My choice:
From all the bestsellers’ and critis’ choice list, my top 2 business books of the year are:
1. Thomas Friedman’s The World is Flat - because the effects of globalization have only just begun.
2. James Surowieki’s The Wisdom Of Crowds - because this what built Google and this is what drives the current Web2.0 phenomenon. In the words of Russ Mayfiled, “...web2.0 is about people.”
The Financial Times & Goldman Sachs Business Book Of The Year Award
Since I am partial to FT (apart from The Economist, i will start with the shortlist of the 6 books chosen for the The Financial Times & Goldman Sachs Business Book Of The Year Award
1) The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century by Thomas Friedman.
Winner of the Award. says that the beginning of this century will be remembered as - a “flattening” of the world.
2) Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything by Steven D. Levitt.
If you dig deep enough into the ‘whys’ of happenings then an explanation eventually emerges.
3. THE TRAVELS OF A T-SHIRT by Pietra Rivoli.
The economic and political lessons from the life story of a simple t-shirt.
4. DISNEYWAR by James Stewart.
The mysteries surrounding the company that the mouse built.
5. THE SEARCH: How Google and its Rivals Rewrote the Rules of Business by John Battelle
6. FAST SECOND: How Smart Companies Bypass Radical Innovation to Enter Dominate New Markets By Constantinos C, Markides Paul Geroski.
Tells us why being a “fast second” is often more financially profitable than being at the cutting edge.
The 12 Best Business Books of 2005
A selection from Strategy & Business’s top 32 business books of the year.
Best books from the list:
1. Radical Evolution: The Promise and Peril of Enhancing Our Minds, Our Bodies - and What It Means To Be Human by Joel Garreau (Doubleday, 2005)
2. The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid: Eradicating Poverty Through Profits by C.K. Prahalad (Wharton School Publishing, 2005)
Forbes.com’s Business Books Of The Year
The top two spots are occupied by biographies of US treasury secretaries. Three of my choices from the list are:
1. Barry Schwartz’s The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less
2. Lois Frankel’s Nice Girls Don’t Get the Corner Office: 101 Unconscious Mistakes Women Make That Sabotage Their Careers.
3. Seth Godin’s Free Prize Inside!: The Next Big Marketing Idea.
800-CEO-READ’S BEST SELLING BOOKS OF 2005
From the 25 books on the list, here’re the top 10:
1. Blue Ocean Strategy, by Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne
2. The 7 Irrefutable Rules of Small Business, by Steven S. Little
3. It’s Your Ship, by Michael Abrashoff
4. Overpromise and Overdeliver, by Rick Barrera
5. Radical Leap, by Steve Farber
6. The Millionaire Real Estate Investor, by Gary Keller, Dave Jenks, and Jay Papasan
7. The One Thing You Need to Know, by Marcus Buckingham
8. Breaking the Bamboo Ceiling, by Jane Hyun
9. The Resilient Enterprise, by Yossi Sheffi
10. Return on Customer, by Don Peppers and Martha Rogers
Businessweek’s Best Books Of The Year
Best Books from the list:
1. James Surowieki’s The Wisdom of Crowds: Why the Many Are Smarter Than the Few and How Collective Wisdom Shapes Business, Economies, Societies and Nations (Doubleday)
2. Barry Schwartz’s The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less (Ecco)
New York Times’ 100 Notable Books of the Year
From the non-fiction part of the list, here’s my choice:
1. COLLAPSE: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed. By Jared Diamond. (Viking)
2. IN COMMAND OF HISTORY: Churchill Fighting and Writing the Second World War. By David Reynolds. (Random House)How a very busy man and a staff of busy assistants managed to turn out six volumes in 1948-54.
THE BUSINESS BOOK BOOKSTORE & REVIEW’s selection of the best 100 business books for the year...(from Amazon.com)
This list doesn’t limit itself to 2005 alone. Top on the list is:
1. What The Best CEOs Know : 7 Exceptional Leaders and their Lessons for Transforming any Business (2002 book)
Times’ best books on the entertainment business
Top of the list is a biography:
1. LION OF HOLLYWOOD: The Life and Legend of Louis B Mayer
by Scott Eyman
WORLDCHANGING’S READING LIST
A Different Kind of Book List
It is not directly about business, but I have included this because a better world is everybody’s business.
For anyone interested in a better world, Worldchanging is a great starting point. A selection from a dynamic list at the site(readers’ submissions):
1. Cradle to Cradle by William McDonough and Michael Braungart
2. Pale Blue Dot by Carl Sagan. A worldview-changing book!
3. The Age of Consent (published in the US under the awful title Manifesto for a New World Order) by George Monbiot
4. The Mars Trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson (ok, that’s three books, but utopian fiction doesn’t get any better)
5. World Federation? A Critical Analysis by Ronald J. Glossop. Obscure but very important.
Also check out:
TOP 5 AWARD WINNING BUSINESS AND MANAGEMENT BOOKS - 2005
