We've also heard a lot about change, lately. Below I list 5 books that changed my perspective on something; not all have a business angle, but each does have something universal to offer readers.

1. Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman, 1st edition

If you're discouraged by the dark cloud of political rhetoric that has settled over the U.S. for the past, oh, two years, I recommend reading Whitman's introduction to Leaves of Grass as a reminder of why we should care so deeply about our country and government:

"...but the genius of the United States is not best or most in its executives or legislature, nor in its ambassadors or authors or colleges or churches or parlors, nor even in its newspapers or inventors...but always most in the common people. Their manners speech dress friendships--the freshness and candor of their physiognomy--the picturesque looseness of their carriage...their deathless attachment to freedom--their aversion to anything indecorous or soft or mean [...] their delight in music [...] their good temper and openhandedness--the terrible significance of their elections--the President's taking off his hat to them and not they to him--these too are unrhymed poetry. It awaits the gigantic and generous treatment worthy of it."

2. Space and Place: The Perspective of Experience by Yi-Fu Tuan.

This is an incredibly accessible and enjoyable book about the cultural significance of geography and physical orientation. Tuan explores the ways people have historically made sense of their surroundings. For instance, he examines why we form attachment to "home," how time affects our sense of space, and why certain cross-cultural similarities exist among groups that have had no exposure to the habits and values of others (e.g., our proximity to others, or the prominence of right-handedness). I read this book as part of a grad school project on "sense of place" in virtual environments, and it has changed the ways I perceive the space around me and my values with regard to architecture and place.

"What sensory organs and experiences enable human beings to have their strong feeling for space and for spatial qualities? Answer: kinesthesia, sight, and touch. Movements such as the simple ability to kick one's legs and stretch one's arms are basic to the awareness of space. [...] Space assumes a rough coordinate frame centered on the mobile and purposive self. [...] Purposive movement and perception, both visual and haptic, give human beings their familiar world of disparate objects in space. Place is a special kind of object. It is a concentration of value, though not a valued thing that can be handled or carried about easily; it is an object in which one can dwell."

3. Emergence: Labeled Autistic by Temple Grandin

Reading Emergence was like a thousand light bulbs turning on in my world. I grew up with a mentally disabled family member, but until I read Temple Grandin's words about what it felt like to be overwhelmed by her existence, I did not fully appreciate the complexities of the minds around me. Grandin has also contributed greatly to our understanding of the animal world, and has worked as a scientist to develop more humane ways of interacting with animals.

"But as a child, the "people world" was often too stimulating to my senses. Ordinary days with a change in schedule or unexpected events threw me into a frenzy, but Thanksgiving or Christmas was even worse. At those times our home bulged with relatives. The clamor of many voices, the different smells--perfume, cigars, damp wool caps or gloves--people moving about at different speeds, going in different directions, the constant noise and confusion, the constant touching, were overwhelming. One very, very overweight aunt, who was generous and caring, let me use her professional oil paints. I liked her. Still, when she hugged me, I was totally engulfed and I panicked. [...] I withdrew because her abundant affection overwhelmed my nervous system."

4. Survival in Auschwitz by Primo Levi

Of the few voices we have from this dark period in our world history, Primo Levi's is perhaps the most renowned and penetrating. Survival in Auschwitz is his memoir of the 10 months he spent in the death camp. He details the subcultures that develop within even the most degrading of circumstances, reflects on our instincts and desire to overcome in the face of utter hopelessness, and creates an arresting, almost visceral reading experience that helped me understand, in my sheltered experience, what millions of people endured through no fault of their own.

"If we were logical, we would resign ourselves to the evidence that our fate is beyond knowledge, that every conjecture is arbitrary and demonstrably devoid of foundation. But men are rarely logical when their own fate is at stake; on every occasion, they prefer the extreme positions. According to our character, some of us are immediately convinced that all is lost, that one cannot live here, that the end is near and sure; others are convinced that however hard the present life may be, salvation is probable and not far off, and if we have faith and strength, we will see our houses and our dear ones again. The two classes of pessimists and optimists are not so clearly defined, however, not because there are many agnostics, but because the majority, without memory or coherence, drift between the two extremes, according to the moment and the mood of the person they happen to meet."

5. Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die by Chip Heath and Dan Heath

I know we give the Heath brothers a lot of love here at 800-CEO-READ, but I hope that my selection demonstrates the transformative nature this recent business book can have on the way you do your work. As a relative newcomer to the world of business books, Made to Stick will forever stick (no pun intended) in my mind as one of the first and most influential business books I have read on communication. I can't tell you how many times we referenced ideas from Made to Stick while working on The 100 Best. And while we recognize that the book borrows definitions and terms from other places (most notably, The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell), Made to Stick is the only one that lays out a practical and useful way of putting these ideas to work.

"No special expertise is needed to apply these principles. There are no licensed stickologists. Moreover, many of the principles have a commonsense ring to them: Didn't most of us already have the intuition that we should "be simple" and "use stories"? It's not as though there's a powerful constituency for overcomplicated, lifeless prose. But wait a minute. We claim that using these principles is easy. And most of them do seem relatively commonsensical. So why aren't we deluged with brilliantly designed sticky ideas? Why is our life filled with more process memos than proverbs?

Sadly, there is a villain in our story. The villain is a natural psychological tendency that consistently confounds our ability to create ideas using these principles. It's called the Curse of Knowledge. (We will capitalize the phrase throughout the book to give it the drama we think it deserves.)"

Now, we'd like to ask you: What are the books that changed your perspective? How can they help others?

In a post titled "A Must Read", Kelly Carr starts with two titles from other business journalists meant to help reporters write stories: Michelle Leder's "Financial Fine Print: Uncovering a Company's True Value" and Chris Roush's "Show Me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication"

In an effort to further prep interns, Carr gathered up a set of recommended from practicing business journalists. These suggestions will look a little more familiar (thought I just ordered the third rec):

• "Barbarians at the Gate: The Fall of RJR Nabisco," by Bryan Burrough and John Helyar
• "24 Days: How Two Wall Street Journal Reporters Uncovered the Lies that Destroyed Faith in Corporate America," by Rebecca Smith and John R. Emshwiller
• "200% of Nothing: An Eye Opening Tour Through the Twists and Turns of Math Abuse and Innumeracy," by A.K. Dewdney

On the extended list, you'll find even more of what we normally recommend, but Good To Great is the only true "business book to solve problems" book on the list.

• "The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York," by Robert A. Caro
• "Liar's Poker" and "Moneyball" by Michael Lewis
• "Stealing Time: Steve Case, Jerry Levin, and the Collapse of AOL Time Warner," by Alec Klein
• "The Big Squeeze: Tough Times for the American Worker," by Steven Greenhouse
• "Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America," by Barbara Ehrenreich
• "The Smartest Guys in the Room: The Amazing Rise and Scandalous Fall of Enron," by Bethany McLean and Peter Elkind
• "Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap…and Others Don't," by Jim Collins

[hat tip: DataJoe and Addictomatic]

Josh Kauffman may have started this tidal wave with his updated 2008 version of The Personal MBA. His list is 77 books long with the mantra "skip b-school and the $100,000 loan: you can get a world-class business education simply by reading these books."

BusinessPundit followed with their 25 Best Business Books Ever post, placing Adam Smith at #25 and In Search of Excellence at the top spot.

For The Best Business Book of 2008 (so Far), Marketing & Strategy Innovation Blog directs people to The Opposable Mind, Presentation Zen, Rain Making, Groundswell, Senior Leadership Teams and Brain Rules.

And then people started finding old lists to highlight. A "Business Book" hit on tweetscan directed me to a October 2007 post at Newly Corporate titled "15 Books For Rogue Professionals and How To Read Them At No Cost." Their no-cost solution is the library, and they recommend everything from Carnegie to Chris Anderson to China Inc.

This led me to another tweetscan hit where Melissa Woo, inspired by this post, spent the morning tweeting her favorites. As a fellow Milwaukeean, I thought I would list all of her favorites.

• Leadership and Self Deception by The Arbinger Institute
• First, Break All The Rules by Buckingham and Coffman
• The Thin Book of Naming Elephants by Hammond
• Getting to Yes by Fisher
• Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Lencioni
• Crucial Conversations by Patterson
• Cultivating Careers by Cynthia Golden
• We Are Smarter Than Me by Libert and Spector

• "Liar's Poker," by Michael Lewis (even though I've since become convinced that the anecdote that gives the book its title never happened).
• "The Devil's Candy," by Julie Salamon. (Greatest dissection of the movie business ever written.)
• "The Box,", by Marc Levinson. (Hard to believe you can write a great book about the rise and importance of the shipping container, but he pulled it off.)
• "Indecent Exposure," by David McClintick. (Published in 1982, it single-handedly created the business narrative genre).
• "The Go-Go Years," by John Brooks. (The best book by the most elegant writer to ever make business his subject.)
• "The Kingdom and the Power," by Gay Talese. (Yes, the subject is The New York Times, but how can you leave it off any list of great business books?)
• "Titan," by Ron Chernow. (Chernow's magisterial biography of John D. Rockefeller.)
• "Do You Sincerely Want To Be Rich," by Godfrey Hodgson, Bruce Page and Charles Raw. (Hard to believe that this committee of authors could write a sensational narrative about the rise and fall of Bernard Cornfeld, but that they did.)
• "Disney Wars," by James Stewart. ("Best corporate psychoanalysis I've ever read," says John Huey.)
• "The Informant," by Kurt Eichenwald (Forget his Enron book, "Conspiracy of Fools." This book, about the strange saga of Mark Whitacre and Archer Daniels Midland, is his masterpiece.)
• "Father, Son and Co.: My Life at IBM and Beyond", by Thomas J. Watson and Peter Petre (The only great ghost-written C.E.O. autobiography ever written. No one else --not even Lee Iacocca or Jack Welch -- even comes close.)
• "When Genius Failed," by Roger Lowenstein. (Another one of those "how-did-he-do-it?" books: this account of the fall of Long Term Capital Management, which by all rights should be a tough slog, is crackling good read.)
• "Greed and Glory on Wall Street," by Ken Auletta. (This book, about the crack up of Lehman Brothers, has a great cast of characters, starting with Steve Schwartzman.) - [Out of Print]
• "The Smartest Guys in the Room," by Peter Elkind and Bethany McLean. (O.K., O.K., they are former colleagues of mine, and I was deeply involved in editing this book -- but I have to say, I think it turned out pretty well!)

Now as we have mentioned before, Jack and I will have a lot to say about The 100 Best Business Books of All-Time in February, but for now we'll say this. Nocera favored the story and tale over the tactics and theory. We think you need to read a wide range of books to get the mental nutrition you need for a well-balanced business diet. You'll be seeing some of these titles again.

PS Nocera has a new book out from Portfolio called Good Guys and Bad Guys: Behind the Scenes with the Saints and Scoundrels of American Business. This is compliation of profiles the writer has penned over the last several years.

No. 1 on the list is StrengthsFinder 2.0 by Tom Rath (Gallup Press). As Hardy Green describes it, "The coming of summer has readers sticking with tried-and-true titles but also showing signs of interest in breaking developments, from the current economic mess to social networking. Have a look!"

You can also view the list as a slideshow here:
images.businessweek.com/ss/08/07/0703_bestsellers/index.htm

On a related note, read about how the NYT best seller list works here.

• John Kotter change fable Our Iceberg Is Melting (John has a new book coming in September, more on that soon).
• A.G. Lafley and Ram Charan's The Game-Changer (this was a May Jack Covert Selects)
• High Performance with High Integrity from GE's former general counsel Ben Heineman (this is from the great Memo To The CEO series which was a June Jack Covert Selects)
• Crunch: Why Do I Feel So Squeezed by Jared Bernstein (it received a starred review from Publisher's Weekly as well)

She also recommends Abraham Lincoln: His Speeches and Writings, Say You're One of Them, Unaccustomed Earth, and The Making of The President 1960.]]> Lists 2008-07-03T13:21:28-06:00 http://800ceoread.com/blog/archives/008214.html In Jeffrey Krames October 2008 Portfolio book called Inside Drucker's Brain--based on an all day one-on-one visit with the Drucker shortly before he died--he asked Drucker about his books, among other things. Drucker told me what he felt were his... 8214@http://800ceoread.com/blog/ In Jeffrey Krames October 2008 Portfolio book called Inside Drucker's Brain--based on an all day one-on-one visit with the Drucker shortly before he died--he asked Drucker about his books, among other things.

Drucker told me what he felt were his most important books. The first one was no surprise, but one or two if the others were.

• Concept of the Corporation (1946)
• The Practice of Management (1954)
• Managing for Results (1964)
• The Effective Executive (1966)
• The Age of Discontinuity (1969)
• Innovation and Entrepreneurship (1985)

When you want to know, go the the master.

The methodology creates a systematic way of measuring popularity, but it seems problematic. Take the case of Bill Gates at #3 on the list. For the man who created Microsoft, people are constantly talking about him in the media, online, and in academia. It seems a stretch that business people look to Gates for advice.

Outside of Gates, the folks at the top are no huge surprise to folks who follow business books. Gary Hamel, Tom Friedman, Gates, Malcolm Galdwell, and Howard Gardner round out the top five. Below is a list of the gurus with their 2008 rankings and one of their noteworthy books:

There are some gurus listed here who we have not given much attention to. Anybody read much on Hofstede or Nonaka? We will do some research as well.

P.S. Rebecca also has a post on the side conversation going on at wsj.com about the lack of women on the list.

I added my thoughts. Jump over and add yours.

1. The Speed of Trust: The One Thing that Changes Everything
   by Stephen M.R. Covey, Rebecca R. Merrill; Free Press.
   
   Leadership expert Stephen Covey uncovers why trust is vital in professional and personal relationships.
2. True North: Discover Your Authentic Leadership
   by Bill George and Peter Sims; Jossey-Bass.
   
   Former Medtronic CEO Bill George and coauthor Peter Sims share the wisdom of 125 outstanding leaders of today and describe how you can develop as an authentic leader.
3. It's Your Ship
   by D. Michael Abrashoff; Warner Business Books.
   
   Business managers will benefit from Abrashoff's guiding belief that focus should be on empowering your people rather than on chain of command.
4. Blueprint to a Billion: 7 Essentials to Achieve Exponential Growth
   by David Thomson; John Wiley & Sons.
   
   Follow this blueprint to turn your idea into the next multi-billion dollar company.
5. Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die
   by Chip Heath, Dan Heath; Random House.
   
   The brothers Heath reveal the anatomy of ideas that stick and explain ways to make ideas stickier.
6. Unlock Behavior, Unleash Profits: Developing Leadership Behavior That Drives Profitability in Your Organization
   by Leslie Wilk Braksick; McGraw-Hill.
   
   Fortune 500 thought leader Leslie Braksick provides powerful tools to help you, whether you're an executive, entrepreneur, or manager, in any field, to unlock behavior and unleash unprecedented profits.
7. Citizen Marketers: When People Are the Message
   by Ben McConnell and Jackie Huba; Kaplan.
   
   A provocative new exploration of the ramifications of today's burgeoning social media.
8. What Got You Here Won't Get You There: How Successful People Become Even More Successful
   by Marshall Goldsmith, Mark Reiter; Hyperion.
   
   One of the nation's most sought-after executive coaches shows how subtle changes can make all the difference when climbing those last few rungs of the corporate ladder.
9. The Power of Nice
   by Linda Kaplan Thaler and Robin Koval; Currency.
   
   In business, nice guys (and gals) really do finish first.
10. Inside Every Woman: Using the 10 Strengths You Didn't Know You Had to Get the Career and Life You Want Now
    by Vickie L. Milazzo; John Wiley & Sons.
    
    Discover and use your strengths to pursue your dreams.
11. The Long Tail
    by Chris Anderson; Hyperion.
    
    The Long Tail was coined by Chris Anderson to describe the recent development of endless niche markets.
12. Mass Career Customization: Aligning the Workplace With Today's Nontraditional Workforce
    by Cathleen Benko, Anne Weisberg; Harvard Business School Press.
    
    This book is centered on the powerful insight that career options in today’s economy need to accommodate the rising and falling phases of employee engagement as it changes over time.
13. The Millionaire Maker's Guide to Creating a Cash Machine for Life
    by Loral Langemeier; McGraw-Hill.
    
    Whether you want to partner with others or create your own team to start, fix, or buy a business, Langemeier shows you how to turn it into a Cash Machine that makes money from Day One.
14. The Flip Side: Break Free of the Behaviors That Hold You Back
    by Flip Flippen; Springboard Press.
    
    Flippen presents a simple process for learning how to identify our personal constraints and take the necessary steps to correct self-limiting behaviors. He shows that we will experience a dramatic surge in productivity, achieve things we have only dreamed of, and find greater happiness overall.
15. Chocolates on the Pillow Aren't Enough: Reinventing The Customer Experience
    by Jonathan M. Tisch, Karl Weber; Wiley.
    
    Chocolates on the Pillow Aren't Enough will show you how to improve every customer touch point; understand what customers really want and need; and design organizational structures to meet those needs.
16. Payback: Reaping the Rewards of Innovation
    by James P. Andrew, Harold L. Sirkin, John Butman; Harvard Business School Press.
    
    Payback offers a new way to think about and manage innovation.
17. Finding the Next Starbucks: How to Identify and Invest in the Hot Stocks of Tomorrow
    by Michael Moe; Portfolio.
    
    Learn how winners like Dell, eBay, and Home Depot could have been spotted in their start-up phase and how you can find Wall Street’s future giants.
18. The Strategy Paradox: Why committing to success leads to failure (and what to do about it)
    by Michael E. Raynor; Currency.
    
    Raynor sheds light on the collision between commitment and uncertainty that many managers face in the pursuit for success. He presents a concrete framework for strategic action that allows companies to seize today’s opportunities while preparing for an uncertain future.
19. The 4:8 Principle: The Secret to a Joy-Filled Life
    by Tommy Newberry; Tyndale House Publishers.
    
    Whether you are at a low point or a high point in your life, the authors assert that The 4:8 Principle can help you experience joy by design--God's design.
20. Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make Competition Irrelevant
    by W. Chan Kim, Renee Mauborgne; Harvard Business School Press.
    
    The authors argue that lasting success comes not from battling competitors, but from creating blue oceans--untapped new market spaces ripe for growth.
21. Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything
    by Don Tapscott, Anthony D. Williams; Portfolio.
    
    Smart firms can harness the collective capability and genius of online communities to spur innovation, growth, and success.
22. StrengthsFinder 2.0: A New and Upgraded Edition of the Online Test from Gallup's Now, Discover Your Strengths
    by Tom Rath; Gallup Press.
    
    This strengths reference, accompanied by a code for an online assessment test, is an extension of the original StrengthsFinder, now updated with a customized version of your top 5 strengths and a guide for applying your strengths in the world.
23. QBQ! The Question Behind the Question: Practicing Personal Accountability in Work and in Life
    by John G. Miller; Putnam Publishing Group.
    
    QBQ! The Question Behind the Question, already a phenomenon in its self-published edition, addresses the most important issue in business and society today: personal accountability.
24. I Didn't See it Coming: The Only Book You'll Ever Need to Avoid Being Blindsided in Business
    by Nancy C. Widmann, Elaine J. Eisenman, Amy Dorn Kopelan; Wiley.
    
    The authors provide critical counsel and keen observation on how all employees can develop strategic insights, effective tools, and sharp instincts for reading the room and controlling their own career destiny.
25. The Starbucks Experience
    by Joseph Michelli; McGraw-Hill.
    
    Michelli reveals how you can follow the Starbucks way to...reach out to entire communities, listen to individual workers and consumers, seize growth opportunities in every market, and custom-design a truly satisfying experience that benefits everyone involved.

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If you'd like a PDF of our 2007 bestseller list, click here. If you're interested, we publish a monthly bestseller list here.

Our book will feature the 100 books everyone in business should read. There will be many titles that you would expect and more than a few that will be surprising.

We'd like to get your help. Tell us what you think the best business books of all time are. We have set-up a poll for all of you to vote on. If you see something missing, drop kate a note (kate {at} 800ceoread [dot] com).

We are going to feature your favorites in the book, alongside ours. So, get voting!

Thanks for your help and spread the word!

http://800ceoread.com/bookvote/

Pachter's list echoes various other lists we've posted this year. If we haven't said it already, welcome to '08!

Thanks Wayne and best of luck with the new venture!

Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything by Don Tapscott and Anthony Williams.

This is what we've all been talking about in the past few years and even more so since the rise of Wikipedia. What's the future of mass collaboration and how is it changing what we do? Here's an introduction to our new wiki-ed world. For more, join Don, Anthony and friends over at their blog.

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The Halo Effect ... and the Eight Other Business Delusions That Deceive Managers by Phil Rosenzweig.

One controversial title of the year as Phil debates the merits of many well-known business titles: Good to Great and In Search of Excellence. As Carol explains, "The Halo Effect is for executives who aren't looking for a quick-fix prescription and who understand that winning depends on knowing one's own company and on executing smart decisions well -- with a little luck mixed in." For the record, Tom Ehrenfeld highly recommends checking it out. And, a link to Phil's blog plus a ChangeThis manifesto Phil wrote.

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The Three Signs of a Miserable Job by Patrick Lencioni.

Here's a good airplane read and another of the Lencioni fables. The three signs of a miserable job: irrelevance, immeasurability, and anonymity. Even if you're not a friend of fables, check out the back portion for the guts of the book.

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Firing Back -- How Great Leaders Rebound After Career Disasters by Jeffrey Sonnenfeld and Andrew Ward.

The title is self-explanatory. How do you get back up and revamp your career? By the way, Jeffrey was recently in a Fortune article.

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How Starbucks Saved My Life by Michael Gates Gill

This past fall, Michael visited us in Milwaukee. Jon had a chance to interview him. This is Michael's story of how he went from having everything to working at Starbucks -- quite a humbling experience.