The Best Books to Read Are Not About Technology

Back in the stone age, when Cro-Magnon man used an ancient tool called an IBM Correcting Selectric Typewriter, I wrote a column - Out My Window - for the Ames (Iowa) Tribune.

My assigned editor didn't like Out My Window and although I personally received compliments, he complained continuously. Finally, I challenged my readers to write him. When no one did, Out My Window was canceled immediately.

Imagine my anxiety, then, when two months ago, I asked Tucson Business Edge readers to e-mail me their top 10 books of all time. What if no one responded? Well, great news! More than 15 e-mails came in. People offered not only great books lists, but also comments that were surprising, kindly and funny. Thanks!

One successful man wrote that he reads the newspaper every day, but is so busy he hasn't read a book in years! Les Smith, general manager of Time Warner Telecom, put "reading the newspaper daily" on his top 10 book list, but added a wide range of books, from the Holy Bible to How to Win Friends and Influence People, and a new favorite, Rich Dad Poor Dad (click here for complete author and title info for recommended books).

One reader recommended both of Dale Carnegie's best-sellers, the other being How to Stop Worrying and Start Living. One guy just shouted at me in passing, The World is Flat.

The World is Flat actually made it onto more lists than any other book.

A man e-mailed me, "Dave, you are such a smarty pants. Laughing out loud ... " but he provided no book titles. Another man offered just two books, The Magic of Thinking Big and a second book that, he said, should be read nine times in one's lifetime - Psycho-Cybernetics.

Dianne Wight at the Tucson Jewish Community Center pointed out that her top-10 list changes from time to time. She indicated, correctly I think, that probably everyone's does. Her two top business books right now are Pour Your Heart Into It and The Southwest Airlines Way. Proving her point, my friend Jim, whose list I included in May, immediately wrote in June that he wanted to replace either of the two Deming books on his list with Blue Ocean Strategy.

Addressing me as "Dave I Am," Janice Ulrich, vice president of Structural Elastomeric Products, cited more than 10 books, including: The E Myth; Principle-Centered Leadership; The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People; The Loyalty Effect; Who Moved My Cheese?; The Fish work play book; Leaders, The Strategies for Taking Charge; The Performance Edge; Management and the Activity Trap; Management by Objectives and more.

Steve Pagnucco, general manager of Universal Avionics, seconds Ulrich's inclusion of The One Minute Manager and, like Ulrich, is unable to list just 10 books. Pagnucco's list includes, The Quantum Leap ... In Speed to Market; In Search of Excellence; Lean Thinking; The Goal; Zapp! The Lightning of Empowerment; The Peter Principle, Why Things Always Go Wrong; The Dilbert Principle; The Soul of A New Machine; The Flight of the Buffalo; Reengineering The Corporation; Only the Paranoid Survive and more.

Robert Breault of Breault Research, sent his top-10 list with complete annotations, as did many readers. Breault's list includes nine books not listed by anyone else: Jonathan Livingston Seagull; Augustine Laws; The Work of Nations; Strategic Pragmatism; Crossing the Chasm; The Age of Unreason; Fire in the Valley: the Making of the Personal Computer; The New Rules For Individuals, Companies, and Nations In A Knowledge-Based Economy; and The Tipping Point.

Lucy Sliva-Stump, at the Boys & Girls Clubs of Tucson, points out that highly influential books don't have to be about business. Her list: Prison Writings: My Life is My Sun Dance; I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings; My Losing Season; You Want Me To Do What? When, Where and How to Draw the Line; First Break All The Rules; The Tenth Good Thing About Barney; Tuesdays with Morrie; and The Color Purple.

Dawn Kelley at Achilles Air Conditioning seconds the inclusion of books by Drucker and about Deming, and recommends, The Power of Nice. She also asks me, "So, Mr. Sam I Am, are you interested in sharing your favorite books?"

No need to list my own top 10 here. Nearly all are listed above, with one notable exception: The Power of Positive Thinking.

Do you believe in coincidence or serendipity? A few days ago, with these "top books" on my mind, I headed into a bookstore. In the foyer, a young man stood smirking as he showed a book on the shelf to the woman who was with him. He said, mockingly, "Look, The Power of Positive Thinking," as if this had to be the stupidest book title in the world.

I stopped, caught his eye and said, "Actually, it's a great book. Over 5 million sold. You should read it."

He looked stunned, as if I'd just held a gun to his face. Or claimed there was a time when people depended on a mechanical device called a typewriter.

A huge thanks to all of you who sent me your lists, warm comments and annotations. Thanks to you, this column continues, written on a notebook computer, but still just as much fun as Out My Window

Click here for the list of books.

This article first appeared as a column written by Dave Tedlock, NetOutcomes' president, for Tucson Business Edge, a monthly magazine published by the daily newspaper, the Tucson Citizen.

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