Fast Company

We may earn commissions for purchases made via this page

Book Recommendations:

Recommended by Fast Company

Through interviews, essays, and theory, Big Data, Big Design provides designers with the tools they need to harness the potential of AI and ML-and put it to good use. (from Amazon)

Big Data, Big Design provides designers with the tools they need to harness the potential of machine learning and put it to use for good through thoughtful, human-centered, intentional design. Enter the world of Machine Learning (ML) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) through a design lens in this thoughtful handbook of practical skills, technical knowledge, interviews, essays, and theory, written specifically for designers. Gain an understanding of the design opportunities and design biases that arise when using predictive algorithms. Learn how to place design principles and cultural context at the heart of AI and ML through real-life case studies and examples. This portable, accessible guide will give beginners and more advanced AI and ML users the confidence to make reasoned, thoughtful decisions when implementing ML design solutions.

Recommended by Fast Company

Lost Connections is a fascinating look at what causes people to be depressed. (from Amazon)

Lost Connections book cover

by Johann Hari·You?

The New York Times bestseller from the author of Chasing the Scream, offering a radical new way of thinking about depression and anxiety. There was a mystery haunting award-winning investigative journalist Johann Hari. He was thirty-nine years old, and almost every year he had been alive, depression and anxiety had increased in Britain and across the Western world. Why? He had a very personal reason to ask this question. When he was a teenager, he had gone to his doctor and explained that he felt like pain was leaking out of him, and he couldn't control it or understand it. Some of the solutions his doctor offered had given him some relief-but he remained in deep pain. So, as an adult, he went on a forty-thousand-mile journey across the world to interview the leading experts about what causes depression and anxiety, and what solves them. He learned there is scientific evidence for nine different causes of depression and anxiety-and that this knowledge leads to a very different set of solutions: ones that offer real hope.

Recommended by Fast Company

A user-friendly guide to mastering the talks we dread . . . a keeper. (from Amazon)

Difficult Conversations: How to Discuss What Matters Most book cover

by Douglas Stone, Bruce Patton, Sheila Heen, Roger Fisher·You?

From the Harvard Negotiation Project—which brought you the megabestseller GETTING TO YES—this practical guide will help you handle your most difficult conversations with confidence and skill Whether dealing with an underperforming employee or a challenging colleague, disagreeing with your spouse about money or child-rearing, negotiating with a client, or simply saying "No," "I'm sorry," or "I love you," we attempt or avoid difficult conversations every day. No matter how competent we are, we all have conversations that cause anxiety and frustration. This book can help. Based on almost thirty years of research, Difficult Conversations walks you through a step-by-step approach for how to have your toughest conversations with less stress and more success. You'll learn how to: • Decipher the underlying structure and challenge of every difficult conversation • Raise tough issues without triggering defensiveness • Manage strong emotions—yours and theirs • Keep your balance no matter how the other person responds • Get to the heart of the matter in ways that promote learning and build relationships Filled with examples from everyday life, this third edition is thoroughly updated and addresses issues such as race, culture, gender, power, social media, and communicating via technology as we talk to one another across the world—and across worldviews. With constructive communication an ever more critical need in personal, professional, and public life, Difficult Conversations is a classic you will turn to again and again for powerful, practical advice.

Recommended by Fast Company

Shaw’s entire online presence… essentially amounts to one big Trojan kitty, discretely stuffed with resources for saving motherless babies.... Now the master of this frisky domain has gathered all that knowledge into her most comprehensive resource yet. (from Amazon)

*A New York Times Bestseller* #1 National Bestseller Indie Bestseller From Kitten Lady, the professional kitten rescuer, humane educator, animal advocate, and owner of the popular Instagram @kittenxlady comes the definitive book on saving the most vulnerable—and adorable—feline population: newborn kittens. Hannah Shaw, better known as Kitten Lady, has dedicated her life to saving the tiniest felines, but one doesn't have to be a professional kitten rescuer to change—and save—lives. In Tiny but Mighty, Hannah not only outlines the dangers newborn kittens face and how she combats them, but how you can help every step of the way, from fighting feline overpopulation on the streets to fostering unweaned kittens, from combating illness to combating compassion fatigue, from finding a vet to finding the purrfect forever home. Filled with information on animal welfare, instructional guides, and personal rescue stories of kittens like Chloe, Tidbit, Hank, and Badger—not to mention hundreds of adorable kitten photos—Tiny but Mighty is the must-have kitten book for cat lovers, current-and-future rescuers, foster parents, activists, and advocates.

Recommended by Fast Company

Baird’s motivation for writing the book comes from an insider’s knowledge that the system isn’t allocating resources to the best and the brightest, just to the best connected and most visible. (from Amazon)