Summer Reading Lists for Graduate School Students

Information compiled by the GradSchools.com team - last updated December 2010

For lots of folks, summer is all about the beach and backyard barbecues. For grad school applicants, summer is prime time for preparation and research. Whether you’ve already been accepted to a graduate program, or you’re just beginning to identify schools of interest, you should take advantage of the extended daylight!  Find a shady patch of grass, and crack open some recommended reading. With the insight you’ll gain, you can boost your GRE or GMAT score, improve your grad school application essay, and even start to envision your thesis.

• Psychology 101 1/2: The Unspoken Rules for Success in Academia, by Robert Sternberg
• Descartes' Error: Emotion, Reason, and the Human Brain, by Anthony Damasio
• Writing for Scholarly Publication, by Anne Sigismund Huff
• Getting Mentored in Graduate School, by W. Brad Johnson
• APA Journals (find one for your course of study)

• Leading Quietly : An Unorthodox Guide to Doing the Right Thing, by Joseph L Badaracco
• Ten Deadly Marketing Sins, by Philip Kotler
• Kiss, Bow, or Shake Hands, by Terri Morrison and Wayne A. Conaway
• The Prince, by NiccolÓ Machiavelli
• Harvard Business Review and the Wall Street Journal  

• How to Talk so Kids Can Learn, by Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish
•  Becoming a Critically Reflective Teacher, by Stephen D. Brookfield
•  Lessons to a Young Teacher, by Jonathan Kozol
• Up the Down Staircase, by Bel Kaufman

• Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life, by Anne Lamott – Creative Writing students
• Best Words, Best Order, 2nd Edition: Essays on Poetry, by Stephen Dobyns – Poetry students
• From Abacus to Zeus: A Handbook of Art History, by James Smith Pierce – Art History students
• The Music Teaching Artist's Bible: Becoming a Virtuoso Educator, by Booth – Music Ed students
• What We Do: Working in the Theatre, by Bo Metzler – Theater Arts students 

• On the Origin of Species, by Charles Darwin
• Life As It Is, by William Loomis
• Disease and Medicine in World History, by Sheldon Watts
• The Third Chimpanzee: The Evolution and Future of the Human Animal, by Jared M. Diamond
• The Selfish Gene, by Richard Dawkins