Not only can reading help you to unwind after a long day, but certain books can deliver unique insights and perspectives that you may have not otherwise considered. If you are looking for book recommendations, we have selected the following that can benefit the professional lives of engineers in any discipline. If you have already read any of these selections, or have any recommendations to add, please feel free to share your thoughts!

1. The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement by Eliyahu Goldratt

Written as a fast-paced thriller, this novel focuses on the Theory of Constraints and is especially relevant for those working in industry or manufacturing, but it will benefit those whose roles include any type of process change or development. Alex Rogo, a plant manager, is desperately working to try and improve performance. His factory is rapidly heading for disaster—as is his marriage. He has ninety days to save his plant, or it will be closed by corporate HQ, leading to hundreds of job losses.

2. The Design of Everyday Things by Donald Norman

Written by cognitive scientist Donald Norman and since revised, this book explores how product design, when focused exclusively on the aesthetic, can ignore the needs of users. This can manifest into issues such as the relationships between controls and functions, lack of feedback or other assistance, and unreasonable demands on memorization. This book is relevant for engineers involved in making anything, from bridges to apps.

3. The Existential Pleasures of Engineering by Samuel Florman

Forman offers a look at how engineers view their profession and the creative and practical philosophy of engineering. Engineering is often falsely perceived as cold and passionless, but this book celebrates the deep and rich rewards of the profession, which Florman describes as an almost primal instinct to our deepest impulses.

4. Skunk Works: A Personal Memoir of My Years at Lockheed by Ben Rich

The Skunk Works is Lockheed Martin’s famous group that works on breakthrough technology and aircraft that is often veiled in secrecy. As recounted by Ben Rich, the leader of the group for nearly two decades, this book chronicles their Cold War confrontations, Gulf War air combat, and extraordinary feats of engineering and human achievement against incredible odds. With personal anecdotes, narratives from the CIA, and air force pilots assigned risky missions, Skunk Works is a riveting portrait of some of the most fantastic aviation triumphs of the 20th century.

5. Why Buildings Fall Down by Mario Salvadori and Matthys Levy

Although the focus of this book is structural engineering—specifically the various reasons buildings have failed—Levy also analyses the interactions between people, materials, and nature. The authors examine many kinds of buildings, from ancient domes like Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia to the Hartford Civic Arena. Causes of failure range from man (the Parthenon) to natural disasters (the earthquake damage caused to Armenia and San Francisco in 1989). The underlying theme is the necessity to learn from past mistakes so that we do not to repeat them. Thus, this book is an essential read for all engineers, no matter their discipline.

6. Engineering and the Mind’s Eye by Eugene Ferguson

Ferguson highlights that good engineering is not only concerned with computation and equations, but  nonverbal and intuitive thinking as well. He goes on to argue that engineering education that ignores nonverbal thinking will produce engineers who are dangerously ignorant of the many ways in which the real world differs from the mathematical models constructed in academic minds.

7. The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R Covey

Stephen Covey’s classic presents a principle-centered approach for solving both personal and professional problems. You will learn a step-by-step pathway for living with fairness, honesty, integrity, dignity—principles that provide the security to adapt to change and the wisdom and power to take advantage of the opportunities that change creates. Covey’s seven habits and accessible writing will benefit any engineer and help them master the basic skills necessary for success.

8. Unwritten Laws of Engineering: Revised and Updated Edition by W. J. King and James G. Skakoon

This updated version of the 1944 classic serves as a compilation of professional code that is necessary for all engineers looking to succeed. This compilation was gathered by actual engineers from their industry experiences. This book is ideal for all engineers as the professional code is applicable to the industry as a whole, but is particularly useful for engineers transitioning out of their universities into the professional world.

9. The 4-Hour Chef by Tim Ferriss

Although it may seem a strange addition to this list, Tim Ferriss takes a complicated process and makes it manageable. As an engineer, you will deal with complicated processes daily. This book provides some key ideas for tackling complicated problems and making the task of learning new and difficult concepts easier.

10. She Engineers: Outsmart Bias, Unlock your Potential, and Create the Engineering Career of your Dreams by Stephanie Slocum

You can probably gather from the title that this book is written for female engineers, but it goes far beyond the general social commentary on gender issues in engineering. Slocum, a fifteen-year engineering industry veteran, instructs aspiring female engineers how to succeed in an industry that is so often dominated by men.