When I was thinking about getting a PhD I looked thru a couple different books about the subject. “Getting what you came for” by Robert L Peters was the best overall book of practical advice at the time. (edit: Feibelman’s “A PhD Is not enough! A guide to survival in science” was pretty good too.)

Years later I found the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy’s entry on the Scientific Method to be very interesting: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/scientific-method/ especially if you’re a scientist or engineer. But don’t let it distract you too much - you typically don’t have to think about things at this level, it just answered a bunch of meta / “why are things this way?” questions I had.

I have a bit of a background in the humanities, and I found Stephen Ramsay’s “Reading Machines: Toward an Algorithmic Criticism” to be a very insightful take on the role of humanities in our technological / information-oriented world.

When I first got involved in research as a programmer, and later towards the end of my PhD, I read “Middlemarch” and I still look over parts of in now and then. It has a strong set of themes on intellectual/artistic/political yearnings for achievement and paths towards failure. And it’s just beautifully written.

Good luck! Let me know if you need any more advice!

The Lord of the Rings.

Anything written by Chuck Tingle (imma be honest, I’m not even sure if this is an actual cover of his or a parody)

Well, I have no idea what your PHD is in so I’m recommending Old Man’s War by John Scalzi. I just started reading it and enjoying it so far. Hope this helps!

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Seriously: psychological self-care books. That thing can really weigh on your mental health (I’m still dealing with physical symptoms from mine).

Naked Under Our Clothes: Unzipped, Uncut, and Totally Unplugged
By Ed Lover and Doctor Dre

Pirsig’s Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance