Top 9 Books Every Engineer Should Read

It is a known fact that when it comes to reading, the average engineer places his or her entire focus on reading only books relating to one course of study. But if one is to truly believe the words of William Feather on how reading books opens the mind, broadens your thoughts and strengthens you, then the reading of only engineering texts will limit one’s ability to think in the long run.

In order to awaken a reading culture in the average engineer, we will attempt to list our top 9 books—outside the engineering discipline—which we believe everyone must read to widen their perspective on communication, socializing, entrepreneurship and professional development. So stay tuned as we describe each book and why you should consider reading it.

The Top 3 Motivational Books for engineers

In need of some inspiration about your career choice, making decisions, or on how to live a rewarding life, then look no further than these 3 books right here.

How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie

Engineers can be quite antisocial and tend to keep to themselves in gatherings. This classic by Dale Carnegie teaches you about making friends and leveraging friends to influence your reality. Its popularity means you may have heard about it one time or another but if you haven’t yet picked a copy, we implore you to do so now to learn its timely lessons.

The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey

Here is another classic motivational text you must consider reading in other to reduce procrastination, get time management right and learn how the greats succeeded against all odds. This timeless classic has been quoted by a lot of successful individuals as the motivation behind their relentless drive to work effectively in their respective industries. This means that you too can gain a lot from its lessons to achieve success in your professional life.

Leadership and the Art of Conversation by Kim Krisco

With the knowledge acquired from this book, Engineers can finally challenge the misconceptions that trail their leadership abilities. This book teaches one about the art to leadership and shares some important secrets on getting your message across effectively to an audience. It also focuses on why communication is one of the most important ingredients for a successful life and how you can harness your personal traits in a bid to communicate more effectively as a leader regardless of the situation at hand.

The Top 3 Books to Inspire Increased Performance

The Power of Full Engagement

Managing Energy, not Time is the Key to High Performance and Personal Renewal by Tony Shwartz—for those looking to channel their inner strength to accomplish difficult tasks, this text can serve as an inspiration for it. It teaches you the importance of energy management and how it helps you win. Although it removes emphasis on the importance of time management, it still provides a solid reason why your energy levels should be well-managed and why it matters more.

The War of Art

Breakthrough the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles by Steven Pressfield—no matter how creative we are, we still burn out and experience creativity block. This book teaches you to manage your creative well and get over creative blocks in order to perform at your optimal creative strength when handling your professional engineering duties. In the pages of this inspirational book, Steven Pressfield teaches that creative blocks are ‘the resistance’ our mental faculties build over time to combat any issue that tries to remove us from our comfort zones. In order to help, the author teaches methodologies that are quite effective in breaking ‘the resistance’.

Getting things Done

The Art of Stress-free Productivity by David Allen—in any profession, stating productive without incurring stress is almost impossible and the field of engineering is no different. Engineers who are constantly faced with large workloads or repetitive tasks can borrow David Allen’s talent o creating stress-free working patterns and effective personal schedules that will increase your productivity levels over time. So for those looking to create a peaceful workspace during working hours, this is definitely the book you should consult.

The Top 3 Books on Achieving the Perfect Work-Life Balance

When it comes to being overworked, engineers tend to be at the higher end of the scale alongside doctors and this usually has adverse effects on your personal relationships and the level of life you lead. So here are some books designed to help you balance your lifestyle without any effects on your work.

The One Minute Manager Balances Work and Life by Ken Blanchard

This book which was first released in 1986 is an inspiring text on how engineers can manage work time in such a way that it leaves ample room for more personal interactions. It teaches you how to organize your lifestyle in other to live a healthy life.

Life at Performance Level by Curtis Zimmerman

Are you currently living a life without choices? And are you interested in taking the right steps to live a life of your own choosing? If your answer to both questions is yes, then look this book provides you with the knowledge required to orientate your mental outlook to one that gives you the power needed to change your life.

Here we come to the end of our list of the books we believe every engineer should readout of the classroom or his or her working environment. And the categories provided are intended to help you pick a place to start your reading from according to what you fill is missing in your life. So this is us wishing you a happy reading.