An autumn reading list
Five books about making things slowly and well, for the long evenings.
1 min read

The evenings get long and the screen gets less interesting. Here are five books that made me want to build things more carefully.
- The Craftsman by Richard Sennett, on the skill that lives in the hands.
- Thinking with Type by Ellen Lupton, the friendliest typography book there is.
- A Pattern Language by Christopher Alexander, which every software person eventually finds.
- The Design of Everyday Things by Don Norman, for the doors you push that should be pulled.
- Shop Class as Soulcraft by Matthew Crawford, on the dignity of fixing things.
How I read them
Slowly, with a pencil, one chapter an evening. None of them is about software, and all of them are.



