Top Book Recommendations from Season 1 of EdTalks

By Inna Horvath

As we wrap up the first season of EdTalks, we’re thrilled to share some amazing book recommendations from our quick-fire meetings with industry experts. These books, recommended by seasoned professionals in the field of L&D, offer a lot of inspiration as well as information to boost your skills and widen your knowledge of the topic of learning and development.

Olga Filipova

I can recommend my favorite author. It doesn’t have to do a lot with L&D. It’s Brian Tracy. He wrote books like Focal Point, Psychology of Selling, Million Dollar Habits, and The Art of Closing Sales. And he is great. And the interesting part is that in each of his books, every piece of advice that he gives ends up with lifelong learning. He recommends to any specialist, any person who wants to sell better, to strive better, to be more productive, to be more efficient, and to always keep learning. This is why, although his books are not directly attached to L&D, it’s very inspiring for those who believe in lifelong learning. And when it comes to specific L&D resources, I highly recommend L&D Shakers community and please check their latest L&D strategy cookbook. This is a cookbook where all kinds of resources are gathered that help you to go through your L&D strategy from scratch until it’s fully done.

Valeriia Forostianova

Well, the first book I’m reading myself right now is, I also have it on my desk at the moment. It’s a Trusted Learning Advisor. I don’t know if you can see it, but it’s by Keith Keating. I helped to host the session with him in the L&D Shakers community. And I love the book. I use Post-its and the highlighter. So I think it’s a must-read for learning professionals.

Christian Bjerre Nielsen

I would definitely point to the book by Daniel Kahneman called Thinking Fast and Slow. And the main reason is that it’s about how we as people perceive and make decisions, etc. And a lot of the examples and cases he covers are also relevant for people in learning and development.

Anna Liashenko

I love How to Make It Stick. It’s a book about how memory works and how learning works. And I think that’s like, if you’re reading just one book about learning science, it should be How to Make it Stick.

Ross Stevenson

One I can definitely recommend, and he has got a few, is called Out of Our Minds. And it’s the subtitle is The Power of Being Creative by Sir Ken Robinson. Some of you might have seen on TED Talk. I think it’s one of the most popular TED Talks that’s available by Ken Robinson. It’s called the, I think it’s something about education that kills creativity. So if you’ve seen that talk and you’re really interested in the educational system, how that affects adult learning and L&D incorporations, and why we kind of lose that power of being creative, then yeah, highly recommend checking that one out.

Jyotika Pruthi, Ph.D.

It’ll always be a book called Make It Stick by Peter C. Brown, Henry L. Roediger III, Mark A. McDaniel.

Bill Sodeman, Ph.D.

One that I have been looking at lately is Josh Bersin’s latest book The Seven Secrets of the World’s Most Enduring, Employee-Focused Organizations. It’s fantastic. Full of really good tips. I use it constantly.

Rita Azevedo

My absolute favorite that I would say changed my way of looking into the design is the book called Understanding by Design by Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe. This is a book that offers a bit of a different framework on how to think about learning experiences. And they really teach you this idea of backwards planning as well. So for me, that is a classic that I would recommend.