My Favourite Books (so far)

A friend of mine has been bugging me to give him a list of books to read; specifically, he wants a top ten. I’ve been dallying in my response, as creating such a list is a challenge.

Even sticking to non-fiction, I like all manner of subject matter, so how do I create a top ten? Plus, such a list is a personal thing…will my top ten resonate at all with his?

Anyway, after humming and hawing for a while, I figured I’d a) cop out a bit; and b) put my thoughts into a post.

So, read on if you want to see what I’ve compiled…

I’ve limited my recommendations to books that I’ve read, and there are two cop outs:

1. You’ll find more than ten
2. I’ve made three lists

…and one disclaimer:

1. These are presented in no meaningful order

I read many of these long before I started this blog; those that have been read recently link to my associated book report.

Leadership (and related) Books

• Wooden on Leadership (John Wooden)
• Obliquity – Why Our Goals are Best Achieved Indirectly (John Kay)
• Lessons from the Top: How Successful Leaders Tell Stories to Get Ahead – and Stay There (Gavin Esler)
• Mind Gym – An athlete’s guide to inner excellence (Gary Mack with David Casstevens)

Marketing (and related) Books

• Priceless – The Hidden Psychology of Value (William Poundstone)
• Brandwashed – Tricks Companies Use to Manipulate our Minds and Persuade us to Buy (Martin Lindstrom)
• The Age of Persuasion – How Marketing Ate our Culture (Terry O’Reilly and Mike Tennant)
• Words that Work – It’s not what you way, it’s what people hear (Frank Luntz)
• Youtility – Why smart marketing is about help not hype (Jay Baer)

Everything (and related) Books

• Confessions of an Economic Hit Man (John Perkins)
• Area 51: An Uncensored History of America’s Top Secret Military Base (Annie Jacobsen)
• The Demon-Haunted World – Science as a Candle in the Dark (Carl Sagan)
• What the Dog Saw (Malcolm Gladwell)
• Boomerang – Travels in the New Third World (Michael Lewis)
• The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine (Michael Lewis)
• Flash Boys – A Wall Street Revolt (Michael Lewis)
• How We Got to Now – Six innovations that made the modern world (Steven Johnson)
• Where Good Ideas Come From – The Natural History of Innovation (Steven Johnson)
• Guns, Germs, and Steel – The Fates of Human Societies (Jared Diamond)
• The Reason I Jump: The Inner Voice of a Thirteen Year-Old Boy with Autism (Naoki Higashida)
• Scorecasting – The Hidden Influences Behind How Sports are Played and Games are Won (Tobias J. Moskowitz and L. Jon Wertheim)
• The Numbers Game – Why Everything You Know About Soccer Is Wrong (Chris Anderson and David Sally)
• Soccernomics (Simon Kuper and Stefan Szymanski)
• The  Sports Gene – Inside the science of extraordinary athletic performance (David Epstein)
• Bounce: Mozart, Federer, Picasso, Beckham, and the Science of Success (Matthew Syed)
• I Am Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Zlatan Ibrahimovic)
• Brainiac – Adventures in the Curious, Competitive, Compulsive World of Trivia Buffs (Ken Jennings)

So there ya go, Brunny!