Creativity

• Art & Fear: Observations On the Perils and Rewards of Artmaking, David Bayles and Ted Orland
• Big Magic, Elizabeth Gilbert
• Steal Like An Artist, Austin Kleon
• What It Is, Lynda Barry
• In the Company of Women: Inspiration and Advice from over 100 Makers, Artists, and Entrepreneurs, Grace Bonney
• The Cheese Monkeys, Chip Kidd

Drawing

• Drawn to Life: 20 Golden Years of Disney Master Classes: Volume 1: The Walt Stanchfield Lectures, Walt Stanchfield
• Color and Light: A Guide for the Realist Painter, James Gurney
• Creative Illustration, Andrew Loomis
• Picture This: How Pictures Work, Molly Bang

Writing

• On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft, Stephen King
• Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life, Anne Lamott
• The Elements of Style, William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White
• Walking on Water: Reading, Writing, and Revolution, by Derrick Jensen

Typography

• Thinking with Type, Ellen Lupton
• Hand Job: A Catalog of Type, Michael Perry
• The Elements of Typographic Style, Robert Bringhurst

Picture Books

• Writing Picture Books, Ann Whitford Paul
• Caldecott and Co.: Notes on Books and Pictures, Maurice Sendak
• Writing with Pictures, Uri Shulevitz
• Words and Pictures, Quentin Blake
• Illustrating Children’s Books, Martin Salisbury

Comics

• Understanding Comics, Scott McCloud
• Making Comics, Scott McCloud
• Comics and Sequential Art, Will Eisner
• Graphic Storytelling and Visual Narrative, Will Eisner
• Drawing Words and Writing Pictures: Making Comics: Manga, Graphic Novels, and Beyond, Jessica Abel and Matt Madden

Storytelling

• The New Kings of Nonfiction, Short stories collected and edited by Ira Glass
• Slouching Towards Bethlehem, Joan Didion

Business

• The 4-Hour Workweek, Timothy Ferriss (I don’t agree with everything he says, but there are some real gems here.)
• The Freelancer’s Bible: Everything You Need to Know to Have the Career of Your Dreams — On Your Terms, Sara Horowitz
• My So-Called Freelance Life: How to Survive and Thrive as a Creative Professional for Hire, Michelle Goodman

Psychology

• When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times, Pema Chödrön
• Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking, Susan Cain
• What I Talk About When I Talk About Running, Haruki Murakami
• The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business, Charles Duhigg
• The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change, Stephen R. Covey

“Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.” 

— W.B. Yeats

From Christine Nishiyama