Walker wrote the Consumed column for the New York Times Magazine, and he’s curious about one question. Why do we attach ourselves to the things we buy? His answer is that consumption is storytelling. We buy meaning and belonging, then tell ourselves it was about features and price.

It’s the most humanities book on the shelf, which is exactly why it earns a place next to the strategy and operations titles. You can design a flawless value proposition and still miss the reason a person actually adopts something.

His idea of “murketing”, the messy bottom-up way brands and meaning spread now, predates the influencer era but explains it neatly. For me the book is a check against pure rationalism. Useful is necessary but not enough. People also have to see themselves using the thing, and that keeps the human side of the work honest.