My Top 10 favourite books from 2008
While I’m conscious of following a me-too pattern of end-of-year favourite lists, a number of people have asked me to reflect on the dozens of books that I have read in the past year. And so, here’s a list of ten books that I really enjoyed in 2008.
Two clarifications: these are presented in no particular order and these are books that I personally read in 2008, some were published in previous years.
The Black Swan by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
Every now and again, you encounter a book that really challenges the way you think about life. The Black Swan is one such book for me. My faith in our capability to successfully predict anything has been rudely challenged having read this and I would strongly recommend this book to those who believe they have a good sense of what the future holds.
Break From The Pack by Oren Harari
This book is very timely for our present economic difficulties and has proven an appropriate choice as the theme-setting book for our initial Out-Thinking The Recession development programme. Any business book that cites Willie Nelson and Madonna as role models is worth investigating. Oren Harari has produced a book that is packed with challenging approaches to differentiating from your competition, again and again.
The Ascent of Money by Niall Ferguson
This is a very readable exploration of the history of the world of finance. I’ve long been a fan of Ferguson’s writing and I enjoyed this book as much as any of the others. This book also has an accompanying TV series, of which, unfortunately, I’ve seen very little. This certainly helped me put the present financial crisis in a broader context, even if many of the book’s conclusions have been overtaken by recent events.
The Halo Effect by Phil Rosenzweig
A book with a similar soul to The Black Swan, this is mandatory reading for those who take famous business books at face value. It seems we actively enjoy being deluded; sometimes it’s more fun to go with the narrative even if it’s built on shaky foundations. Of all the books used this year in Bookbuzz sessions, I do think this one is a ‘must have’ for any corporate group embarking on a learning programme.
I must confess I have not read any of Seth Godin’s previous books but will be open to doing so having read this gem (I have been an avid reader of his blog for the past year or so). It may well be a little book with just over 100 pages, but it really punches above its weight. While the tribe concept is expertly examined, this really is a book about leadership, especially having the courage to lead without being asked. Truly inspirational.
The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World 2008 by Bob Sehlinger
You may well find yourself doing a double-take when you see this book. How could something like this figure amongst a weighty list largely comprised of business books? Two reasons: firstly, it was one of my favourite reads of the year and secondly, it’s got the ‘Wow!’ factor. Even though we spent just one day at Disney World in Orlando this summer, I felt like I was getting the very best that the place can offer due to this incredibly well researched guide. You may well wonder how you could fill 850+ pages with pertinent information on visiting Disney, but the authors have achieved this. And it’s great!
The No Asshole Rule by Bob Sutton
Taking a light-hearted approach to such a difficult topic proves very effective. Everyone can name some ‘flaming assholes’ but this book also challenges us to consider how we act as assholes. Equally useful is the focus on how to survive a workplace where assholes are prevalent; it appears that most organisations aren’t fully subscribed to the No Asshole Rule.
The Jelly Effect by Andy Bounds
Andy Bounds has an unusual hook as an expert on communications. His skills have been honed by decades of explaining how the world looks to his blind mother. This book is useful in a number of different areas: pitching ideas, generating quality referrals, effective networking and making presentations. A well written book, it’s enjoyable to read and certainly has been a help to me in connecting with other people in this big bad world of ours.
The Inner Game of Work by W. Timothy Gallwey
A number of years ago, I bought and read a book called The Inner Game of Golf. Reading this book confirmed for me what I had thought and dreaded for a while: it’s not that I couldn’t hit good golf shots, my main problem was that my self-doubt was getting in the way. The concept of Self 1 (the interfering voice that tells us why we can’t do something right) and Self 2 (our natural capability to do something without thinking about it) was presented to me in this book and I was massively intrigued when I was introduced to the application of the inner game to the arena of work. This book is fascinating and I’ve no doubt will provide the platform for a lot of my work in the coming months and years in the area of executive coaching.
Gladwell’s The Tipping Point is one of my all-time favourite books but yet, I hadn’t fully read Blink until my initial meeting with the Bookbuzz guys earlier in the year. It’s a book with many fascinating vignettes but for me, it took two readings to fully connect the logic of Gladwell’s overall argument on the power of unconscious decision making. This is a book that quickly holds the interest and offers many provocative insights.