Books like Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World

01

Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know

Adam Grant · Psychology

Think Again is Adam Grant's argument that the most valuable skill in a fast-changing world isn't learning faster — it's unlearning and rethinking more readily.

A kindred psychology read.

02

Give and Take: Why Helping Others Drives Our Success

Adam Grant · Psychology

Give and Take is Adam Grant's argument that the least intuitive kind of person — the giver, who helps others without expecting immediate return — actually ends up at the top of most social and professional hierarchies, not just the bottom.

A kindred psychology read.

03

Mindset: The New Psychology of Success

Carol S. Dweck · Psychology

Carol Dweck's central claim is simple but far-reaching: people hold one of two basic beliefs about their own abilities.

A kindred psychology read.

04

Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us

Daniel H. Pink · Psychology

Drive is Daniel Pink's argument that the motivational model most organizations still run on — reward the behavior you want, punish the behavior you don't — is badly mismatched to the kind of work that matters most in a modern economy.

A kindred psychology read.

05

Outliers: The Story of Success

Malcolm Gladwell · Psychology

Outliers is Malcolm Gladwell's argument that exceptional success is less a product of individual genius or drive than it is of hidden advantages, timing, and accumulated opportunity.

A kindred psychology read.

06

Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration

Ed Catmull and Amy Wallace · Business

Creativity, Inc.

Shares creativity and innovation with Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World.

07

Steve Jobs

Walter Isaacson · Biography

Walter Isaacson's biography of Steve Jobs was authorized by Jobs himself, who gave Isaacson more than forty hours of interviews and opened up his family, friends, and colleagues to the same scrutiny.

Shares creativity and innovation with Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World.

08

Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking

Susan Cain · Psychology

Quiet is Susan Cain's argument that Western culture — and American culture in particular — has built itself around an "Extrovert Ideal" that systematically undervalues roughly a third to a half of the population.

Shares creativity and leadership with Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World.

09

Creative Selection

Ken Kocienda · Business

Creative Selection is Ken Kocienda's first-hand account of how software gets made at Apple during the period when the iPhone and iPad were born.

Shares creativity and innovation with Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World.

10

Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future

Ashlee Vance · Biography

Ashlee Vance's biography of Elon Musk is the most comprehensive account of Musk's life and companies up to 2015, written with Musk's cooperation after an initial refusal and a long negotiation.

Shares innovation and risk-taking with Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World.

11

Empowered: Ordinary People, Extraordinary Products

Marty Cagan and Chris Jones · Business

Empowered is Marty Cagan and Chris Jones's guide to what separates product organizations that consistently build products people love from those that operate as feature factories.

Shares innovation and leadership with Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World.

12

Loonshots

Safi Bahcall · Business

Loonshots is physicist and biotech CEO Safi Bahcall's argument that the most transformative innovations — the kind he calls loonshots, after the eccentric northern bird — are fragile ideas that look foolish or impossible until they suddenly aren't, and that organizations systematically kill them long before they get a chance to prove themselves.

Shares innovation and leadership with Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World.