Here are a few of my favorites!

• Creativity, Inc.
• Interaction of Color
• Understanding Comics
• Elements of Typographic Style
• Design of Everyday Things

Design is a Job by Mike Monteiro is really wonderful.

Also anything in Frank Chimero's Library.

These are all excellent books.

You should master and know the basics of visual design from color to typography to grids to layouts and so on.

And, assuming you are talking about these elements of design to become a better designer, fair enough - but allow me to throw a curve ball in the mix here.

Truth be told, these are simply one facet of design. Albeit, a big fat massive facet, yes, you need to know these things, but I would not stop there.

Design is also how you think.

How you’re thinking when you’re behind the keyboard and mouse and interpreting the situation, and executing those keystrokes and mouse clicks.

I see very few books (some, but surprisingly, not many) being mentioned beyond the multiple facets of visual design, which will make you a more potent designer.

Most of us are designers not artists, and a lot of our works exists in a commercial context or in contexts where humans are relying on our works to support a never-ending range of activities and goals.

More often than not we support outcomes.

Thus, it pays to really understand business and people.

In fact, I would say as a designer you must absolutely have to have this part of your brain activated.

Assuming if you do any form of client work or as an employee, you will need to constantly defend your work. You better have the business reasoning lined up, better be able to make a solid case for your decisions - and the psychology part (understanding people) is critical for building consensus in the design process.

Otherwise, you will often get steamrolled.

You should be forming a mental model, a lens on the world to view your designs through.

Business

Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make Competition Irrelevant

If you were only going to spend time really hammering one concept into your brain, this is a powerful business concept to have in your thinking and questioning.

At the core of this book is one very simple concept - differentiation.

The second key concept of the book is simple as well - defensibility.

This book has a solid framework and analysis of businesses who have “created blue oceans” - new markets and what makes them different.

Like poker, easy to grasp the basics, takes a lifetime to master.

The Lean Startup

Some of the concepts feel dated these days, especially with regards to what type of MVP (minimum viable product) will be able to gather the right signals to evaluate - product/ market fit (will people pay money for this product?) - however, it is still a solid read and good for foundational business thinking.

People

A good starting point in my opinion to gather some views on people, motivations and psychology are these books:

Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ

Social Intelligence: The New Science of Human Relationships

Influence

The work of the godfather of persuasion research is Robert Cialdini who wrote the book Influence is a designer’s secret weapon.

He breaks down what he calls the 6 laws of influence, many of which we use today as designers, i.e., Social Proof: our default little avatars with customer quotes. Reciprocity: give me your email address and you will get this free guide. Authority: this is what very important people are saying about our product. Likeability: think of the tone of Slack’s friendly copy. Scarcity: we only have 6 spots left, so you best act now. Commitment: you’ve already signed up for our free trial, click here to upgrade your plan and tell your friends. Don’t stop, you must be consistent. etc., etc.,

Again, understanding these human tendencies makes you a more potent designer. It might impact the hierarchy of your page layouts, it can impact lots of things if you are trying to move a user to a goal.

The Power of Glamour: Longing and the Art of Visual Persuasion

This book came to me out of left field and it’s fascinating. It’s an exploration of imagery and the concept of “glamour” in history in photos from old vacation brochures to websites selling condos in high-rises in New York City.

With the current web renaissance in big photography, this book really helped me sharpen my thinking and give me a more solid framework when writing creative briefs for photographers for sites I am working on.

I’d also say read a lot about very extreme people.

The Mike Tyson: Undisputed Truth biography is hands down one of my favorite reads.

I wouldn’t even stop here.

The more you absorb from seemingly unrelated disciplines from the science of networks to the biological processes of our brain’s visual system, the more you are able to connect the dots from things, which are seemingly unrelated, the sharper your thinking, execution and impact becomes as a designer.

Finally, on this point.

If you have no framework for understanding the business context your designs live in - and you have no process for understanding the users your designs serve, what are you really doing?

Sure, you might have a team hand you a brief with these details, but it helps to understand how they got them - and why they are - what they say.

You want to know why.

Reading about history of design sometimes is much more inspiring than about current trends, standards or "how-to's".

The one I enjoyed the most was "Objects of Desire: Design and Society Since 1750" by Adrian Forty. Talks about how design was born and why. Super interesting.

Universal Principles of Design is good one to start, and I also recommend 2 books to sell your design.

1. To Sell is Human by Daniel H Pink

2. Instant Influence by Robert Cialdini

Recently I switched to listen to audiobook while driving, thats seems more effective to absorb due to my busy schedule.

Here are couple other good books:

1. The Start-up of You by Reid Hoffman

2. Smartcuts - Shane Snow

3. Little Bets: How Breakthrough Ideas Emerge from Small Discoveries by Peter Sims

• The Strategic Designer: Tools for managing the design process - Holston
• Smashing: UX Design - Allen Chudley
• Don't Make Me Think! - Krug

Books I intend to read:

• Just Enough Research - Erika Hall
• Design is a job - Mike Monteiro
• The Architecture of Happiness - Alain de Botton
• The Design of Everyday Things - Don Norman
• Design as Art - Bruno Munari
• Thoughts on Design - Paul Rand
• Some others that were listed here...

The War of Art

Thoughts on Design by Paul Rand is a quick read, but solid. I'd recommend it.

The Eyes of the Skin

Amazing suggestions of books expected in this thread. I cannot point any particular book to be the best, because there are a ton of them out there.

Here are few, which I can quickly recall

100 Ideas that Changed Graphic Design

The Design of Everyday Things

Creative Confidence

Also I am trying to gather a list of the best books over at Pixel Hours

I started compiling a list of books that I really liked here: http://greatdesignbooks.com/

Here is also a picture of the books that I listed!

This may seem like a stretch as far as its relevance to design, but The Google Resume by Gayle Laakmann McDowell was a great read. I would go as far as saying that I attribute it to helping me land my first job at a design/interactive agency, even though as a developer.

I've sort of moved away from "design" books as the theory doesn't seem to have changed much regardless of the medium. However its increasingly the job of the designer to assess or define product readiness, market, customers, business goals, etc so I've been focusing more on business and psychology books like:

1. Crossing the Chasm
2. Hooked: A Guide to Building Habit Forming Products
3. Jony Ive: The Genius Behind Apple's Greatest Products

Thankfully, there are more and more books and other resources on the topics of business of design, branding, usability, and product management. I’m compelled to recommend fundamentals that might be getting lost in the shuffle:

Design Basics by Lauer & Pentak. Having used a number of editions, I still like the fifth edition the best.

It covers the fundamentals of two-dimensional design that art & design education builds upon. I think of it as low-level as studying assembly or computer architecture is to an engineer. For folks without design edu. background, this stuff tends to be harder to pick up on the job.

Language of Vision by Gyorgy Kepes http://www.amazon.com/Language-Vision-Gyorgy-Kepes/dp/1258454068

Paul Rand was a big fan of Rudolf Arnheim.

Recommend referring to his lists as well: http://www.paul-rand.com/foundation/thoughts_suggestedReading/#sociology