I didn't read very much growing up; however, in recent years (once my formal education was complete), I began picking up books at a fairly steady pace. Here are some of the ones that I still keep on the shelf by the bed.
William Shakespeare (2005)
Michael Chabon (2005)
Fabulous short stories about youth and masculinity.
Howard Gardner (2002)
In 2004, I teamed up with Gardner, Damon, and Csikszentmihalyi on the Good Work in Higher Education project. This central book was the foundation for this project and focuses on how individuals can produce work that is of high quality through ethically s
Steven Pinker (2003)
When doing the background work for Dropstone, I pushed through this book, in large part because of my sneaking suspicion that human nature wasn’t good at all.
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (1997)
This was the first of Mike’s books that I picked up in college, while studying creativity for my experiments.
William Shakespeare (2004)
Thomas L. Friedman (2000)
Well before the World is Flat, Friedman penned this impressive piece that helped me really grasp all that I was learning and experiencing in my world travels.
F. Scott Fitzgerald (1999)
John Steinbeck (2002)
“Cannery Row in Monterey in California is a poem, a stink, a grating noise, a quality of light, a tone, a habit, a nostalgia, a dream. Cannery Row is the gathered and scattered, tin and iron and rust and splintered wood, chipped pavement and weedy lots an
John Steinbeck (2003)
“And this I believe: that the free, exploring mind of the individual human is the most valuable thing in the world. And this I would fight for: the freedom of the mind to take any direction it wishes, undirected.”
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (1991)
One of the most important books of the 20th century.
Jerry Kaplan (1996)
Kaplan was one of the Valley’s leading tech entrepreneurs in the early 90’s and was key in helping run the startup that tried to launch the first tablet pc. It is an amazing story that goes far in capturing the nonsense of startup life.
Robert Wright (2001)
A fabulous lesson in evolutionary psychology.
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (2001)
Leo Tolstoy (2004)
“Respect was invented to cover the empty place where love should be. But if you don’t love me, it would be better and more honest to say so.”
Dan Birdwhistell's Influential Books
