In an interview on Making Movies

Your first choice is Making Movies, by Sidney Lumet.  Did you read it before you started making movies?

I read it when I was in film school—when it first came out.  I had a hardcover copy, which was a big investment when I was a film student (and broke).  I remember just devouring it over a weekend. Eating up those stories about Dog Day Afternoon and 12 Angry Men. 

It’s an incredibly clear, honest, and precise discussion of the films Lumet made over the course of his career. There are many pearls of wisdom about directing and filmmaking in the book.  It breaks down the different problems Lumet had in making films, and tells how he solved them.  Even though I had only done a bunch of short student films at that point, I could sort of identify with some of the challenges that he dealt with and wrote about.  And I eventually got to put some of the stuff to use.  Generally, hearing how Lumet navigated the struggles I was running into myself—that was very encouraging.