Which Business Books Would You Re-Read?
On his blog today, Ryan Healy threw out an interesting question:
Imagine that for one full year you could not read any business books you hadn't read before"¦ and that you were only allowed to read business books you had previously finished reading.
Which books would you re-read?
You can click the link above to read his list (I'll have to read a few of those myself). Here's mine:
- Switch, by Chip and Dan Heath. This one's relevant to a big issue my brother and I expect to face as we start up our new business -- most people are very resistant to change. So they don't take action on things they learn, even when they know they'll benefit from them.
- Habit: The 95% of Behavior Marketers Ignore, by Neale Martin. This book is relevant to the same issue -- how do you get people to change habits?
- Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die, by Chip and Dan Heath. Based on how much trouble I had figuring out how to apply the principles of this book to each of my products, and how powerful the concepts were, I think it's definitely worth a re-read!
- Ogilvy on Advertising, by David Ogilvy. I read this one in a college marketing class. It's from the pre-web era, but it constantly comes to mind when I see website's destroying their readability by violating some of the principles I learned from it.
- The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, by Stephen R. Covey. I don't know whether this would technically be classified as a "business book". But of course, the principles apply to business as much as any other part of life. And if it is a "business book", then the principles apply as much to the rest of life as to business! (Now that I think about it, the same applies to a few of the books I've listed here.) The values-based approach of this book resonated with me like few books ever have.
Well, there's my short list of some books that I definitely think are worthwhile. What business books would you re-read?
Reader Comment:
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People one of the best book
i am gonna read it again
describes business in all together different form
must read for businesshorlic people(join the conversation below)
August 3rd, 2012 at 4:44 pm
Antone,
Here are 3 I want to reread on a regular basis:
Work The System by Sam Carpenter - I love the effectiveness of systematization. This book explores it in depth.
Meaningful Marketing by Doug Hall, Jeffrey Stamp and Sergio Zyman - It could be the ultimate checklist of marketing concepts.
Tested Advertising Methods by John Caples - The first marketing book I bought. It started me on the path to my first profitable campaigns and holds a special place in my heart because of its simplicity and clarity.
Linchpin by Seth Godin - edgy thinking about standing out and making a difference through our work. Makes me a little uncomfortable sometimes but I need that.
Others specific to communications/copywriting that I want to reread asap:
On Writing Well by William Zinsser
Persuading On Paper by Marcia Yudkin
There are others, but these would occupy me for at least a few months if I was going to study them and not just scan. :)
Sabrina
August 3rd, 2012 at 4:46 pm
Oh - I added a 4th in my note above so it should read "Here are 4 I want to reread on a regular basis".
Sabrina
August 7th, 2012 at 9:06 am
Great list. I'm looking to read a lot more business books. One book that recently caught my eye is Rework by 37 Signals - seems to be ace!
August 8th, 2012 at 2:18 am
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People one of the best book
i am gonna read it again
describes business in all together different form
must read for businesshorlic people