I love the knowllege in those kinds of books, I just hate it when I read a page and realize I didn’t understand anything and have to read it all over again! Journals really do that too me too… it’s amazing how deep people go on anything you can possibly imagine. Glad to read this post and hear of new books to put on my list
Travisimo: I think I had to re-read every page of The Craftsman. Nothing got through the first time.
Two books that really shaped how I think about projects:
Let’s Get Real or Let’s Not Play, by Mahan Khalsa (sp?). Excellent guide to client relationships. Anyone who works directly with clients should read this. He lays out a pretty solid framework for how to handle just about any client scenario you may face.
Managing the Professional Service Firm, by David Maister. If you work in consultancy, read it, even if you aren’t a manager.
And just for kicks:
anything by Haruki Murakami, though I highly recommend his Rat books, “A Wild Sheep Chase,” and “Dance, Dance, Dance.” The latter introduced the phrase “shoveling cultural snow” to my vocabulary.
Someone above mentioned “I Miss My Pencil.” I enjoyed reading that one - it’s nice to see a design book that captures and articulates the intellectual underpinnings of the work shown.
Sherlock Holmes, because he’s a badass. Also because I love House.
Also papers for my interaction design class.
going to get this next: I want to be this guy when I grow up!
http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/content/jan2007/id20070129_164109.htm
The guy who wrote that, Gordon Bruce, has done some amazing design management himself. Samsung brought him and another Art Center Professor to rebuild Samsung’s design dept from the ground up back in the 90s - now look at them
I think everyone should read this book. CMU now sends a copy to every incoming freshman (he was a professor here) and there’s a discussion during orientation about the book. You’re expected to read it before coming.
You should also watch the video lecture on YouTube. It’s the same topic, but very different from the book.
Definitely. And I’d watch the lecture AFTER you read the book, personally.