Essential books for product builders—part 2

Product builder and newsletter author Lenny Rachitsky released the second installment of his curated book recommendations, featuring 24 titles organized by professional and personal development goals. The list includes design classics like "Don't Make Me Think" and "The Design of Everyday Things," as well as creativity-focused works such as "The War of Art" and "Creativity, Inc." Rachitsky aims to help readers improve their product-building, leadership, and personal growth skills through time-tested books.

Essential books for product builders—part 2 24 more timeless books that’ll make you a better builder, leader, and person 👋 Hey there, I’m Lenny. Each week, I answer reader questions about building product, driving growth, and accelerating your career. For more: Lenny’s Podcast | Lennybot | How I AI | My favorite AI/PM courses, public speaking course, and interview prep copilot P.S. Get a full free year of Google AI, Cursor, Lovable, Notion, Manus, Replit, Gamma, n8n, Canva, ElevenLabs, Factory, Wispr Flow, Fin, Supabase, Bolt, Linear, PostHog, Framer, Railway, Granola, Warp, Gumloop, Magic Patterns, Mobbin, Stripe Atlas, and ChatPRD, by becoming an Insider subscriber. Yes, this is for real. On the heels of part 1 https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/essential-books-for-product-builderspart of my essential books for product builders series, I’m excited to share part 2. As with last time, the books are organized by their jobs-to-be-done in your work and life. I’m again limiting myself to only three per category that I’ve personally read and completed , and only books that have stood the test of time i.e., no new books . As a bonus, at the end of the post I’ve also included a dozen fan favorites that either fell just below the ones I picked or I haven’t had a chance to read yet. I know it’s hard to find time to read a whole book, and when you do, it’s hard to retain anything. As I mentioned in part 1, what’s worked for me is to read 10 minutes before bed as part of my wind-down routine. This has the added benefit of helping me sleep better And as I read, I try to find one nugget or tactic that I can bring into my work that week. I take a photo of it and email it to myself using this sweet app https://apps.apple.com/us/app/note-to-self-mail/id1135553707 for the next morning. My philosophy is that if I retain just one golden nugget per book over the years, I’m happy. That’s how it usually ends up working out anyway. So, as I share the book recommendations, I’ll also highlight a nugget of wisdom that’s still with me over the many years since I first read these books. Let’s get into it. “Books are the closest thing you’ll ever come to finding cheat codes for real life. You can access the entire learnings of someone else’s career in a few hours.” — Tobi Lütke https://x.com/davidsenra/status/2063372638664450162?s=20 I want to get better at design Before reading these books, I thought design was a squishy, subjective thing. It’s not. Don’t Make Me Think taught me how to objectively make a product UI work and feel better. The Design of Everyday Things showed me that when I struggle with a product, it’s not my fault—it’s the design’s. Refactoring UI gave me a ton of specific design tactics. by Steve Krug Don’t Make Me Think https://a.co/d/0eDK9os5 by Don Norman The Design of Everyday Things https://a.co/d/03nPL3D3 by Adam Wathan and Steve Schoger Refactoring UI https://refactoringui.com/ I want to improve my taste/craft I’ve always looked up to people who have great taste, and lucky for me, guests on my podcast consistently remind me that it isn’t something you’re born with—taste is something you can learn. The War of Art helped me learn how to recognize and overcome the internal “resistance” that comes with creating something new and different. The Work of Art showed me the creative process of dozens of high-taste creators. Creativity, Inc. taught me to protect my and my team’s “ugly babies”—early half-baked ideas that otherwise get squashed. by Steven Pressfield The War of Art https://a.co/d/08KFD7u1 by Adam Moss The Work of Art https://www.amazon.com/Work-Art-Something-Comes-Nothing/dp/059329758X by Ed Catmull Creativity, Inc. https://www.amazon.com/Creativity-Inc-Expanded-Overcoming-Inspiration/dp/0593594649/ I want to get better at influence Influence—maybe you’ve heard it’s important? It’s something I was very bad at early in my career, and I’ve had to learn how to do it well. How to Win Friends and Influence People showed me the power in being interested vs. interesting. Influence taught me the fundamentals of how people change their mind: social proof, authority, scarcity, and simply being liked . Never Split the Difference taught me how to shift a negotiation from “you vs. me” to “us” working together to solve the problem. by Dale Carnegie How to Win Friends and Influence People https://a.co/d/0iKQ2YhF Influence https://www.amazon.com/Robert-Cialdini-Psychology-Persuasion-Essentials/dp/B005WM7784/ref=tmm pap swatch 0 by Robert Cialdiniby Chris Voss Never Split the Difference https://www.amazon.com/Never-Split-Difference-Chris-Voss/dp/B0GX6BSY1X/ref=tmm pap swatch 0 I want to start a company I’ll be honest, I didn’t read a lot of books when I was starting my company. But I should have. When I finally read The Lean Startup , it showed me how to be smart about where to start, and how to iterate efficiently. Crossing the Chasm taught me what a good early user looks like. Fall in Love with the Problem, Not the Solution finally gave me a very practical guide for every step of the founder journey. by Eric Ries The Lean Startup https://www.amazon.com/Lean-Startup-Entrepreneurs-Continuous-Innovation/dp/0307887898/ref=sr 1 1?crid=34Y7BX4RMDL8U&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.FWUsaeYmkwVyAYKkatWi4eAC5FZvDXpssyX5S-Z1X1bS3yAtfn-aUnb4FIr4ouF2Ot wDswpPvTjP3aN5GbscmiiHz7ADUrF8l5JiMTaJ7wzdbKohH2OH7jccBMyjpFF2r2IduLGRJtvo0uXg6sTmUn2em-TeO3r0Gt3JQSTx479Goic84M3FJ0ia -4scz5G4azPr05FNhsABOGFEGsO5tuGoq1XWOiShBtmmNe7W8.xOpT S8rVE-HbCZFl1M3fINnwTURHzGKaP8WjEhffR0&dib tag=se&keywords=Lean+Startup&qid=1780432858&s=books&sprefix=lean+startup%2Cstripbooks%2C219&sr=1-1 by Geoffrey Moore Crossing the Chasm https://www.amazon.com/Crossing-Chasm-3rd-Disruptive-Mainstream/dp/0062292986 by Uri Levine Fall in Love with the Problem, Not the Solution https://www.amazon.com/Fall-Love-Problem-Solution-Entrepreneurs/dp/1637741987/ref=sr 1 1 I want to advance my career There are certain books you read and you’re just like, “Wow, this really explains what’s going on around here.” These three did that for me. Great at Work showed me that people who rise fastest focus on fewer things but do them extremely well. 7 Rules of Power taught me that, often, it isn’t the most talented or nice people who end up winning. The Effective Executive helped me understand that efficiency is doing things well, while effectiveness is doing the right highest-leverage things. by Morten T. Hansen Great at Work https://www.amazon.com/Great-Work-Hidden-Habits-Performers/dp/1476765820 by Jeffrey Pfeffer 7 Rules of Power https://a.co/d/0g8OiWu6 by Peter Drucker The Effective Executive https://www.amazon.com/Effective-Executive-Definitive-Harperbusiness-Essentials/dp/0060833459 I want to be happier continued A few readers suggested that this category should have come first last time—what else matters if you can’t be happy? So I’m including another three books that made me a happier person. The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F ck taught me that freedom from work isn’t the real goal. Instead, it’s your opportunity to figure out what problems you want to spend time solving, because the most lasting fulfillment comes from solving problems we care about. A Guide to the Good Life gave me the skill of “negative visualization,” which I use to this day. Stumbling on Happiness showed me that we’re often very wrong about what will make us happy. by Mark Manson The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F ck https://www.amazon.com/Subtle-Art-Not-Giving-Counterintuitive/dp/0062457713/ref=sr 1 1 by William B. Irvine A Guide to the Good Life https://www.amazon.com/Guide-Good-Life-Ancient-Stoic/dp/0195374614/ref=sr 1 1 by Daniel Gilbert Stumbling on Happiness https://www.amazon.com/Stumbling-Happiness-Daniel-Gilbert/dp/1400077427