Today, I’m happy to announce the 2010 updates to the Personal MBA Recommended Reading List – the PMBA’s sixth edition. While you’re here, be sure to check out the 99 best business books available, read the updated Personal MBA manifesto, and take advantage of the NEW official PMBA Reading List Tracker and other exciting updates…
We’ve Come a Long Way, Baby
The PMBA Recommended Reading List has come a very long way since the 2005 edition. The list has doubled in scope, from 42 to 99 books, which has enabled the list to cover the fundamental business concepts every self-educated business professional needs to understand to be successful. Looking back to early versions of the list, it’s easy to see that the current version is the most comprehensive and well-balanced yet.
We’ve also added some great usability features to the website, like navigation buttons so you can browse through the list more easily. These changes make the site much easier to explore – special thanks to Kelsey Kaufman, whose help made this possible.
2010 Reading List Additions
The 2010 reading list features ten new books, each of which strengthen the reading list’s coverage of critical areas:
- The Human Mind: Making Sense of Behavior by William T. Powers
- Influence: The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene
- Entrepreneurship: Escape from Cubicle Nation by Pamela Slim
- Value-Creation: Four Steps to the Epiphany by Steve Blank
- Marketing: The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing by Al Ries & Jack Trout
- Sales: Value-Based Fees by Alan Weiss
- Negotiation: The Partnership Charter by David Gage
- Systems: Work the System by Sam Carpenter
- Analysis: The Economist Numbers Guide by Richard Stuteley
- Personal Development: Self-Directed Behavior by David L. Watson & Roland G. Tharp
NEW: Personal MBA Reading List Tracker
I’m also excited to announce there’s now an easy to way to keep track of which PMBA books you’ve read. The PMBA Reading List Tracker is a new feature developed with the help of Aaron Forgue, a long-time friend of the PMBA. The Reading List Tracker will allow you to keep track of which books from the reading list you’ve read, using a simple and attractive interface.
The PMBA Reading List Tracker is for PMBA Insiders only – if you’d like to use the tool, as well as receive free Insider-only business training and PMBA blog updates, you can become a subscriber using this button – it’s fast and free:
After you sign up, you’ll receive access instructions via e-mail. If you’re already a PMBA Insider, you can log in via the new and improved PMBA Insider website.
The Future of the Personal MBA: A Slight Shift in Focus
To date, the focus of the Personal MBA has been on books – which ones you should read to get the most comprehensive and useful self-education available. I’m very pleased with the results of the past six years of research, and I think the list will be very stable for years to come. I’ll update the list as necessary, but only if a new book comes out that clearly supersedes a previous title, new editions are published, or a book goes out of print. I have no plans to expand the list beyond 99 titles.
Moving forward, the focus of the Personal MBA will shift to business concepts vs. books. Books aren’t important in and of themselves – they’re a means of teaching critically important concepts, which are more important. The PMBA will always have a reading list, but the time has come to focus attention on fundamental concepts you can use to build your business.
In addition, I’m in the process of finishing my first book, The Personal MBA: A World-Class Business Education in a Single Volume, which will be published by Portfolio this time next year. If you’re interested in receiving a sneak-peak of the book the moment it’s available, be sure to subscribe to the PMBA Insider – I have a ton of very cool things planned, and PMBA Insiders will experience them first.
All in all, 2010 will be a bright and shiny year for all of us – thanks for following the Personal MBA, and I’m looking forward to helping you make this a year to remember.
(Photo credit: shilders at sxc.hu)
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
Wow ,
Great News, i have not read any of the new books. Great new knowledge to learn.
Reading List Tracker is a great feature. What would be make it even cooler is a counter at the top telling you many left or how many read so far.
Thank you Josh.
Hi Josh:
Thanks for this update…some interesting books. I’ve read Pamela Slim’s Escape From Cubicle Nation and it is an awesome book! I think that even if we work or aspire to work a corporate gig, it is important for us to start thinking more like an entrepreneur.
Congrats, also, on your book that will be coming out this year…sounds like it is going to be perfect timing for a lot of people. Best of luck for an awesome year!
Hi Josh,
Thank you for 2010 Reading List Additions. But I would like to know if all those books can be in the same package on Amazon?? Because they must be less expensive. Please provide me with the link on Amazon.
Ibrahima.
Is there any way to see the evolution of the list? I’ve come across this site when it first came around in 2005 and have revisited several times to look for new books, though I haven’t quite engaged as part of the community.
A few books on the list now seem more “pop theory” than true classics considering at least 2 or 3 i have been looking at are not published yet. I would be really interested to see the “original” classics, and which books you’ve added each year if possible.
Ryan – the only book on the list that hasn’t been released yet it Rework, which is an updated version of Getting Real. It comes out in early March, so I updated it early, but you can read Getting Real for free on the 37signals website.
Re: “pop theory” – the books on the list are there (1) because they contain fundamental business concepts every business professional should know; (2) I’ve recommended them to real businesspeople (my clients) dealing with real situations, and the advice has proved useful in the real world. Many of the books are new, but business is changing very quickly vs. what it was in the 50s-90s, and more opportunities are opening up to do things differently. I also have a preference for things that are useful instead of just interesting. If I start recommending Malcolm Gladwell, start worrying.
Don’t assume a book is useful because it’s a “classic” – some books stand the test of time, and some simply get old. You can read Smith’s The Wealth of Nations if you want (I have), but you’ll probably get more out of the books on the list if your intent is to learn something you can actually use to make things better.
I’m working on a summary of the past several years of the reading list – look for this soon.
Thanks so much for including my book on your list Josh! I can’t wait to read yours when it comes out soon!
All the best,
-Pam
I’m glad you added Greene’s Laws of Power book — I read that some years ago, and found it provided a good perspective, with plenty of historical examples [some of which are hilarious -- the con men stories are the best, followed closely by any story involving Talleyrand].
thank you to share with us this useful 2010 reading list edition. I am mba doing in finance and this my third semester.