You found our list of the best icebreaker books.
Icebreaker books are collections of team warmups, icebreaker questions, and games that can open the lines of communication within groups. Examples include The Big Book of Icebreakers and Social Nonsense. These books help you find an activity that suits your group’s size and purpose.
These books are a subcategory of team building books and usually include icebreaker questions.
So, here is the list!
List of icebreaker books
From guides on stimulating conversations to lists of games and activities, here is a list of icebreaker resources to help you form open and communicative teams.
1. The Big Book of Icebreakers: Quick, Fun Activities for Energizing Meetings and Workshops by Edie West
The Big Book of Icebreakers contains over 60 icebreaker activities divided by situations like staff meetings, sales meetings, outdoors, or just for fun. The book’s format allows leaders to easily choose an appropriate activity without scanning every page. Edie West outlines each challenge by purpose, group size, level of physical activity, and time. Each entry explains instructions and offers tips and variations. This book is a great resource to keep on hand in case you need to quickly pick an icebreaker activity.
Check out The Big Book of Icebreakers.
2. The Big Book of Business Games: Icebreakers, Creativity Exercises and Meeting Energizers by John Newstrom and Edward Scannell
The Big Book of Business Games, like The Big Book of Icebreakers, organizes activities into categories. While the latter book structures icebreakers by circumstance, The Big Book of Business Games targets team building benefits like motivation, problem solving, and adaptability. These games confront workplace challenges such as disengagement, inflexibility, and disconnection, disguising conflict resolution as fun diversions. Both authors draw on years of experience in organization development to present functional exercises.
Check out The Big Book of Business Games.
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3. Ask Powerful Questions: Create Conversations That Matter by Will Wise and Chad Littlefield
Ask Powerful Questions is not a collection of questions and games, but rather a book that can inform the icebreaker process. Authors Will Wise and Chad Littlefield explore how to hold conversations that create meaningful connections. The book centers around the ideas of Intention, Rapport, Openness, Listening, and Empathy. By deep diving into each concept, you learn how to structure thoughtful discussions and form foundations for strong relationships. Ask Powerful Questions is a great guide for creating your own icebreaker topics.
Check out Ask Powerful Questions.
4. Social Nonsense: Creative Diversions for Two or More Players – Anytime, Anywhere by by Doug J Shaw and Courtney Beadel
Social Nonsense is a book of quick and fun collaborative drawing and writing exercises. The artistic nature of the activities promotes your team’s creative instincts. Guided by this book, your groups will create cooperative masterpieces one sentence or pen stroke at a time. Because Social Nonsense is available as an eBook as well as a paperback, you can easily share these activities with remote teams and play virtual office games together using Google Docs or a digital whiteboard.
Check out Social Nonsense.
5. Quick Meeting Openers for Busy Managers: More Than 50 Icebreakers, Energizers, and Other Creative Activities That Get Results by Brian Cole Miller
Quick Meeting Openers for Busy Managers lists icebreaker activities that are easy to incorporate into meetings, sorting exercises primarily by group size. The book suggests icebreakers for anywhere from a handful of participants to upwards of one thousand. These activities require minimal preparation, and the author breaks instructions into easy-to-follow steps. Author Brian Cole Miller also includes a helpful chapter outlining various easy ways to split large groups into smaller teams.
Check out Quick Meeting Openers for Busy Managers.
6. Book of Questions: Revised and Updated by Gregory Stock
You can consult our list of icebreaker questions or concoct your own, but if you seek philosophical questions and deeper discussions, then Book of Questions delivers. Author Gregory Stock, Ph.D., is a scientist and entrepreneur with a special interest in ethics and values. Book of Questions presents dilemmas such as “If ads could be tailored so effectively to your personal desires and concerns that they’d be nearly irresistible, would you want to ban them?” You may need to skip some less workplace-appropriate prompts, but you will still find hundreds of multi-part, multifaceted questions that will encourage teammates to share beliefs and practice critical thinking.
Check out Book of Questions.
7. 201 Icebreakers: Group Mixers, Warm-Ups, Energizers, and Playful Activities by Edie West
At a whopping 424 pages, 201 Icebreakers is one of the longest and most comprehensive books about icebreakers currently on the market. Author Edie West offers icebreakers for a slew of specific circumstances, including “long, dry, presentations,” and “non-icebreakers types.” The book details group size, purpose, time, and props for each activity along with clear instructions. Some pages even include space to take notes, and the author also preps pre-made activity sheets for several exercises.
Check out 201 Icebreakers.
Conclusion
Icebreaker activity books offer advice and instructions from team building experts. These references are valuable resources you can consult whenever you need ideas for short exercises to motivate and energize your teams.
Next, check out our posts on icebreaker games for small groups and icebreaker games for large groups.
Angela Robinson