Darren Hood’s Critical Thinking Book Recommendation List

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by Darren Hood, MSUXD, MSIME

Intro

What is critical thinking? According to the folks at Thinknetic (one of the authors on the following list of book recommendations), critical thinking is defined as “the ability to think about connected ideas thoroughly and independently, basing those ideas on factual evidence.” A practical expansion of this definition also calls out “the act of turning the full force of our reasoning towards resolving real-world problems.”

Critical thinking is an important factor in many disciplines. It is also at the core of a successful UX operation, whether it applies to individuals or teams. If you want to excel at true and pure UX, you’ll need to excel at critical thinking. The following list of books serve as a tremendous set of resources to help people lay a sound foundation, grow, AND optimize critical thinking acumen.

Short and sweet today, I’m just providing a list of my recommendations with links to their respective pages on Amazon.com. You should be able to visit Amazon and take a sneak peek at each book via the Look Inside option. Enjoy!

The List

Conclusion

So, which books stood out for you?!?!? There’s a lot of fantastic content, but don’t feel pressured to buy them all. It’s a long ride, so make sure you enjoy it as you progress. Don’t forget about resources such as Good Reads, where you should be able to access some of the books for free.

And UXers…. remember, critical thinking is invaluable! Want a differentiator in your career? The tickets reside in the above-mentioned resources. ;-)

About Darren

Darren Hood is a 28+ year UX practitioner with a broad professional footprint that spans several types of B2B and B2C operations. In addition to having served as a UX manager, individual contributor, and freelancer in the business world, Darren serves or has served as an adjunct professor for such institutions as Michigan State University, UCLA, Brandeis University, Lawrence Tech University, Kent State University, and Harrisburg University. He is also one of the authors featured in “97 Things Every UX Practitioner Should Know.” He also regularly speaks at conferences and mentors people around the world.

You can hear more from the Darren by checking out the KaizenUX Medium page, the KaizenUX YouTube channel, or listening to The World of UX with Darren Hood wherever podcasts are available.

Visit KaizenTees to check out my UX ≠ UI merch.

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KaizenUX (formerly UX Uncensored)
KaizenUX (formerly UX Uncensored)

Written by KaizenUX (formerly UX Uncensored)

Darren Hood: UX pro (28+ yrs), adjunct professor, TEDx and conference speaker, author (97 Things UX book), host of The World of UX podcast, & “pure UX” advocate