My 2019 Reading List

“In a rapidly-changing complex world, the most important thing is your rate of learning.”

The above quote was the thesis of Jeff Davis, CEO of Molio, when we guest spoke during my MBA Marketing class. In the early days of YouTube, as the former CEO of Orabrush, his small tongue-brush company was one of the first to take advantage of viral online video as a medium and became one of the top brand-sponsored YouTube channels until being acquired by Proctor & Gamble.

As somebody working in the technology industry, his lesson resonated well with me. To simply keep up, let alone thrive, I need to constantly be learning. I believe my most important asset in this life is our own mind. From it flows our judgement, our creativity, our drive, and our values. Developing a habit of broad, continuous learning and a love of books is one of the best ways to prepare us for rapid change of the future.

I’ve ranked below all the books I read in 2019 from my favorite to least favorite of the year. Favorite, in this case, was a function of the resonance of the book’s message at the time I read it, how the principles have stuck with me, and how much they have shaped my own thinking or personal philosophy since reading it.

🔁 indicates books I re-read in 2019 and are some of my all-time favorites. The themes from this year’s list include user-experience design, decision-making psychology, personal finance, and developing a set of personal leadership principles.

I’m building my 2020 list now. What recommendations do you have?

1. Shoe Dog
   Phil Knight

2. Principles
   Ray Dalio

3. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People 🔁
   Stephen R. Covey

4. Radical Candor
   Kim Scott

5. The Making of a Manager
   Julie Zhuo

6. Atomic Habits
   James Clear

7. Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance 🔁
   Angela Duckworth

8. Lean UX 🔁
   Jeff Gothelf

9. Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead
   Sheryl Sandberg

10. Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World
    David Epstein

11. Essentialism
    Greg McKeown

12. How Will You Measure Your Life
    Clayton M. Christensen

13. Creativity Inc. 🔁
    Ed Catmull

14. It Doesn’t Have to Be Crazy at Work
    Jason Fried

15. Refactoring UI
    Adam Wathan & Steve Schoger

16. Playing with FIRE: How Far Would You Go for Financial Freedom?
    Scott Rieckens

17. Sprint
    Jake Knapp

18. Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking
    Susan Cain

19. Thinking Fast and Slow
    Daniel Kahneman

20. Nudge
    Richard H. Thaler

21. The Intelligent Investor
    Benjamin Graham

22. The Startup Way
    Eric Ries

23. Design Better eBook Series (DesignOps, Leadership, Design Systems)
    Invision

24. 80/20 Running
    Matt Fitzgerald

25. The Four Agreements
    Miguel Ruiz

26. Scrum
    Jeff Sutherland

27. Good to Great 🔁

    Jim Collins

28. Actionable Gamification: Beyond Points, Badges and Leaderboards
    Yu-kai Chou

29. Digital Minimalism
    Cal Newport

30. The One Minute Manager
    Ken Blanchard

31. Bad With Money
    Gabby Dunn

32. How to Win Friends & Influence People
    Dale Carnegie

33. The One Thing
    Gary Keller