When this question was posted on the CSI Community Page, “What’s the one book you think every construction industry professional should read, and why?” members offered dozens of interesting and relevant options.
Here’s the CSI Construction Pro reading list, Part One:
“There are two books I ‘assign’ to all junior staff—I learned more genuinely useful stuff from these two books than everything I learned in school.
Wiggins, Manual of Construction Documentation
Ching, Building Construction Illustrated
Bonus: not a book to read, but one to always have close: Glover, Pocket Ref
Dan Helphrey RA, CSI, CCS
#1 CSI Project Delivery Practice Guide (PDPG).
#2 Ken Follett's The Pillars of the Earth, a novel about building a cathedral in Eleventh Century England. I suggest this only because it's got a lot more violence and sex than does the CSI PDPG.
Kevin O'Beirne, PE, FCSI, CCS, CCCA
#1 Graphic Standards (Ramsey/Sleeper Architectural Graphic Standards Series)
#2 Banister Fletcher's Global History of Architecture
#3 Form, Space, & Order
Cynthia Belisle, FCSI | DFW
My suggestion would be Why Buildings Stand Up by Mario Salvadori, particularly for young professionals. This book does a great job of giving an overview to architecture.
Another by the same author, along with Matthys Levy, is Why Buildings Fall Down. This book does a really good job of pointing out how small decisions have large impacts.
Raymond "Beau" Hale CSI, CDT
#1 The Bible, best management book written.
#2 Quality Management in Construction Projects, by Abdul Razzak Rumane
#3 A Testament, by Frank Lloyd Wright
#4 Building Construction, by Gang Chea (covers specs, construction management, project management, drawings, tips for detailing, schedules, checklists, and secrets others don't tell you.
David Lewis CSI
See all the construction pro picks right here, and add your own must-read suggestion.