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I have a handful of books that I continually find myself recommending to people. Here are four of the non-fiction ones. Warning: None of these books is about graphic design. One is about consulting, of which I consider graphic design to be part of. Three are about thinking, which is what I believe separates great design from the merely novel.

The Trusted Advisor
by David H. Maister, Charles H. Green, Robert M. Galford

This material is relevant to any graphic design firm that aspires move beyond project-based work to develop long term advisory relationships with its key clients. This is a handbook for professional service consultants. Since the author happens to consult to major accounting and law firms, most of the anecdotes relate to those professions, but the lessons are applicable to any professional who is in the business of providing advice & recommendations to clients.

This is also one of the very few books about consulting that is recommended internally at BCG (The Boston Consulting Group) where I work. If you want some insight into what it means to be a heavy hitting advisor to corporate clients, read this.

The other Maister books I have listed below are about how to run a consulting business -- also well worth reading if that is the direction you want to take your business.

Other books by David Maister include:

True Professionalism: The Courage to Care About Your People, Your Clients, and Your Career

Managing the Professional Service Firm

Intellectual Capital: The New Wealth of Organisations
by Thomas A. Stewart

This is a broad look at the inexorable economic trend away from physical things/objects towards ideas and thoughts, ie. why,over the last century, coal mining and steel working has become less economically valued than thinking-type work. I recommend it to designers because I think designers are right at the pointy end of intellectual capital -- knowledge workers specialising in visual communication and communication innovation. This book contextualises a profession like graphic design without specifically mentioning it. Feel good about yourself and about design in comparison to a large industrial corporation like BHP.

Don't read this book if you are looking for specific advice on being a graphic designer or running a graphic design business. DO read this book if you want to understand the broader context in which professions like graphic design have become more highly valued, and will continue to grow in stature.

How the Mind Works
by Stephen Pinker

Mr Pinker is scientist with a flair for making complex, arcane science easy to understand. He is a cognitive scientist, and writes here about the evolution of a broad range of human thinking and feeling, using evolutionary theory to explain many, many behaviours, from visual perception to communities, to love, altruism and war! Not a fast read, more of a book that you dip into over a few weeks. It'll make you work a bit, but I think it is well worth the effort.

Why read this book? For a designer, you will understand better the connection between eyes and perception, and the ways that the human mind thinks "visually." For a business person, there are many useful explanations on how and why person-to-person interactions occur. And for human beings, it is simply empowering (yes, I hate that word too) to have better insight in to why things work out the way they do -- you feel as if a veil has been lifted away from your understanding of people. Oh yeah, and it makes for great dinner table conversations.

Fabric of Reality
by David Deustche

Mr Deustche is a quantum physicist who has a way with words. The book is remarkably easy to read -- well, at least the first two-thirds. Whenever I recommend this book, it is usually for one reason -- the third chapter. The third chapter is about the evolution of theories, and provides in the space of a few pages a great overview of how theories are superseded by newer theories that provide greater explanatory power.

I draw a parallel between this phenomenon and a great design + rationale -- great design explains more of the client's message to the target audience, a great rationale provides a clearer explanation of the mechanism (your design) by which the client's message is most effectively translated into the design which is being presented. Of all the books I have mentioned here, this is the most distant from everyday like -- okay, okay, so this kind of stuff is not for everyone, but personally I find it quite inspirational!

"When you think of Design as a metaphor for the creation process in any craft, the advice gleaned from this page and indeed this site is relevant to any and all that are willing and able to stand back and think abstractly about their own professions. Thanks!"

"I enjoyed your suggestions and believe that the notion that design is a business has never been stressed upon enough. Without understanding that for designs to 'get out there', one has to 'sell it', a skill not necessarily addressed in academic institutions. Thinking out of the square will definitely contribute to a more 'creative' way of 'selling'."

"I liked your recommendations. I believe looking outside design and more to these pursuits will help our profession. We are a business none the less, and deal with business poorly in my humble opinion. If we are ever to be taken seriously as a profession, changes need to be made."

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