The Way of Work: Recommended Resources

This is a (growing) collection of all the best resources mentioned in The Way of Work, and have had a big impact on my life. Subscribe to get my next essay:

---

Table of Contents

1. Most Frequently Recommended

2. Best Newsletters

3. Best Coaches & Communities

4. Best Work Books

5. Best Transition Books

6. Best Productivity Books

7. Best Money Books

8. Best Philosophy Books

9. Best Psychology Books

10. Best Media & Technology Books

11. Best Healthcare Books

12. Best Sci-Fi & Fantasy Books

---

---

Most Frequently Recommended

These resources have been frequently recommended in The Way of Work.

• The Second Mountain by David Brooks
  ☆ Mentioned in Committed: How to give a damn about your work
  ☆ Mentioned in Will you get what you want, after reaching financial independence?

• Pathless Path by Paul Millerd
  ☆ Mentioned in How to stay out of their box (in your career)
  ☆ Mentioned in Everywhere But Home: The search for belonging after reaching financial freedom at 32

• The Denial of Death by Ernest Becker
  ☆ Mentioned in 10 Takeaways from a 'Work in Progress' (or, how to build a career)
  ☆ Mentioned in Diversified Portfolio of Identities

• Die With Zero by Bill Perkins
  ☆ Mentioned in Rich, Powerful, and Ready to Quit
  ☆ Mentioned in Should you put off life for the future?

---

---

Best Newsletters

If you like my writing, you should check out some of these other great writers:

• The Elysian
  by
  Elle Griffin

• Dave Kang's Octopus Life
  by
  Dave Kang

• Out Over My Skis
  by
  Tom Pendergast

• The Purpose Code
  by
  Jordan Grumet

• RadReads by Khe Hy

---

---

Best Coaches & Communities

• The Pathless Path Community By

  Paul Millerd

  For early-to-mid career professionals exploring life outside the default path

• Beyond the Finish Line by The Retired Founder

  For post-exit & post-economic founders navigating their new world

• Post Achievement Professionals by Khe Hy

  For successful, high-achievers who want more from life

• Downshift Decelerator by

  Steven Schlafman

  For grinders who want to slow down to become more grounded in life.

• Inside-Out Leadership Coaching by

  Ryan Vaughn

  For entrepreneurs who want to pair performance with deep inner work

---

---

Best Work Books

These books have shaped my thinking about work, both the good and bad. What’s common among all of them is a willingness to challenge conventional wisdom: they make you think differently about work.

• Moral Mazes: The World of Corporate Managers by Robert Jackall
  ☆ Mentioned in 10 Takeaways from a 'Work in Progress' (or, how to build a career)

• Shop Class as Soulcraft by Matthew Crawford
  ☆ Mentioned in Scale down, after scaling up

• The Almanack of Naval Ravikant by Eric Jorgenson
  ☆ Mentioned in Why you probably have a low leverage career

• The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz
  ☆ Mentioned in 10 Takeaways from a 'Work in Progress' (or, how to build a career)

• Creativity, Inc. by Ed Catmull (founder of Pixar)
  ☆ Mentioned in Early Stage Innovation: What it’s like at the beginning

• Shoe Dog by Phil Knight (founder of Nike)
  ☆ Mentioned in 10 Takeaways from a 'Work in Progress' (or, how to build a career)

• Lost and Founder by Rand Fishkin
  ☆ Mentioned in 10 Takeaways from a 'Work in Progress' (or, how to build a career)

• Nickel & Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich
  ☆ Mentioned in On Quitting (when it’s unclear whether to quit)

• Reinventing Organizations by Frederic Laloux

• Rework by Jason Fried & DHH (founders of 37signals)

• The Dilbert Principle by Scott Adams

---

---

Best Books for Transitions

If you are going through a career change, midlife crisis, in the midst of a sabbatical, or dealing with any type of transition… these books served as guides for me in along my own journey.

• The Second Mountain by David Brooks
  ☆ Mentioned in Committed: How to give a damn about your work
  ☆ Mentioned in Will you get what you want, after reaching financial independence?

• Pathless Path by Paul Millerd
  ☆ Mentioned in How to stay out of their box (in your career)
  ☆ Mentioned in Everywhere But Home: The search for belonging after reaching financial freedom at 32

• Working Identity by Herminia Ibarra
  ☆ Mentioned in Fluidity: How to continually reinvent yourself

• Transitions by William Bridges
  ☆ Mentioned in Fluidity: How to continually reinvent yourself

• Designing Your Life by Bill Burnett & Dave Evans
  ☆ Mentioned in When you don’t have a “calling”

• What Happens When You Get What You Want? by Rick Eigenbrod
  ☆ Mentioned in After ‘Happily Ever After’

---

---

Best Productivity Books

• Deep Work by Cal Newport
  ☆ Mentioned in Scale down, after scaling up

• Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown
  ☆ Mentioned in Scale down, after scaling up

• Getting Things Done by David Allen

• The Effective Executive by Peter Drucker

• The Toyota Way by Jeffrey Liker

---

---

Best Money Books

• Die With Zero by Bill Perkins
  ☆ Mentioned in Rich, Powerful, and Ready to Quit
  ☆ Mentioned in Should you put off life for the future?

• Your Money or Your Life by Vicki Robin

• Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki

• Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel

• Four Pillars of Investing by William Bernstein

---

---

Best Philosophy Books

Note that I define “philosophy” very broadly here.

• The Denial of Death by Ernest Becker
  ☆ Mentioned in 10 Takeaways from a 'Work in Progress' (or, how to build a career)
  ☆ Mentioned in Diversified Portfolio of Identities

• The Wisdom of Insecurity by Alan Watts
  ☆ Mentioned in Rich, Powerful, and Ready to Quit

• Self-Reliance by Ralph Waldo Emerson
  ☆ Mentioned in 10 Takeaways from a 'Work in Progress' (or, how to build a career)

• Zen & The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig
  ☆ Mentioned in Expectations Never End: Finding freedom after enough

• The Genealogy of Morals by Friedrich Nietzsche

• The Book of Life by Jiddu Krishnamurti

• Striking Thoughts by Bruce Lee

• Notes from Underground by Fyodor Dostoevsky

• The Stranger by Albert Camus

• The Plague by Albert Camus

---

---

Best Psychology Books

• The Happiness Hypothesis by Jonathan Haidt

• The Righteous Mind by Jonathan Haidt

• The Moral Animal by Robert Wright

• The Blank Slate by Steven Pinker

• Thinking Fast & Slow by Daniel Kahneman

---

---

Best Media & Technology Books

• Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman

• To Save Everything, Click Here by Evgeny Morozov

• Decoded by Jay-Z

• You Are Not a Gadget by Jaron Lanier

• Alone Together by Sherry Turkle

---

---

Best Healthcare Books

• An American Sickness by Elisabeth Rosenthal

• Bad Blood by John Carreyrou

• Healing of America by T. R. Reid

• Redefining Healthcare by Michael Porter

• Innovator’s Prescription by Clayton Christensen

---

---

Best Sci-Fi & Fantasy Books

What I like to read for fun.

• The Road by Cormac McCarthy

• First Law Trilogy by Joe Abercrombie

• Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson

• Song of Fire and Ice by George R.R. Martin

• KingKiller Chronicles by Patrick Rothfuss

• Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkein

• Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card

---

---