So what books are on your business bookshelf?
Fast Company’s expert blogger, Rich Brooks, has boiled down the best books for business into an list of the most essential 13. The list held a few surprises and is not just limited to recent best sellers. Brooks included the following (and the notes in italics are my comments):
- Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us by Daniel Pink
- Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard by Chip & Dan Heath (This team also wrote one of my other favorite business books, Made to Stick)
- Trust Agents: Using the Web to Build Influence, Improve Reputation, and Earn Trust by Chris Brogan & Julien Smith
- How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
- Permission Marketing : Turning Strangers Into Friends And Friends Into Customers by Seth Godin
- Presentation Zen: Simple Ideas on Presenting Design and Delivery by Garr Reynolds (This is a must for anyone who wants to move beyond the terrible default templates provided by PowerPoint)
- Freakonomics and SuperFreakonomics by Steven D. Levitt & Stephen J. Dubner (Very interesting read and contains a quite a few facts that you can use to impress your friends)
- The World is Flat: A Brief History of the 21st Century by Thomas L. Friedman (Dense, but really informative)
- Crush It! Why NOW is the Time to Cash In on Your Passion by Gary Vaynerchuk
- The 4-Hour Work Week by Tim Ferriss
- Shogun by James Claville
- Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand (Not a personal favorite, but I understand the appeal.)
- The Knack: How Street-Smart Entrepreneurs Learn to Handle Whatever Comes Up by Norm Brodsky and Bo Burlingham
The Fast Company article explains how each book made the list and makes a compelling argument for why you should invest your time in expanding your existing reading list.
Do you agree with this list? Are any of your favorites missing?