Here are 100 books that The Future of You fans have personally recommended if you like The Future of You. Book DNA is a community of 13,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

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Book cover of Seeing What Others Don't: The Remarkable Ways We Gain Insights

Edward D. Hess Author Of Own Your Work Journey! The Path to Meaningful Work and Happiness in the Age of Smart Technology and Radical Change

From my list on helping you become your best self.

Why am I passionate about this?

My entire academic life of over 20 years has been focused on how to help people and organizations become their Best Self. I am the author of 15 books. Six of my books were published by Academic Presses: Cambridge University Press; Stanford University Press; and Columbia Business School Publishing. My work has appeared in over 400 global media publications including Fortune magazine, European Business Review, HBR, SHRM, Fast Company, WIRED, Forbes, INC., Huffington Post, Washington Post, Business Week, the Financial Times, CEO World as well as on CNBC Squawk Box, Fox Business News, Big Think, WSJ Radio, Bloomberg Radio with Kathleen Hayes, Dow Jones Radio, MSNBC Radio, Business Insider, and Wharton Radio.

Edward's book list on helping you become your best self

Edward D. Hess Why Edward loves this book

In the Era of Smart Technology, many of you will have work if you can think differently than the Technology can think. Examples are thinking creatively, innovatively, and going into the unknown and figuring things out.

This book is all about Insights - seeing new associations, new connections, new trends, patterns, and irregularities. Gary Klein gives you the tools to become an explorer: an Insightful Person who can open new avenues, new opportunities, and new ways of thinking. I learned a lot from Gary Klein, and I am sure you will, too.

By Gary Klein ,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Seeing What Others Don't as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Insights--like Darwin's understanding of the way evolution actually works, and Watson and Crick's breakthrough discoveries about the structure of DNA--can change the world. We also need insights into the everyday things that frustrate and confuse us so that we can more effectively solve problems and get things done. Yet we know very little about when, why, or how insights are formed--or what blocks them. In Seeing What Others Don't, renowned cognitive psychologist Gary Klein unravels the mystery. Klein is a keen observer of people in their natural settings--scientists, businesspeople, firefighters, police officers, soldiers, family members, friends, himself--and uses a marvelous…


If you love The Future of You...

Book cover of These Blue Mountains

These Blue Mountains by Sarah Loudin Thomas,

A moving story of love, betrayal, and the enduring power of hope in the face of darkness.

German pianist Hedda Schlagel's world collapsed when her fiancé, Fritz, vanished after being sent to an enemy alien camp in the United States during the Great War. Fifteen years later, in 1932, Hedda…

Book cover of Subprime Attention Crisis: Advertising and the Time Bomb at the Heart of the Internet

Paul Armstrong Author Of Disruptive Technologies: A Framework to Understand, Evaluate and Respond to Digital Disruption

From my list on disrupting your competitors sleeping patterns.

Why am I passionate about this?

I have always asked why too many times I am told. From my early days studying psychology to working for Myspace out in LA and now with clients in London, my fondness for understanding what drives change, inertia, and pain has always been a focus. I knew from an early age that understanding people and how they are affected by, use and fear change and technology would be a useful skill to focus on. Doing so has enabled me to work with big brands, and smart cookies and interview some of the best minds of our generation. I recently brought everything under one roof, TBD Group, to help people see around corners.  

Paul's book list on disrupting your competitors sleeping patterns

Paul Armstrong Why Paul loves this book

Not only is this book small and well-designed, but the cover jumps out at you and you instantly know what the topic is about. All about how big tech is obsessed with, and how they monetize around, attention, the book doesn’t pull any punches with the issues surrounding the advertising world and enables you to see areas that can be used, exploited, and focused on to help your business, thinking and how you beat competitors. Tim (the author) previously worked at Google and worked on AI public policy; I highly recommend you follow his work. 

By Tim Hwang ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Subprime Attention Crisis as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

In Subprime Attention Crisis, Tim Hwang investigates the way big tech financialises attention. In the process, he shows us how digital advertising - the beating heart of the internet - is at risk of collapsing, and that its potential demise bears an uncanny resemblance to the housing crisis of 2008. From the unreliability of advertising numbers and the unregulated automation of advertising bidding wars, to the simple fact that online ads mostly fail to work, Hwang demonstrates that while consumers' attention has never been more prized, the true value of that attention itself - much like subprime mortgages - is…


Book cover of The Art of Noticing: Rediscover What Really Matters to You

Paul Armstrong Author Of Disruptive Technologies: A Framework to Understand, Evaluate and Respond to Digital Disruption

From my list on disrupting your competitors sleeping patterns.

Why am I passionate about this?

I have always asked why too many times I am told. From my early days studying psychology to working for Myspace out in LA and now with clients in London, my fondness for understanding what drives change, inertia, and pain has always been a focus. I knew from an early age that understanding people and how they are affected by, use and fear change and technology would be a useful skill to focus on. Doing so has enabled me to work with big brands, and smart cookies and interview some of the best minds of our generation. I recently brought everything under one roof, TBD Group, to help people see around corners.  

Paul's book list on disrupting your competitors sleeping patterns

Paul Armstrong Why Paul loves this book

Rob used to write for The New York Times and I was lucky enough to interview him on my podcast Mouthwash. His book is an inspiring read that helps you notice more around you. Beyond this it’s a rallying cry for attention and how you choose to utilise it. The book isn’t meant to be a business book, but I have found that there are massive sections that should be applied to business – especially in this remote working world. Buy one for you and one for a friend. 

By Rob Walker ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Art of Noticing as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Notice more, and notice more joy in the everyday.

Distracted? Overwhelmed? Feel like your attention is constantly being pulled in different directions? Learn how to steal it back.

Accessible and inspiring, this book features 131 surprising and innovative exercises to help you tune out white noise, get unstuck from your screen and manage daily distractions.

Make small yet impactful changes and bring focus to the things and people that are most important to you.


If you love Tracey Follows...

Book cover of The Everlasting Life of Charlie Wall

The Everlasting Life of Charlie Wall by Paul Wilborn,

It’s 1985, and Ronald Armstrong, known in the magic mushroom trade as “Trip,” takes a “sober” job as a driver for a retired Tampa mobster. His boss, Charlie Wall, has survived four attempts on his life, the last one in 1955. When Charlie falls into depression, Trip rebuilds his boss’…

Book cover of Futureproof: 9 Rules for Humans in the Age of Automation

Paul Armstrong Author Of Disruptive Technologies: A Framework to Understand, Evaluate and Respond to Digital Disruption

From my list on disrupting your competitors sleeping patterns.

Why am I passionate about this?

I have always asked why too many times I am told. From my early days studying psychology to working for Myspace out in LA and now with clients in London, my fondness for understanding what drives change, inertia, and pain has always been a focus. I knew from an early age that understanding people and how they are affected by, use and fear change and technology would be a useful skill to focus on. Doing so has enabled me to work with big brands, and smart cookies and interview some of the best minds of our generation. I recently brought everything under one roof, TBD Group, to help people see around corners.  

Paul's book list on disrupting your competitors sleeping patterns

Paul Armstrong Why Paul loves this book

I am a huge fan of making complex things simple and understandable, Kevin does this superbly well with Futureproof. From putting the nine rules on the cover to explaining each in a way that makes you shun the Hollywood stereotypes that are burned into our brains, the book explores how AI and automation will change the way we do business and beyond. It’s a must-read. 

By Kevin Roose ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Futureproof as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

'Kevin Roose provides a clear, compelling strategy for surviving the next wave of technology with our jobs - and souls - intact... Futureproof is the survival guide you need' Charles Duhigg, The Power of Habit

In this timely, counterintuitive, and highly practical guide to the age of A.I. and automation, a New York Times technology columnist argues that the key to success is making yourself more human, not less.

The machines are here. After decades of sci-fi doomsaying and marketing hype, advanced A.I. and automation technologies have leapt out of research labs and Silicon Valley engineering departments and into the…


Book cover of Born Digital: How Children Grow Up in a Digital Age

Sophie Brickman Author Of Baby, Unplugged: One Mother's Search for Balance, Reason, and Sanity in the Digital Age

From my list on parenting that you actually want to read.

Why am I passionate about this?

I'm the mother of three children, ages 6, 3, and 1, and because I tend to write about what interests me, started to investigate the world of parenting when my eldest was born. (Prior to that, I was a food reporter and editor.) As my husband, a tech entrepreneur, kept bringing home pieces of technology that were supposed to make my life easier (spoiler alert: they rarely did), I found myself urgently trying to figure out what was best for my kids, and myself: the boring pile of blocks, or the flashy, sexy iPad? I spent years delving into the fields of neurobiology, psychology, philosophy, and pediatrics to get a better handle on these questions

Sophie's book list on parenting that you actually want to read

Sophie Brickman Why Sophie loves this book

Palfrey is not just a known authority on internet law and emerging media, but also the former head of the prep school Phillips Academy, Andover; the former executive director of Harvard’s Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society, a research center that studies cyberspace and internet-related legal issues; the head of the MacArthur Foundation; and, I learned before speaking with him, a great-great-grandson of Teddy Roosevelt. This book, newly updated, delves into the myriad permutations of what it means to grow up in a digital world, with your every move captured and publicized. Yes, it focuses on children growing up digital, but it will be of interest to anyone who has questions and concerns about the future of privacy—meaning, just about all of us. 

By John Palfrey , Urs Gasser ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Born Digital as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The first generation of children who were born into and raised in the digital world are coming of age and reshaping the world in their image. Our economy, our politics, our culture, and even the shape of our family life are being transformed. But who are these wired young people? And what is the world they're creating going to look like? In this revised and updated edition, leading Internet and technology experts John Palfrey and Urs Gasser offer a cutting-edge sociological portrait of these young people, who can seem, even to those merely a generation older, both extraordinarily sophisticated and…


Book cover of Chaos Monkeys: Obscene Fortune and Random Failure in Silicon Valley

Rick Umali Author Of Learn GIT in a Month of Lunches

From my list on working in the computer industry.

Why am I passionate about this?

My curiosity and enthusiasm for computers and what they can do has not faded since I first encountered them in grade school (with the Commodore VIC-20). At this stage in my life, I’m thrilled that I can still get paid to play with them and make them do things. The computer industry is both my daily grind and my playground. You can come at this field casually, or intensely, but as long as you can interact with the computer, the computer will welcome you. The five books in this list paint the possibilities of work in this challenging but rewarding industry: failure, success, immortality, and everything in between. Enjoy!

Rick's book list on working in the computer industry

Rick Umali Why Rick loves this book

Most of my work experiences have been with startups, but that statement is a bit misleading. To be more accurate, I worked at early-stage companies, since the smallest company I worked for was already 35 people. Chaos Monkeys conveys both the excitement and drudgery of founding a real start-up (Antonio starts with two other co-founders).

Antonio’s book takes us from his cushy job on Wall Street to making the leap to running his own venture. Antonio’s flavorful style is the perfect voice as he takes you into those meetings at which money is exchanged, contracts are signed, and options are handed out. His company’s exit and his summation of what was gained and lost are the bread and butter conversations of anyone who’s ever worked in a high-tech startup. This is an illuminating and insightful book.

By Antonio Garcia Martinez ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Chaos Monkeys as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

An adrenaline-fuelled expose of life inside the tech bubble, Chaos Monkeys lays bare the secrets, power plays and lifestyle excesses of the visionaries, grunts, sociopaths, opportunists and money cowboys who are revolutionising our world. Written by startup CEO and industry provocateur Antonio Garcia Martinez, this is Liar's Poker meets The Social Network.

Computer engineers use 'chaos monkey' software to wreak havoc and test system robustness. Similarly, tech entrepreneurs like Antonio Garcia Martinez are society's chaos monkeys - their innovations disrupt every aspect of our lives, from transportation (Uber) and holidays (Airbnb) to television (Netflix) and dating…


If you love The Future of You...

Book cover of Glimmer of the Other

Glimmer of the Other by Heather G. Harris,

Delve into this internationally best-selling series, now complete! A fast paced laugh-out-loud mix of Urban Fantasy and Mystery.

I can tell when you’re lying. Every. Single. Time. I’m Jinx, a PI hired to find a missing university student, I hope to find her propped up at a bar–yet my gut…

Book cover of We Have Been Harmonized: Life in China's Surveillance State

Dori Jones Yang Author Of When the Red Gates Opened: A Memoir of China's Reawakening

From my list on China today.

Why am I passionate about this?

A Seattle-based author, I have written eight books, including When the Red Gates Opened: A Memoir of China’s Reawakening, about the eight years I spent as Business Week’s reporter covering China, 1982-1990. In it, I give readers an inside look at China’s transformation from Maoism to modernity. A fluent speaker of Mandarin, I have traveled widely in China for over forty years and befriended Chinese people at many levels of society, leading me to a strong belief in the importance of direct cross-cultural communication and deepened mutual understanding.

Dori's book list on China today

Dori Jones Yang Why Dori loves this book

Frankly, it makes me squirm to recommend this book, but it’s a topic we Americans need to understand better. Under Xi Jinping, China has expanded its use of surveillance cameras and begun a “social credit” system to track people who are—and aren’t—following the rules. Kai Strittmatter, who reported from China for a leading German newspaper for more than a decade, relies on strong research and concludes that China is Orwellian. And yet, most Chinese citizens I know do not feel watched and oppressed. I’m eager to get back to China to judge for myself.

By Kai Strittmatter ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked We Have Been Harmonized as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Named a Notable Work of Nonfiction of 2020 by the Washington Post

As heard on NPR's Fresh Air, We Have Been Harmonized, by award-winning correspondent Kai Strittmatter, offers a groundbreaking look, based on decades of research, at how China created the most terrifying surveillance state in history. 

China’s new drive for repression is being underpinned by unpre­cedented advances in technology: facial and voice recognition, GPS tracking, supercomputer databases, intercepted cell phone conver­sations, the monitoring of app use, and millions of high-resolution security cameras make it nearly impossible for a Chinese citizen to hide anything from authorities. Commercial transactions, including food…


Book cover of Culpability

Rachel Cullen Author Of Country Club Summer

From my list on books that stay with you long after you finish reading them.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve been an avid reader since childhood. I read almost all genres, but my favorite genre is fiction. I love fiction for the escape, and I love it even more when the books stay with me long after I’ve finished reading the last page. Whether it’s the amazing characters, provocative themes, or enviable relationships, most of my favorite books are the ones that I can’t stop thinking about. I’d love to give readers the same joy when they read my books and hope they continue to think about my characters long after they’re done reading. 

Rachel's book list on books that stay with you long after you finish reading them

Rachel Cullen Why Rachel loves this book

I still think about the topics raised in the novel, Culpability, on a regular basis.

Holsinger’s drama about moral responsibility and Artificial Intelligence raises issues that are increasingly relevant in daily life, but the book delivers its thought-provoking points through a fascinating storyline and entertaining characters.

The novel is highly provocative while weaving in mundane topics like sibling rivalry, high school sports, and marital troubles to make it relatable.

By Bruce Holsinger ,

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked Culpability as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

"Compelling." Literary Review

"An irresistibly anxious book." The Washington Post

"A family drama with a shocking twist." The New York Times

"I was riveted until the very last shocking sentence!" Oprah Winfrey

When the Cassidy-Shaws' driverless minivan fatally collides with an oncoming car, seventeen-year-old Charlie is in the driver's seat. His father, Noah, is beside him, and in the back with his younger siblings is his mother, Lorelei-a renowned AI researcher-who is lost in her work.

During a weeklong retreat on the Chesapeake Bay, the Cassidy-Shaws wrestle with the moral fallout of the crash as…


Book cover of Cloudmoney

Jamil Hasan Author Of Signals Through The Noise

From my list on the hidden financial structures shaping the world.

Why am I passionate about this?

I'm drawn to books that uncover hidden systems because I've lived with the consequences of not understanding them. For the past nine years, I’ve wanted to build my business, but I've also been challenged to give up and go back to a regular job because I earned little income and lost money in scams, theft, and crypto exchange bankruptcies. Those losses strained my relationship with my family. They forced me to see how little I actually knew about money. But I kept going. I host podcasts and write books. These books about systems helped me turn those losses into clarity and kept me building anyway.

Jamil's book list on the hidden financial structures shaping the world

Jamil Hasan Why Jamil loves this book

This book changed how I think about money.

I used to think of non-cash (credit cards, PayPal, and crypto) as a vague construct that wasn’t real, unlike cash. Now I think of money as a system. I saw the difference between what I was taught about finance and how digital money moves. 

More importantly, this book forced me to think hard about resilience because my desmoid tumor, which I had fought for years and thought was gone, grew back. And I've spent years building a brand without getting paid. I wondered for four years what I was doing wrong. I now see navigating modern financial systems isn’t about knowledge but about resilience instead. I must adapt, be aware, and be resilient.

By Brett Scott ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Cloudmoney as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Who really benefits from a cashless society?

Many of us rarely use cash these days. And the reach of corporations into our lives via cards and apps has never been greater. But what we're told is inevitable is actually the work of powerful interests: the great battle of our time is for ownership of the digital footprints that make up our lives.

Cloudmoney tells a revelatory story about the fusion of big finance and tech, which requires physical cash to be replaced by digital money or 'cloudmoney'. Diving beneath the surface of the global financial system, Brett Scott uncovers a…


If you love Tracey Follows...

Book cover of Need to Know: World War II and the Rise of American Intelligence

Need to Know by Nicholas Reynolds,

The authoritative but accessible history of the birth of modern American intelligence in World War II that treats not just one but all of the various disciplines: spies, codebreakers, saboteurs.

Told in a relatable style that focuses on actual people, it was a New Yorker "Best of 2022" selection and…

Book cover of The End of Reality: How Four Billionaires Are Selling Out Our Future

Carl Rhodes Author Of Stinking Rich: The Four Myths of the Good Billionaires

From my list on dangers of billionaires.

Why am I passionate about this?

My name is Carl Rhodes, and I am a Professor of Management and Organization at the University of Technology Sydney. Like many others, in recent years I have become increasingly concerned, sometimes angry even, about how the organization of business and the economy is creating massive economic injustice. I am convinced that the economic system that has billionaires at its apex is deeply unfair, creating hardship, pain, and even death for too many people around the world. I am also convinced that we do not have to accept this gross injustice as being inevitable. 

Carl's book list on dangers of billionaires

Carl Rhodes Why Carl loves this book

Jonathan Taplin’s excellent book focuses on just four billionaires–Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Peter Thiel, and Marc Andreessen. What I found special about this book is that it shows how these billionaires have created and sold utopian futures to the world, whether they come in the form of the metaverse, cryptocurrency, space travel, or transhumanism.

Even more disturbing is Taplin’s argument that under the pretense of these utopias, billionaires have been able to grow their wealth and power without interference from the government. Meanwhile, inequality continues to expand, nature is replaced with technology, and oligarchy gets more and more entrenched. In short, billionaire utopian visions are a distraction from the real and present danger of gross economic inequality.

By Jonathan Taplin ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The End of Reality as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

'A wake-up call ... fascinating' Scott Galloway, author of The Four

'Please read this' Jaron Lanier, author of Ten Arguments For Deleting Your Social Media

From the author of Move Fast and Break Things comes a withering takedown of four billionaires (from Andreessen to Zuckerberg) who are selling us fantasies while the world burns.

At a time when multiple crises are compounding to create epic inequality, four billionaires are hyping schemes that are designed to divert our attention away from issues that really matter. Each scheme - from the metaverse to cryptocurrency, space travel and transhumanism - is an existential…


Book cover of Seeing What Others Don't: The Remarkable Ways We Gain Insights
Book cover of Subprime Attention Crisis: Advertising and the Time Bomb at the Heart of the Internet
Book cover of The Art of Noticing: Rediscover What Really Matters to You

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