Although the book cover is going to change for the relaunch this fall to hit a best seller list, some thoughts as to why for the first edition cover are below.
1) Yellow means caution, but more so in the sense that a good life is comprised of hard, passionate work. Not just sitting around and doing nothing.
2) The hiker and mountain resemble the saying life is like a mountain and provokes thought as to what mountain you are climbing in life. And if you aren’t climbing one, what mountain you could climb to get the most value from.
3) Philosophical engineering is the practice in which you “climb” the need/value mountain in life.