The Bennington College Library asked me to make a list of 10-20 books for their interesting people booklist. I think this will be books I would recommend to students. Here we go:

On Utopia

• Looking Backward 2000-1887 by Edward Bellamy - a classic of Utopian Fiction
• Dream Re-imagining Progressive Politics in an Age of Fantasy by Stephen Duncombe - utopia and contemporary politics collide

Technology

• 4 Arguments For the Elimination of Television by Jerry Mander - this book influenced me a lot when I was 17 or so.

History

• A People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn - maybe you only need to read one history book, and this is it.
• PR! A social History of Spin - by Stuart Ewen - say you were to read another history book. This would be it.

Advertising The PR! book above is a great segue.

• Ad Nauseam: A Survivor's Guide to American Consumer Culture - by Stay Free Magazine.
• Cute, Quaint, Hungry and Romantic - the Aesthetics of Consumerism - by Daniel Harris. This and Paul Lukas's fanzine, Beer Frame, got me looking at the world with a whole new pair of eyes.

The Funny

• Re/Search: Pranks - inspiring
• Anything by George Saunders. Maybe start with Pastoralia or Brain Dead Megaphone.
• Jimmy Carr's book, Only Joking(?)
• Sataristas by Paul Provenza and Dan Dion
• Truth in Comedy

Social Marketing Using marketing techniques to promote healthy behaviors. These are books I recommend often.

• Promoting Nutrition and Physical Activity Through Social Marketing: Current Practices and Recommendations by Rina Alcalay, PhD and Robert Bell, PhD - If you can get past the fact that you are reading a study, this is solid gold.
• Fostering Sustainable Behavior An Introduction to Community Based Social Marketing - Doug MacKenzie Mohr and William Smith

Being An Artist This is the practical stuff.

• Art & Fear: Observations On the Perils and Rewards of Artmaking by David Bayles & Ted Orland - I have bought this and given it away more times than I can remember.
• Creating a Life Worth Living by Carol Lloyd - I coincidentally found this book when I worked at a motorcycle job and decided I wanted to get out. This is what I recommend when people tell me they want to get out of a job.
• The Artist's Guide: Making a Living Doing What You Love by Jackie Battenfield - I work with Jackie and she is the real deal.
• Getting Things Done by David Allen - yes it's aimed at a business person demographic, but damn it works.