Young Adult Book List: Career Direction Mapping

Nonfiction

  1. You Majored in What? Mapping Your Path from Chaos to Career – Katharine Brooks
    Helps young adults use curiosity, creativity, and strengths to design a meaningful career path.

  2. Do What You Are: Discover the Perfect Career for You Through the Secrets of Personality Type – Paul D. Tieger & Barbara Barron-Tieger
    Uses personality types to guide career choices and self-discovery.

  3. The Defining Decade: Why Your Twenties Matter—And How to Make the Most of Them Now – Meg Jay
    Research-based insights on career, relationships, and choices during young adulthood.

  4. Designing Your Life: How to Build a Well-Lived, Joyful Life – Bill Burnett & Dave Evans
    Applies design thinking to career direction and personal fulfillment.

  5. What Color Is Your Parachute? For Teens – Carol Christen & Richard N. Bolles
    A career guide specifically written for teens and young adults exploring majors, jobs, and interests.

  6. Roadmap: The Get-It-Together Guide for Figuring Out What to Do With Your Life – Roadtrip Nation
    Based on interviews with people across industries, it helps readers see diverse career journeys.

  7. StrengthsFinder 2.0 – Tom Rath
    Helps young adults identify their natural strengths and align them with future career choices.

  8. How to Find Fulfilling Work – Roman Krznaric
    Explores the psychology and philosophy behind choosing meaningful work.

Fiction

  1. The Alchemist – Paulo Coelho
    A parable-like story about following one’s dreams, listening to intuition, and discovering personal purpose.

  2. Little Fires Everywhere – Celeste Ng
    Explores choices, identity, and the ripple effects of pursuing different life paths.

  3. Normal People – Sally Rooney
    Follows two young adults navigating love, self-discovery, and the struggle to define their direction.

  4. An Absolutely Remarkable Thing – Hank Green
    A modern story about internet fame, ambition, and finding meaning in unexpected opportunities.

  5. Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine – Gail Honeyman
    A story about self-discovery, connection, and realizing new possibilities in adulthood.

  6. On the Road – Jack Kerouac
    Classic novel of exploration, freedom, and searching for purpose.

  7. The Midnight Library – Matt Haig
    Explores the idea of choices and alternate life paths, asking what truly matters in building a life.

  8. Educated (Memoir) – Tara Westover
    Though nonfiction, it reads like a story—about resilience, education, and forging one’s own career direction against all odds.