Seth Godin recommended the following books in the year 2012
Zen Habits by Leo Babauta
"Leo's productivity insights are scary in their simplicity and effectiveness." Read more
Category: Entrepreneurship
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V Is For Vulnerable by Seth Godin
"A short, illustrated, kids-like book that takes the last chapter of Icarus and turns it into something worth sharing." Read more
Category: Creativity
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Valve Company Handbook by Valve
"The post-industrial method of management" Read more
Category: Culture
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We Can All Do Better by Bill Bradley
"The title, of course, means two very different things." Read more
Category: Non-Fiction
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Whatcha Gonna Do With That Duck? by Seth Godin
"The sequel to Small is the New Big. More than 600 pages of the best of Seth's blog." Read more
Category: Marketing
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Too Big to Know by David Weinberger
"A breathtaking review of what it means to be in a world that's powered by connection." Read more
Category: Non-Fiction
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The Rise of the Creative Class by Richard Florida
"Richard has been in the forefront of doing scholarly work on how the workers who do own the means of production are changing our economy. Their decisionsÑfrom where they live to what they doÑchange the art created in our system and thus our lives as well." Read more
Category: Creativity
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The Thrill of the Grill by Christopher Schlesinger
"I learned more about cooking from Chris and this book than just about any other cookbook. (Salt! Pepper! Hey, it matters).Every time a backyard chef closes the top of his grill while cooking, a sous chef in heaven loses his wings. Just don't, please." Read more
Category: Non-Fiction
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The Trap by Daniel Brook
"A stunning indictment, very well researched, that shows how badly commodity workers are being hammered. If you're average, you're toast." Read more
Category: Fiction
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The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith
"There may be a reason to read this entire book, but if there is, it eludes me. The Cliffs Notes are sufficient." Read more
Category: Economics
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The Managed Heart by Arlie Russell Hochschild
"Hochschild was given significant access to stewardesses working at Delta Airlines in the 1960s. She chronicles the deadening pain they felt as they were forced to bring cheerfulness and emotion to work each day. I fundamentally disagree with her conclusion (that doing emotional labor is painful, not a privilege), but her work was considered a breakthrough at the time." Read more
Category: Social
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The Mythical Man-Month by Fred Brooks
"Simple, useful analysis of a very complex topic, a new one for our age." Read more
Category: Leadership
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The On-Purpose Person by Kevin W. McCarthy
"worth way more than it costs" Read more
Category: Purpose
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The Power Elite by C. Wright Mills
"The first book to dive deep into the privileged class of American corporations and politics (largely the same group). Mills makes an overwhelming case that there was a caste system running our country, our schools, and our corporations. The vestiges still remain, but it's changing, in some places faster than others." Read more
Category: Social
Buy on AmazonThe Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism by Max Weber
"Largely misunderstood, hard to read, and in some ways incorrect, it is still considered a giant achievement in sociology. Weber tries to understand the relationship between religious and commercial values, particularly as they led to the success of the United States." Read more
Category: Economics
Buy on AmazonThe Gift by Marcel Mauss
"Considered by many to be the breakthrough book on the economy of gifts. It's not a fun read, but stuff like this rarely is." Read more
Category: Non-Fiction
Buy on AmazonThe Icarus Deception by Seth Godin
"Seth's most personal book, a look at the end of the industrial economy and what happens next." Read more
Category: Purpose
Buy on AmazonThe Liminal People by Ayize Jama-Everett
"Fast-moving science fiction, reminding me a little of a good Twilight Zone episode. A little bogged down in parts, but worth the ride." Read more
Category: Fiction
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The Lonely Crowd by David Riesman
"This is the best-selling sociology book ever, apparently. The key argument is that Òfitting inÓ to a large group is a relatively new phenomenon, and it has changed the way human beings interact." Read more
Category: Psychology
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The Big Sort by Bill Bishop
"Bill's key argument is that people choose to move to neighborhoods that vote and think the way they do. This is a logical outgrowth of the theories in The Lonely Crowd." Read more
Category: Social
Buy on AmazonThe Black Swan by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
"Taleb makes a compelling case that the predictable events that everyone knew were going to change everything are not predictable at all." Read more
Category: Non-Fiction
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The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx
"This book isn't about what you think it's about. And it's certainly not about the USSR. The key argument here is that small experiments in communism don't work, because they are corrupted by the temptation to defect and engage in trade with neighbors that exploit their workers (so you can benefit). Only worldwide revolution and grabbed power by farmers and factory workers can upend the unfair bargain that kings and capitalists have put in place. At one profound level they are right: as long as the workers don't own the means of production, the exchange will be inherently unfair. A lot of what they pessimistically predicted has occurred to the workers at the bottom of the ladder." Read more
Category: Non-Fiction
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The American Myth of Success by Richard Weiss
"The evolution of our culture as seen through self-improvment books. Weiss starts around the Civil War and goes up to the 1950s. What we read reflected who we were and where we were going." Read more
Category: Non-Fiction
Buy on AmazonSchooling in Capitalist America by Samuel Bowles
"Thirty years old and loaded with accurate predictions about the future (and facts about our past)." Read more
Category: Economics
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Standing on the Sun by Christopher Meyer
"The power of the world economy to impact just about everything." Read more
Category: Non-Fiction
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Steal Like An Artist by Austin Kleon
"Breezy and fun and yes, scary. Scary because it calls your bluff." Read more
Category: Creativity
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Stone Age Economics by Marshall Salins
"Despite the clever title, this is actually a book about how primitive cultures worked. One key takeaway is that hunter-gatherers were the idle rich. They worked about three hours a day and spent the rest of the day lolling about." Read more
Category: Non-Fiction
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The $100 Startup by Chris Guillebeau
"If you liked the Bootstrapper's Bible, this one is a keeper.
Category: Entrepreneurship
Side note: in the world of search boxes, Chris' last name is a serious impediment to user adoption. Hard to spell, hard to find, worth it." Read more
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The Accountability Effect by Bassam Tarazi
"Worth way more than it costs" Read more
Category: Purpose
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Peace Is Every Step by Thich Nhat Hanh
"This is not a book about religion. It's about seeing things as they are and finding things interesting instead of threatening. In world without saber-tooth tigers, this turns out to be a productive approach." Read more
Category: Spirituality
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Platform by Michael Hyatt
"Michael Hyatt lives what he writes. He shares all his insights on expanding your platform." Read more
Category: Marketing
Buy on AmazonRepublic, Lost by Lawrence Lessig
"Can we insist that every politician read this and be quizzed on it?" Read more
Category: Non-Fiction
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Rocket Surgery Made Easy by Steve Krug
"The fast, easy and simple way to solve 95% of all broken problems." Read more
Category: Innovation
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Learning to Labor by Paul Willis
"Ethnographic research from the 1970s that makes and proves a startling thesis: the very structure of school ends up establishing the Òus and themÓ mentality that alienates most students from authority and sets them up to be unhappy wage slaves instead of productive leaders." Read more
Category: Psychology
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Life Inc. by Douglas Rushkoff
"Doug is at the cutting edge of recognizing the collision between corporate values and human values. Most of this book is fairly pessimistic, and it argues that money has pushed people apart from each other. Harking back to The Gift, his point is that barter and community exchange do more than create commerce." Read more
Category: Purpose
Buy on AmazonMad Like Tesla by Tyler Hamilton
"From the spellbinding introduction, this one had me." Read more
Category: Social
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Man on Wire by Philippe Petit
"Petit is an artist, someone living an adventure through his actions. His life is a gift to us, and this book, as much as the movie, will encourage and provoke you." Read more
Category: Non-Fiction
Buy on AmazonLeadership on the Line by Martin Linsky
"Scary good. And just plain scary. Worth your time." Read more
Category: Leadership
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Iconoclast by Gregory Berns
"Berns covers some of the same territory I do, but from a biological point of view. His take is that perception, fear, and networking are the three underlying neurological factors that lead some people to be original thinkers. It was vindicating to read his book just as I finished mine, because his scientific data completely confirms the three pillars that I describe herein." Read more
Category: Psychology
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Joel on Software by Joel Spolsky
"Joel is the best writer on managing brilliant people that I know of. Hands down." Read more
Category: Leadership
Buy on AmazonEnd This Depression Now! by Paul Krugman
"When a Nobel-prize winner delivers a carefully thought out manifesto for change, it's not a screed, it's something to which attention must be paid.You don't have to agree, but you do have to admire his understanding of history and his passion for making things right. Must reading." Read more
Category: Economics
Buy on AmazonEver Since Darwin by Stephen Jay Gould
"There are so many wonderful books about evolution, it's difficult to pick one. I picked this one because of the quote I grabbed, but I could have easily picked books by Dan Dennett and Matt Ridley." Read more
Category: Non-Fiction
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Freedom is Blogging In Your Underwear by Hugh MacLeod
"Classic Hugh! And that's saying a lot. Another book that's fast and easy to read but will stick with you." Read more
Category: Purpose
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From the American System to Mass Production by Daivd Hounshell
"This is a powerful book, an extraordinary insight into the change from handmade to factory, from skilled craftsmen to cogs in a system. This really happened, and it happened to our great grandparents. The shifts were mammothÑin one two year period, productivity at a Ford plant went up by more than five times." Read more
Category: Economics
Buy on AmazonGetting Things Done by David Allen
"On Overcoming Resistance and Getting Creative" Read more
Category: Entrepreneurship
Buy on AmazonGrouped by Paul Adams
"I don't think the aggressive marketing of Google + is Paul's fault (he's now at Facebook) and this is a must read for anyone who cares about the future of social networks." Read more
Category: Marketing
Buy on AmazonHigh-Tech, High-Touch Customer Service by Micah Solomon
"It's hard to imagine an organization with front line employees that won't benefit from the ideas in this book." Read more
Category: Marketing
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Honest Signals by Andy Pentland
"Pentland is a professor at MIT, and this is ostensibly a book about some amazing technology he's putting together that quietly measures the interactions people have all day when they're not remembering that the system is watching. What it's actually about, though, is the incredible power of nonverbal communication and tribal hierarchies in the way we interact." Read more
Category: Psychology
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Don’t Bite the Hook by Pema Chodron
"Pema, a Buddhist nun who converted later in life from American roots, is my favorite teacher. She is able to simply and clearly connect with listeners and readers about a few powerful insights. In this book she talks about shenpa, the cycle of anxiety we buy into whenever confronted with a stressful situation." Read more
Category: Spirituality
Buy on AmazonA Whack on the Side of the Head by Roger Van Oeck
"On Overcoming Resistance and Getting Creative" Read more
Category: Creativity
Buy on AmazonAbundance by Peter H. Diamandis
"Peter brings an open heart and exhaustive research to this almost-academic book that's a direct answer to the cassandras that would end it all right now..." Read more
Category: Social
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Art is Work by Milton Glaser
"Milton Glaser does the work. Loudly and with pride and generosity, he has long led the way in thinking about the work and why it matters. This is mostly a portfolio, but the writing here will make you think." Read more
Category: Creativity
Buy on AmazonAwakening the Buddha Within by Lama Surya Das
"There are countless books for Westerners in search of the simple insights of Buddhism. This book is quite detailed and serious." Read more
Category: Spirituality
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