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