Book List | 2021
I’ve read & listened to 25 non-fiction books and here is the list:
#1 So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo
First book of 2021. A must read. Eloquent and lucid writing that covers many essential topics on race in America. Regardless of your racial make-up, if you need help with what and how to talk about race, pick this book up. Though focusing on a very serious topic, the tone of this book is educational and makes the content easy to digest and internalize. And yes, it’s imperative to talk about race.
So many great things in this book. A few points I loved & learned from the book:
Focus on the systematic effect: When isolated instances don’t convince or educate your conversation partner, talk about how these racial disparities, stereotypes, and inequalities contribute to the systematic harm to minority races.
Use your privilege for advocacy: your privilege is your advantage upheld and reinforced by the system of power. When our privilege intersects with someone’s oppression, we have the opportunity to bring change.
Policing has long been used to protect certain groups of people and oppress others: The police’s disparate treatments towards whites and blacks and browns is the reason why many white people feel safe around the police and believe they keep them safe - because they do - while blacks and browns are systematically discriminated, disproportionately searched, arrested, imprisoned, or worse, killed. Just look at the stark contrast of treatments in recent white supremecists’ mobbing of the United States’ Capitol building vs. protests of BLM groups. Believe the data.
Intersectionality: Our identities are multifaceted, such as “a straight deaf cis white male” and “a gay trans-black female”. The facets of one’s identities combine to create different modes of privilege and discrimination.
Good intentions are not enough: When someone’s comment perpetuates a stereotype, help them understand that by asking “why did you say that?”
Refuse microaggressions: Do not dismiss small hurtful things someone said as just kidding. “What’s harmful is accepting a person of color will just accept the abuse.”
#2 The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle
This is a book on spirituality. It offers a perspective on living and being grounded in the present which then leads to a state of meditation transcending your mental state, instead of being distracted by “what has been”, “what could be”, and “what if’s”.
It’s a refreshing perspective for me because I *intensely* value reflections and planning - both are not ultimately focused on the “now”. It’s a personal reminder that I can pause and just enjoy the present, instead of rushing to the next project or goal. Eventually, any future moments will be lived as a “present” time at some point – but that is not to say I’ll abandon my retrospectives or strategic planning, just that now I’ll be more mindful of the present moments I live in.
Interesting book format - the content was written as dialogues initiated by key questions and the author as a spiritual guide. The audible book runs very slowly (to good and unintended effects), almost too meditative and relaxing in pace, that I 1. fell asleep listening to it many times, and 2. had to eventually speed it up to 1.4x to match my mental reading speed.
This genre isn’t something I typically investigate, but interesting and expands my perspective nonetheless.
#3 Lean UX by Jeff Gothelf & Josh Seiden
The book is okay depending on how familiar you are with Agile development. The book covers a succinct coverage of Lean UX philosophy, process, and case studies.
Top 3 things I liked:
“At the heart of Lean UX, you’ll find a core set of principles that govern design process, team culture, and team organization.” Those three elements are quite important to your team & org’s success.
In the Lean UX environment, designers’ roles are not just to design, but also to facilitate communication and understanding. Getting key teams involved throughout the process reduces the game of telephone and the need for thorough documentation before the handoff. Basically, teams can move forward together, quickly.
Relentlessly prioritize and align sprint & experiment objectives to business goals. Not everything will get done, but rapidly iterate and learn how deployed designs are used in the real world.
I get the benefit of constant experimentation. However, my qualm has also always been on “user experimentation”. When a business does so much experimentation at scale to find the “best approach” that delivers business goals and satisfies stakeholders...the end-users begin to become the anecdotal dog in Pavlov’s conditional bell experiments. Worse, to the extremes such as Facebook’s positive/negative feed experiments that happened without users’ consent or knowledge, that’s totally unethical and harmful, and the end-users bear the consequences of behavioral experimentation. Alas, may we have more leaders like Tim Cook, who publicly states that Apple’s users are not their product (– unlike Facebook whose business model is built on exploiting their users & user data).
#4 Who Can You Trust by Rachel Botsman
So much good stuff here – what is trust, trust in a post-truth era, trust in the distributed system, 3 principles of trust, how to build trust, and trust in the blockchain (which unfortunately I didn’t care about).
3 main takeaways:
In the post-truth era (“post-truth”, adj. relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief, as defined in Oxford Languages dictionary), people are increasingly trusting their peers over experts or institutions, as experts often tell “inconvenient truths”. And not just that, the filter bubble created by social media is automatically directing us to content that the algorithms think we’d like, feeding our own confirmation bias.
Trust should also not be unconditional. When thinking about if you trust someone, the context is important – trust them with what? Do I trust my husband to be a great human being? Yes. Do I trust him with piloting a plane somewhere? Nope, he doesn’t have the skills, but I also have the psychological safety and trust that he won’t do that or risk putting our lives in danger. Basically, avoid Halo Effect. But do place trust in people with the specific area of expertise.
Build trust with the 3 trust principles: introduce familiarity (interesting story about how California Roll came about), communicate benefit – answer “what’s in it for ‘me’?”, and leverage trust influencers, such as the crowd – when more people are talking about it…you are more likely to pay attention and check it out.
#5 Design for Cognitive Bias by David Dylan Thomas
A small book with a big punch – this concise book has a central thesis on leveraging bias to design for good. I especially liked the example of designing a physical space intentionally to facilitate human interactions.
However, for a book on cognitive bias, the irony is not lost that it has an implicit western bias that I can’t get behind. When Thomas wrote about futuristic technology use in China, he called it “weak people using powerful technology” – reducing my parents, my community, and my people to a collective “weak people”. Aside from being very disrespectful and ill-informed, it showed a lack of understanding of how technology can be adopted and advanced under the Eastern collectivist culture that’s very different from the Western individualistic and capitalistic culture. I want to call this out so that you are aware of the pervasive detrimental effect of decades of media and political brainwashing on even the more critical thinkers among us.
#6 HBR Guide to Office Politics by Karen Dillon
Be rising tide, not rivalry.
I knew I didn’t lack confidence or assertiveness, but as a new hire, I was intimidated by a co-worker who thought my presence was jeopardizing their leadership on the team. I knew we’d make a great team, but they weren’t on the same page yet. Avoidance was not an option. After searching around in Barns and Noble, this turned out to be the book I very much needed. I found the right words and approach to diffuse the tension between us – kudos to my counterpart as well, as it takes two to resolve a difficult situation.
This book was particularly actionable and helpful for me because I’m a conflict avoider who usually doesn’t confront the person causing me stress until the pattern has been repeated out of my tolerance. (Maybe worth noting that I never had a sibling so I never had to live with close rivalry growing up.) Only in recent years have I started to approach people problems directly. This is a learning path that I make a consistent and intentional effort to be on.
This HBR Guide series has many practical case studies to help illustrate their recommendations. Worth checking out if you are interested.
#7 The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck by Mark Manson
This book is so bad, DON’T READ.
I was feeling devastated in the midst of heightened anti-Asian hate crime, and desperately needed some way to get out of the downward spiral in my mental health. Maybe by “not giving a fuck”? Sad to report that this book is tacky and totally not worth my (or your) time.
Other than a catchy title, the book lacks depth – a mediocre white guy patting his back for realizing he’s made terrible life choices growing up and now doing what a decent person’s supposed to. I’m also offended by his belittlement towards people with non-confirmative gender identities and struggling people at the lower end of society.
#8 How to be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi
A personal, humble, candid, and analytically insightful book examining racism and antiracism in America. I’ve learned so much from Kendi’s dissection of the multifaceted views of racism & antiracism, and intersectionality. I was on a virtual discovery & reflective journey with the author as I moved through the book.
Most importantly, I’ve learned that to be an antiracist is to strive for equitable treatment and policies for all races, especially people of color. Be antiracists.
#9 Mediocre by Ijeoma Oluo
It was eye-opening to hear Oluo unpack the dangerous legacy and overly romanticized “White hero” stories of mediocre White men in America. From Buffalo Bill, who exacerbated the brutalization of indigenous people and the stealing of native land, to availability of job and resources in post-war America, to self-proclaimed feminists who turned their heads on feminism when the movement no longer conveniently fit their narrative, and then to the troubling origin of American football and its white dominance and control as a sport and a cultural vessel in the present (e.g., Kaepernick’s kneeling left him still unsigned in the NFL). The long-lasting impact: when white men stay in positions of power to make decisions and policies, they tend to protect their own power, privilege, and fictional superiority at the expense of other groups – any racial group that does better than “Whites” is deemed unacceptable.
Despite getting hate mail, threats, and being doxxed by haters from her examination and articulation of the effects of mediocre White men in America, Oluo ended the book on a note of love, courage, and hope for a better tomorrow for our current and future generations.
#10 Biased by Jennifer L. Eberhardt, PhD
This was one of the books I sought out under stress and desperation when the anti-Asian hate crime was rampant. It was part of the official Johnson & Johnson resources on DE&I. It turned out very insightful on the research of bias, exemplified by the White and Black dynamic in the United States. Especially, this book examines and explains how implicit bias, which is difficult to qualify or quantify, affects what and how we “see, think, and do” and interact with other groups.
With examples such as police training, an undercover officer’s anecdote, the author’s young son’s innocent comment, education for prison inmates, older Chinese ladies in Oakland, students “whitewashing” their resumes, and countless tragic stories surrounding Black men, the author presented sound facts and researches on the social, cultural, and occupational conditioning of bias that exacerbated the racial divide.
One way for us to be mindful of our implicit bias, I’ve learned, is through the test on fluency of association. For example – this is where I’m over-simplifying the author’s complex research – there can be a noticeable time difference when someone tries to press a button for “White people” and positive words vs. to press the same button to associate “Black people “ and positive words. Why? Prevalent media, socio-cultural portrayal tends to portray many Black people as the villain and more dangerous – we might have seen some changes now, but the conditioning runs long in the country’s history. To test it for yourself, one great resource is the Implicit Bias Test on Stanford’s website, where “you can choose tasks and receive feedback on implicit bias regarding things like race, religion, sexuality, mental health, and more.”
When “racism” might be too sensitive for some people to hear, try to use “bias” as a door to open a discussion, maybe? I’m torn – there’s power in openly addressing racism in this country, but by doing so some people might immediately get super defensive. I’m still on this learning journey on how to talk about racial bias.
#11 Covering by Kenji Yoshino
Kenji Yoshino, Chief Justice Earl Warren Professor of Constitutional Law, NYU School of Law, and director of the Center for Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging. I first came across the topic of “covering” from Yoshino’s discussion at Microsoft’s Include 2021 conference. Not only was this topic intriguing, relatable, and meaningful, I also wanted to learn from an Asian American’s perspective of identity and fitting in – of course, our backgrounds were drastically different, but this book was a real gift for anyone on the journey to figuring out whether to pass, cover, or express their authentic selves and identities.
The main argument is that we ALL cover across all walks of life to minimize certain stigma or avoid being associated with unfavorable stereotypes, resulting in less favorable treatments. Even straight white men, the overall most privileged group in America, cover due to reasons such as mental conditions and invisible disabilities. As covering closely relates to one’s identity, we need to be cognizant of the intersectionality that can contribute to whether one needs to cover or pass, instead of being their inhibited authentic self.
I appreciate this book, the perspective, and Yoshino’s candor and brilliance.
#12 White Fragility by Robin Diangelo
12. White Fragility by Robin Diangelo
Honestly, I don’t know if I’m the right audience. This book is from a white author to a white audience, without much focus on how non-white people to actively partake to solve the racial biases in America.
My main takeaways from the book’s main messages:
Talking about racism is hard (as we all know). It’s a pattern and a condition that’s non-dismissable, even if individuals are in denial.
The author points out that White people might not even accept the messaging from a White peer, let alone from a non-white person. The argument might be well-intentioned, but still emits White superiority in omitting the roles of people of color in examples unless it’s an educational example on where something went wrong. But then again this comes from a White author trying to reach White people.
White people created these racial problems, and white people need to do their work to solve them (which is applaudable, but still gives me a “White Savior” vibe).
Diangelo offers effective examples of what to say when someone’s in denial of racism or just claims they don’t see color, etc. More people should be equipped with those vocabularies.
#13 Just Enough Research by Erika Hall
What a fantastic read! Succinct, engaging, and witty writing on the essentials and insights of conducting design research. Also covers several strategies for handling organizational misconceptions (e.g., NPS) and pushbacks. I’ve facilitated numerous design research sessions at past jobs – this book is a knowledge refresher and brings new insights. Wish I came across this condensed collection of insights earlier. Enjoyed reading it. Highly recommend!
#14 Better Onboarding by Krystal Higgins
This book is an okay read for me. Didn’t stand out as exemplary for a better onboarding experience – feels like the content stayed on the surface and missed opportunities to dig deeper or go wider. I enjoyed the frameworks the author put together and the strive for progressive, interactive onboarding where it aligns with user goals. Other than that I’m underwhelmed. A beginner might benefit more than I did.
#15 Designing for Touch by Josh Clark
Even though this book has been a few years old now and technology has evolved since then, I still enjoyed the content very much. I appreciated the examination of touch & devices from a human factor’s perspective and the analysis of broad gestures vs. precise gestures. Also the humor – “rules of thumb”…I see you. 👀
Fun info to retain:
• Content above control - because your hands and fingers will cover the content.
• Broad gestures vs. precise gestures affect usability and ease of use. This is especially important when considering embedded screens on physical devices, such as the car dashboard, or surgical systems I’m designing.
• 44 - for the uninitiated, touch zone sizing is critical, because…finger sizes. 44px should be your minimum. Google’s design for driving recommends 76 pt in one dimension for better usability when there could be an unstable hand scenario when your car’s moving. We use something similar.
I’d love to see a part two of this book, maybe covering haptics topics and more on embedded screens?
#16 Complications by Atul Gawande
I really enjoyed this book for the stories of a medical resident’s journey and candor. Since I’ve pivoted to designing experiences for the medical specialization – mostly surgical solutions – I’m trying to do more research on the technology AND human aspect in medical practice. This book has served as secondary research into understanding the multitude of dimensions - especially the psychological dimension - of my main user groups.
#17 Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner
I first learned about Freakonomics as a podcast so I wanted to check out this book as well. My main takeaway is a reminder to be inquisitive, and always ask questions to find patterns or correlations, but be aware to draw conclusions of causation.
Not as impressed by the book as I thought I would. In their examination of the Black & White education and achievement topic or the “war on drugs”, I’m disappointed that they completely missed the larger topic of systemic oppression as a cause.
#18 Becoming a Good Creature words by Sy Montgomery, pictures by Rebecca Green
Lovely story and wonderful illustrations, warmly bundled in this children’s book. My new favorite eye candy book.
#19 Voice Content and Usability by Preston So
Unfortunately, I’m not the audience. The book leans heavily on content strategy, and the writing is a little verbose for me – perhaps a reflection of the complexity of this topic. Nonetheless, I learned something about designing content for voice and got to support a fellow Asian designer. The last chapter is brilliant though, reminding us to consider bias, inclusivity, and representation in designing for voice, in addition to other modalities.
#20 The Undoing Project by Michael Lewis
Wow, so great! Lewis did us a favor by writing about the brilliant minds that changed our understanding of how we think. I’m so captivated by the relationship between Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky and appreciate the stories of their lives. Super inspiring.
#21 Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner
An emotional read for who might relate to her experience. Very relatable Asian mom-daughter experience, especially the truth-telling aspect, even though I’m Chinese and she’s half-Korean. I cried so much thinking back about my mom and grandma’s sacrifice to give their children/child a better life while reading this book. For that, I’m eternally in my mom's and her mom’s debt. And I’m thankful that my mom is in good health. And yes, it’s a real Asian belief that if you dream of $hit, it’ll bring you a fortune.
On the other hand, I will be the immigrant mother (when I have kids), and I’m building an understanding of what it means to be someone with mixed ethnicity in America through her work because my future children might share a similar experience.
How might I tell my future children that their mixed ethnicity is beautiful, or guide them in cherishing both Chinese and American sides of the identities that they are gifted with?
#22 Thanks for the Feedback by Douglas Stone and Sheila Heen
Fantastic read, this is a book I didn’t want to put down once I picked it up. This book helps me with both receiving feedback (which I’ve always loved doing) and giving feedback (which I’ve been practicing to be even better at.) The authors not only analyzed the process of receiving feedback but also unpacked the architecture of feedback in detail –
What are the three main types of feedback?
How do truth, relationship, and identity affect your reception of feedback?
How can you identify the components of feedback – what is data, what is assessment or suggestions?
What do you do after getting feedback?
#23 The Swerve by Stephen Greenblatt
I feel neutral after finishing this book. It was a fascinating journey to follow on humanities subjects, but I don’t think I took away a whole lot.
#24 Sprint by Jake Knapp with John Zeratsky and Braden Kowitz
Again, I’m a little behind the curve picking this book up. I really appreciate the explanation on the process of design sprints and facilitation – the process is sound and the reasoning is something that will help me communicate clearer in my work & my teams. This is probably a book that I’ll recommend my design colleagues to read.
As a critique, we know that Silicon Valley has a gender bias, and most of the main characters in this book are conveniently male-sounding names. Appreciate the author’s continuous use of “her” as a pronoun when referring to the facilitator, but I look forward to seeing more case studies highlighting leadership from women to serve as a balanced perspective and to provide visible role models to encourage young girls to aspire to.
#25 Design is a Job by Mike Monteiro
Great read! No doubt another great book from Monteiro. Why did I just read this book this year!? It covers being a designer, a freelancer, running your own company, and working & leading a team. Through the book you can see someone who deeply and genuinely cares about his profession, business, and team shine through. Or maybe I’m just sold after reading his “Ruined by Design” book and the halo effect carried over. (If you haven’t gotten a copy of Ruined by Design, do it asap. I loved the audible version.) I think you will get different takeaways at different stages of your career.
To me, skills can be learned but characters take way longer to shape. If you have great team leads or managers, you are in luck – it’s a somewhat different set of skills that take time to hone. If you are in a position of having more experience, coach, train, and bring your team along, multiply the impact, and recognize that everyone on the team has lots to offer. I got a lot out of this book thinking about how to guide others and suggest development opportunities.
📚 That’s a wrap. Thanks for scrolling all this way, let me know what you are reading and recommend!