For those that haven’t found a good Christmas gift for yourself yet, consider buying (and reading) a good business or investing book this holiday season! To be honest, I haven’t read much until I started writing my money blog but I now realize how much I’ve missed through the years since books are such valuable resources.
Remember, an alternative to buying one is going to the library so only buy them if you want to always go back and reference it. (Another great idea I found is that you can give your book to charity or as a gift to someone else after you’ve read through it!)
Below, I’ve compiled a list of books that the editors and customers at Amazon believed to be the best business and investing books of 2008.
The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life
Warren Buffett has become legendary in the investing world with his savvy and clever bets to become one of the world’s wealthiest person. The biography is the latest if you truly want to see how he used the financial markets to build his empire!
A true value investor, his amazing long term view of the stock markets is something we should all follow.
One of my former boss’ favorite saying “We’ve got to have a sense of urgency”. The author looks at the inner workings of companies and tell us why urgency is so important in the business world. Perhaps I should buy one for my boss! I’m sure he will love it!
Just reading the title reminds me to stop being lazy and stop procrastinating!
The Brand Bubble: The Looming Crisis in Brand Value and How to Avoid It
Anyone that has a company should look at this book. The author has been in the ad industry for 20+ years and he explains the gap in value between how consumers and investors perceive brands. He also recommends way to close this gap and is useful to marketers and investors.
If you want to stop wasting your money on brand awareness (or at least make your marketing money more efficient, check it out)
The Momentum Effect: How to Ignite Exceptional Growth
This book really interests me because it momentum really applies to my blogs. The author explains that innovation, ingenuity and most importantly by seeing things from a customer perspective is the key to growth and remaining profitable. Hmm. Perhaps this is something I should really think about for my blogs. What do you think?
The Back of the Napkin: Solving Problems and Selling Ideas with Pictures
We all know that a picture is worth a thousand words but this author takes this idea a step (maybe tons of steps) further and explains methods and guide the reader to solve problems and present ideas visually.
Thinking visually is a unique and fresh way to think of problems. This book is a must read for those that are always looking for new ideas to further improve yourself.
The Gone Fishin’ Portfolio: Get Wise, Get Wealthy…and Get on With Your Life (Agora Series)
The book claims to be a guide that’s based on a Nobel Prize-winning investment strategy yet takes just 20 minutes to implement. It also is a strategy that outperforms most other ways to investing.
To be honest, I’m intrigued by just researching this book. Could it really be that good and easy?
If you ever think about joining the ranks of entrepreneurship, this is definitely a book that you should pick up. The author spells out many myths of entrepreneurship that is not commonly known.
The book is fun to read and filled with facts about small businesses. Read it because this little investment might save you more money down the down!
Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies
Many of us are familiar with Social Technologies (like facebook, myspace, linkedin etc) but does our boss know? Have you or your coworkers thought about using these technologies to transform your business? This book talks about the complex world of social technologies and answers your questions on “should my company have a presence on Facebook?”
The Contrarian Effect: Why It Pays (Big) to Take Typical Sales Advice and Do the Opposite
This book is for all salespeople out there. The old fashion rules of selling are over! If you want to increase your sales, then read this book.
Interestingly, this book is always good for people that want to know how sales people think and subsequently stop them in their tracks in trying to sell you everything they offer.
Reality Check: The Irreverent Guide to Outsmarting, Outmanaging, and Outmarketing Your Competition
This book is really written for businesses but if we think about it, we (as employees, or a person) is always competiting with everyone! We compete for our peer’s attention, we compete in our jobs and we compete for pride.
Reading this book can give you insight on not just the business but also yourself. If you are running out of ideas to outpeform, perhaps looking at business books are for you!
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{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
Woah do we work together? My boss talks about sense of urgency all the time! Maybe I should get that book too!!!!
I’m a huge fan of the Contrarian Effect. Would advice anyone in sales or any profession for the matter to read this book.
Definitely agree with you about the Buffett book. (I recently posted some surprising lessons from it on my site).
You mention his stock market wisdom but I thought how he tackles his life in the round was really impressive too.
Sure he has some flaws and limitations. But I got the impression with some slightly different settings he could have been another ruthless geek, rather than – and I know it sounds corny! – a great man.
Great list! I definitely will have to make a trip to the library and start reading some of these.
I am waiting to read the Snowball:Warren Buffett and the Business of Life. I am looking forward to it.