Building a Second Brain: A Proven Method to Organize Your Digital Life and Unlock Your Creative Potential
Tiago Forte
4.02 average rating, · 22.4k ratings
Human Capability & Work
A tightly scoped thirty-book curriculum on learning science, memory, note-taking, habits, motivation, practice, and durable expertise.
30 Books on Deliberate Learning, Memory, Habits, and Building Expertise is an integrated curriculum built for readers whose work crosses conventional subject boundaries.
The collection focuses on Deliberate Learning, Memory, Habits, and Building Expertise brings together established books on learning science, memory, note-taking, habits, motivation, practice, and durable expertise. Each source field already supports a strong body of books, allowing the combined page to remain useful without inventing a category that the catalogue cannot sustain.
The list is capped at thirty books. The aim is a navigable professional curriculum, not a long page padded with increasingly weak matches.
Ranked 1–24 of 30 — curated order, not the site-wide popularity formula.
Tiago Forte
4.02 average rating, · 22.4k ratings
Real professional problems rarely remain inside one discipline. Understanding Deliberate Learning, Memory, Habits, and Building Expertise brings together established books on learning science, memory, note-taking, habits, motivation, practice, and durable expertise requires readers to connect technical, organizational, historical, and human perspectives while still maintaining a coherent path through the literature.
Books were drawn in balanced rank order from these prior curated source lists: CRA-107, CAR-002, SCI-106. This improves fit by building only from established, catalogue-grounded lists. Final human review is still required.
The books come from previously curated, catalogue-grounded lists, but the new combination and ranking still require human review before publication. Topreads does not claim every title has been personally read cover to cover.
Spotted a book that doesn't belong here? Tell us — lists are reviewed and corrected.
Kelly McGonigal
4.13 average rating, · 33.7k ratings
Mike Rohde
4.07 average rating, · 3.5k ratings
Barbara Oakley
4.19 average rating, · 22.4k ratings
K. Anders Ericsson
4.20 average rating, · 19.4k ratings
James Clear
4.31 average rating, · 1.4M ratings
Sönke Ahrens
4.07 average rating, · 14.1k ratings
Charles Duhigg
4.13 average rating, · 572.8k ratings
Susan A. Ambrose
4.12 average rating, · 1.4k ratings
Eric R. Kandel
4.14 average rating, · 5.4k ratings
Stephen R. Covey
4.16 average rating, · 837.2k ratings
Peter M. Senge
4.12 average rating, · 2.1k ratings
Brianna Wiest
4.03 average rating, · 130.1k ratings
Timothy Ferriss
4.10 average rating, · 45.3k ratings
Miguel Ruiz
4.27 average rating, · 61.7k ratings
Dominic O'Brien
4.06 average rating, · 988 ratings
A tightly scoped thirty-book curriculum on organizational psychology, first-time management, engineering leadership, expert teams, and knowledge work.
