A classic on where design goes wrong, and right.

This is the story of Disney, from a technical, historic and personal perspective. They actually delve into a lot of the technical details of both the technique of animation, as well as the mechanics of how to make animated film. A really stunning book to look at as well.

This book traces the history of information, from clay tablets, to bound books, to the precursors to the internet in Belgian Libraries pre-WWII. An astounding read, jam-packed with info I'd never come across.

As a guy who makes a living working remotely, this book still opened my eyes to new possibilities of outsourcing man of life's burdens and other techniques. What I like about it is how it's pitched at the person in the 9-5 job, and some good concrete steps for slowly evolving into a career which you're more in control of.

This book is pure genius, a bible of the mind. It's a big read, you'll need to put some time away. Pinker has a real talent for sharing hard data in a Sunday-newspaper ease-of-reading style.

This is the most technical of the books I reccomended, and represents something that I'll need to re-refence to really get full use of. What I like particularly is it's more computer UI-centric approach to visual cognition, whereas most books on the subject are written purely for the academics.

These two books by Robert Caldini et al. are quite unique. Based on lots of real research and real science, they are packed with interesting explanations of how we make decisions, and how easily, and the ways in which we are influenced to make these decisions. The numbers are quite startling, and it's only after the experiments are carefully explained that you can begin to trust the data provided for the almost complete malleability of our own 'free will'. And if you think these books are full of unscientific anecdotes and conclusions on how to influence other people, you'd be wrong. Unlike the millions of books out there teaching you how to be a better salesperson through some wishy-washy ideas, these books are richer, deeper and based on real research.