A ruthless edit of books that actually move the needle on product, UX, and thinking clearly. It's basically a cheat sheet for anyone who wants to build or sharpen their product sense. Plus some mind-bending reads about who we are, how we got here, and why we build—history, anthropology, psychology, and the stories that shape us.
Sections
2
Books for PMs, Founders and Builders
Books for Humans
Books for PMs, Founders and Builders
A cheat sheet for anyone who wants to build or sharpen their product sense.
If you’ve ever avoided a tough conversations (I know I did!), this book will give you the exact words and courage to do it right.
Radical Candor: Be a Kick-Ass Boss ...
If your product’s great but the story is muddy, start here.
Obviously Awesome: Nail Product Positioning
The concept of atomic networks is 🔥
The Cold Start Problem: Start & Scale Network Effects
The manual for your brain’s bugs. Learn when to trust your gut, and when it’s gaslighting you.
Thinking, Fast and Slow
A must-read for PMs. The antidote to polite lies in user interviews. This book will teach you how to ask questions the right way.
The Mom Test: Talk to Customers & Learn
Helps you understand how disruptive innovation occurs, especially in industries slow to adopt new technology.
The Innovator's Dilemma: When New Tech Disrupts
A must read for PMs. The clearest playbook for building products people come back to, without relying on dark patterns.
Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products
It’s the operating manual I wish I had on day one as a manager.
High Output Management
This book showed me how to turn “customer obsession” into a daily, mechanical habit.
Working Backwards: Insights & Secrets from Amazon
Whenever I feel lost between discovery and delivery, this book recenters me.
Inspired: How to Create Tech Products Customers Love
The only book that felt truly honest about how hard leadership really is.
The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business
This taught me why early traction doesn’t equal mainstream success. And how to bridge the gap.
Crossing the Chasm, 3rd Edition: Marketing
Great for PMs. It teaches you to say “no” to good ideas so you can win with the great ones.
Playing to Win: How Strategy Really Works
It’s the best BS-detector for fluffy “strategy” I’ve ever read.
Good Strategy Bad Strategy: The Difference
Think of it as a manual for designing your day like a product sprint.
Make Time: How to Focus on What Matters Every Day
Tony’s stories made me braver about hard product calls.
Build: An Unorthodox Guide to Making Things
This book gave me the mental models to make clearer, calmer decisions.
Poor Charlie's Almanack: Wit & Wisdom
It’s the rare “soft skills” book with hard results.
The 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership
If you're a generalist, this book will make you feel great about it.
Range: Why Generalists Triumph - Epstein
Great for when you want to learn how to stop pushing and start listening. You'll see the results.
Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It
I finished it in a weekend and started seeing constraints everywhere (in a good way).
The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement
One of the most important books I have EVER read. Steven's advice is simple, memorable, and weirdly perfect for product docs.
On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft: King, Stephen
This taught me to trade opinions for experiments, fast.
The Lean Startup: How Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation
A practical companion to Lean Startup when you want step-by-step.
Running Lean: Iterate from Plan A (Lean Series)
Success isn’t just talent. It’s timing, culture, and 10,000 hours of context.
Outliers: The Story of Success: Gladwell, Malcolm
How ideas spread and suddenly explode—sticky, contagious, and context-driven.
The Tipping Point: How Little Things Matter
How luck masquerades as skill. Especially in business.
Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance
Books for Humans
My top mind-bending reads about who we are, how we got here, and why we build—history, anthropology, psychology, and the stories that shape us.
My favourite by Harari. The clearest, most gripping story of how we became us—from myth-making apes to globe-shapers.
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
Humans aren’t rational. We’re reliably irrational in ways you can design for.
Predictably Irrational, Revised and Expanded
The best deep dive into why humans act the way we do—from neurons to culture.
Behave: The Biology of Humans - Sapolsky
A sweeping explanation of why societies developed so differently.
Guns, Germs, and Steel: Fates of Societies
Your brain has two modes—this book shows how they run (and sometimes ruin) your decisions.
Thinking, Fast and Slow: Kahneman, Daniel - Books
Tiny tweaks, compounding gains—this is the most actionable guide to behavior change I’ve used.
Atomic Habits: Easy Way to Build & Break Habits
The classic playbook for why people say “yes”—and how to use it ethically.
Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion
Science explained with humor and wonder. Pure delight.
A Short History of Nearly Everything: Bryson, Bill
Introverts aren’t broken; they’re a superpower in disguise. Helped me redesign meetings and roles for different energy types.
Quiet: The Power of Introverts - Susan Cain
A narrative doorway into the science of judgment and decision-making.
The Undoing Project: A Friendship That Changed Our Minds
You'll learn about instincts that distort your worldview, and how to fix them.
Factfulness: Ten Reasons We're Wrong About the World
A provocative rethink of how societies formed. You may argue with it; that’s half the fun.
The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity
Useful for macro-thinking about prosperity, incentives and policy.
Why Nations Fail: Origins of Power & Poverty
How culture and psychology co-evolved to create modern Western minds. Makes user research feel hilariously WEIRD-biased.
The WEIRDest People in the World: How the West Became Psychologically
A practical guide for working across cultures. Focus on communication, feedback, trust.
The Culture Map: Breaking Global Boundaries
A history of genetics that reads like a novel. Ethics, identity, and the future, told with care.
The Gene: An Intimate History by Siddhartha Mukherjee
Perfect for strategy minds who love synthesis, you can re-read yearly, it's pure distillation.
