Books and Reads We Like

People sometimes ask what we read when we are not writing. The honest answer is a mix of well-known books and some rather unglamorous documents that turn out to be surprisingly useful. Nothing here is sponsored, and we earn nothing if you pick any of it up. Libraries usually stock all of the books below.

Books on our shelf

Your Money or Your Life by Vicki Robin and Joe Dominguez

A classic that asks you to think of money as the hours of your life you traded for it. Whether or not you adopt the whole method, the exercise of tracking where money actually goes is eye-opening. It pairs nicely with our own guide to managing your finances.

The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel

Short chapters about why sensible people make odd money decisions. It is more about behaviour than spreadsheets, which is exactly why we like it. It does not tell you what to buy, and that is a strength.

Getting to Yes by Roger Fisher and William Ury

The book many negotiation courses still build on. The idea of focusing on interests rather than fixed positions is as handy for a salary conversation as it is for a dispute with a neighbour.

The Design of Everyday Things by Don Norman

Why doors confuse us, why some appliances are a joy and others a puzzle. Reading it changes how you look at settings menus, remote controls and instruction manuals, and it has shaped how we try to write our own step-by-step guides.

Reads you already own

Some of the most valuable reading never makes a bestseller list. These are documents most households have somewhere in a drawer or an inbox, and a quiet half hour with each can pay off.

• Your payslip. Every deduction has a reason. Knowing what each line means makes conversations with HR, and with yourself about budgets, far easier.
• Your retirement plan's summary description. The plain-language guide every workplace plan must provide explains matching, vesting and fees. Our 401(k) explainer helps decode it.
• Insurance policy documents. The exclusions section is where surprises live. Read it before you need to claim.
• Product labels and safety data. Cleaning products, pest baits and garden chemicals carry instructions for a reason, including what never to mix.
• Your car's owner's manual. It answers many of the questions people search for online, from tyre pressures to what a warning light means.
• Your lease or rental agreement. Especially the clauses on repairs, damp and notice periods.

Free official sources

Government and regulator websites are rarely exciting, but they are where rules and limits are published first. When we need a figure that changes from year to year, that is where we look, and we suggest you do the same rather than trusting an old article, including one of ours.

Suggest a read

Found a book or guide that genuinely helped you sort out a practical problem? Tell us through the contact page. We do read the suggestions, and a few have ended up on this list.