Customer Reviews

The 100 Best Business Books of All Time: What They Say, Why They Matter, and How They Can Help You [100 BEST BUSINESS BKS OF ALL T]

5 star:		(26)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This is a decently organized collection of business books but it left me frustrated.

I wanted to learn the key ideas in these 100 books and this book did not provide it. That is my main criticism. I am just not that interested in learning how "refreshing" the style of writing is or in reading commentary on how clever the author was.

So, if you think that you are going to get summaries and distillations of the ideas from these 100 books then you are mostly mistaken. I say mostly because there are indeed a few (a very few) morsels provided in each review. However, all too often the review just says something like "the author then provides 8 ideas that you should consider in setting up your business", but you don't get to learn what those 8 ideas are! Down with fluffy teasers.

I also wish the collection did not restrict itself only to relatively contemporary works. That is like saying music should only be understood by looking at everything from the Beatles on. Don't get me wrong: I love the Beatles but what about Bach? Frederick Taylor's views of the employee may be old but it still provides insight into how a sizeable portion of businesses are still being run around the world today ... not to mention that it gives us a context for understanding how we got to where we are right now.

In fairness, there are a number of "pop numbers" that I would have never learned about if not for this book. So, I feel the authors do a credible job of surveying and presenting fresh options based on contemporary (e.g. humanitarian) business values and trends.

If you like this book you probably owe it to yourself to broaden your list a little. There are a lot of "best business" lists out there. For example, Fortune Magazine has a nice list called the "75 Smartest Books We Know".

After going through this book, the Fortune list and numerous other "best business" lists, my favorite "best of business" source remains "The Best Business Books Ever: The 100 Most Influential Business Books You'll Never Have Time to Read". That one, too, has its share of problems but, in my opinion, it provides less pop numbers but more meat and more context.

Presumably when Jack Covert and Todd Sattersten made their selections for this book, they struggled to decide which books to include written by prolific authors such as Warren Bennis, Clayton Christensen, Peter Drucker, James Kouzes and Barry Posener, C.K. Prahalad, and Noel Tichy. I am curious to know why they include Billy Beane's Moneyball instead of Thomas Davenport's Competing on Analytics, Po Bronson's What Should I Do with My Life? instead of Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography or James O'Toole's Creating the Good Life, and Annette Simmons' The Story Factor but none of Stephen Denning's books, notably The Leader's Guide to Storytelling and/or The Secret Language of Leadership? And why include none of the books written by others such as Joel Barker (Paradigms), Kenneth Blanchard (The One Minute Manager, with Spencer Johnson), William Bridges (Transitions), Henry Chesbrough (Open Innovation), Eric Drexler (Engines of Creation), Howard Gardner (Multiple Intelligences), Bill George (True North), Jason Jennings (Think Big, Act Small), Jon Katzenbach (The Wisdom of Teams), Philip Kotler (Marketing Management), Thomas Kuhn (The Structure of Scientific Revolutions), David Ogilvy (On Advertising), Michael Ray (Creativity in Business), and Joseph Schumpeter (Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy)?

That said, I think Covert and Sattersten have created an invaluable single source of information, especially given the fact that 11,000 business books were published in the United States in 2007 and, when I last checked, more than 1.9-million business books are now offered by Amazon, including more than 267,000 in the "business management" category. The material is carefully organized within 12 sections, each devoted to a theme: You (The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People among the books discussed), Leadership (The Leadership Challenge), Strategy (Good to Great), Sales and Marketing (the selections including Positioning are fine but why not Theodore Levitt's The Marketing Imagination also?), Rules and Scorekeeping (The Balanced Scorecard), Management (The Essential Drucker), Biographies (My Years with General Motors), Entrepreneurship (The Monk and the Riddle), Narratives (The Force, a brilliant choice), Innovation and Creativity (The Art of Innovation), Big Ideas (Made to Stick), and Takeaways (The Lexus and the Olive Tree).

I especially appreciate the inclusion of "Sidebars" throughout the book. For example Business Books for Kids of All Ages (Page 34), Leadership in Movies (Page 46 but what about Fort Apache, Paths of Glory, and Twelve O'Clock High?), The Best Route to an Idea (Page 77), Learn from Experience (Page 81), Selling on the Silver Screen (Page 120 and the five choices are excellent but where's The Producers?), Classics (Page 200), Found in Fiction (Page 247), Fresh Perspectives Not in a Bookstore Near You (Page 282), and Readers' Poll (Page 307). In "The Last Word," Covert and Sattersten invite their readers to visit 100bestbiz.com for more information about all of the books discussed, including chapter excerpts, interviews with authors, videos about the books, and more. I also highly recommend signing up for the 800-CEO-READ Blog (bloggers@800ceoread.com) which provides daily updates of various kinds.

As previously indicated, I am among those who question many of the selections and especially, several omissions. So what? After reading this book, just for the fun of it, I compiled my own list and even devised a few "Sidebars." Perhaps others will also come up with their own list. There are several on Jack Covert and Todd Sattersten's list that I have not as yet read or last read decades ago. After reading or re-reading them, perhaps I'll change my mind. In any event, I enjoyed reading this book and am grateful for the enlightenment and entertainment it provides as well as for its capacity for thought-provocation. Now that it has been published, let the disagreements begin!

It's a little awkward to recommend a book where the authors are generous to you, but for a moment, let's pretend they are not.

If you own a Zagats restaurant guide, it probably means you care about the food you eat.

You need to buy this book if you care about the work you do.

Even better than a restaurant guide, this book will actually feed your head. The summaries are first rate, their enthusiasm is palpable and you'll learn something on every single page.

I know, I'm biased. But I'm sitting here making a fool of myself for a reason--you need to read more business books! This is a great place to start.

Pros
- Every book is covered in less than 3 pages
- Some of the main key points from the book are covered and discussed
Neutral
- Every book is covered in less than 3 pages - regardless of the length or content of the book
- Subjective comments are included to put the concepts into context
(e.g. "To excel in business you need to rise above your peers and be noticed for all the
right reasons.)
Cons
- Not all of the major points of the book are covered
- Could present book material more objectively

I'm a book-o-phile that can get lost in reading. I really only need to know what I need to know. Being in Management Consulting I need to know what leaders are reading. This book has what I need and no more. If I had this 5 years ago I would have saved a lot of money on bad books!

I bought this book at the airport in Kansas City before boarding my flight to Washington D.C. for a speaking engagement. I didn't close the book again until after we landed at Reagan. Imagine being able to extract the key ideas from every great business book in your local library, and placing them all in just one. Now, realize that someone else has beat you to it. All you have to do is read it...and I would suggest that you do.

I'm a big fan of "lists" and an even greater fan of business books. Therefore, the combination of the two were right down my alley. As a published author of a business book in June of '08, I was sad to see that my book was not included among the 100. Oh well, maybe the next one.

Even so, it was still a very enjoyable read and will help me make better buying decisions. I have wasted a tremendous amount of money and time through the years as I waded through business books that were neither well-researched, useful or relevant to my needs. I won't mention any titles but you have probably read the same ones and wish you had your time and money back.

I also appreciated the authors' inclusion of non-business related items. As a person that has written several Amazon guides, I have continually included non-business related books and movies in my human resources guides. Also, in my afore-mentioned business book, parts of my research was based on non-business items. As we all know, you can mine a lot of business gold out of certain movies and books that were not designed specifically for that task.

I hope you find this review helpful.

Michael L. Gooch, SPHR - Author of Wingtips with Spurs Cowboy Wisdom for Today's Business Leaders.

When I received my copy of "The 100 Best Business Books of All time", I wondered how much I would enjoy reading a collection of reviews. Can't I just do the same thing on Amazon? Well I did enjoy the book and ended up reading every single one of the reviews. And by "reading" I mean jumping all over the place chasing the rabbit trails at the end of each review. It definitely took me back to my younger days reading the "create your own story books" and made the experience more interesting than just reading a section at a time.

With all the business books out there it is difficult to know which book to choose to solve which problem or teach specific knowledge. "The 100 Best Business Books of All Time" filled my need for a trusted expert to guide me to the best source. Everyone has their own opinions as to which books are the best in each category, but I doubt any of the recommended books will hurt you if you read them. Two authors I really enjoy, Michael Lewis & Malcolm Gladwell, were represented in books. I rate each book I read on two scales, one for usefulness and the other for how interesting the book is. Even though I think their books are fabulously interesting, I also think they are pretty low on the useful scale. I am especially torn on "Moneyball" because it is a very interesting narrative but another book, maybe "Super Crunchers" would have been a better fit for a data-to-decision book. One book I did miss was Chet Holmes "The Ultimate Sales Machine". I am in the financial services industry and that one book made the biggest impact on the way I conduct myself day-to-day and how I view the whole sales process.

One thing that did become a little annoying was that the "Where to Next" sections did not include the actual title of the book if it was contained in "The 100 Best." A name would have been helpful to avoid jumping back to something I just read.

If the goal of writing this book was to further cement Todd and Jack's place as THE business book/knowledge go-to-guys, then they succeeded admirably. On my personal scale, this book gets a 7 for interesting and 9 for useful. Already I have picked up several books to help my current challenges and I selected them strictly from reading these reviews. They have not disappointed.

Being a recent liberal arts graduate entering the business world, "The 100 Best" has been a key reference point and filter among the many business books on the market.

Covert and Sattersten efficiently divide the books into 10 categories; highlight the most influential titles on each, and suggest plenty of options for further reading.

I would have liked to have seen a chapter focusing on economic influences on the business climate, but that aside I stand behind the rating: 4 stars.

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I also recommend their blog [..] to track recent publications. There is no way to keep up with them, but their reviews track the key perspectives of the times.

I'm not usually a fan of lists, but for this book I make an exception. It's fascinating, erudite, and tremendously useful. As the authors point out, the value proposition of a good business book is enormous -- much cheaper than consulting, alas, for us consultants -- and this book tells you what the great ones are.

I'm afraid, though, that they're going to have to commit to updating the book almost every year. We need them to work through each year's new crop of candidates for us. Bravo, Jack and Todd!