The best books I’ve read this year:
A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction
by Christopher Alexander, Sara Ishikawa, and Murray Silverstein
Long before software engineers embraced design patterns, they were an architectural concept. The authors describe 253 cascading, cross-referenced patterns (from “Independent Regions” to “Things From Your Life”) inspired by traditional architecture. These patterns span the scale from regional planning to interior decoration. Even if you’re searching for guidance on a specific area, it’s useful to at least skim the entire work.
A list of the patterns is available on patternlanguage.com, but access to the text is $5/month. Wikipedia has good articles on the book and pattern languages in general.
I recommend reading The Death and Life of Great American Cities first, on both its own merits and as in introduction to the birth to New Urbanism. Stewart Brand’s How Buildings Learn also focuses on livable structures and discusses the concept of shearing layers (site, structure, skin, services, space plan, and stuff).
Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness
by Richard H. Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein
While Daniel Kahneman won the Nobel Prize in Economics in 2002, it was 2006’s Freakonomics that brought behavioral economics to the masses. Since then, books like Predictably Irrational, Sway, and How We Decide have kept it on the bestseller lists. In Nudge, economist Thaler (who has collaborated with Kahneman) and lawyer Sunstein describe cognitive biases and the effects of choice architecture. They argue that Libertarian (or “soft”) paternalism promotes the public good (healthy food choice or retirement savings, for example) without infringing on individual rights. While this can be a slippery slope, it’s increasingly important for anyone working on a process or product. They have a frequently-updated blog.
Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die
The theory and practice of communicating ideas, with real-world examples. Read it, then print out the SUCCESs framework and hang it near your desk.
Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard
I’ll defer to Dr. Thiele’s review on this one.
Managing With Power: Politics and Influence in Organizations
Well-researched, with concrete examples from business and politics, this is not a feel-good self-actualization handbook. The principles and tips on gaining, maintaining, and wielding power are still relevant seventeen years after publication. Pfeffer’s newest book, Power: Why Some People Have It — And Others Don’t is on my list for 2011.
David D’Alessandro’s Career Warfare is an excellent follow-up.
Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void
by Mary Roach
Roach brings her inquisitive nature and breezy style to space travel. An excellent successor to Stiff, Spook, and Bonk. She appeared on The Daily Show to promote the book.
The Poisoner’s Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York
by Deborah Blum
The beginnings of forensic toxicology, focusing on Dr. Charles Norris, Manhattan’s first trained chief medical examiner, and Alexander Gettler, its first toxicologist. Particularly interesting is the chapter on the arms race between government chemists and bootleggers during Prohibition.
The Definitive Book of Body Language
by Allan and Barbara Pease
How to understand and use body language to your advantage, well-illustrated with contemporary photos. Worth it for the section on handshaking alone.