Inventing: First Steps - Invention City President Mike Marks provides a definitive guide to the first steps you should take after that eureka moment.  Learn how to know that your idea is worth time and effort; save thousands of dollars; protect your invention on a tight budget; make a prototype and much more.  The is 75 pages and costs $29.95 in print form and 18.95 as an e-book.  Mike guarantees you'll think his book is worth 10X the price and will refund your money if you send him an email saying you don't (you get to keep the book).  This is a great book and a can't lose offer.

Patent It Yourself  - David Pressman's classic belongs on every inventor's bookshelf.   This book is the bible for anyone even remotely thinking about patenting an invention without an attorney. This book can save you thousands of dollars even if you have already hired a patent attorney.  Patent It Yourself will help you make intelligent decisions regardless of whether or not you actually do it yourself.  Patent It Yourself is like the wise uncle who cares about you and knows EVERYTHING (and there's a lot to know). The cost of the book is $34.99.  Its well worth it.   

Guerrilla Marketing: Secrets for Making Big Profits from Your Small Business - Unleash the powerful guerrilla marketing weapons described in this information-packed volume. Exploit eleven proven methods, described here with examples drawn from real-life experiences.  Jay Conrad Levinson and Seth Godin are true oracles of the new age of marketing.  $11.20

 Blockbusters : The Five Keys to Developing Great New Products - Great products are the lifeblood of great companies, yet approximately 60 percent of new products fail in the marketplace, after major investments and huge risks. Why? Gary Lynn and Richard Reilly now offer advice that will radically change the way new products are developed and launched: a plan for companies to survive -- and thrive -- in today's competitive and turbulent times. $17.47

Anatomy of a Business Plan - A Step-By-Step Guide to Starting Smart, Building the Business, and Securing Your Company's Future. Updated edition of the 1994 Ben Franklin Award winner for Best Business Book.  Includes the latest marketing strategies that incorporate the Web; up-to-date business plans; latest resources for entrepreneurs; and a new section on exit planning. Placed with sample forms, worksheets, and two fully developed actual plans.  By Linda Pinson.  $15.37

The Start-Up Guide - A One-Year Plan for Entrepreneurs. Outlines a 12-month action plan for creating a new business.  Provides a framework to research and test ideas inexpensively, define and identify ways to reach the best markets, and forecast sales and expenses. By David H. Bangs, Jr. $16.07

And Suddenly the Inventor Appeared: Triz the Theory of Inventive Problem Solving  - Stalin wanted the USSR to lead the world and believed that one of the keys was to outinvent the west. He assigned bucketfuls of Soviet scientists to research thousands upon thousands of patents to discover the secrets of successful inventing. These "secrets" are now being disseminated in the west in a number of ways. The best way to get a flavor of what the Russians discovered is to read this book. For example, how would you go about lighting the dark side of the moon? The thought process used to arrive at the solution to this and other problems is the focus of the book. Useful for both professionals and neophytes. $40

Ogilvy on Advertising  - An oldie but a goody.  David Ogilvy created one of the world’s great ad agencies and learned a great deal in the process. He shares his priceless knowledge in this book. Ogilvy believes that the purpose of advertising is to communicate information. He would reject much of the illegible graphics and indecipherable hoopla in today’s advertising. This book can be used as a simple "How To" book for effective product brochures and web sites and for a deeper understanding on communication processes in general. Be forewarned that Ogilvy has a Mt. Everest sized ego which is annoying if not tuned out. The message is important. $16.10

Mastering the Dynamics of Innovation  - James M. Utterback wrote this book for senior executives responsible for product development in Fortune 500 companies. It is useful for anyone planning to sell a product or an idea to any large organization. In short, the book helps to form arguments on the strategic value of introducing new products and technologies. $12.76

High Stakes, No Prisoners - Probably one of the best books to come out of the Internet bubble is this story of the deal that set the whole thing off.  Charles Ferguson tells the story of Vermeer - its development and licensing of the product that became Microsoft's Front Page.  Learning how Vermeer negotiated with VCs and Microsoft make this book a worthwhile investment.  $12  

Liar's Poker - Before the Internet bubble there was Wall Street in the 1980's.  Those of us who work with products think that how a product works and what it does are important. It’s always a shock when we meet with investors and buyers who care only about money. Well the guys we meet are nothing compared to the greedy bastards on Wall Street in the 1980’s. Michael Lewis' hilarious true story about bond trading at Salomon Brothers is an education in avarice. Read it before your next banker meeting - you’ll think your banker is a really nice guy. $11.20

Encyclopedia of Model Making Techniques - The techniques used for making a model of a new product are often the same as those used for making scale models.  This is a comprehensive guide to preparation, construction and finishing skills for all scale models. Structured to enable modelers of differing interests and skill levels to sample new materials and techniques. $19.98

The Henry Petroski Collection

Henry Petroski is one of the great writers of our time covering the field of engineering and product development. As anyone who has ever done a patent search knows all too well, virtually everything we see and experience today has precedent. Petroski’s books and stories give us insight into how things have come to be the way they are.

Design Paradigms - Case Histories of Error and Judgment in Engineering. $19.96 
Evolution of Useful Things $10.40
Invention by Design - How Engineers Get from Thought to Thing. $9.80
The Pencil - A History of Design and Circumstance. $16 
To Engineer is Human -The Role of Failure in Successful Design. $10.40