NY Times Hardcover Business Best Sellers – February 2009
New York Times – Hardcover Business Best Sellers – February 2009
Unlike January’s NY Times list, the February 2009 New York Times Hardcover Business Best Sellers list begins to reveal America’s concern over the economy. While the February list is still void of credible financial survival guides, there are two “the end is near” tomes using the “D” word to (we assume) shock us into purchasing a copy.
Paul Krugman’s The Return of Depression Economics and the Crisis of 2008 cracks the Top 5, with The Great Depression Ahead, by Harry Dent coming in at Number 6. These gloom and doom reads come to us from a Nobel Winner (Krugman) and a man whose last book (The Next Great Bubble Boom: How to Profit from the Greatest Boom in History: 2006-2010) predicted the Dow would hit 40,000 in this year. Our conclusion: while we will read neither book, if you plan to read one, we recommend Krugman’s. (Random thought, but if my name was Harry Dent, I’d probably change it.)
Number 1 on the Times’ list for the third consecutive month, Outliers could be one of the best books released last year. In this great read, author Malcolm Gladwell poses the question: why do some people succeed, while those with more talent, brains and/or brawn never reach their full potential? For those of us who still think we can grow up to be anything we want, Gladwell’s challenge of our belief in the self-made man is as uncomfortable as it is depressing. Like we do with the rest of Gladwell’s work, the editors of AskTheManager highly recommend this book.
After Outliers, the next best read on this month’s list is Number 14’s Panic: The Story of Modern Financial Insanity, by Michael Lewis. In this book, Lewis, author of the must-read Liar’s Poker, provides great insight into many of the economic speed bumps from the last twenty-plus years, from the ‘87 stock market crash and the bursting of the Internet stock bubble, to the recent implosion of the financial markets. This book is highly recommended for any Lewis fan and for those looking for an insider’s unedited perspective into market forces.
The Top Five – NY Times Business Hardcover Best Sellers February 2009 (to view the entire list, follow this link):
|
This |
|
Last |
|
1 |
OUTLIERS, by Malcolm Gladwell. (Little, Brown, $27.99.) Why some people succeed — it has to do with luck and opportunities as well as talent — from the author of “Blink” and “The Tipping Point.” |
1 |
|
2 |
HOT, FLAT, AND CROWDED, by Thomas L. Friedman. (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $27.95.) How a green revolution can renew America, by the New York Times columnist. |
3 |
|
3 |
THE TOTAL MONEY MAKEOVER, by Dave Ramsey (Thomas Nelson, $24.99.) Debt reduction and fiscal fitness for families, by the radio talk-show host. |
8 |
|
4 |
THE ASCENT OF MONEY, by Niall Ferguson. (Penguin Press, $29.95.) A financial history of the world, stressing the link between politics and economics. |
4 |
|
5 |
THE RETURN OF DEPRESSION ECONOMICS AND THE CRISIS OF 2008, by Paul Krugman. (Norton, $24.95.) The recipient of the 2008 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics revises his earlier work from 1999 to reflect current economic crisis. |
6 |