17 non-planning centric books that all planners should read

Listed below are 17 books that this retired planner believes every planner should read at some point during their career. They are books which are not planning-centric, though they may speak to planning issues from outside of the planning realm. Several details troubling aspects of American history that many of us do not know enough about, nor were ever taught in school.

While some of these books address topics that may be closer to home, others describe life in cities and places on the other side of the planet. Each brings a unique perspective to consider whether it be about racism, injustice, climate change, poverty, economic turmoil, broken dreams, or mass tourism.

The books are listed in alphabetical order. I hope you find them as enlightening as I did. Peace!

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109 East Palace: Robert Oppenheimer and the Secret City of Los Alamos (2005) by Jennet Conant

Boom, Bust, Boom: A Story About Copper, the Metal that Runs the World (2012) by Bill Carter

Educated (2018) by Tara Westover

Everything Now: Lessons from the City-State of Los Angeles (2021) by Rosecrans Baldwin

Fire Season: Field Notes from a Wilderness Lookout (2011) by Philip Connors

If Venice Dies (2014) by Salvatore Settis

Istanbul: Memories and the City (2003) by Orhan Pamuk

Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption (2014) by Bryan Stevenson

Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found (2004) by Suketu Mehta

Nomadland: Surviving America in the 21st Century (2017) by Jessica Bruder

Soul City: Race, Equality, and the Lost Dream of an American Utopia (2021) by Thomas Healy

Sundown Towns: A Hidden Dimension of American Racism (2005) by James W. Loewen

The Broken Heart of America: St. Louis and the Violent History of the United States (2020 by Walter Johnson

The Mirage Factory: Illusion, Imagination, and the Invention of Los Angeles (2018) by Gary Krist

The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl (2005) by Timothy Egan

Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail (2012) by Cheryl Strayed

Yellowcake Towns: Uranium Mining Communities in the American West (2002) by Michael A. Admundson