The one book to read to understand your industry

What should you read to get to grips with a new job? Employee manuals or classic management titles can be an obvious starting point. But for many professions, a more informal reading list can offer greater insight than official resources.

These offbeat classics, picked by people working in key sectors, can act as spiritual guidebooks, revealing the subtler nuances in corporate culture or the artistry of the day-to-day. Crucially, they are often a joy to read, whether you are employed in the field or not.

Accountants: ‘Foundation series’ by Isaac Asimov

Vivek Kotecha, a forensic accountant who began his career at Deloitte and now runs Trinava Accounting, says Asimov’s science fiction epic, which revolves around a maverick who combines mathematics and sociology to predict the future, is a useful warning for colleagues. “The confidence in large historical patterns and laws of human behaviour in the novels reflects the (sometimes misplaced) confidence that accountants . . . have in both historical financial data and the accounting standards,” he says. “The lesson I draw from it is the constant need for humility.”

Doctors: ‘A Fortunate Man’ by John Berger

Matthew Baker, a junior doctor based in south London, was first recommended John Berger’s A Fortunate Man by a colleague on the geriatric ward. The book, with photography by Jean Mohr, documents the life of a country doctor contemplating what it means to make sacrifices for, and be fulfilled by, work. “It offers quite a human and tender perspective on the relationship between doctor and patient,” he says. “[There’s] a salient point about the role of the doctor being to separate the disease from the patient, by naming it, which is psychologically a very important step for recovery.”

Civil Engineers: ‘Flourish: Design Paradigms for our Planetary Emergency’ by Sarah Ichioka & Michael Pawlyn

Jessica Rowe, a civil engineer based in Cornwall, says the regenerative design principles set out in Flourish reignited her love for the profession. The book examines the next phase of sustainable building, and traces the way engineering can bring communities together, repair injustices and improve health outcomes. “Flourish helped me see the built environment industry for what it was — an existing system that needed total transformation,” Rowe says, “It helped me envisage a good future for the industry.”

Lawyers: ‘Bleak House’ by Charles Dickens

“Lawyers love to tease themselves through the lens of Bleak House,” says Nick Bano, a barrister specialising in housing issues and author of Against Landlords: How to Solve the Housing Crisis. “It holds up a mirror to the camp melodrama of the law. Its legal characters, despite their villainy, are dignified and worldly. They remain weirdly aspirational.” The book — which follows a thorny legal case involving conflicting wills and warring inheritors — remains a touchpoint for navigating the UK’s legal system, says Bano. “It is an affecting reminder that our job is to guide clients out of legal quagmires, rather than to tempt them deeper in.”

Restaurateurs: ‘The Art of Eating’ by MFK Fisher

Co-owner and head waiter at Hackney’s Towpath Cafe, Lori de Mori, recommends MFK Fisher’s The Art of Eating as a way of understanding what it means to satisfy hunger with pleasure and style. “Fisher famously defended writing about food, rather than ‘more important’ subjects like power and love, because for her, our universal hunger meant they were one and the same.” This anthology, first published in 1951, covers topics ranging from oysters to cooking at times of rationing.

Joiners: ‘The Architecture of Happiness’ by Alain de Botton

As director of Richard Cullinan joinery studio, Katie Cullinan spends a lot of time on building sites. “I find them full of hope and potential, ready to be transformed,” she says. For on-the-job reading, she recommends de Botton’s 2006 look at beauty and built environment, which examines how the buildings we live in shape our lives. “This book discusses the importance of our surroundings and the way they impact on our well being. I find this concept incredibly interesting, and not at all surprising.”

Programmers: ‘Seeing Like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed’ by James C Scott

James C Scott’s investigation into authoritarianism and state planning focuses mainly on agricultural interventions, but has wide-ranging implications for the way governments track and surveil their citizens. Christa Hartsock, software engineer, UX researcher, and co-founder of Logic magazine, says Scott’s book has become one of the most read and referenced among those working in the world of public interest and civic technology.

Bankers: ‘Investment Banking Explained: An Insider’s Guide to the Industry’ by Michel Fleuriet

Penned by a former chair of HSBC France, the book has become a popular read among those working in finance, says Dorian Maillard, a principal at DAI Magister, an M&A investment bank that specialises in tech and climate. The book looks at the history of banking through to the financial crash and provides a deep-dive into trading, equity, and fixed income strategies.

Biotech entrepreneurs: ‘The Billion-Dollar Molecule’ by Barry Werth

Published in 1994, The Billion Dollar Molecule tells the story of Vertex Pharmaceuticals, a drug discovery start-up that became a formidable challenger to Big Pharma despite tremendous obstacles. Stephanie Wisner, co-founder at biotech firm Centivax, says it makes a compelling case for the risk-taking inherent in the development of new medicines. “Every co-founder has had difficult moments and ups and downs . . . even a company as successful as Vertex navigated difficult periods en route to helping patients.”

Architects: ‘Delirious New York’ by Rem Koolhaas

Manhattan, writes Rem Koolhaas, is the “20th century’s Rosetta Stone”. In Delirious New York, a book broken into blocks that reflect the city’s districts, he sets out a manifesto for the city as a collective experiment. Ellis Woodman, director of The Architecture Foundation, describes it as “a knockout — a very funny and influential history of the development of New York.”

Perfumers: ‘À rebours (Against Nature)’ by Joris Karl Huysmans

In this cult book (featured as the “poisonous French novel” in Oscar Wilde’s A Picture of Dorian Gray) a fictional “perfume organ” blends notes to create fragrance. The term is now used to describe a scent-maker’s desk. Perfumer Timothy Han says this hugely influential work “set a tone for the decadence period in art and fashion”. “Marc Almond wrote an album about it, Serge Gainsbourg modelled his flat after it. Marianne Faithful once wrote ‘You would ask your date, “Have you read ‘A Rebours?’’’ and if he said yes, you’d fuck.’”

Teachers: ‘‘I Won’t Learn from You’ And Other Thoughts on Creative Maladjustment’ by Herbert Kohl

This essay collection, by a major proponent of the “open classroom” model, is beloved by American schoolteachers, says Lois Weiner, education professor at New Jersey City University. Part autobiography, part troubleshooting guide, it draws from Kohl’s experiences in the classroom as well as from the philosophy of the civil rights movement. “I think it’s more relevant and needed today than ever before, especially the essay on the need for teachers to be ‘hope-mongers,’ to teach hope,” Weiner says.

Art Dealers: ‘Duveen: The Story of the Most Spectacular Art Dealer of All Time’ by Samuel N Behrman

This book is a study of the psychoanalysis of selling art through legendary dealer Joseph Duveen, a man who charmed America’s wealthy industrialists with rare style. “What most people I know aspire to within their practice is also a certain sprezzatura [graceful effortlessness] behind which there’s quite a lot of thought, consideration and scholarship.” says independent art dealer Devon McCormack. The book is on most art dealers’ nightstands, she says. “It’s instructive in the sense that it provides a framework for understanding human desires.”