I came to the realization that I've actually become relatively well-read. I don't know when I tripped over that demarcation, but I can honestly say that I think I've got pretty sound understanding of a number of issues.
Design
Worth Reading
Tufte, Edward R. The Visual Display of Quantitative Information.
Liddle, William; Holden, Kritina; Butler, Jill. Universal Principles of Design.
Not Worth Reading
Few, Stephen. Show me the Numbers.
Reynolds, Garr. Presentation Zen.
Robbins, Naomi B. Creating More Effective Graphs.
Tufte, Edward R. Visual Explanations.
Tufte, Edward R. Envisioning Information.
Tufte, Edward R. Beautiful Evidence.
White, Alex W. The Elements of Graphic Design.
Zelazny, Gene. Say it with Charts.
Business
Worth Reading
Collins, Jim. Good to Great.
Godin, Seth. All Marketers are Liars.
Bernstein, Peter L. Against the Gods.
Not Worth Reading
Dodd, Domini; Favaro, Ken. The Three Tensions.
Neislon, Gary L.; Pasternack, Bruce. Results.
Slywotzky, Adrian. The Art of Profitability.
Interestingly, all three of these books are by consultants (Marakon, Booz Allen, Mercer, respectively), and all three are banal and overly broad. I hope their actual work is more inspired.Pink, Daniel. A Whole New Mind.
Life
Worth Reading
Bach, Richard. Illusions.
Buford, Bill. Among the Thugs.
Chang, Jung. Mao.
Frankl, Victor. Man's Search for Meaning.
Kennedy, John F. Profiles in Courage.
Machiavelli, Niccolo. The Prince.
Pamuk, Orhan. Istanbul.
Not Worth Reading
Diamond, Jared. Guns, Germs, and Steel.
Seriously, did anyone actually read this whole book? It's 400 pages of boredom that could have been writtin in 100.
