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The average worker spends approximately 32 percent of their lives working. It’s not surprising to hear that on average 11,000 books are published about business each year. With so much of our time spent working there is a lot of insightful business books out there that can give you a fresh perspective on something that you’ll be doing for a third of your life. Out of all the books published every year only a few make it to the top of the best sellers list. No matter how little or how often you read you don’t want to miss out on reading these top five business books of 2012.
1. Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson
This book entails the life of Apple’s co-founder, chairman and chief executive officer. It encompasses Steve Job’s life from his small beginnings to the huge success he was before his death. Steve Jobs chose Walter Isaacson to write his biography for him only months before his passing. Walter Isaacson has written biographies for other famous and influential people in our history such as Albert Einstein and Benjamin Franklin and worked with Steve Jobs before his death.
2. Imagine by Jonah Lehrer
This imaginative book goes into the creative science of creativity. It shatters common misconceptions about creativity such as there being creative types and the myth of muses. This book does a great job showing readers that everyone has the potential to be creative. Jonah also does a good job making readers realize that creativity is not a gift that only a few lucky people have and that it’s a science anyone can use. He also offers practical advice on how to double your creative output.
3. Freakonomics, by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner
This witty book takes a unique approach on economics by asking seemingly unrelated questions to the topic of economics. However this collaboration between Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner has managed to successfully blend wit with something that normally isn’t considered very witty.
4. Drive, by Daniel H. Pink
This inspired book is on the topic of motivation and what drives us. Instead of taking an expected approach and talking about a conventional reward system Daniel Pink talks about an insightful and more personal needs that need to be met when it comes to motivation. Instead of talking about a conventional reward system Daniel goes into how motivation is connected to deeper needs such as our need to direct our own lives, to learn and create new things and to better ourselves and our world. He sums up these three needs into the categories of autonomy, mastery and purpose.
5. How to Be Richer, Smarter, and Better-Looking Than Your Parents by Zac Bissonnette
This book goes over something everyone experiences when first starting out on their own which is making bad financial decisions. Being that Zac Bissonnette is only 23 years and is doing better financially than most people his age, reading what he would have to say about various topics such as job hunting, buying a car and even saving for retirement.
Thomas Fleetwood is a business coach and guest author at Business Pundit.