Best Business Books

The author of the book The Personal MBA recommends the following books (source: http://personalmba.com/best-business-books/):

Productivity & Effectiveness

• 10 Days to Faster Reading by Abby Marks-Beale
• StrengthsFinder 2.0 by Tom Rath
• Getting Things Done by David Allen
• The Power of Less by Leo Babauta
• The 80/20 Principle by Richard Koch
• Bit Literacy by Mark Hurst
• The Power of Full Engagement by Jim Loehr & Tony Schwartz

The Human Mind

• Brain Rules by John Medina
• Making Sense of Behavior by William T. Powers
• Driven by Paul Lawrence and Nitin Nohria
• Deep Survival by Laurence Gonzales

Communication

• On Writing Well by William Zinsser
• Presentation Zen by Garr Reynolds
• Made to Stick by Chip and Dan Heath
• The Copywriter’s Handbook by Robert Bly
• Show Me The Numbers by Stephen Few

Influence

• How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
• Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert B. Cialdini
• Crucial Conversations by Kerry Patterson et al
• The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene

Decision-Making

• Sources of Power: How People Make Decisions by Gary Klein
• Smart Choices by John S. Hammond et al
• The Path of Least Resistance by Robert Fritz
• Ethics for the Real World by Ronald Howard & Clinton Korver

Creativity & Innovation

• The Creative Habit by Twyla Tharp
• Myths of Innovation by Scott Berkun
• Innovation and Entrepreneurship by Peter F. Drucker

Project Management

• Making Things Happen by Scott Berkun
• Results Without Authority by Tom Kendrick

Opportunity Identification

• The New Business Road Test by John Mullins
• How to Make Millions with Your Ideas by Dan Kennedy

Entrepreneurship

• Ready, Fire, Aim by Michael Masterson
• The Art of the Start by Guy Kawasaki
• The Knack by Norm Brodsky & Bo Burlingham
• The 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss
• Escape from Cubicle Nation by Pamela Slim
• Bankable Business Plans by Edward Rogoff

Value-Creation & Design

• Rework by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson
• Four Steps to the Epiphany by Steve Blank
• The Design of Everyday Things by Donald Norman
• Universal Principles of Design by William Lidwell, Kritina Holden, and Jill Butler

Marketing

• All Marketers Are Liars by Seth Godin
• Permission Marketing by Seth Godin
• The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing by Al Ries & Jack Trout
• Getting Everything You Can Out of All You’ve Got by Jay Abraham

Sales

• The Ultimate Sales Machine by Chet Holmes
• Value-Based Fees by Alan Weiss
• SPIN Selling by Neil Rackham
• The Sales Bible by Jeffrey Gitomer

Value-Delivery

• Indispensable by Joe Calloway
• The Goal by Eliyahu Goldratt
• Lean Thinking by James Womack and Daniel Jones

Negotiation

• Bargaining For Advantage by G. Richard Shell
• 3-D Negotiation by David A. Lax and James K. Sebenius
• The Partnership Charter by David Gage

Management

• First, Break All The Rules by Marcus Buckingham & Curt Coffman
• 12: The Elements of Great Managing by Rodd Wagner & James Harter
• Growing Great Employees by Erika Andersen
• Hiring Smart by Pierre Mornell
• The Essential Drucker by Peter F. Drucker

Leadership

• Tribes by Seth Godin
• Total Leadership by Stewart Friedman
• What Got You Here Won’t Get You There by Marshall Goldsmith
• The New Leader’s 100-Day Action Plan by George Bradt et al
• The Halo Effect by Phil Rosenzweig

Finance & Accounting

• Accounting Made Simple by Mike Piper
• Essentials of Accounting (9th Edition) by Robert N. Anthony and Leslie K. Breitner
• The McGraw-Hill 36-Hour Course in Finance by Robert A. Cooke
• How to Read a Financial Report by John A. Tracy

Systems

• Thinking in Systems by Donella Meadows
• Work the System by Sam Carpenter
• Learning from the Future by Liam Fahey & Robert Randall

Analysis

• Turning Numbers Into Knowledge by Jonathan Koomey
• Marketing Metrics by Paul W. Farris et al
• Web Analytics: An Hour a Day by Avinash Kaushik
• The Economist Numbers Guide by Richard Stuteley

Statistics

• How to Lie with Statistics by Darrell Huff
• Principles of Statistics by M.G. Bulmer

Corporate Skills

• The Unwritten Laws of Business by W.J. King
• The Effective Executive by Peter Drucker
• The Simplicity Survival Handbook by Bill Jensen

Corporate Strategy

• Purpose: The Starting Point of Great Companies by Nikos Mourkogiannis
• Competitive Strategy by Michael Porter
• Blue Ocean Strategy by W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne
• Green to Gold by Daniel Esty & Andrew Winston
• Seeing What’s Next by Clayton M. Christensen, Erik A. Roth, Scott D. Anthony

Consulting

• Getting Started in Consulting by Alan Weiss
• Secrets of Consulting by Gerald M. Weinberg

Personal Finance

• Your Money or Your Life by Joel Dominguez & Vicki Robin
• I Will Teach You To Be Rich by Ramit Sethi
• The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas Stanley & William Danko
• Fail-Safe Investing by Harry Browne
• It’s Not About The Money by Brent Kessel
• Work Less, Live More by Bob Clyatt

Personal Development

• Self-Directed Behavior by David L. Watson & Roland G. Tharp
• Personal Development for Smart People by Steve Pavlina
• Re-Create Your Life by Morty Lefkoe
• Lead the Field by Earl Nightingale
• The Art of Exceptional Living by Jim Rohn