Welcome to my world of ideas. Each of these books has expanded my thinking in some way. I hope they will serve you well.

Buy them through these links to support my site a bit. Thanks.

Ruthless Success

• Playing to Win: Becoming the Champion by David Sirlin (Amazon link).
  Morality aside, this is how you win in competitive games.
• The Art of War by Sun Tzu - Special Edition by Sun Tzu, translated and annotated by Lionel Giles.
  Morality aside, this is how you win in war. I prefer this translation to others.
• The Prince and Other Writings by Niccolo Machiavelli.
  Morality aside, this is how you gain power. I like the supplemental material in this particular version.
• The Art of War & The Prince by Sun Tzu and Niccolo Machiavelli.
  Both of the above together in one volume, luckily still with Giles's translation of the Art of War.

Designing Things

• Notes on the Synthesis of Form by Christopher Alexander
  Required reading for anyone who wants to design anything. Should be called "The Synthesis of Form, Dammit."
• The Timeless Way of Building by Christopher Alexander
  Less technical and more poetic than 'Notes' (above). Alexander tries to describe The Quality Without a Name that makes a design living rather than dead.
• A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction by Christopher Alexander
  This is a compilation of the patterns for building houses and cities discussed in the other books.
• The Oregon Experiment by Christopher Alexander
  Alexander applies the concepts in the previous books to rebuild the Oregon University Campus. Postscript: the undertaking is considered a failure, but not because of Alexander's methods.

How Complex Systems Are Created

• The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins
  Our genes don't serve us; we serve them. Understanding the enormous power of genes is applicable to procedural content in games, not to mention how cool it is to have some of life's mysteries explained.
• The Blind Watchmaker: Why the Evidence of Evolution Reveals a Universe Without Design by Richard Dawkins
  Understanding how complex systems developed on Earth without a designer is highly applicable to creating new complex systems in games, especially simulations and MMOs.
• The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins
  Possibly the most important book in the world. Not a joke. It will be overlooked.
• The Meme Machine by Susan Blackmore
  The seminal work on memes. Understanding memes is vital if you want something to be popular.
• Powers of Ten by Charles and Ray Eames
  Will Wright's inspiration for the game Spore.

Writing Well

• The Elements of Style, Fourth Edition by William Strunk, Jr. and E.B. White
  Absolutely required for any writer. Read it once every year or two.
• Why I Write (Penguin Great Ideas) by George Orwell
  Explains four basic motivations of writers and also exposes how politicians use vague language to deliberately deceive.
• Ernest Hemingway on Writing by Earnest Hemingway, of course.
  Few writers were ever so seriously committed to their craft as Hemingway. A valuable glimpse into his mind.
• On Writing by Stephen King
  King was a "20 year, overnight success." Here he explains his hardships, method, and sensibilties.
• The Writer's Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers by Christopher Vogler
  A practical guide to applying Joseph Campbell's Hero's Journey framework to modern writing.

How to Display Information

In these three books, Professor Tufte conveys his strong sensibilities about displaying visual information (such as charts, graphs, and diagrams) in an honest and clear way. I know of no one so forceful and correct on these issues as Tufte:
• Visual Explanations: Images and Quantities, Evidence and Narrative by Edward Tufte
• The Visual Display of Quantitative Information by Edward Tufte
• Envisioning Information by Edward Tufte
• The Cognitive Style of PowerPoint by Edward Tufte
  Microsoft Powerpoint presentations lead to simplified, shoddy thinking. This short pamphlet evescerates Powerpoint. You should order a few and leave them around your workplace.
• Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art by Scott McCloud
  This book transcends comics and is actually a manual about displaying visual information in an artistic way. McCloud also investigates what 'art' is and how artists develop.

How People Act

• Personality Type: An Owner's Manual by Lenore Thomson
  People have different methods for taking in and processing information. These biological differences lead to different personality types. Your personal life, business life, and your art will benefit from understanding these differences in people.
• The Strategy of Conflict by Thomas Schelling
  Negotiation power comes from factors you might not expect. This book has application to game theory, but also takes human psychology into account. Has a slant toward explaining negotiations over nuclear warfare and terrorism.

Richard Feynman, Physicist and Greatest Human

Feynman is the ultimate role model on how to think, learn, and explain.
• Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! (Adventures of a Curious Character) by Richard Feynman
  A light-hearted sampler of the many amusing events of his life. A fun place to start.
• What Do You Care What Other People Think?: Further Adventures of a Curious Character by Richard Feynman
  More fun stuff from Feynman's life, but serious stuff too. Here, we see how he handled the very important investigation into the space shuttle Challenger disaster.
• The Character of Physical Law by Richard Feynman
  Feynman gives a series of seven lectures on physics intended for lay-people. Equally interesting: 1) learning incredible ideas about how the universe works, 2) seeing how a master of clear explanation explains things, and 3) the many things Feynman says we don't know the answers to yet.
• Six Easy Pieces: Essentials of Physics Explained by Its Most Brilliant Teacher by Richard Feynman
  A compilation of the six easiest chapters from Feynman's lectures on physics presented in a way that almost anyone could understand them.

Business

• Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies by Jim Collins and Jerry Porras
  My favorite business book. Compares "gold medalist" companies to their 2nd place competitors to determine what the best have in common. This is the product of six years of serious research at Stanford.
• Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Don't by Jim Collins
  Collins's follow-up book, equally well-researched. In retrospect, I have used the "hedgehog principle" he describes by harping on "playing to win" over and over.
  
• Good to Great and the Social Sectors: A Monograph to Accompany Good to Great by Jim Collins
  A supplement to Good to Great that Collins wrote after seeing how useful his business book was outside the world of for-profit corporations.