Best Business Books | 2017

 

"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."

TechCrunch

Beantown Web has developed such a system. For the 10th 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 13 "Best of" lists. This resource list is available upon request. Presented here are the results.

A total of 113 books were mentioned on at least one "Best of" list -- 74 of these books were mentioned only once.

The Honorable Mention Shelf

An additional 19 books were mentioned on two lists and these books comprise the Honorable Mention list.

The Must-Read Shelf

Eight books were mentioned on three lists and have been placed on the Must-Read shelf:

• Barking Up the Wrong Tree
• Insight
• Move Fast and Break Things
• Once Upon a Time in Shaolin
• Superconsumers
• The Four
• The Wisdom of Finance
• Wild Ride
  
  

The Top Shelf

Five books were mentioned on four lists:

• Black Edge
• Hit Refresh
• Machine, Platform, Crowd
• Option B
• The Great Leveler
  

Two books were mentioned on five lists:

• Adaptive Markets
• The Spider Network
  

Four books were mentioned on six lists:

• Janesville
• Principles
• Reset
• The One Device
  

One book was mentioned on seven lists:

• The Captain Class
  
  

 

Personal Recommendations

If 12 books are too many to chose from, then check out the following Short List. The four highest rated books on Goodreads (of the 12 listed here) are as follows:

• Black Edge (4.21 rating out of 5.00)
• Reset (4.15)
• Principles (4.14)
• Adaptive Markets (4.12)
  

I have read four of 12 Top Shelf books and none from the Must-Read shelf. As I work through this reading list, I will post my reviews at Goodreads.com and share links here.

• Principles ★★★★★
• Janesville ★★★★★
• Machine, Platform, Crowd ★★★★
• The Captain Class ★★★★
  

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 continues to improve and job growth continues to look promising in 2018.  You can help enhance your personal economic prospects by learning more about the business of business.

Goal: Select one business book from the five pictured above, read it, practice its principles and shift your career into a higher gear in 2018.  Of course, you can select all 20 books, read more than one per month, and receive a guaranteed seat in business class!

[ NOTE: The 20 Best Business Books of 2017 -- those making at least three "Best of" lists -- are being counted down on Facebook.  Follow Beantown Web on Facebook by becoming a Fan of Beantown Web and on Twitter @webapprentices. ]

View recent Best Business Books blog postings.

Best Business Books | 2016

"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."
TechCrunch

Beantown Web has developed such a system. For the ninth 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 11 "Best of" lists. This resource list is available upon request. Presented here are the results.

A total of 110 books were mentioned on at least one "Best of" list — 77 of these books were mentioned only once.

The Honorable Mention Shelf

An additional 15 books were mentioned on two lists and these books comprise the Honorable Mention list.

The Must-Read Shelf

Thirteen books were mentioned on three lists and have been placed on the Must-Read shelf:

• Chaos Monkeys
• Disrupted
• Makers and Takers
• Never Split the Difference
• Pre-Suasion
• Shoe Dog
• Smarter Faster Better
• Sprint
• TED Talks
• The Inevitable
• The Man Who Knew
• Under New Management
• Wonderland

The Top Shelf

One book was mentioned on four lists:

• Superbosses

One book was mentioned on five lists:

• Small Data

Two books were mentioned on six lists:

• Originals
• Grit

One book was mentioned on seven lists:

• Deep Work

 

 

Personal Recommendations

If 18 books are too many to chose from, then check out the following Short List.The four highest rated books on Goodreads (of the 18 listed here) are as follows:

• Shoe Dog (4.46 out of 5.00)
• Never Split the Difference (4.40)
• The Man Who Knew (4.31)
• Sprint (4.20)

These four books are now on my Short List. (Update: I have now read and reviewed three of these four books.)

I have read two of five Top Shelf books and five from the 13 books on the Must-Read shelf. As I work through this reading list, I will post my reviews at Goodreads.com and share links here.

• Deep Work ★★★★★
• Disrupted ★★★★★
• Grit ★★★★★
• Never Split the Difference ★★★★
• The Inevitable ★★★★
• Shoe Dog ★★★★
• Sprint ★★★★

You can access reviews of 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 continues to improve and job growth continues to look promising in 2017. You can help enhance your personal economic prospects by learning more about the business of business.

Goal: Select one business book from the five pictured above, read it, practice its principles and shift your career into a higher gear in 2017. Of course, you can select all 18 books, read more than one per month, and receive a guaranteed seat in business class!

NOTE: The 18 Best Business Books of 2016 — those making at least three "Best of" lists — are being counted down on Twitter @webapprentices and on Facebook @beantownweb.

---

View annual Best Business Books blog postings.

Best Business Books | 2015

"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."

TechCrunch

Beantown Web has developed such a system. For the eighth 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 11 "Best of" lists. This resource list is available upon request. Presented here are the results.

A total of 173 books were mentioned on at least one "Best of" list. Of these recommendations, 129 of these books were mentioned only once. An additional 21 books were mentioned on two lists. These 21 books have attained Honorable Mention status.

The Fifth Shelf

Seven books were mentioned on three lists and have been placed on the Fifth Shelf:

• Act Like a Leader, Think Like a Leader
• Do Over
• Extreme Ownership
• Friend & Foe
• Red Notice
• Rising Strong
• The Silo Effect

The Fourth Shelf

Six books were mentioned on four lists and have been placed on the Fourth Shelf:

• A Curious Mind
• Digital Gold
• How Music Got Free
• Phishing for Phools
• Superforecasting
• Team of Teams

The Third Shelf

Five books were mentioned on five lists and have been placed on the Third Shelf:

• Bold
• Losing the Signal
• Marissa Mayer and the Fight to Save Yahoo!
• Triggers
• Unfinished Business

The Second Shelf

Two books were mentioned on six lists and have been placed on the Second Shelf:

• Rise of the Robots
• Work Rules!

The Top Shelf

Three books were mentioned on seven lists and have been placed on the Top Shelf:

• Elon Musk
• Leadership BS
• Misbehaving

Personal Recommendations

If 23 books are too many to chose from, then check out the following Short List. The six highest rated books on Goodreads (of the 23 listed here) are as follows:

• Red Notice (4.41 rating out of 5.00)
• Extreme Ownership (4.28)
• Rising Strong (4.24)
• How Music Got Free (4.23)
• Elon Musk (4.22)
• Team of Teams (4.22)

These six books are now on my Short List.

I have read two of the three books on the Top Shelf and four of the 20 books on the remaining shelves. As I work through this reading list, I will post my reviews at Goodreads.com and share links here.

• Elon Musk ★★★★★
• Extreme Ownership ★★★★
• Misbehaving ★★★★
• Rise of the Robots ★★★★★
• Team of Teams ★★★★
• Work Rules!  ★★★★★

You can access reviews of all 100+ books that I have read on Leadership and Strategy at Pinterest.

Suggested Success Strategy

Regardless of your professional discipline, business is the engine that drives economic well-being. The economy continues to improve and job growth continues to look promising in 2016.  You can help enhance your personal economic prospects 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 2016.  Of course, you can select all 10 books, read one per month (take some time off over the summer) and receive a guaranteed seat in business class!

[ NOTE: The 21 Honorable Mention books, as well as, the 23 Best Business Books of 2015 listed here are being counted down on Twitter.  Follow Beantown Web on Twitter @webapprentices and on Facebook by becoming a Fan of Beantown Web. ]

View recent Best Business Books blog postings.

Best Business Books | 2014

More than 10,000 business books

are published in a typical year.

source: Statista

For the seventh year running Beantown Web has conducted a quasi-scientific meta-search to identify the best business books published during the calendar year. The books identified in this analysis are most likely to add value to your career.

This year's search began by identifying 12 "Best of" lists. This resource list is available upon request. Presented here are the results.

A total of 104 books were mentioned on at least one "Best of" list. Of these recommendations, 78 books were mentioned only once. An additional 13 books were mentioned on two lists and these books comprise the Honorable Mention list.

The Fifth Shelf

Two books were mentioned on three lists and have been placed on the Fifth Shelf:

• The Second Machine Age
• Think Like a Freak

The Fourth Shelf

Four books were mentioned on four lists and have been placed on the Fourth Shelf:

• #GIRLBOSS
• Essentialism
• Leaders Eat Last
• The Innovators

The Third Shelf

Five books were mentioned on five lists and have been placed on the Third Shelf:

• Flash Boys
• How Google Works
• Scaling Up Excellence
• The Hard Thing About Hard Things
• Zero to One

The Second Shelf

One book was mentioned on six lists and was placed on the Second Shelf:

• Creativity, Inc.

The Top Shelf

One book was mentioned on seven lists and was placed on the Top Shelf:

• Capital in the Twenty-First Century

Personal Recommendations

If 13 books are too many to chose from, then check out the following Short List. The five highest rated books on Goodreads (of the 13 listed here) are as follows:

• The Hard Thing About Hard Things (4.24 rating out of 5.00)
• Creativity, Inc. (4.21)
• Zero to One (4.17)
• Flash Boys (4.14)
• Leaders Eat Last (4.14)

These five books are now on my Short List.

I have read nine books from this list of 13. As I work through this reading list, I will post my reviews at Goodreads.com and share links here.

• Creativity, Inc. ★★★★★
• Essentialism ★★★★★
• Flash Boys ★★★★
• How Google Works ★★★★★
• Leaders Eat Last ★★★★★
• The Second Machine Age ★★★★
• The Hard Thing About Hard Things ★★★★
• The Innovators ★★★★★
• Zero to One ★★★★★

I have to admit that I gave up on Capital in the Twenty-First Century and gave it ★★.

You can access reviews of all 100+ books that I have read on Leadership and Strategy at Pinterest.

Suggested Success Strategy

Regardless of your professional discipline, web-related or otherwise, business is the engine that drives economic well-being.The economy continues to improve and job growth continues to look promising in 2015. You can help enhance your economic prospects by learning more about the business of business.

Goal: Select one business book from the 13 listed above, read it, practice its principles and shift your career into a higher gear in 2015. Of course, you can select all 13 books, read one per month (one extra for the beach this summer) and receive a guaranteed seat in business class!

[ NOTE: The 13 Honorable Mention books, as well as, the 13 Best Business Books of 2014 are being counted down on Twitter. Follow Beantown Web on Twitter @webapprentices and on Facebook by becoming a Fan of Beantown Web. ]

View recent Best Business Books blog postings.

Best Business Books | 2013

It is estimated that more than 10,000 business books

are published each year.

source: Forbes

Life is too short to drink cheap scotch. The same can been said about reading business books. No need to wait three years. The list has been distilled. Here are the twelve business books that represent the finest that 2013 had to offer.

For the sixth year running Beantown Web has conducted a quasi-scientific meta-search to identify the best business books published during the calendar year. The books identified in this analysis are most likely to add value to your career.

This year's search began by identifying 12 "Best of" lists. This resource list is available upon request. Presented here are the results.

A total of 118 books were mentioned on at least one "Best of" list. Of these recommendations, 90 books were mentioned only once. An additional 16 books were mentioned on two lists and these 16 books comprise the Honorable Mention list.

The Fifth Shelf

Three books were mentioned on three lists and have been placed on the Fifth Shelf:

• Compelling People
• Creative Confidence
• Looptail

The Fourth Shelf

One book was mentioned on four lists and was placed on the Fourth Shelf:

• The End of Competitive Advantage

The Third Shelf

Three books were mentioned on five lists and were placed on the Third Shelf:

• Big Data
• Give and Take
• To Sell is Human

The Second Shelf

Two books were mentioned on six lists and were placed on the Second Shelf:

• Contagious
• Playing to Win

The Top Shelf

Three books were mentioned on seven lists and were placed on the Top Shelf:

• Decisive
• Lean In
• The Everything Store

Personal Recommendations

If 12 books are too many to chose from, then check out the following Short List. The four highest rated books on Goodreads (of the 12 listed here) are as follows:

• The Everything Store (4.15 rating out of 5.00)
• Give and Take (4.10)
• Creative Confidence (4.04)
• Playing to Win (4.03)
  

These four books are now on my Short List.

I have read seven books from this list of 12. As I work through this reading list, I will post my reviews at Goodreads.com and share links here.

• Contagious ★★★★★
• Creative Confidence ★★★★★
• Decisive ★★★★
• Give and Take ★★★★
• Lean In ★★★★★
• Playing to Win ★★★★
• The End of Competitive Advantage ★★★★

You can access reviews of all 100+ books that I have read on Leadership and Strategy at Pinterest.

[ NOTE: The 16 Honorable Mention books, as well as, the 12 Best Business Books of 2013 will be counted down on Twitter.  Follow Beantown Web on Twitter @webapprentices and on Facebook by becoming a Fan of Beantown Web. ]

View recent Best Business Books blog postings.