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Best Business Books: 4 Big Ones to Read

The best business books can have a profound influence on your life. I know they have with mine.

Many of them emphasize the importance of personal development. Some do offer slightly pseudo-science-based strategies (which should be taken with a grain of salt).

Ultimately, though, they cover the tips of many high-performers and uncover the secrets that those people have used to get where they are. If you’re going to school to study business, pick these up.

The following books cover everything from how to work in a corporate setting to getting motivated for entrepreneurship. There are also plenty of stories along the way in the best business books. Let’s take a look at some of them!

1. Best Business Books: How to Win Friends And Influence People

Ah yes, a classic among the best business books. How to Win Friends and Influence People is number 1 for a reason: it still holds up. This was written by a guy named Dale Carnegie back in the 1930s.

He had been conducting business courses for over 20 years when someone from a publishing company wanted to start having notes taken during the lessons. Those notes turned into the first version of this book.

The remarkable thing is that this was released during the worst U.S. economy we’ve ever seen. Despite that, it sold extremely well. Since then, it has continued to sell like crazy and people continue to talk about it. This might be one of the best business books out there because it has stood the test of time so well.

One of the biggest lessons that the book offers is to never speak negatively about other people. Others are to remember names, treat people with lots of respect, and become genuinely interested in other people.

We’ll go over the full review of this book in detail another day since it’s too much to cover in one chunk of a listicle.

Check it out on Amazon.

2. Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion

Noticing any trends here? Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion is more of a book for the marketers reading this, but it stills packs a punch for anyone else in business.

The book centers around how to effectively reach customers by tapping into peoples’ deeper psychological needs and desires. You’ll learn tricks like how to work the law of reciprocity, a way to give something small and get something big.

Check it out on Amazon.

3. Tools of Titans: Best Business Books

Tools of Titans by author Tim Ferriss is definitely among the best business books out there.

In the book, he interviews tons of different high-performers to distill what makes them so effective. Something really interesting about this is that many people he talks to share similar routines.

For example, he noticed that 80% of the people he talked with had some kind of daily meditation or mindfulness practice. Doing things like that can help people to center themselves and take on a big day, among other benefits.

The book really is full of gold, sometimes I just flip to random pages and enjoy reading the interviews. Half the time I realize there’s something I missed the first time or forgot about and I enjoy a new nugget of information.

best business books Tools of Titans

You can read through the entire thing all at once or page around to read individual parts. Regardless of how you approach it, you will enjoy this book.

Check it out on Amazon

4. Think and Grow Rich

Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill is almost as famous as How to Win Friends and Influence People. It’s also still effective as one of the best business books decades after being written during The Great Depression.

It was released in 1937 and continues to help people build better lives for themselves. The book doesn’t just help with money, but also helping people if they want to become rich in the sense of health and relationships, too.

Check it out here on Amazon

Tying It All Together

There are a lot of books out there that can give you an edge in business or life. Although this list isn’t exhaustive, it touches on some of the best business books you can read. Using any of these resources can put you ahead of the pack. The nice thing is that none of these cost very much, but they could pay major dividends down the line if you read them.

Bob Buckley

Bob Buckley writes about food and business.