6 Unexpected Books for Designers and Technologists (And Others, Too)

Consider these thought-provoking recommendations from Schema.

Creating innovative digital platforms, visualizations, and websites is hard. This work requires excellent design skills, coding prowess, a mind for strategy, and large amounts of empathy. But an expansive perspective is also a must. You need to be curious to be creative. New ideas come from unexpected places.

Books make great gifts (we think!) for designers, technologists, and everyone else. On the hunt for intriguing gifts this holiday season? Below are recommendations from a few of us here at Schema— books that have been keeping us inspired and thinking big.

Horizon

By Barry Lopez

From the vantage point of remote outposts across the globe, Lopez examines the lessons of past peoples and the legacy we’re preparing to leave behind.

Horizon is part travelogue, part memoir, part meditative reflection on a life spent combing the cultural and geologic landscapes of our planet. He asks more than he answers, listens more than he talks, and encourages readers to acknowledge and challenge the lenses we often place between ourselves and our surroundings — an invaluable perspective to bear in mind when thinking about how to construct narratives, including in visual communication. I wish I could share a tea and a long walk through the woods with Lopez; reading Horizon is the next best thing. — Jeff MacInnes, Director of Technology

Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers

By Robert M. Sapolsky

Sapolsky describes human health as a continuous process of adaptation to our environment, a tendency of organisms to maintain optimal functioning at all times — a notion you won’t find in self-help books.

Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers is a book about stress. Humans tend to get different diseases now than they did a hundred years ago. In the past people died from hunger, in wars, from infectious diseases, and in childbirth — all causes that were mostly concerned with physical wellbeing. Today, we humans are more likely to suffer from our lifestyle choices: diet, bad habits, and most importantly, from emotional imbalance — worry and stress. The author Robert M. Sapolsky describes the role of stress in making some of us more vulnerable to disease and the intricate relationship between the body and the mind — a notion that has not been fully understood by science or embraced by medicine. I just started reading the book, but I already love how complicated scientific concepts are explained with humor and relatable examples. — Sergei Larionov, Design Director

Ficciones

By Jorge Luis Borges

These mid-20th century stories have new meaning in the digital age of augmented and virtual reality as they provide metaphysical lenses for the imaginary worlds we can create with new experiential mediums.

Ficciones, by Argentinian literary legend Jorge Luis Borges, is a collection of dense poetic short stories. Each provides a window into an alternate universe whose physics are governed more by fantastical philosophical and conceptual lattices than mechanical order. These universes consist of infinite libraries, secret cabals who create encyclopedias of mythic lands and labyrinths that behave like the inner mind. Borges has provided a road map of sorts to guide us through our emerging ability to generate imaginary realities as shared experiences. — Joeseph Gray, Creative Technologist

Hyperobjects

By Timothy Morton

In the way that data visualization helps me understand complexity, so does this book, on a very deep, existential level.

Timothy Morton is a philosopher who writes about ecology. He challenges readers to throw the conventional concept of “nature” out the window and reimagine how everything relates to everything else. In Hyperobjects, he takes on the topic of global warming by reminding us that we’re part of huge, unknowable, uncomfortable things — things we can’t escape because we’re part of them. Hyperobjects is a difficult read — dense, abstract, frustrating, oddly comforting, and ultimately mind-expanding. It’s worth the time of anyone interested in challenging themselves to think big and understand what it means to live in the Anthropocene.— Erin Kendig, Communications Manager

Norwegian Wood

By Haruki Murakami

Wandering Murakami’s wintery woods is the best Christmas gift to revitalize the mind.

Haruki Murakami’s novel Norwegian Wood is a beautiful, slow-paced tale of love, loss, and grief. It takes the reader through the life of a man who, even decades after a personal tragedy, is still affected by it. It reflects on these moments in our lives that shape who we become. As with most books by Murakami, reading Norwegian Wood is a powerful lesson in letting go. It is a feeling akin to being taken by the hand and guided through a waking dream, which uncovers more questions than it gives answers. This novel is best enjoyed with a cup of hot cocoa and a warm blanket!— Veronique Demers, Creative Technologist

Measure What Matters

By John Doerr

This is an essential book for team managers and also individuals who want an approach to goal-setting and making choices.

Measure What Matters, written by John Doerr, is a book for team leaders and individuals who wants to reach their goals. This book is about using Objectives and Key Results (OKRs), a well known goal-setting system for companies, teams, and individuals. Doerr provides a broad perspective and good tips like “Take an action. Execution is important,” and “Be flexible as you work towards you final objective,” as well as many examples that illustrate how companies execute OKRs. — Anna Peng, Self-Aware Engineer

P.S. If you can, shop local! We’re based in Seattle and love Elliot Bay Books).