel with Cradle to Cradle, literally changed the way I think about the world. A must-read for anyone who wishes to be effective in any capacity, not just “executives.” Read it!