Recommendations based on Making Ideas Happen: Overcoming the Obstacles Between Vision and Realityby Scott Belsky

* statistically, based on millions of data-points provided by fellow humans

  1. Rework

    by Jason Fried
    A guide to starting and running a successful business with unconventional advice and practical tips.

    Most business books give you the same old advice: Write a business plan, study the competition, seek investors, yadda yadda. If you're looking for a book like that, put this one back on the shelf. ... (Goodreads)

  2. The War of Art: Winning the Inner Creative Battle

    by Steven Pressfield
    A guide to overcoming procrastination and other inner obstacles to unleash creativity.

    A succinct, engaging, and practical guide for succeeding in any creative sphere,, The War of, Art, is nothing less than Sun-Tzu for the soul. What keeps so many of us from doing what we long to do? ... (Barnes & Noble)

  3. Don't Make Me Think, Revisited: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability

    by Steve Krug
    A guide to creating intuitive, user-friendly websites.

    Since Don’t Make Me Think was first published in 2000, over 400,000 Web designers and developers have relied on Steve Krug’s guide to help them understand the principles of intuitive navigation and ... (Goodreads)

  4. Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity

    by David Allen
    A guide to improving efficiency and productivity through better organization.

    The book, Lifehack, calls ,"The Bible of business and personal productivity.","A completely revised and updated edition of the blockbuster bestseller from 'the personal productivity guru'",—,Fast ... (Barnes & Noble)

  5. The Lean Startup: How Today's Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses

    by Eric Ries
    Systematic approach to launching and managing successful businesses in an ever-changing market.

    Most startups fail. But many of those failures are preventable. The Lean Startup is a new approach being adopted across the globe, changing the way companies are built and new products are launched. ... (Goodreads)

  6. A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future

    by Daniel H. Pink
    Exploring the rise of right-brain thinking and how creativity and emotion are shaping our world.

    The future belongs to a different kind of person with a different kind of mind: artists, inventors, storytellers-creative and holistic "right-brain" thinkers whose abilities mark the fault line ... (Goodreads)

  7. Linchpin: Are You Indispensable?

    by Seth Godin
    Exploring how to unlock potential, create value and become indispensable to an organization.

    In bestsellers such as Purple Cow and Tribes , Seth Godin taught readers how to make remarkable products and spread powerful ideas. But this book is about you—your choices, your future, and your ... (Goodreads)

  8. Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative

    by Austin Kleon
    A guide to unlocking creativity by embracing influence, stealing ideas, and making something new.

    You don’t need to be a genius, you just need to be yourself. That’s the message from Austin Kleon, a young writer and artist who knows that creativity is everywhere, creativity is for everyone. A ... (Goodreads)

  9. Do the Work

    by Steven Pressfield
    A practical guide to overcoming resistance and completing creative projects. Encourages action and persistence in the face of self-doubt and fear.

    Do the Work Our enemy is not lack of preparation; it's not the difficulty of the project, or the state of the marketplace or the emptiness of our bank account. The enemy is resistance. The enemy is ... (Goodreads)

  10. Ignore Everybody: and 39 Other Keys to Creativity

    by Hugh MacLeod
    A witty and insightful guide to unlocking your creative potential, with practical advice and humorous illustrations.

    When Hugh MacLeod was a struggling young copywriter living in a YMCA, he started to doodle on the backs of business cards while sitting at a bar. Those cartoons eventually led to a popular ... (Goodreads)

  11. Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion

    by Robert B. Cialdini
    An analysis of the psychology of persuasion and how to use it to influence people.

    Influence, the classic book on persuasion, explains the psychology of why people say "yes"—and how to apply these understandings. Dr. Robert Cialdini is the seminal expert in the rapidly expanding ... (Goodreads)

  12. The Dip: A Little Book That Teaches You When to Quit

    by Seth Godin
    A guide to help readers identify when to quit and when to persevere in their pursuits, in order to achieve success.

    A, New York Times,, USA Today, and, Wall Street Journal, bestseller In this iconic bestseller, popular business blogger and bestselling author Seth Godin proves that winners are really just the best ... (Barnes & Noble)

  13. Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking

    by Susan Cain
    An exploration of the power of introversion, examining the implications of modern society's emphasis on extroversion.

    The book that started the Quiet Revolution, At least one-third of the people we know are introverts. They are the ones who prefer listening to speaking; who innovate and create but dislike ... (Goodreads)

  14. Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us

    by Seth Godin
    A practical guide to successful leadership, emphasizing the importance of connection with others.

    A tribe is any group of people, large or small, who are connected to one another, a leader, and an idea. For millions of years, humans have been seeking out tribes, be they religious, ethnic, ... (Goodreads)

  15. Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard

    by Chip Heath
    Exploring ways to make change easier in life and work, using practical strategies.

    Why is it so hard to make lasting changes in our companies, in our communities, and in our own lives? The primary obstacle is a conflict that's built into our brains, say Chip and Dan Heath, authors ... (Goodreads)

  16. Free: The Future of a Radical Price

    by Chris Anderson
    Examination of the power of free products and services in the modern economy.

    Reveals how to run an online business profitably in spite of the Internet's inherently free culture, disseminating the principles of a ''priceless economy'' in six categories that pertain to ... (Goodreads)

  17. Anything You Want

    by Derek Sivers
    A concise guide to building a successful business, emphasizing the importance of passion, purpose, and customer satisfaction.

    Best known for creating CD Baby, the most popular music site for independent artists, founder Derek Sivers chronicles his “accidental” success and failures into this concise and inspiring book on how ... (Goodreads)

  18. Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die

    by Chip Heath
    Exploring why certain ideas are remembered and others are forgotten, focusing on practical ways to make ideas ‘stick’.

    NEW YORK TIMES, BESTSELLER - The instant classic about why some ideas thrive, why others die, and how to improve your idea's chances–essential reading in the "fake news" era. Mark Twain once ... (Goodreads)

  19. Presentation Zen: Simple Ideas on Presentation Design and Delivery

    by Garr Reynolds
    Guide to creating effective and engaging presentations through engaging visuals and storytelling.

    Garr Reynolds, author of the best-selling book on presentation design and delivery, is back with this newly revised edition of this classic book, Presentation Zen . Showing us there is a better way ... (Barnes & Noble)

  20. Thinking, Fast and Slow

    by Daniel Kahneman
    An exploration of the two systems of the mind, and how they influence decision-making.

    In the highly anticipated Thinking, Fast and Slow , Kahneman takes us on a groundbreaking tour of the mind and explains the two systems that drive the way we think. System 1 is fast, intuitive, and ... (Goodreads)

  21. How Google Works

    by Eric Schmidt
    Exploring the secrets of the world's most successful tech giant, offering insight into its inner workings.

    Both Eric Schmidt and Jonathan Rosenberg came to Google as seasoned Silicon Valley business executives, but over the course of a decade they came to see the wisdom in Coach John Wooden's observation ... (Goodreads)

  22. Ego Is the Enemy

    by Ryan Holiday
    Exploring the destructive power of ego and how to overcome it.

    “While the history books are filled with tales of obsessive, visionary geniuses who remade the world in their image with sheer, almost irrational force, I’ve found that history is also made by ... (Goodreads)

  23. A Man Without a Country

    by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
    A collection of essays and speeches by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. that reflect on his life, politics, and the state of the world.

    In a volume that is penetrating, introspective, incisive, and laugh-out-loud funny, one of the great men of letters of this era—or any era—holds forth on life, art, sex, politics, and the state of ... (Goodreads)

  24. The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers

    by Ben Horowitz
    A practical guide to navigating the challenges of building and leading a successful business, with insights from a seasoned entrepreneur.

    Ben Horowitz, cofounder of Andreessen Horowitz and one of Silicon Valley's most respected and experienced entrepreneurs, offers essential advice on building and running a startup—practical wisdom for ... (Barnes & Noble)

  25. Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration

    by Ed Catmull
    An exploration of the principles and strategies that drive success in the creative process.

    “What does it mean to manage well?” From Ed Catmull, co-founder (with Steve Jobs and John Lasseter) of Pixar Animation Studios, comes an incisive book about creativity in business—sure to appeal to ... (Goodreads)

  26. The Art of Non-Conformity: Set Your Own Rules, Live the Life You Want, and Change the World

    by Chris Guillebeau
    A guide to living an unconventional life and creating meaningful change in the world.

    If you've ever thought, "There must be more to life than this," "The Art of Non-Conformity" is for you. Based on Chris Guillebeau's popular online manifesto "A Brief Guide to World Domination," "The ... (Goodreads)

  27. Strengths Finder 2.0

    by Tom Rath
    Discover your top five strengths and learn how to leverage them for personal and professional success.

    Do You Do What You Do Best Every Day? Chances are, you don't. From the cradle to the cubicle, we devote more time to fixing our shortcomings than to developing our strengths. To help people uncover ... (Goodreads)

  28. Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us

    by Daniel H. Pink
    A thought-provoking analysis of what truly motivates people, challenging traditional notions of rewards and punishments.

    The, New York Times, bestseller that gives readers a paradigm-shattering new way to think about motivation Most people believe that the best way to motivate is with rewards like money—the ... (Goodreads)

  29. Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action

    by Simon Sinek
    A guide to inspiring and motivating others to take action through understanding the power of why.

    Why do you do what you do? Why are some people and organizations more innovative, more influential, and more profitable than others? Why do some command greater loyalty from customers and employees ... (Goodreads)

  30. Getting Real: The Smarter, Faster, Easier Way to Build a Web Application

    by 37 Signals
    A practical guide to building web applications with a focus on simplicity, efficiency, and user experience.

    Getting Real details the business, design, programming, and marketing principles of 37signals. The book is packed with keep-it-simple insights, contrarian points of view, and unconventional ... (Barnes & Noble)