Welcome to my recommended reading list. My appetite for material on the art and science of creative expertise, behaviour and human performance has become almost obsessional in the last few years. As such, I have compiled a considerable research resource, and I'd like to share some of that with you.
Some of the recommended reading is academic, but I believe if you want to develop deep knowledge on a given topic, then you have no choice but to go to the source and immerse yourself in it. Many other books below are are less heavy.
Regardless, the material you'll find here has been an invaluable resource to me and I think it will be for you too. Get stuck in!
Affiliate Disclosure: In effort to be completely transparent, you should know that if you make a purchase from some of the links here, I may receive a small commission. You pay no more than normal, but it helps feed the kids, keep the lights on at home, and fund the work I do. Read the full affiliate disclosure.
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Society/Culture
Writing
Zen
Psychoanalysis
Business
Fiction
Biographies
The Fractalist
Benoit B. Mandelbrot, Memoir of a Scientific Maverick tells the life story of one of the greatest names in 20th Century science.
Surely You're Joking…
Surely You're Joking Mr Feynman: Adventures of a Curious Character as Told to Ralph Leighton. An account of the life of physicist Richard Feynman.
Critical Path
Critical Path is R. Buckminster Fuller's masterwork, a summing up of his lifetime of thought and concern for human existence.
Work
Working
People talk about what they do all day and how they feel about what they do. First published in 1973 by Studs Terkel looking at people at work.
Work, Happiness & Unhappiness
Award-winning psychologist Professor Peter Warr explores why some people at work are happier or unhappier than others.
Psychology at Work
This new collection of essays aims to illustrate both the empirical and practical richness of the field as well as its theoretical development.
Creativity
Flow: The Psychology of Happiness
Flow is the classic work on happiness that examines timeless issues as the challenge of lifelong learning and optimal use of free time and how to make lives meaningful.
Creativity: The Psychology of Discovery & Invention
Drawing on nearly one hundred interviews over thirty years of research on the subject, Csikszentmihalyi uses his famous flow theory to explore the creative process.
The Evolving Self
In The Evolving Self, Csikszentmihalyi demonstrates how we can understand and overcome our evolutionary shortcomings and build a stable, meaningful future.