Booklist's Top 10 Business Titles of 2013

The following list was first published July, 2013 in Booklist, and was compiled by Brad Hooper.

"The economy surrounds us like a fog. Whether or not you really understand the theories and mechanics of what makes the economy work, it’s a part of all of our lives: death and taxes and the economy. Many dimensions of the ubiquity of the economy are discussed in the following excellent books, all reviewed in Booklist from July 2012 to June 15, 2013."

The Art of Selling Yourself: The Simple Step-by-Step Process for Success in Business and Life. By Adam Riccoboni and Daniel Callaghan. Tarcher,
The authors present the components of a business philosophy that they posit as the fundamental and overarching key to success, based on the sentiment that “learning how to ‘sell yourself’ is the most important skill you can have in your working life.”

Bend, Not Break: A Life in Two Worlds. By Ping Fu and MeiMei Fox. Penguin/Portfolio
As founder and CEO of Geomagic, a “3-D digital reality solution company,” Fu speaks to the need for humanity to practice love in business relations in order to avoid inflicting pain on future generations.

The Betrayal of the American Dream. By Donald L. Barlett and James B. Steele. PublicAffairs.
The authors address key elements in the betrayal of the American dream (including globalization, outsourcing, and taxes) and offer suggestions for reversing them, including fair trade and progressive tax reform.  (Also available as a downloadable eAudiobook.)

The Click Moment: Seizing Opportunity in an Unpredictable World. By Frans Johansson. Penguin/Portfolio.
Consider this book the millennial response to carpe diem, along with pretty explicit instructions on taking advantage of Lady Luck; Johansson emphasizes following one’s curiosity to reach personal momentum and high intensity levels.


Hedge Hogs: The Cowboy Traders behind Wall Street’s Largest Hedge Fund Disaster. By Barbara T. Dreyfuss. Random.
This work shines light on the little-known sector of unregulated energy trading in the wake of Enron, where reckless traders continue to take enormous risks with investors’ money and wreak havoc in energy-commodities markets.

Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead. By Sheryl Sandberg and Nell Scovell. Knopf.
With no small amount of self-deprecating humor, a massive quantity of facts and research, plus a liberal dose of very personal anecdotes, Sandberg and her coauthor force all of us—women and men—to reexamine ourselves at work and in life.  (Also available as a downloadable eBook and as a downloadable Audiobook.)

Mean Girls at Work: How to Stay Professional When Things Get Personal. By Katherine Crowley and Kathi Elster. McGraw-Hill.
Years ago, it was called the queen bee syndrome, denoting the propensity of female bosses to overdo their authority. Now this psychotherapist-consultant team defines “mean bee” more precisely, segmenting bad female behavior into seven categories.

Straight Flush: The True Story of Six College Friends Who Dealt Their Way to a Billion-Dollar Online Poker Empire—and How It All Came Crashing Down . . . By Ben Mezrich. Morrow.
The real-life characters of this story are six fraternity brothers who parlayed their interest in poker into one of the largest and most profitable gambling sites in the world, before it all fell to darkness and ruin with the stroke of a bureaucrat’s pen; the action is nonstop.  (Also available as a downloadable eBook.)

We Are Anonymous: Inside the Hacker World of LulzSec, Anonymous, and the Global Cyber Insurgency. By Parmy Olson. Little, Brown.
Olson traces the origins of the group of “hacktivists” known as Anonymous, unmasking its leading characters to reveal their personal lives and motivations.


Women Still at Work: Professionals over Sixty and on the Job. By Elizabeth F. Fideler. Rowman & Littlefield.
This compassionate yet realistic portrayal of women professionals “of a certain age” is truly distinctive in that it provides all readers with at least one role model with whom they can relate.