Episode · Lenny's Podcast · 2025-06-12
Lenny Rachitsky & Bob Baxley: books mentioned on Lenny's Podcast
35 years of product design wisdom from Apple, Disney, Pinterest, and beyond | Bob Baxley
Bob Baxley is a design leader who has shaped products used by billions at Apple, Pinterest, Yahoo, and ThoughtSpot. During his eight years at Apple, he led design for the online store and the App Store, and witnessed the iPhone’s transformative launch while working under Steve Jobs.
Bob Baxley recommended The Elements of Typographic Style by Robert Bringhurst, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert M. Pirsig, and Time and the Art of Living by Robert Grudin, and discussed Hare Brain, Tortoise Mind by Guy Claxton.
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
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Hare Brain, Tortoise Mind
Discussed“And so I there's there's a a a wonderful book called um hairbrain tortoise mind by a gentleman named Guy Claxton. And in that he talks about the undermind. And sometimes you might have heard this as your unconscious or something like that.”
Where to get it
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The Elements of Typographic Style
Recommended“So the three books I'm going to recommend the first one's a a a beautiful poetic book about typography called the elements of typographic style by uh Robert Bringhurst. Robert uh was the poet laurate of Canada and the first 80 pages will change how you think about typography.”
Where to get it
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Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
Recommended“second book Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance many people may know ultimately a philosophy book but it's about the concept of quality which I think is a very important topic so it talks quality and the importance of how things integrate into a cohesive hole”
Where to get it
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Time and the Art of Living
Recommended“And then the last one is a book called time in the art of living by uh Robert uh Gruden. It's just a very interesting collection of sort of impressionistic views of time and how time passes and what time means.”
Where to get it
