Best Books of 2008

Top 10 Books: Business & Investing

Best of 2008
Welcome to our Best of 2008 top 10 lists for Business & Investing. This year we've put our editors' picks and our year-end bestsellers for each category on the same page together, so you can easily compare. Click on "Editors' Picks" to see our editors' list of the best business and investing books of 2008, including our top pick, The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life, Alice Schroeder's unprecedented account of the life and times of the "Oracle of Omaha." And click on "Customer Favorites" to find the bestselling business and investing books at Amazon.com during 2008. (Ranked according to customer orders through October. Only books published for the first time in 2008 are eligible.) See more editors' picks and customers' favorites in our Best of 2008 Store.


Editors' Picks |Customer Favorites
1. Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions
Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions
by Dan Ariely
4.2 out of 5 stars (572 customer reviews)
Out of Print--Limited Availability
HarperCollins
February 19, 2008
Hardcover

Click here for more information


From Publishers Weekly
Irrational behavior is a part of human nature, but as MIT professor Ariely has discovered in 20 years of researching behavioral economics, people tend to behave irrationally in a predictable fashion. Drawing on psychology and economics, behavioral economic... Read more

2. The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life
The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life
by Alice Schroeder
4.2 out of 5 stars (286 customer reviews)
In Stock
Bantam
September 29, 2008
Hardcover

Click here for more information

List Price:$35.00
Price:$24.02
You Save:$10.98 (31%)

From Publishers Weekly
In this startlingly frank account of Buffett's life, Schroeder, a former managing director at Morgan Stanley... Read more

3. Presentation Zen: Simple Ideas on Presentation Design and Delivery
Presentation Zen: Simple Ideas on Presentation Design and Delivery
by Garr Reynolds
4.5 out of 5 stars (215 customer reviews)
In Stock
New Riders
January 4, 2008
Paperback

Click here for more information

List Price:$34.99
Price:$31.49
You Save:$3.50 (10%)

Review
"Please don't buy this book! Once people start making better presentations, mine won’t look so good. (But if you truly want to learn what works and how to do it right, Garr is the man to learn from.)" Seth Godin Speaker and Blogger Author, Meatball Sunda ... Read more

4. Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness
Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness
by Richard H. Thaler
3.5 out of 5 stars (227 customer reviews)
In Stock
Yale University Press
April 8, 2008
Hardcover

Click here for more information

List Price:$30.00
Price:$18.20
You Save:$11.80 (39%)

Amazon.com Review
Questions for Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein Amazon.com: What do you mean by "nudge" and why do people sometimes need to be nudged? Thaler and Sunstein: By a nudge we ... Read more

5. The New Paradigm for Financial Markets: The Credit Crisis of 2008 and What It Means
The New Paradigm for Financial Markets: The Credit Crisis of 2008 and What It Means
by George Soros
3.3 out of 5 stars (89 customer reviews)
In Stock
PublicAffairs
May 5, 2008
Hardcover

Click here for more information

List Price:$22.95
Price:$15.89
You Save:$7.06 (31%)

Review
"The London Times" "They're wrong about oil, by George: In short, the standard economic assumption that supply and demand drive prices is only a starting point for understanding financial markets. In boom-bust cycles, the textbook theory is not just slight... Read more

6. Economic Facts and Fallacies
Economic Facts and Fallacies
by Thomas Sowell
4.5 out of 5 stars (135 customer reviews)
Out of Print--Limited Availability
Basic Books
January 1, 2008
Hardcover

Click here for more information


Product Description
Economic Facts and Fallacies exposes some of the most popular fallacies about economic issues-and does so in a lively manner and without requiring any prior knowledge of economics by the reader. These include many beliefs widely disseminated in the media and by politicians, such as mistaken ideas about urban ... Read more

7. Bad Money: Reckless Finance, Failed Politics, and the Global Crisis of American Capitalism
Bad Money: Reckless Finance, Failed Politics, and the Global Crisis of American Capitalism
by Kevin P. Phillips
4.0 out of 5 stars (101 customer reviews)
In Stock
Viking Adult
April 15, 2008
Hardcover

Click here for more information

List Price:$25.95
Price:$16.37
You Save:$9.58 (37%)

Review
"A harrowing picture of national danger that no American reader will welcome, but that none should ignore. . . . Frighteningly persuasive."-Alan Brinkley, The New York Times "An indispensable presentation of the case against things as they are."-Time "Sobering . . . positively alarming."-Los Angeles Times... Read more

8. The Back of the Napkin: Solving Problems and Selling Ideas with Pictures
The Back of the Napkin: Solving Problems and Selling Ideas with Pictures
by Dan Roam
4.0 out of 5 stars (171 customer reviews)
Out of Print--Limited Availability
Portfolio Hardcover
March 13, 2008
Hardcover

Click here for more information


From Publishers Weekly
The premise behind Roam's book is simple: anybody with a pen and a scrap of paper can use visual thinking to work through complex business ideas. Management consultant and lecturer Roam begins with a watershed moment: asked, at the last minute, to give a t... Read more

9. The Trillion Dollar Meltdown: Easy Money, High Rollers, and the Great Credit Crash
The Trillion Dollar Meltdown: Easy Money, High Rollers, and the Great Credit Crash
by Charles R. Morris
4.2 out of 5 stars (133 customer reviews)
In Stock
PublicAffairs
March 4, 2008
Hardcover

Click here for more information

List Price:$22.95
Price:$6.17
You Save:$16.78 (73%)

From Publishers Weekly
Financial writer Morris explains the current sub-prime mortgage crisis that is affecting countless numbers of families in the United States and the economy as a whole. Morris details, in great length and description, where the market went wrong and the eco... Read more

10. Six Disciplines® Execution Revolution: Solving the One Business Problem That Makes Solving All Other Problems Easier
Six Disciplines® Execution Revolution: Solving the One Business Problem That Makes Solving All Other Problems Easier
by Gary Harpst
4.4 out of 5 stars (26 customer reviews)
In Stock
Six Disciplines Publishing
July 1, 2008
Hardcover

Click here for more information

List Price:$12.95
Price:$9.17
You Save:$3.78 (29%)

Review
Harpst's new book is a breakthrough achievement, changing the equation for the way business will attack their biggest challenge--executing strategy. --Mick Fleming, president and CEO, American Chamber of Commerce Executives... Read more