Books

Fiction, non-fiction, and, of course, design

American Kingpin

American Kingpin is the story of Ross Ulbricht (opens in new tab) and his dark web empire, the Silk Road (opens in new tab). It’s enthralling and I was delighted to learn that San Francisco plays an important role.

Amazon

Apple: The First 50 Years

David Pogue (opens in new tab) does a masterful job summarizing decades of Apple products and leadership. My only warning is the last quarter feels rushed without providing the "why" behind decisions and launches.

Amazon

Atlas Obscura

Atlas Obscura is a giant list of unique things to see when you travel. Every time my wife and I plan a trip we check the book for recommendations.

Amazon

Bad Blood

Bad Blood is the shocking story of Elizabeth Holmes’ (opens in new tab) company, Theranos (opens in new tab). In addition to the book I recommend listening to the podcast (opens in new tab) and Hulu series (opens in new tab).

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Billion Dollar Whale

Billion Dollar Whale is the wild story of Jho Low (opens in new tab) and his international fraud empire.

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Command and Control

Command and Control oscillates between the terrifying history of atomic weapons, and the 1980 Damascus Titan missile accident (opens in new tab).

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Creative Selection

Creative Selection is Ken Kocienda (opens in new tab)’s story of the original iPhone’s design and development process with a focus on a feature we constantly use but not necessarily think about: the keyboard.

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Designing Design

Designing Design is the perfect design book. Kenya Hara (opens in new tab)’s body of work will teach you to approach design projects with a sense of creativity, delight, and impact.

Amazon

Designed by Apple in California

Designed by Apple in California is simply a collection of beautiful photos of Apple products and their curves, lines, edges, and corners. I recommend acquiring the 13" × 16.25" version of course. Sadly the book is no longer for sale.

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Ender’s Game

Ender’s Game taught me that reading can be fun. This is my favorite science fiction book about children training to save the world against an alien invasion.

Amazon

Ender’s Shadow

Ender’s Shadow is the same story as Ender’s Game but told from a different character’s perspective. I think the Bean series is better than the Ender series.

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Foundation

Asimov’s Foundation series is about Hari Seldon moving scientists and scholars to a distant planet in order to minimize the empire’s downfall.

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Grid Systems in Graphic Design

Josef Müller-Brockmann’s demonstrations of grids and their rules will inspire you apply grids to everything.

Amazon

Helvetica and the New York City Subway System

Helvetica and the New York City Subway System is a thorough history of signs, plaques, arrows, tiles, and type. If you use New York’s subway system you will notice many subtle details.

Amazon

How to use graphic design to sell things, explain things, make things look better, make people laugh, make people cry, and (every once in a while) change the world

Michael Bierut’s body of work is inspiring, and in How to he writes about his origins and projects.

Amazon

iWoz

In iWoz Steve Wozniak (opens in new tab), the co-founder of Apple, tells amazing stories about his childhood and… Apple.

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Kitchen Confidential

Anthony Bourdain (opens in new tab) literally changed my life. I was awake at 2:00am in Barcelona reading Kitchen Confidential, and in one paragraph Bourdain insists the human body should be treated like a rollercoaster instead of a temple. In that moment I decided to eat pork. My wife will forever be happy.

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Losing the Signal

Losing the Signal describes the history of BlackBerry Limited (opens in new tab) (Research in Motion), and how they responded to the iPhone (opens in new tab).

Amazon

Midnight in Chernobyl

Midnight in Chernobyl is a detailed account of the Chernobyl nuclear accident (opens in new tab). I also recommend watching the HBO series (opens in new tab), and listening to the accompanying podcast (opens in new tab).

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Photographers on Photography: How the Masters See, Think, and Shoot

Photographers on Photography is a collection of photographers’ processes and how they think about… photography.

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Project Hail Mary

Project Hail Mary is the third (and in my opinion best) book from Andy Weir. Ryland Grace is humanity’s only hope, and he’s a badass nerd.

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Seveneves

Neal Stephenson’s Seveneves explores a sudden destruction of the moon and how humanity can survive. It’s just the right amount of science to keep me excited without feeling confused or overwhelmed.

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Steve Jobs

Walter Isaacson’s Steve Jobs has its flaws, but it’s still the best book about Jobs. Note: I’ve read several.

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Steve Jobs in Exile

Steve Jobs in Exile is thorough retelling of NeXT (opens in new tab), the company Steve Jobs founded after leaving Apple. I loved learning about the Cube (opens in new tab), NeXTSTEP (opens in new tab), and the plethora of mistakes made.

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Understanding Exposure: How to Shoot Great Photographs with Any Camera

Bryan Peterson (opens in new tab) writes about how he approaches taking a photo with a focus on exposure.

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What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions

Randall Munroe (opens in new tab), the genius behind the webcomic XKCD (opens in new tab), breaks down crazy scenarios like what would happen if a pitcher threw a baseball at the speed of light.

Amazon

The Vignelli Canon

The Vignelli Canon is a journey through the work of Lella (opens in new tab) and Massimo (opens in new tab) Vignelli who made significant contributions to the design industry through corporate branding, graphic design, kitchenware, fashion, and more. I recommend watching Design Is One: The Vignellis (opens in new tab) to learn more about this epic duo.

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Within the Frame

David Duchemin (opens in new tab) writes about telling stories with a camera. I believe telling stories is what separates an amateur from a professional photographer.

Amazon

Yearbook

Yearbook is a collection of stories from Seth Rogen’s life. His combination of Judaism, adolescence, and shenanigans brought me to tears laughing multiple times.

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