53 books like Mental Models

Brown invites readers to "join a wholehearted revolution,” and that sums up everything I love about her work.

Her kindness and empathy are what draw you into the book, and her honest wisdom is what makes you come back for more (time and again, in my case at least).

Around 2 million other book buyers agree, so I’m not going out on a limb by recommending this one, but let me suggest that it’s worth a reread or three. You’ll learn something new, inspiring, and useful every time. 

Living in Information by Jorge Arango introduces information-soaked individuals to an easy-to-grasp architectural vocabulary that describes the patterns and shifts of context in the digital (and increasingly the digitally-enhanced-physical) world.

I recommend this book as a map of the territory when it comes to designing with or for digital systems and experiences. Jorge is a wonderful storyteller as well as a crystal clear communicator and this book is a jewel on my sensemaking bookshelf.

Jorge is also one of my favorite authors to keep up with regarding information architecture. His podcast and blog are worth a follow should the subject of his book perk your interest.

You might not think of excitement when you hear the words “Digital Governance” but I can assure you that this book is a real page-turner…especially if your job involves managing large-scale information messes. There is a special kind of chaos that only information and knowledge workers can understand and this book paints a picture so many of us have seen in practice but in a way that leaves the reader inspired to fight another day, instead of wallowing in a sea of information-induced self-pity.

I recommend this book because I have seen too many information architecture efforts die on the vine due to a lack of good governance. The frameworks and recommendations in this book mean I always have a playbook to hand to teams in need.

Liminal Thinking by Dave Gray provides a solid roadmap to help navigate through the rocky terrain of understanding and being able to change your own mind and habits.

When I first read this book, the words mind-blown could not quite cover it. I was in fact completely devastated by the truth that I learned in this book. It taught me the danger of making sense of messes while on autopilot and the power of the present moment as a forcing function in my work. ‘Liminal’ is a word I had to look up the first time I heard it, but it has since become the go-to word I use to describe those hard and squishy times when I am still making the decision about how to show up in the world. 

I recommend this book because as Dave Gray writes “Beliefs form the basis of everything people say,… show more.

This essential book by Don Norman does not need any more plugging, but it would be impossible to leave it out.

The book forms a brilliant introduction to User Experience Design by explaining how the design of everyday objects relies on an intuitive understanding of how they work. Once we translate this thinking from the physical to the digital world, we are halfway there as UX/UI designers.

This book is a delightful example of what happens when someone engages eyes and mind: it provides important insights into the cussedness of things people design, by looking thoughtfully at simple, ‘everyday things’. 

In doing so, Norman both illustrates the constructive application of cognitive science in understanding design, and provides a compelling argument for user-centred design.

Just when I thought the future was bright and sunny (in part due to Kurzweil), I learn from James Barrat that ASI (Artificial Super Intelligence) might well mark the end of our species (and the start of an ever-expanding artificial replacement).

I was fascinated by the people Barrat introduces us to like an expert on the psychology of ASI, and his description of a perfect machine and its runaway implications. I realized this is modernity at its best and worst: we push forward to improve the world but are always at the risk of creating new, unseen problems.

The most troubling question of all (to my way of thinking) is that our idea of perfected humanity (both a modern and a pre-modern aim) ends in the vision of machines like Watson playing endless games of Jeopardy among themselves.

Nigel Cross was one of the first design researchers to express the notion of ‘designerly’ ways of thinking and knowing – “the application of scientific and other organised knowledge to practical tasks…” – as means of addressing ill-defined and ill-structured problems. 

The attention to ‘messy’ problems, and to the iterative and fluid nature of the design process, is what first drew me to his work; what kept me coming back was a combination of Cross’s clarity of thought, and the way he grounds his perspectives in studies of outstanding designers and real-world examples. 

In this compilation of key lectures and essays, he reflects on the nature of design and discusses what sorts of cognitive skills, strategies, and abilities effective designers bring to bear.  

So, what, exactly is this ‘world’ or ‘global history’? Authors slap the two words on their books, universities offer new courses in it, and government officials across the planet now speak of ‘global this’ and ‘global that’. One could be forgiven for throwing up one’s hands in exasperation for failing to understand what exactly these two words mean. That is until Sebastian Conrad published this gem of a book aptly entitled: What is Global History? Yes, it’s a bit academic, but it’s also clearly written, logically organized, and succeeds brilliantly in explaining what global history is and is not without losing the reader in theoretical jargon. If you want to try something beyond the ‘nation’ and ‘empire’, Conrad’s global history is a great place to start.

Science has revolutionized the way we live and the way we understand reality, but what accounts for its success? What method sets science apart from other forms of inquiry and ensures that it yields ever-more accurate theories of the world? Strevens argues that the scientific method is not a special kind of logic, like deriving hypotheses from first principles or narrowing hypotheses through falsification, but a simple commitment to arguing with evidence. Strevens shows, with historical case studies, how this commitment is seemingly irrational, as it provides no constraints on what counts as evidence or how evidence should be interpreted, but also incredibly powerful, fostering ingenuity and discovery.