I enjoy reading and get a bit carried away buying books – especially now I have a kindle and buying is a simple click and in 20 seconds you have it!
These are some of my favourite books.
Author and Title
Dan Ariely “The Upside of Irrationality” and it’s predecessor “Predictably Irrational”
Malcolm Gladwell “Blink!” , “Outliers”, “What the Dog Saw” and “Tipping Point”. Note that the book “What the Dog Saw” is a selection of his articles from the New Yorker but still a very enjoyable read.
The Wisdom of Crowds by James Surowiecki A fascinating book on where crowds do better than experts.
Influencer: The Power to Change Anything Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, David Maxfield, Ron McMillan , Al Switzler. A wonderful book on influence strategies that have been successfully used to generate huge changes in a variety of settings. The subsequent book called Change Anything focusses on personal change goals (weight, career etc) and provides a framework for tackling these changes as well as a website link (see changeanything.com).
Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert B. Cialdini is one of a few books on the science behind influence. Another one is Yes! 50 Scientifically proven ways to be persuasive that is a must read for direct marketers.
Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner. “Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything”
Michael Lewis – “Liars Poker”, “The Blind Side” and now “Moneyball” and also listening to “Next” – how the internet is changing how we live
John C Maxwell “The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership”
When it comes to decision making there are two books that may be of interest. They identify the common causes of poor decision making – incorrect pattern recognition, lack of external perspective etc and how to identify and adjust for these common problems. Think Twice: Harnessing the Power of Counterintuition by Michael J. Mauboussin and Think Again: Why Good Leaders Make Bad Decisions and How to Keep it From Happening to You by Sydney Finkelstein, Jo Whitehead and Andrew Campbell
Michael E Porter “Competitive Strategy”
Henry Mintzberg, Joseph Lampel, and Bruce Ahlstrand “Strategy Safari: A Guided Tour Through The Wilds of Strategic Management”
Profitable Growth is everyones business by Ram Charan is a handy book to think about how you challenge the rate of growth in a business and get involvement and commitment to grow the top-line in a profitable manner.
The Deciding Factor: The Power of Analytics to Make Every Decision a Winner
by Larry E. Rosenberger, John Nash, Ann Graham
The Predictioneer’s Game: Using the Logic of Brazen Self-Interest to See and Shape the Future by Bruce Bueno De Mesquita. An interesting book on Game Theory
The Pursuit of Perfect: How to Stop Chasing Perfection and Start Living a Richer, Happier Life Tal Ben-Shahar. A good book on how to increase your happiness through a more balanced view of the world and yourself.
The Drunkard’s Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives (Vintage) by Leonard Mlodinow For those with a curiosity about numbers.
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