The 99 Best Business Books Available: The Personal MBA Recommended Reading List

by Josh Kaufman

Personal MBA - The Best Business Books

MBA programs don’t have a monopoly on advanced business knowledge: you can teach yourself everything you need to know to succeed in life and at work. The Personal MBA features the very best business books available, based on thousands of hours of research. So skip b-school and the $150,000 loan: you can get a world-class business education simply by reading these books.

This page lists all PMBA-recommended books and resources for easy printing, bookmarking, and reference. For more information about the Personal MBA and book selection criteria, read the manifesto, or see a list of the 2010 changes. Purchasing books through this website helps support the PMBA’s ongoing research. If you would like to purchase multiple books, check out the PMBA Batch Book Buyer tool.

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Here are the 99 business books the Personal MBA officially recommends… click on the title to read a detailed description of each book and why it’s important.

Productivity & Effectiveness

10 Days to Faster Reading by Abby Marks-Beale
StrengthsFinder 2.0 by Tom Rath
Getting Things Done by David Allen
The Power of Less by Leo Babauta
The 80/20 Principle by Richard Koch
Bit Literacy by Mark Hurst
The Power of Full Engagement by Jim Loehr & Tony Schwartz

The Human Mind

Brain Rules by John Medina
Making Sense of Behavior by William T. Powers
Driven by Paul Lawrence and Nitin Nohria
Deep Survival by Laurence Gonzales

Communication

On Writing Well by William Zinsser
Presentation Zen by Garr Reynolds
Made to Stick by Chip and Dan Heath
The Copywriter’s Handbook by Robert Bly
Show Me The Numbers by Stephen Few

Influence

How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert B. Cialdini
Crucial Conversations by Kerry Patterson et al
The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene

Decision-Making

Sources of Power: How People Make Decisions by Gary Klein
Smart Choices by John S. Hammond et al
The Path of Least Resistance by Robert Fritz
Ethics for the Real World by Ronald Howard & Clinton Korver

Creativity & Innovation

The Creative Habit by Twyla Tharp
Myths of Innovation by Scott Berkun
Innovation and Entrepreneurship by Peter F. Drucker

Project Management

Making Things Happen by Scott Berkun
Results Without Authority by Tom Kendrick

Opportunity Identification

The New Business Road Test by John Mullins
How to Make Millions with Your Ideas by Dan Kennedy

Entrepreneurship

Ready, Fire, Aim by Michael Masterson
The Art of the Start by Guy Kawasaki
The Knack by Norm Brodsky & Bo Burlingham
The 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss
Escape from Cubicle Nation by Pamela Slim
Bankable Business Plans by Edward Rogoff

Value-Creation & Design

Rework by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson
Four Steps to the Epiphany by Steve Blank
The Design of Everyday Things by Donald Norman
Universal Principles of Design by William Lidwell, Kritina Holden, and Jill Butler

Marketing

All Marketers Are Liars by Seth Godin
Permission Marketing by Seth Godin
The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing by Al Ries & Jack Trout
Getting Everything You Can Out of All You’ve Got by Jay Abraham

Sales

The Ultimate Sales Machine by Chet Holmes
Value-Based Fees by Alan Weiss
SPIN Selling by Neil Rackham
The Sales Bible by Jeffrey Gitomer

Value-Delivery

Indispensable by Joe Calloway
The Goal by Eliyahu Goldratt
Lean Thinking by James Womack and Daniel Jones

Negotiation

Bargaining For Advantage by G. Richard Shell
3-D Negotiation by David A. Lax and James K. Sebenius
The Partnership Charter by David Gage

Management

First, Break All The Rules by Marcus Buckingham & Curt Coffman
12: The Elements of Great Managing by Rodd Wagner & James Harter
Growing Great Employees by Erika Andersen
Hiring Smart by Pierre Mornell
The Essential Drucker by Peter F. Drucker

Leadership

Tribes by Seth Godin
Total Leadership by Stewart Friedman
What Got You Here Won’t Get You There by Marshall Goldsmith
The New Leader’s 100-Day Action Plan by George Bradt et al
The Halo Effect by Phil Rosenzweig

Finance & Accounting

Accounting Made Simple by Mike Piper
Essentials of Accounting (9th Edition) by Robert N. Anthony and Leslie K. Breitner
The McGraw-Hill 36-Hour Course in Finance by Robert A. Cooke
How to Read a Financial Report by John A. Tracy

Systems

Thinking in Systems by Donella Meadows
Work the System by Sam Carpenter
Learning from the Future by Liam Fahey & Robert Randall

Analysis

Turning Numbers Into Knowledge by Jonathan Koomey
Marketing Metrics by Paul W. Farris et al
Web Analytics: An Hour a Day by Avinash Kaushik
The Economist Numbers Guide by Richard Stuteley

Statistics

How to Lie with Statistics by Darrell Huff
Principles of Statistics by M.G. Bulmer

Corporate Skills

The Unwritten Laws of Business by W.J. King
The Effective Executive by Peter Drucker
The Simplicity Survival Handbook by Bill Jensen

Corporate Strategy

Purpose: The Starting Point of Great Companies by Nikos Mourkogiannis
Competitive Strategy by Michael Porter
Blue Ocean Strategy by W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne
Green to Gold by Daniel Esty & Andrew Winston
Seeing What’s Next by Clayton M. Christensen, Erik A. Roth, Scott D. Anthony

Consulting

Getting Started in Consulting by Alan Weiss
Secrets of Consulting by Gerald M. Weinberg

Personal Finance

Your Money or Your Life by Joel Dominguez & Vicki Robin
I Will Teach You To Be Rich by Ramit Sethi
The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas Stanley & William Danko
Fail-Safe Investing by Harry Browne
It’s Not About The Money by Brent Kessel
Work Less, Live More by Bob Clyatt

Personal Development

Self-Directed Behavior by David L. Watson & Roland G. Tharp
Personal Development for Smart People by Steve Pavlina
Re-Create Your Life by Morty Lefkoe
Lead the Field by Earl Nightingale
The Art of Exceptional Living by Jim Rohn

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About the Personal MBA

MBA programs don't have a monopoly on business knowledge: you can teach yourself everything you need to know to succeed in life and at work. The Personal MBA features the very best business books available, based on thousands of hours of research. If you're serious about learning advanced business principles, the Personal MBA can help you master business without the baggage of b-school. Read the manifesto...
New to the Personal MBA?
These articles will help you discover what the Personal MBA is all about:
- The PMBA Manifesto - why business self-education beats business school.
- PMBA Recommended Reading List - a list of all of the books officially recommended by the Personal MBA.
- The PMBA Community - discuss business concepts with PMBA members from around the world in our free private forum.
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