If you are like me, it can get incredibly overwhelming to keep up with business books. So many publish in any given year (well, before the economy hit the skids, at least), how can you really know which ones are worth the time anyway?


And yet - the knowledge nuggets and new perspective, when you do sit down with one a friend has recommended, usually pay off big. What if you could get that trusted friend's re-cap, review and suggestion in the form of a well-organized and accessible list of the very best?
Enter The 100 Best Business Books of All Time (Portfolio) by 800CEORead's Jack Covert and Todd Sattersten.
This just-published book offers a fresh look at many of the long-recognized standbys as well as many that might seem to come out of nowhere. Not ones to go the traditional route, Jack and Todd applied their uber-experienced business book reading minds to come up with something completely different in this sort of hip, travel-style guide to all the great business wisdom out there .... Drucker to Gladwell.
All the details are on the book's site, but here are a few reasons the book was worth a read for me:
- The essay format. These are not mini-reviews or outlines of these books, as such. Instead, Jack and Todd quickly got to the essence of what made each book worth reading (and these guys know business books better than anyone else you may ever meet). If there are six keys to this, or ten guidelines to that, those are surely included, but the substance of each essay is personal and powerful in its own right.
- The sidebars and design elements (guided by Stauber Design Studio). Like the book overall, these are not garden variety. Instead, the chapter breaks span suggestions for learning more about global business practices to fiction titles that include some serious business lessons. Also, worth noting .... at the end of each essay is a "What's Next?" menu to guide you toward complementary reviews within and/or to suggest books outside of the 100 Best. The less linear-minded reader will find it a rich alternative to reading in sequence.
- Broad topic categories. They include "You" (my favorite, FLOW, is there) and "Narratives" as well as the more usual suspects of "Leadership," "Strategy," and "Entrepreneurship." The 100 Best very much delivers a one-stop survey of all the best business ideas out there, and may well offer a way for the single topic business book addict (you know who you are) to try a new drug.
As Jack puts it in one of his reviews: "There are books that break new ground and then there are books that show you a new way to think about the basics." Jack and Todd's book does both (and inspires you to keep on reading–)