Audiobooks – Design Reading List

Creativity, Inc. by Ed Catmull

June 12, 2016June 12, 2016

Part memoir, part management book, part history lesson, Creativity Inc is a somewhat meandering account of how Ed Catmull, the founder and President of Pixar turned a love for storytelling and a fascination with Disney into a career in computer science, became the leader one of the most notably creative and productive companies in the world, and eventually became the President of Disney Animation, where he helped the company he once idolized return to its former glory.

Attention Audiobooks Books Decision Making Psychology Reviews

Blink by Malcolm Gladwell

October 30, 2011October 30, 2011

Blink is a book about “thinking without thinking” but really, it’s about how the vast majority of thinking works. The insight in this book is especially useful when dealing with people who aren’t particularly well equipped to discuss their subconscious reactions to something relatively subjective…like design.

Attention Audiobooks Books Reviews

Linchpin by Seth Godin

October 11, 2011October 11, 2011

Linchpin is the book that pulls together a lot of threads that Seth Godin has laid out there in the past, in books like Purple Cow, Tribes, and The Dip. Linchpin tells you, in no uncertain terms, that these things aren’t about brands or leadership or challenges, but about love. Really, this book is a love letter to loving your work.

Audiobooks Books Branding Leadership Marketing Reviews

Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us by Seth Godin

August 28, 2011August 28, 2011

Estimate time to read this page: 3 – 5 minutes Editions Reviewed: Hardcover, Audiobook Recommendation: Read it. Then, like Seth […]

Audiobooks Books Branding Marketing Neuroscience Psychology Reviews

Buy-ology by Martin Lindstrom

July 31, 2011July 31, 2011

Buy-ology is summary of a series of fMRI (Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging) tests designed to test the effectiveness of modern marketing techniques, as well as some traditional marketing axioms. He also tackles some interesting topics like the similarities between brands and religion, subliminal advertising, and why scents may become the logos of the future.

Audiobooks Neuroscience Psychology Reviews

Proust was a Neuroscientist by Jonah Lehrer

July 26, 2011July 31, 2011

In Proust Was a Neuroscientist Jonah Lehrer spends ~250 pages setting up the argument that artists have incredibly valuable (but frequently unprovable, at least temporarily anyway) insight into human cognition. Then he blows it in the epilogue. It’s worth the read for the chapter on Cézanne alone.

Audiobooks Neuroscience Psychology Reviews

How We Decide by Jonah Lehrer

July 25, 2011July 31, 2011

Jonah Lehrer’s How We Decide is a dissection of the unconscious systems we use to make decisions. He takes us through the impossibly complex system of rewards that form our emotional decision making system and ultimately make us supremely efficient decision makers, even if it seems like we make bad decisions all the time. Awareness (I won’t say understanding) of these systems is incredibly enlightening for designers.