Best Books 2005 - What's on Your List?

Submitted by Rob Katz on December 1, 2005 - 11:01.
Published in: |
You're making your list; you're checking it twice. And you're not alone – its time for everyone's year-end best-of lists. I just finished browsing strategy-business’ Best Business Books 2005, where coverage ranges from strategy to marketing to globalization. (Side note: which works are on your "best books" list – comment below). Of particular interest both are the strategy and globalization essays, where C.K. Prahalad's and Stuart Hart's recent books appear:

...a rare glimpse into the future — for those with eyes to see — of the extraordinary opportunities waiting in uncharted and seemingly impassable waters.

Operating successfully in the global economy, particularly in the poorly charted reaches of the developing world, requires optimism — optimism tempered by accurate, unbiased information.

Those familiar with the base/bottom of the pyramid literature won’t find groundbreaking analysis of Prahalad's nor Hart's book. What makes these essays worth reading, however, is the coverage of other books. Bundled with familiar BOP texts are two books on strategy (Blue Ocean Strategy and MarketBusters) and three on globalization (End of Poverty, Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, and Travels of a T-Shirt) that would be good additions to another list – your "books to read" or "books to buy" list.

What else is on your must-read list? I've added Confessions of an Economic Hit Man and am in the middle of The 86 Percent Solution right now. Maybe we can get a small NextBillion readers' choice award going. Comments are open – fire away.

(Via Emergic)
Also worth browsing - WorldChanging's Reading List and the New York Times' 100 Notable Books of the year.
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Submitted by Emeka Okafor on December 3, 2005 - 14:31.
George Ayittey's Africa Unchained see reviews here and here
Submitted by Anonymous on December 4, 2005 - 21:14.
guys i found this survey at readerschoiceonline.org that has some of the best books of the year
Submitted by Courtland Walker on December 5, 2005 - 13:08.
No matter where in the spectrum you might fall in the debate on the role of aid versus the private sector in development, I recommend Jeffrey Sachs' The End of Poverty as an excellent primer on the on-the-ground history of, challenges faced by, and reform needed in, the aid industry.

A nice counterpoint to Sachs' support for increased aid are two Shell Foundation reports, released in 2005. Available in NextBillion's Resource section, Enterprise Solutions to Poverty and Aid Reform and the Role of Enterprise call for a focus on the integration of business principles and discipline into the aid industry.

Where do you fall in the debate? Increased aid? But what about the negative correlation of official aid to GDP growth in African countries? A shift in focus to the private sector? But what kind of work force is available in economies rampant with HIV/Aids, malaria, TB and malnutrition?

The end goal is largely the same, and in the search for the most effective means, it's likely we'll find ourselves on common ground. Staying well informed about the pros and cons on both sides of the debate will help us get there.
Submitted by weewhale on December 6, 2005 - 22:18.
Why is Friedman's self fellatiating Flat Earth book on everyone's list?(book of the year 2005 by FT etc.)
Submitted by Rob Katz on December 7, 2005 - 08:51.
Thanks to our anonymous commenter, I went back and checked out Reader's Choice Online.

The survey, sponsored by independent bookstores based in the USA, allows users to choose either from a pre-selected list of books (including, to weewhale's dismay, Tom Freidman's The World is Flat.

So if you're looking for ideas to share at NextBillion - you might check Reader's Choice first to get your mind going.

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