Books like The Art of Doing Science and Engineering

01

Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!

Richard P. Feynman · Memoir

Surely You're Joking, Mr.

Shares learning and problem-solving with The Art of Doing Science and Engineering.

02

Mastery

Robert Greene · Self-help

Mastery is Robert Greene's long account of how extraordinary human mastery develops — from childhood inclinations through apprenticeship through creative independence to the integration that characterizes true mastery.

Shares learning and creativity with The Art of Doing Science and Engineering.

03

Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World

David Epstein · Science

Range is David Epstein's argument against the ten-thousand-hours gospel.

Shares learning and creativity with The Art of Doing Science and Engineering.

04

Peak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise

Anders Ericsson and Robert Pool · Science

Peak is Anders Ericsson's definitive account of deliberate practice — the specific type of focused, feedback-driven training that, more than any other factor, determines how expert people become in demanding fields.

Both dig into learning.

05

Deep Work

Cal Newport · Self-help

Deep Work is Cal Newport's case that the ability to focus without distraction on a cognitively demanding task is becoming both rarer and more valuable, and that people who cultivate it will thrive while everyone else stays stuck in shallow busywork.

A kindred science read.

06

Subtract: The Untapped Science of Less

Leidy Klotz · Science

Subtract is built on a finding from Leidy Klotz's research at the University of Virginia: when people are asked to improve something, they default overwhelmingly to addition.

Shares problem-solving and creativity with The Art of Doing Science and Engineering.

07

Making Music: 74 Creative Strategies for Electronic Music Producers

Dennis DeSantis · Self-help

Making Music is Dennis DeSantis's catalog of seventy-four specific problems that electronic music producers encounter, paired with concrete strategies for addressing each one.

Shares problem-solving and creativity with The Art of Doing Science and Engineering.

08

Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution

Steven Levy · Science

Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution is Steven Levy's account of the community of computer enthusiasts who drove the digital revolution from the late 1950s through the early 1980s — the original hackers of MIT's Tech Model Railroad Club and later AI lab, the hardware hackers of the Bay Area Homebrew Computer Club, and the software entrepreneurs who built the early PC industry.

Both dig into creativity.

09

Make It Stick

Peter C. Brown, Henry L. Roediger and Mark A. McDaniel · Science

Make It Stick is a book about how memory actually works, and why the study techniques most people rely on — re-reading, highlighting, massed practice — are among the least effective ways to learn.

Both dig into learning.

10

Moonwalking with Einstein

Joshua Foer · Science

Moonwalking with Einstein is Joshua Foer's account of spending a year training for and winning the United States Memory Championship, beginning as a journalist covering the event and ending as its champion.

Both dig into learning.

11

Rest: Why You Get More Done When You Work Less

Alex Soojung-Kim Pang · Science

Rest makes a case that most of what we think of as productive work is actually counterproductive when pushed past certain thresholds, and that deliberate, well-structured rest is not the opposite of work but a necessary component of it.

Both dig into creativity.

12

The Extended Mind

Annie Murphy Paul · Science

The Extended Mind is Annie Murphy Paul's argument that the brain is not the only seat of cognition.

Both dig into learning.