Occasionally I am asked about the most important books of my life, and being an English major in college, I am happy to oblige. Often my choices are more driven by creativity and fiction rather than business, with a few strong exceptions. Here are my top business-related books.

• The Art of Project Management (Theory in Practice (O’Reilly) – Berkun
• Critical Path – Fuller
• Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity – Allen
• Getting Real – Fried
•  The 5 Dysfunctions of a Team – Lincioni
• The Cluetrain Manifesto: 10th Anniversary Edition – multiple authors

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And of course, no listing would be complete without my favorite authors and my choice at their grand stroke of genius.

Non-business Books

• The Razor’s Edge (Vintage International) – Maugham
• Siddhartha – Hesse
• The Dharma Bums – Kerouac
• A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man – Joyce
• Tropic of Cancer (Paperback) – Henry Miller
• The Diary of Anais Nin Volume 1 1931-1934: Vol. 1 (1931-1934) – Anais Nin
• The Grapes of Wrath – Steinbeck
• Sons and Lovers (Collins Classics) – DH Lawrence
• Dune – Frank Herbert
• Stranger in a Strange Land – Heinlein
• The Complete Poems (Penguin Classics) – Whitman
• Stranger in a Strange Land – Heinlein
• Shataram – Gregory David Roberts

On Craft and Creativity

• Write Time: Guide to the Creative Process, from Vision through Revision-and Beyond – Atchity
• Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within, 2nd Edition – Goldberg
• The Artist’s Way – Cameron
• Orbiting the Giant Hairball: A Corporate Fool’s Guide to Surviving with Grace – MacKenzie

So crack out your Kindle or hit Half-Priced Books and get a handle on your reading list for the growth and support of your amazing L³M (large living language model). And remember, all work and no creativity make for a dull reading list. Check out my deeper thoughts about Feeding and Training Mind.

John McElhenney — let’s connect online
@jmacofearth & LinkedIn

Please check out a few of my books on AMAZON.