At this years CodeStock conference in Knoxville we had a very active open spaces area. The session I suggested and helped with was on “Books That Changed My Career / Life”. As a group we came up with a list of books that had made an impact on lives. Our only rule was it couldn’t be directly tech, for example a book like SQL Server MVP Deep Dives. (#shamelessplug)
The list was quite surprising. Of course there were some of the classics like the 7 Habits book, or tech related books such as Code by Charles Petzold, who was also the keynote speaker. Also not a surprise were some motivational books, such as those by Seth Godin.
The rest of the list had some surprises, at least for me. There were several works of fiction included, because the participants said it revealed new ways of thinking to them.
So without any more fanfare, here is the list in the order presented. When the author was known, I put their name next to the title after the dash. For any authors out there whose names I’ve misspelled, my apologies. Book titles were being flung out fast and furious and I may have missed the correct spelling. Also in some cases the book author wasn’t known at the time the list was being compiled.
At some point I hope to clean this list up, sort it into groups and add hyperlinks to sites where the book can be obtained. Since I didn’t want to delay publishing the list however, I present it below as it was created at the open spaces session. If you were in attendance, a big thanks! And if you have any corrections please feel free to leave a comment below, it’d be a big help to me and everyone who attended or sees this list.
Rework – Hasson & Fried
Tribes – Seth Godin
Linchpin – Seth Godin
Less – Mark Lesser
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance – Robert Pirsig
The Tao of Pooh – Benjamin Hoff
Who Moved My Cheese
Aramis, or For the Love of Technology – Bruno Latour
Tick Tock – James Patterson
Crush It – Vaynerchuck
Secrets of a Buccaneer Scholar
In the Beginning Was The Command Line – Neil Stephenson
How to Win Friends and Influence People
Atlas Shrugged – Ayn Rand
Anthem – Ayn Rand
Libertarianism – Boaz
Leaves of Grass – Lewsky
Cuckoo’s Egg – Clifford Stole
Rouge Warriors Strategy Guide to Success – Richard Marcinko
Elements of Style – Strunk and White
The War of Art – Pressfield
Getting Real
The E-Myth
Enders Game
Griftopia – Taibbi
Last Lecture – Randy Pausch
On Writing – Stephen King
The Hardboiled Wonderland and the End Of The World
Here Comes Everybody
The Way of the Peaceful Warrior – Milman
7 Habits of Highly Successful People
Hackers
Hackers and Painters – Paul Graham
Slideology
Resonate
Beautiful Visualizations
Presentation Zen – Reynolds
The Romans – Richard Talbert
Influence – Cialdini
Socratic Selling
The God Who Was There – Francis Schaffer
The Shack
Hard Drive
The Goal – Elihayu Goldratt
Beyond the Goal – Elihayu Goldratt
Dreaming in Code
4 Hour Work Week
Cognitive Surplus
Do The Work – Pressfield
Pragmatic Thinking and Learning
Makers – Cory Doctorow
Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom– Cory Doctorow
Daemon – Daniel Suarez
Freedom – Daniel Suarez
Total Money Makeover – Dave Ramsey
Anathem – Neil Stephenson
The Second Son – Charles Sailor
Rich Dad Poor Dad
You Are Not A Gadget
Drive – Daniel Pink
Millionaire Mind
Code – Charles Petzold
Video mentions
In addition to the list of above books, two video series were recommended. These titles are below.
Business of Software by Kathy Sierra
Webstock – An Australian based conference that makes their videos available for later viewing
Arcane Code 
Thanks for posting this. One correction – it’s _House of Leaves_ by Mark Danielewsky, not _Leaves of Grass_ by Lewsky.