THE reading list
THE FOLLOWING BOOKS HAVE BEEN CURATED as resources TO SUPPORT fundamental aspects of YOUr creativity. The Creative Condition book can be found in the shop on this site. I couldn’t muster the arrogance to bang it in on this list.
The Creativity Choice
THE Science of Making Decisions to Turn Ideas into Action
Zorana Ivcevic Pringle
A groundbreaking exploration of why some people regularly take action on their ideas through creativity by Yale University Centre for Emotional Intelligence Senior Research Scientist Zorana Pringle. Laying bare creative self-efficacy, confidence, the role of determination and trials in the creative process, this one articulates beautifully what we all feel in our creative work, and the reasons too many abandon ship upon encountering the first wave.
We Need Your Art
Stop F*cking Around and Make Something
By Amie McNee
A passionate, experience informed, insightful and actionable guide to unleashing the art we born to make, and embracing the artist we were born be. Amie is a writer, fellow creativity coach, and artist who experienced a familiar path of rejection and self-rejection before finding her voice, and developing an invaluable understanding of the necessity of making art for the human condition. This one is hilarious, moving, and bloody inspiring.
The Four Conversations
A New Model for Selling Expertise
By Blair Enns
Blair Enns is a pricing wizard. His Win Without Pitching Manifesto moved the needles for creative industry people who wrestled with the many intricacies and challenges when it comes to pricing work that has varying levels of values, licenses, and other variables. The Four Conversations hones in on the task of selling expertise, not finite products or ‘deliverables.’
It’s concise, clear, amusing, and most importantly priceless for those who offer consultancy, coaching, guidance, or any other hard-learned specialist counsel.
The Imagination Emporium
Creative Recipes for Innovation
By Duncan Wardle
A playful ‘cookbook’ style romp through ideas, exercises, insights, and stories by former Disney Head of Innovation and Creativity Duncan Wardle. Duncan’s vibrant energy and personality shine through this one, and it’s incredibly accessible and impactful for even those who have been leading with creativity for decades.
UNHEARD
THE MEDICAL PRACTICE OF SILENCING
By Rageshri Dhairyawan
Listening might just be the most undervalued aspect of creativity. It’s certainly in the conversation if there is such a discussion to be had. Rageshri Dhairyawan is a HIV and sexual health doctor and researcher. The silencing of her endometriosis pain planted the seed of the idea for her wonderful debut book Unheard. Written in the context of healthcare and the reasons why so many people, both doctor and patient remain unheard, this book transcends its field. In a 1000mph, strained, paranoid world, how many of us truly listen with all of our senses? In the creative process, we are so often locked in our conscious brains, focused on delivery, product, and budget, leaving that pure imaginative, insightful magic s embedded deep beneath the surface. Unheard is a superb way to understand how different it might be, better for our humanity, community, and creativity.
Rethink The Couch
Into the Bedrooms and Boardrooms of Asia with an Expat Therapist
By Allison Heiliczer
A unique insight into human needs, why they’re not met, and methods to address the symptoms by therapist Allison Heiliczer. Allison, without judgment, uses great warmth, open-mindedness, and empathy to the fore in a book that paints an intriguing picture of the sheer complexity of the human condition, particularly in this 1000mph, too much world.
FILTERWORLD
By Kyle Chayka
Filterworld appeared on my radar when I painted live as a part of TBWA’s ‘Disruption seminar’ at Cannes Lions Festival. Kyle joined director and writer Lucia Aniello and TBWA’s Erin Riley and Jen Costello in discussing how we address the algorithmic sea of same we are experiencing as technology leads us down and ever-narrowing corridor of conformity. Engagement and validation are crushing big balls creativity, and nobody writes the whole story better than The New Yorker staff writer and author Kyle Chayka. Kyle writes about the internet for The New Yorker and has been online since around the age of 10 or 11. He brings it all to this book in alarming, informative, and occasionally hopeful fashion. Read this for a fantastic overview and history of the current battle between online presence and real-world creativity, and use it to conduct your own ruthless digital cleanse.
Your Brain On Art
By Susan Magsamen and Ivy Ross
An utterly fascinating and highly accessible literary assault on the many senses. Your Brain on Art will gift you greater conscious awareness of what’s going on not just upstairs, but in the entire human body. Reading YBOA necessitated various working environment changes, a crackdown on walking around on my phone, and heightened my trust in my instincts for creative direction. And that was just the start.
In Praise of Shadows
By Jun’Ichirō Tanizaki
A seductive, sensual, inviting, and intimate wander through the forgotten necessity of shadows through the lens of the last days of pre-electricity Japan. A reminder to turn the volume down and step back in these crazed times of incessant screaming. Any good art tutor will teach the need to value the negative space and how to command it as a centrepiece of meaningful work. In Praise of Shadows does exactly this while enduring in our modern age as an essential reminder that not all of life can be enjoyed in technicolour, all of the time.
The Happiness Hypothesis
By Jonathan Haidt
New York University social psychologist Jonathan Haidt takes 10 enduring ‘truths’ from civilisations throughout human history and holds them under the lens of modern science, psychology, and thinking to try establish a framework for what makes for a happy human existence. Accessible, valuable, and highly interesting work that provides quieter steer through a humdrum landscape of deafening ‘self love.’
UNPROCESSED
By KIMBERLEY WILSON
Despite the abundance of readily available resources, many still overlook nutrition’s vital importance for what author Kimberley Wilson describes as ‘whole body mental health’. Unprocessed helped me out of a personal and professional low when I acted immediately, transforming the weaker areas of my diet. The need for naps vanished, and my energy and positivity ramped up. I would encourage anyone to read this superb, important, and at times infuriating (oh supermarkets.…), especially those looking to develop their creativity. Time to stop seeing lunch as a calendar irritant…
STATION ELEVEN
BY EMILY ST JOHN MANDEL
“Survival is insufficient” is the driving mantra for a post-apocalyptic theatre troupe traveling from survivor community to community. This profound future-retrospective lens on our society, the way we live, and the need for culture even in the darkest of times is – at least to me – a masterpiece. A must read to recognise just how good we have it, and how bad it might get if we don’t return appreciation to the things that truly matter. In these times, in which we flirt with multiple apocalypses, culture and creativity are more important than ever. We cannot sit around waiting for authorities to catch up. Station 11 reminded me we must leave them behind and create hard.
THE ELEMENT
By SIR KEN ROBINSON WITH LOU ARONICA
A warm, enriching, and accessible raft of inspirational accounts of people – either by accident, or by following their hearts without compromise – who have found their element. Sir Ken defines the element as the place where a person’s passions meet what they are good at. In typical fashion, he is equal parts amusing, informative, and illuminating as he champions creativity and the need for a revolution in education to serve people in a far more wholesome, less alienating way.
GLITTERING A TURD
By Kris Hallenga
Kris Hallenga was diagnosed with terminal cancer at the age of 23. Her scintillating, brave, and defiant response was awe-inspiring, setting up her breast cancer awareness charity Coppafeel. While not a blueprint for anybody else – illness is a unique experience for each of us – Kris’ story shows us what can be achieved in life in even the darkest circumstances.
We sadly lost Kris in 2024, but she left behind a truly remarkable story.
NOW IS BETTER
By STEFAN SAGMEISTER
Stefan Sagmeister’s torso, with the infamous gauged-in type advertising a talk he was due to give, adorned my university workspace wall. In 2023, his book, Now Is Better arrived at a time I desperately needed a tonic to the doom and gloom social media and 24/7 news cycles had me drowning under. A stunning artistic representation of data shows us that in many ways, today is the best time in human history to be alive. Without shying from the challenges we face, an all-time design master presents us with sheer beauty to hold in our hands, packed with reasons to believe that each of our actions matters and that together, we can make a huge difference to the trajectory of our species and all the rest upon which we depend.
Sevens Heaven
BY BEN RYAN
A sporting classic packed full of human creativity in full effect. Former England rugby 7s coach Ben Ryan started as an art teacher in a giant London comprehensive school while playing rugby. Given freedom to shape the PE he went onto teach, he developed his own way of coaching the sport. Sevens Heaven is the tale of his Fijian adventure, how he took the men’s national rugby 7s team to Olympic gold at the 2016 Rio Games by lending himself to the culture, freeing big personalities to play the game with passion and joy, while steering big characters to their best version.
BY HANNAH RITCHIE
NOT THE END OF THE WORLD
If Now Is Better is the visual tonic to the toxic online hysteria of 24/7 news cycles, then Hannah Ritchie’s work is a written, brilliant version that uplifts and screams a rallying cry for every one of us to take our threats seriously, but recognise just how quickly the human race can pivot when our backs are against the wall. Utterly beautiful and essential for a sensitive human who wants to join the fight of our lifetimes.
The Anxious Generation
BY Jonathan Haidt
I knew smartphones in the hands of children was a fucking disaster. I didn’t have all the tools, and stats were limited to a couple of studies cited in The Creative Condition book, but you only have to look around at our fellow adults to see how bad this could be. I’ve been raising my kids with a major focus on physical play, outdoor exploration, storytelling, imagination, and socialising, and Jonathan Haidt has made me glad about this. But me – nor any one parent – can counter the rising mental health crisis among young people if the shocking damage caused by premature access to the internet and social media isn’t addressed and dealt with.
Haidt has written a critical book that lands the bleak facts at our door, and The Anxious Generation is also a warning for the creative industry.
None of us are safe from what he terms ‘The largest uncontrolled experiment humanity has ever conducted on its children.’
The good news? We can reverse it if we all pull together.
THE NATURE PRINCIPLE
BY RICHARD LOUV
A moving and deep call to hope and action to fix our broken relationship with nature. Richard Louv reminds us of our biophilia: the innate need for connection with other living things, and how screwed we will be if we give up now.
Biophilia is a key and routinely overlooked aspect of creativity and well-being, and there is nowhere better to start better understanding the head-popping number of sensory, emotional, and physical needs nature serves us. We are a part of it, after all…
Don’t Get a Job.. Make a Job
By Gem Barton
The world is changing. Jobs are evolving, people are required to show up with more skills, software capabilities, and other strings to their bow than ever before. ‘The Creative Condition’ was my way of evolving to stabilise my career having specialised as an illustrator for 17 years. Nobody was going to pay me the money I needed to make for anything else, and financial turmoil was terrifying, so I had to create my own ‘promotion’. Gem Barton recognises this reality and has pulled together a range of great examples of creativity people have shown to design their own careers without ever setting foot in a formal interview.
Look Again
BY Tali Sharot and Cass R. Sunstein
Those walks to work, the sex that was once life-affirming, the meal you used to salivate over, the warmth of that fresh coat of pink paint on the bathroom wall… what happened to them? It’s easy to stop seeing and feeling the magic that was always there as we go about our routines and daily lives and the years roll by. Look Again is a wildly interesting and timely book that explores human habituation, and how we can rediscover the joy of everything by learning how this works in our brains. This topic was explored on the ‘Cheeky Batman’ episode of the podcast.
DAVID AND GOLIATH
BY MALCOLM GLADWELL
I won an award in 2015. ‘Creative agency of the year’ - this swanky London thing. I’d been advised they were accepting freelancers in the category, so I tossed in my practice which entailed illustration, art, ‘The Creative Condition’ podcast, my Design Week column, and my first book, Champagne and Wax Crayons. I found the idea of little old me – as busy as I was –picking up an ‘agency’ award. Then the shortlisting came, and when I learned the final awarding would be down to f**king public voting, a popularity contest, I spat my dummy out and abandoned it. BUT I happened to be reading David and Goliath, a predictably brilliant outing by Malcolm Gladwell about underdogs and outsiders and I began to wonder if I could pull it off against the other nominees who were significantly bigger entities. Cue a ridiculously irreverent VOTE TALLON campaign in which I transformed myself into a captive, and eventually wall-mounted llama. I won. These days I don’t care about awards, but this book is phenomenal, and provides heart for those of us who feel insignificant in various bigger pictures. Spoiler: you’re not.
JOURNEYS & ESSENTIALS
BY DIXONBAXI
Simon Dixon and Aporva Baxi founded the brilliant DixonBaxi from the ground up. They’ve done so with wonder and unbridled love for both the human condition and great design and communication. They know what it takes to enable brilliance in the people who contribute daily to the agency’s well-earned glowing reputation in and beyond the creative industry. Their latest in-house books share the nature of this agency beast through great writing, ideas, practises, and observations, alongside the ingredients in the spells that have conjured their cracking body of work and stellar client list. The bad news is, the books are not on general sale, though that might change in future. And while I’m not here to promote petty crime, if you find yourself popping into DixonBaxi any time soon, they’re worth shoving up your jumper. But do it in front of the guys with a smile and chances are, they’ll enjoy the cheek and send you away with one. You don’t get where they’ve got without an appreciation for the often undervalued mischief element of creativity. And if nothing else, they’re an incredibly giving agency, via their ‘The DixonBaxi Way’ series and on Simon and Aporva’s Linkedin channels.
MAKEOVER
By LAURIE BOLGER
Authenticiy and inner-authority are key to creativity on our own terms. This poetry collection by writer Laurie Bolger is real. Absolutely real. Whimsical yet deep, funny while deadpan serious, and laced with the rich lived experience. It’s a sumptuous plateful of literary smut, and I can assure you, that’s a compliment.
A beautifully designed and printed gem from the Emma Press that will show you the value of the magic we overlook in the mud up the back of our trousers.
Do Start
By Dan Kieran
Like any business owner, Dan Kieran went through times when the publishing company he co-founded, Unbound took over his life. As CEO for ten years, he learned much along the way, and distills it into this concise, excellent, and actionable book that will benefit anyone looking to progress in the commercial world while enjoying broader life fulfilment and unsullied creativity.
The story of Art Without Men
BY Katy Hessel
You don’t have to travel too far back in time to see a hell of a lot of things dominated by blokes. In fact, sadly, in many quarters, despite impressive progress, you don’t really have to travel at all. But when I saw this in the window of Waterstones, I got more than a little excited. A bold and brilliant undertaking by Katy Hessel that I hope will shine some massively overdue spotlight on artist women who’ve spent too long in the shadows of their male counterparts.
Ways Of SeeIng
BY John Berger
21 years after it was on a design course reading list, it finally felt like the right time to read Ways of Seeing. A genuine classic with good reason: it will transform how you consider and interpret images, from art to photography. Must read for visual communicators of all kinds.
The Creative Act: a way of being
BY Rick Rubin
A deep, profound, and timely journey through the essence of creativity. At a time when data governs so much in the world, when logic is king, the legendary record producer has written an immersive experience that will resonate with all who have felt the serendipity at work when we feel the forward motion in our creativity and illustrate to others how ir might be different.
CREATIVITY FOR SALE
BY RADIM MALINIC
Radim Malinic has a knack for striking the perfect balance between solid business advice in a commercial world, and human warmth, empathy, and the lived experience anyone leading a career with creativity will relate to. A beautiful book full of career-defining advice.
Escaping wars &waves
BY Olivier Kugler
A moving example of the power of reportage journalism and illustration by a master of the genre. Olivier’s willingness to put himself in harm’s way to tell the stories that need telling is career-defining. His signature line-drawn style captures experiences both beautiful and harrowing. This book should serve as a reminder of both the power of visual communication, and a perspective realigner for when we slip into complaining about the trivial events in our daily lives. It’s also a masterful piece of art.
Tethering Presence
BY Michah Purnell and The1Harris
A wonderful snapshot of the roles smartphones play on our streets, exploring the duality of our need to connect and presence. Over 70 images of street photography by The1Harris with words and design by Micah Purnell. An important lens on the state of things in our shared urban environments and an impressive example of the creative fruits of observation.
Period Power
BY MAisie Hill
Seeing my wife, Laura chart her menstrual cycle, getting to understand the timings and feelings caused by it so she could respond from a place of knowledge was a fascinating experience. Then Joanna Henley spoke of factoring this into her mentoring work with female clients. Jo and Laura both made me aware of the brilliant work of Maisie Hill, author and life coach. All Maisie’s books could be on this list, but Period Power struck me as the one to share with you. As a creativity coach, I’m a huge advocate of deep work on body and brain to strengthen creative foundations, and it wasn’t too long ago absolutely nobody would have discussed such a major part of being a woman in such positive and game-changing ways, so let’s keep that conversation going.
Animal House
BY James Brown
People forget that lads’ mags weren’t always soft porn. James Brown founded Loaded in 1994 because he felt nobody was representing the voice of young men and the culture they belonged to. It was a chaotic era, but through those pages, many artists, musicians, photographers, and writers got their breaks. James Brown had balls, a big mouth, and even bigger ideas, and he committed to the project in brazen fashion. This is the story of a shifting culture, and the importance of hard work, self-belief, and timing when seizing an opportunity. A hilarious, shocking, and candid memoir that will inspire on a have-a-go and find out creativity level.
An Idler’s Manual
BY Tom Hodkinson
The problem with creativity is that once you’re attuned to it, and you have forward motion, burnout is a real risk because who wants to stop when you like what you do? During an exhaustive early parenthood and fatigue-driven period of anxiety and personal lows, I had the chance to talk to Idler magazine founder and editor Tom Hodkinson. Contrary to misplaced accusations of privilege, Idler is a call for a slower pace and more fulfillment in our lives instead of work, work, work. One massive help in turning my malaise around was the discovery of An Idler’s Manual in which Tom presents methods for mental downtime and quiet reflection. Staring at a wall is one, and I did it for almost five minutes with great pleasure. For our unconscious to give us the magic we need, it needs time and space to get going. This book will help in a big way.
Flow
By Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
The flow state: optimal creativity or experience, why ability meets challenge in exactly the right spot and everything falls into place. A classic exploring this almost ethereal state of being. I discussed this at length with Professor Anna Abraham. Listen below:
In Loving Memory Of Work
BY Craig Oldham
A powerful visual record of the miners’ strike 1984-85, overflowing with a broad range of design, posters, stickers, all stemming from what Craig refers to as ‘kitchen table creativity; drawing upon a limited amount of resources to find unity and show solidarity in hard times. A heartfelt showcase of the power of protest and graphic activism.
Still Breathing
100 Black Voices on Racism
An important collective expression of the life experiences of people who have had to overcome barriers in their lives because of the colour of their skin. A moving and insightful breadth of stories, observations, and ideas that we should all read, especially those of us who have not had to face such reprehensible prejudice.
BY Jenny Robins
Biscuits
In an era when technology has driven rates of loneliness and division through the roof, Jenny Robins’ gorgeously illustrated graphic novel, Biscuits takes us into the relatable and genuine lives of women in today’s world. Funny, intriguing, and illuminating, this is a lump of culture worthy of any coffee table and a golden example of the power or words and pictures to tell the stories of a generation.