We are coming to a close of another calendar year. This year has been pretty exciting. I have read a lot of new books from quite a few unexplored nonfiction genres. The end of the year also means a flurry of reviews and audit of how you did and what you missed. I am starting my year-end posts with Best Business Books of 2015.
Unfortunately, I missed almost all of the bestselling books from the business genre this year. Mostly because I didn’t have access to some of these. I also started a new food and movie blog that has kept me busy throughout the year.
So with the end-of-the-year reviews and round-ups, here’s the list of bestselling business books that have dominated the charts in 2015. I really need to begin hunting for these and I am sure you will like these too. Although I haven’t read these books, they have persistently maintained a place on the bestselling charts over weeks and months. So here it is, Best Business Books of 2015.
The Power of Habit
Can you boil down all human behavior to response and stimulus? Maybe. People mostly talk about bad stuff – like smoking after a meal, or eating chips with your burger, or taking extra salt – when they talk about habits. But it takes a lot to use this basic human behavior for our benefit and turn favorable responses into a habit.
The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business
Author: Charles Duhigg
Paperback: 371 pages
Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks (January 7, 2014)
ISBN: 081298160X, 978-0812981605
In The Power of Habit, Charles Duhigg digs deeper into this habit of humans to fall into habit of doing things. He shares useful insight into how you can get rid of some of the harmful habits and kick-in better ones to achieve your goals.
Thinking, Fast and Slow
Daniel Kahneman, a psychologist who won Nobel in Economics, stops just short of making a bold announcement, that humans are irrational, in Thinking, Fast and Slow. And with this assertion, he challenges what psychology and hence many other related research scientists have long assumed – that humans are rational and all decisions that they make are rational.
Thinking, Fast and Slow
Author: Daniel Kahneman
Paperback: 512 pages
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux; Reprint edition (April 2, 2013)
Language: English
ISBN: 0374533555, 978-0374533557
The author puts forward a two system theory. System 1 is reactive and passively accepts most of what is thrown at it. System 2 is active and inquisitive and questions everything that is thrown at it. The problem is, humans are most likely to engage system1 more frequently than system2 – or is it? Along with these observations, the book also looks at age old questions like what id happiness and how we define happiness?
So if the inside view of human mind excites you and you yearn to read books about how people think and why they do what they do, this is a book that you should not miss.
Money: Master the Game
I have never read so much criticism of a book that has dominated the Bestsellers list consistently all along the year. The most important message that comes out of the book though, is conflicting. The author seems to suggest one approach and then goes on to conflict what he has said earlier.
MONEY Master the Game: 7 Simple Steps to Financial Freedom
Author: Tony Robbins
Hardcover: 688 pages
Publisher: Simon & Schuster (November 18, 2014)
ISBN-10: 1476757801, 978-1476757803
So it might not be the easiest book to go through, but you will find a lot of good information about investing and managing your finances. The author’s approach to money from the perspective of life-strategy makes the narrative slightly less technical and more self-help type. I guess the number one position on the charts raise a lot of expectations, which the book doesn’t entirely satisfy.
Outliers
If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound? I am sure all of you must have heard this one many times before. But this is the kind of message that Malcolm Gladwell gives readers in Outliers.
Outliers: The Story of Success
Author: Malcolm Gladwell
Paperback: 336 pages
Publisher: Back Bay Books; Reprint edition (June 7, 2011)
ISBN: 0316017930, 978-0316017930
Intelligence doesn’t guarantee success. Nor does hard work and desire. The world has many equally talented people than those who are in the limelight. It is the opportunities you get and your ability to seize these opportunities at the time when they are presented that more or less make you successful.
Bill Gates, Hockey Players, or Music Legends. There is much more to success than just talent and hard work. Call it Fate, Destiny, or Timing, being at the right place at right time is one of the most important factors that can make or break your professional life.
Get What’s Yours
A certain amount from your every paycheck goes toward social security. Social Security is one of the primary retirement havens for most Americans. Yet, nearly $10 billion worth of benefits remain unclaimed each year. Are you one of the many who let this happen? Are you letting go benefits that you are entitled to?
Get What’s Yours: The Secrets to Maxing Out Your Social Security
Authors: J. Kotlikoff, Philip Moeller, Paul Solman
Hardcover: 336 pages
Publisher: Simon & Schuster (February 17, 2015)
ISBN: 1476772290, 978-1476772295
How well do you know the US Social Security system and the steps that you need to take to benefit the most from what the government has designed for you? In Get What’s Yours, the authors look at some of the less advertised and non-obvious ways you can adopt to get more from Social Security.
Although it will take some diligent reading, and will need additional work on your part, the book is a must have reference for anyone seriously planning for retirement or already retired.
What are some of the best books you have read in this genre and think they ought to make it on the Best Business Books of 2015?