Best Business Books of 2013
It’s that time of year again when everyone releases their “best of” lists, including the year's best books. The editors and writers at Forbes compiled a list of the best nonfiction books of 2013. Business Insider also created a list of the 13 most popular business books of 2013. Their list contains business books that appeared on Amazon’s list of the 100 top-selling books of the year and includes both new and not-so-new titles.
The Library owns many of the books that made the lists. Click on a title to see if there are copies available for checkout or to place a hold on a book if it has a waiting list.
Forbes list
The Billionaire and the Mechanic: How Larry Ellison and a Car Mechanic Teamed Up to Win Sailing's Greatest Race, the America's Cup by Julian Guthrie.
The America's Cup is the oldest trophy in international sports, and one of the most hotly contested. In 2000, Larry Ellison, co-founder and billionaire CEO of Oracle Corporation, decided to run for the coveted prize and found an unlikely partner in Norbert Bajurin, a car radiator mechanic and Commodore of the blue collar Golden Gate Yacht Club. This book tells the incredible story of their partnership, their unsuccessful runs for the Cup in 2003 and 2007 and their victory in 2010.
Brick by Brick: How LEGO Rewrote the Rules of Innovation and Conquered the Global Toy Industry by David C. Robertson with Bill Breen.
This book takes you inside the LEGO you've never seen. By following the teams that are inventing some of the world's best-loved toys, it spotlights the company's disciplined approach to harnessing creativity and recounts one of the most remarkable business transformations in recent memory.
The Frackers: The Outrageous Inside Story of the New Billionaire Wildcatters by Gregory Zuckerman.
Everyone knew it was crazy to try to extract oil and natural gas buried in shale rock deep below the ground. Everyone, that is, except a few reckless wildcatters. By experimenting with hydraulic fracturing through extremely dense shale, the wildcatters started a revolution. In just a few years, they solved America's dependence on imported energy, triggered a global environmental controversy -- and made and lost astonishing fortunes.
Hatching Twitter: A True Story of Money, Power, Friendship and Betrayal by Nick Bilton.
The full story of Twitter's hatching has never been told before. It's a drama of betrayed friendships and high-stakes power struggles, as the founders went from everyday engineers to wealthy celebrities featured on magazine covers, The Oprah Winfrey Show, The Daily Show and Time's list of the world's most influential people.
The Idealist: Jeffrey Sachs and the Quest to End Poverty by Nina Munk.
In Jeffrey Sachs’ view, poverty is a problem that can be solved. With single-minded determination he has attempted to put into practice his theories about ending extreme poverty, to prove that the world's most destitute people can be lifted onto "the ladder of development."
I Invented the Modern Age: The Rise of Henry Ford by Richard Snow.
Every century or so, our republic has been remade by a new technology. In the early 20th century the agent of creative destruction was the gasoline engine, as put to work by an unknown and relentlessly industrious young man named Henry Ford.
The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon by Brad Stone.
Amazon.com started off delivering books through the mail. But its visionary founder, Jeff Bezos, wasn’t content with being a bookseller. He wanted Amazon to become the everything store, offering limitless selection and seductive convenience at disruptively low prices. To do so, he developed a corporate culture of relentless ambition and secrecy that's never been cracked, until now.
One Summer: America, 1927 by Bill Bryson.
Bill Bryson transports readers on a journey back to one amazing season in American life. He captures that summer’s outsized personalities, exciting events and occasional just plain weirdness with his trademark vividness, eye for telling detail and delicious humor.
Trading Bases: A Story About Wall Street, Gambling and Baseball (Not Necessarily in That Order) by Joe Peta.
An ex-Wall Street trader improved on the famed sabermetrics described in “Moneyball” to place bets that would beat the Vegas odds on Major League Baseball games -- with a 41 percent return in his first year. "Trading Bases" explains how he did it.
Business Insider list
Lean In: Women, Work and the Will to Lead by Sheryl Sandberg.
Sheryl Sandberg examines why women's progress in achieving leadership roles has stalled, explains the root causes and offers compelling, commonsense solutions that can empower women to achieve their full potential.
The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey.
Stephen R. Covey presents a holistic, integrated and principle-centered approach for solving personal and professional problems. He reveals a step-by-step pathway for living with fairness, integrity, service and human dignity.
Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain.
At least one-third of the people we know are introverts. They are the ones who prefer listening to speaking; who innovate and create but dislike self-promotion; who favor working on their own over brainstorming in teams. Although they are often labeled "quiet," it is to introverts that we owe many of the great contributions to society. Impressively researched and filled with indelible stories of real people, “Quiet” shows how dramatically we undervalue introverts, and how much we lose in doing so.
David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants by Malcolm Gladwell.
Malcolm Gladwell challenges how we think about obstacles and disadvantages, offering a new interpretation of what it means to be discriminated against, or cope with a disability, or lose a parent, or attend a mediocre school or suffer from any number of other apparent setbacks. Gladwell begins with the "real" story of what happened between the giant and the shepherd boy those many years ago.
Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap -- And Others Don't by Jim Collins.
How can good companies, mediocre companies, even bad companies achieve enduring greatness? For years, this question preyed on the mind of Jim Collins. After sifting through mountains of data and thousands of pages of interviews, Collins and his crew discovered the key determinants of greatness -- why some companies make the leap and others don't. The findings will surprise many readers and shed light on virtually every area of management strategy and practice.
Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell.
Malcolm Gladwell identifies the qualities of successful people, posing theories about the cultural, family and idiosyncratic factors that shape high achievers, in a resource that covers such topics as the secrets of software billionaires, why certain cultures are associated with better academic performance and why the Beatles earned their fame.
How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie.
One of the best known motivational books in history contains proven advice for success in life. Dale Carnegie believed that most successes come from an ability to communicate effectively rather than from brilliant insights. His book teaches these skills by showing readers how to value others and make them feel appreciated rather than manipulated.
Strengths Based Leadership: Great Leaders, Teams, and Why People Follow by Tom Rath and Barry Conchie.
Nearly a decade ago, Gallup unveiled the results of a landmark 30-year research project that ignited a global conversation on the topic of strengths. In recent years, while continuing to learn more about strengths, Gallup scientists have also been examining decades of data on the topic of leadership. They studied more than one million work teams, conducted more than 20,000 in-depth interviews with leaders, and even interviewed more than 10,000 followers around the world to ask exactly why they followed the most important leader in their life.
The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business by Charles Duhigg.
Award-winning business reporter Charles Duhigg takes readers to the thrilling edge of scientific discoveries that explain why habits exist and how they can be changed. With penetrating intelligence and an ability to distill vast amounts of information into engrossing narratives, Duhigg brings to life a whole new understanding of human nature and its potential for transformation.
Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes are High by Kerry Patterson.
"Crucial" conversations are interpersonal exchanges at work or at home that we dread having but know we cannot avoid. How do you say what needs to be said while avoiding an argument with a boss, child or relationship partner? This book offers readers a proven seven-point strategy for achieving their goals in all those emotionally, psychologically or legally charged situations that can arise in their professional and personal lives.
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