"What we really need is not more authors,
or better publishers.
What we most need is a vastly better system
to identify the books we will love."
Beantown Web has developed such a system. For the 12th year running Beantown Web has conducted a quasi-scientific meta-search to identify the best business books published during the calendar year. These books are most likely to add value to your career.
This year's search began by identifying nine "Best of" lists. This resource list is available upon request. Presented here are the results.
A total of 157 books were mentioned on at least one "Best of" list. Of these recommendations, 127 were mentioned only once. The remaining 30 books found their way onto at least two of the nine "Best of" lists.
The Honorable Mention Shelf
Twenty of the 30 final candidates were mentioned on two "Best of" lists. These books have attained Honorable Mention status.
The Must-Read Shelf
Seven of the remaining 10 books were mentioned on three "Best of" lists and have attained Must-Read status.
- Invisible Women
- Kochland
- Talking to Strangers
- The Age of Surveillence Capitalism
- The Infinite Game
- The Man Who Solved the Market
- The Ride of a Lifetime
The Top Shelf
One book was mentioned on four "Best of" lists.
One book was mentioned on five "Best of" lists.
One book was mentioned on six "Best of" lists.
Here are the three Top Shelf business books published in 2019.
Personal Recommendations
If 10 books are too many to chose from, then check out the following Short List. The four highest rated books on Goodreads (of the 10 listed here) are as follows:
- The Ride of a Lifetime (4.46 rating out of 5.00)
- Invisible Women (4.42)
- Kochland (4.31)
- The Infinite Game (4.23)
These four books are now on my Short List.
I have read two of the four Short List books, plus three more from the Top Shelf. As I work through this reading list, I will post my reviews at Goodreads.com and share links here.
- Kochland ★★★★★
- Loonshots ★★★★
- Nine Lies About Work ★★★★★
- Range ★★★★
- The Ride of a Lifetime ★★★★★
You can access more than 100 Leadership and Strategy books I have read at Pinterest.
Suggested Success Strategy
Regardless of your professional discipline, business is the engine that drives economic well-being. The economy is currently on life support. However, the winds of cautious optimism have begun as a cool summer breeze. You can help enhance your personal economic prospects -- and prepare for a new normal -- by learning more about the business of business.
Goal: Select one business book from the 10 pictured above, read it, practice its principles and shift your career into a higher gear in 2020. Of course, you can select all 10 books, read two per month, and enhance your business knowledge now that you have some extra time as a result of working from home
The 20 books on The Honorable Mention Shelf (those mentioned on two "Best of" lists) are being counted down over the next 20 days on Gene Babon's Twitter page @genebabon and Beantown Web's Facebook page @beantownweb.
View ALL annual Best Business Books blog postings.
