Programmable Self Reading List

Hi,

I am preparing for my talk at Quantified Self about my work on Programmable Self. I was asked to make a “reading list” for the people who were interested in this subject so I wanted to create that here. Please add links in my comments section for titles that I have omitted!! Requirements for inclusion are simple. Anything that applies to using technology to change your own behavior. I would also suggest that you get a kindle from Amazon. Kindle will run as software on the iphone, ipad, and android, as well as OS X and Windows. So you do not need to buy a new device if you do not want to, but buying the kindle edition of the following books will probably save you more than $100.

My goal here is to have something relevant no matter what your background. If you are a behavioral economist, then there is some cool gamification stuff here. If you are all about gamification, then there is some cool behavioral economics stuff here… Please help me make this list even better with comments!! (thanks to Lesath for pointing out a broken link!!)

While there are some “gamification” books here, most of this has to do with recent research into human motivation.

I would also take a moment to check out BJ Fogg’s work from the Persuasive Technology lab at Stanford. What I like about BJ’s work is that he seems very focused on making simple models for clear communication. BJ did a good job convincing me that most people have something different in their head when you say “behavior” or “engage” or “change”. Given that, you need a kind of simple vocabulary for talking about what behavior intervention your are discussing. So you should understand the following basic concepts.

I have decided that this is a good place to keep links to important videos after watching Jane McGonigal (Super Better above) give an awesome TED Talk.

If you feel like learning about programmable self from a conference, then I suggest a couple of options:

I will add more links as time goes on. What did I miss? Leave me a comment with your favorite resources for behavior change.

-FT