Reading = Better Photography
Obviously, you can read books about photography that will help you learn new techniques and ideas.
But I feel like books about topics other than photography have actually contributed more significantly to my work. In particular books by authors who are passionate about the natural environment have really had an effect on my photography. Authors like James Herriot, Robert McFarlane, and Roger Deakin have completely changed how I view the natural world, and in turn, have affected how I compose photos.
Books by authors like this have made me more aware of my surroundings, helped me learn to look for smaller details in my surroundings and to watch how light falls.
If you want to improve your photography, read books, and not just books about photography. Read books about art, about the environment, about people. Fiction or non-fiction, comic or novel, textbook or newspaper, just read more.
Here are some of my favourite books by the authors I mentioned above:
The Old Ways by Robert Macfarlane
The Wild Places by Robert Macfarlane
Wildwood: A Journey Through Trees by Roger Deakin
Notes from Walnut Tree Farm by Roger Deakin
James Herriot's Yorkshire by James Herriot
The Complete James Herriot Collection by James Herriot