(Part 2) Top products from r/business

Articles from reputable sources are a decent source of knowledge, but some quality business books will get you an infinitely better understanding of concepts. Here is my personal business book list if you want to get a "universal generalist" understanding of business:

• Business Creation - The Lean Start-up
  
• Value Creation - How to Make Millions With Your Ideas
  
• Marketing - Getting Everything You Can Out Of Everything You Got / All Marketers Are Liars
  
• Sales - Pitch Anything
  
• Value Delivery - Indispensable
  
• Accounting/Finances - Financial Intelligence / Accounting Made Simple
  
• Understanding the Human Mind - Making Sense of Behavior
  
• Productivity - Getting Things Done
  
• Problem Solving - The 80/20 Principle
  
• Decision Making - Smart Choices: A Practical Guide to Making Better Decisions
  
• Negotiation - 3-D Negotiation
  
• Management - Growing Great Employees
  
• Project Management - Making Things Happen
  
• Statistics - Marketing Metrics
  
• Corporate Knowledge - The Effective Executive
  
• Corporate Strategy - Purpose: The Starting Point of Great Companies
  
• Creativity - The Creative Habit
  
• Personal Finance - Your Money or Your Life
  
  I am graduating with a Bachelor of Commerce Honors degree in May and I can easily say that one of these books (average price ~25$) has significantly more content than most individual classes I have taken (~600$). However, keep in mind that business knowledge and business acumen are two entirely different things. Knowledge is easily obtainable through books like these, and acumen is the result of applied experience with decision making. In short, it is one thing to be book smart, but it is another to get out there and actually apply it. No one can give you that in the form of an article or book - you have to do that yourself.
  
  edit: added links to amazon

I don't dispute that Social Security can be fixed. I solidly agree with you there. It's a problem but can be fixed.

Medicare, however, cannot be fixed by any realistic plan. It's five times as large as the Social Security problem using even the most charitable expectations about health care inflation (i.e. assuming medical expenses will increase a couple percentage points less than general inflation).

I highly recommend this book:

http://www.amazon.com/Coming-Generational-Storm-Americas-Economic/dp/0262112868

It's useful because it's completely non-partisan, written by one of the best economists in the area (not a nut with an axe to grind), discusses things in depth, and ends with ways to protect yourself.

Power of Habit - Charles Duhigg

7 Habits of Highly Effective People - Stephen R. Covey

The Millionaire Next Door - Thomas J. Stanley

How to Win Friends and Influence People - Dale Carnegie

How to Get Rich - Felix Dennis

The Lean Startup - Eric Ries

Never Split the Difference - Chris Voss


The Richest Man in Babylon - George S. Clason

The Intelligent Investor - Benjamin Graham

*****

You can look at these books if you like. The Millionaire Next Door would probably be the one I would gift him first.

Happy to help :) It is a near lifetime of just being a business junky and just loving to read about this stuff. The best and easiest book I give people when they want to learn business is the Personal MBA.

http://www.amazon.com/Personal-MBA-Master-Art-Business/dp/1591845572/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1375464773&sr=1-1&keywords=personal+mba+josh+kaufman

It is a solid, easy to read overview of business. You wount become an expert from it, but it is a 'explain like I am five 'introduction into business.


For innovation and new market development specific (My specialty) I'd go with Crossing the Chasm Quick read

http://www.amazon.com/The-Innovators-Dilemma-Revolutionary-Business/dp/0062060244

Lastly, take a strategic finance class. No numbers, simply the logic behind what is value. I've been told The Wall Street MBA is a good read but I can't vouch for it.
http://www.amazon.com/Wall-Street-MBA-Second/dp/007178831X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1375464915&sr=1-1&keywords=wall+street+mba

Finance will ultimately change how you think. And not entirely for the better...

Say no more, fam.

You don't need a degree to run a business. Having your own business allows you to experiment with these books first hand instead of taking some professor's word for it. Professor's usually just read what the book says. If they were actually good at running a business they'd probably be doing that.

• Business Creation - The Lean Start-up
  
  
  
• Value Creation - How to Make Millions With Your Ideas
  
  
  
• Marketing - Getting Everything You Can Out Of Everything You Got / All Marketers Are Liars
  
  
  
• Sales - Pitch Anything
  
  
  
• Value Delivery - Indispensable
  
  
  
• Accounting/Finances - Financial Intelligence / Accounting Made Simple
  
• Understanding the Human Mind - Making Sense of Behavior
  
  
  
• Productivity - Getting Things Done
  
  
  
• Problem Solving - The 80/20 Principle
  
  
  
• Decision Making - Smart Choices: A Practical Guide to Making Better Decisions
  
  
  
• Negotiation - 3-D Negotiation
  
  
  
• Management - Growing Great Employees
  
  
  
• Project Management - Making Things Happen
  
  
  
• Statistics - Marketing Metrics
  
  
  
• Corporate Knowledge - The Effective Executive
  
  
  
• Corporate Strategy - Purpose: The Starting Point of Great Companies
  
  
  
• Creativity - The Creative Habit
  
  
  
• Personal Finance - Your Money or Your Life

$9.83 per hundres, and a great shave.

https://www.amazon.com/Astra-Platinum-Double-Safety-Blades/dp/B001QY8QXM/ref=sr_1_2_a_it?ie=UTF8&qid=1469022496&sr=8-2&keywords=De+razors

But I am in love with feathers now, they are a bit more at $23.25 per hundred.

https://www.amazon.com/Feather-Razor-Blades-Hi-stainless-Double/dp/B004RWTQTS/ref=sr_1_14_a_it?ie=UTF8&qid=1469022496&sr=8-14&keywords=De+razors

This razor is $26.26:. https://www.amazon.com/Edwin-Jagger-DE89bl-Chrome-Plated/dp/B003LW4L2W/ref=sr_1_12_a_it?ie=UTF8&qid=1469022496&sr=8-12&keywords=De+razors

But the best part of it all, the most important part, is actually wet shaving. The above will save you money with an awesome shave, but actually wet shaving is best. Check out /r/wicked_edge.

Sounds like the "Millionaire Next Door" effect: https://www.amazon.com/Millionaire-Next-Door-Surprising-Americas/dp/1589795474

People who got rich from their own efforts tend to be very sensitive to value and ways of saving money. They have the experience of going through tough times while they were growing their business. So they do things like buy used cars because a new car loses a big chunk of value the day you drive it off the lot. The sales guy in the fancy suit driving the new BMW is likely deeply in debt trying to impress other people.

There's a book called "Free Lunch: How the Wealthiest Americans Enrich Themselves at Government Expense (and Stick You with the Bill)" by David Cay Johnston which talks about this kind of business.

http://www.amazon.com/Free-Lunch-Wealthiest-Themselves-Government/dp/1591841917/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1207857662&sr=8-1

It's a fantastic read, and covers a lot more than just this type of fraud..

Here's another rate your employer site. Started by the same folks who brought us zillow.com

http://www.glassdoor.com/index.htm

Also, if you're interested in the topic of how to create a happy company, this is a good read. (Maybe you could put an anonymous copy on the CEO and SVP of HR's desk...)

http://www.amazon.com/What-Happy-Companies-Know-Happiness/dp/0131858572

Try to learn from other success stories like Amazon for instance. Also, I've heard this is a good book, The Innovator's Dilemma

Agreed the way it was founded seems a tad like a conspiracy. But Central banks around the world were founded in standard way.

Not a bad book if you don't mind the conspiracy theory aspect of it.

My Term at the Fed is more interesting
http://www.amazon.com/Term-Fed-Insiders-View/dp/0060542705/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1208531191&sr=8-1

I'm not part of the government, but if you want other examples of collusive practices within the government, I would suggest reading Free Lunch. It has numerous examples of corruption that unfairly benefits big business.

I hear you and agree, at least in part, but from a long term perspective I wonder.

I think of the makers of 8-inch drives. 5 1/4" technology was a relatively expensive technological upgrade that, initially anyway, offered less than already existing 8-inch drives. Add in that the drive maker's primary clients were mainframes and minicomputers, people for whom a few inches space were not important, and it seemed a no-brainer not to 'waste' money to develop a product that would be expensive and didn't satisfy the customer.

Long story short, 5 1/4" drives initially found a very different market (the PC primarily), grew greatly in ability, dropped profoundly in cost, and ended up replacing 8" drives even in large applications. Because they hadn't developed the technology, not a single 8" drive maker was able to survive the transition to 5 1/4" technology.

Much the same thing happened with the change to 3 1/2" drives.

In other words, when making investments for the future a company has to be very careful not to be left in the dust. Even though a technology might not seem like it will be competitive in the near-term, especially to one's target market, there is a real risk that is will take hold somewhere else, grow, and displace your own products.

[citation/source of analysis]

There is a great book that talks about this issue, and other irrational consumer behaviors.

http://www.amazon.com/Predictably-Irrational-Hidden-Forces-Decisions/dp/006135323X

Meh, I use a safety razor
https://www.amazon.com/Edwin-Jagger-DE89bl-Chrome-Plated/dp/B003LW4L2W/ref=sr_1_24_s_it?s=beauty&ie=UTF8&qid=1469034745&sr=1-24&keywords=merkur+razor

This is called contrast principle. There is a lot of info on this and other methods businesses use in this book:

[Influence by Robert Cialdini] (http://www.amazon.com/Influence-Psychology-Persuasion-Business-Essentials/dp/006124189X)

Or the [free version] (http://www.iiit.ac.in/~bipin/files/Dawkins/July/Robert%20Cialdini%20-%20Influence%252C%20Science%20and%20Practice.pdf)

Sadly, this.

Book by the same economist who wrote that article

This?

And this?

It is really hard to get a job at Google. There are books written on the hiring process.

https://www.amazon.com/Google-Nail-Your-Interview-Book-ebook/dp/B0761VH1DD

Most people in finance are sales people.

This is a good book with which to understand just what the hell they are trying to sell you.