Dr. T’s Top 50

These books found me over the years. I refer to them regularly. They are in no particular order. My lesson is that I have come to understand how books are one of many frames of reference, and they should be respected as tools and companions on our personal journey of pursuing our noble vision.

Another lesson learned: it is okay to be vulnerable to the written word just as it is okay to be vulnerable to meaningful action.

  1. A Journal (Always start here; Write and reflect each day even if you scribble, “I have nothing to say today.”)

  2. Walking the Australian Crawl  William Stafford (my mentor’s mentor)

  3. Start with Why  Simon Sinek

  4. Leaders Eat Last  Simon Sinek

  5. Senior Leadership Teams  Wagemen, et. al.

  6. The End of College  Kevin Carey

  7. Lord Dragon Fly  William Heyen (my mentor)

  8. The Joy of Thinking Big  Ernie Zelinski

  9. For Whom the Bell Tolls  Ernest Hemingway

  10. Policy Paradox  Deborah Stone

  11. Remaking College  Michael Kirst and Michelle Stevens

  12. What the Best College Teachers Do  Ken Bain

  13. What the Best College Students Do  Ken Bain

  14. Fahrenheit 451  Ray Bradbury

  15. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance  Robert Pirsig

  16. Give and Take  Adam Grant

  17. The Bible

  18. Poems  Walt Whitman

  19. The Art of War  Sun Tzu

  20. The Essence of Buddhism  David Tuffey

  21. War and Peace  Leo Tolstoy

  22. Pterodactyl Rose  William Heyen

  23. Invisible Man  Ralph Ellison

  24. The Weary Blues  Langston Hughes

  25. The Bhagavad Gita

  26. The Quran

  27. The Sound and the Fury  William Faulkner

  28. On the Road  Jack Kerouac

  29. What Work Is  Philip Levine (Poems)

  30. The Emperor of all Maladies  Siddhartha Mukherjee

  31. Mountain and Rivers without End  Gary Snyder

  32. Built to Last  James Collins & Jerry Porras

  33. The Tao of Coaching  Max Landsberg

  34. The War of the Worlds  H.G. Wells

  35. Renewing Organizations  Robert Golembiewski

  36. The Speed of Trust  Stephen Covey

  37. Good to Great  Jim Collins

  38. Statistics without Tears  Derek Rowntree

  39. Delivering Happiness   Tony Hseih

  40. Stumbling on Happiness  Daniel Gilbert

  41. The Art of the Personal Essay   Phillip Lopate

  42. A History of American Life  Arthur Schlesinger, Sr.

  43. Disrupting Class  Clayton Christensen

  44. Action Learning in Action  Michael Marquette

  45. Barrel Fever  David Sedaris

  46. The Dance of Change  Peter Senge

  47. Reframing Organizations: Artistry, Choice, and Leadership  Lee Bolman & Terrence Deal

  48. Learning to Lean  Warren Bennis

  49. Leadership as Service  Kent Farnsworth

  50. Asking Questions  Seymour Sudman & Norman Bradburn

— Dr. Ken Trzaska



Categories: Growth Mindset, President's Blog

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