As one of my resolutions, I have set myself a seemingly doable target of reading 25 books in 2012. On my current list I have a bunch of bestsellers as well as a host of less famous but gainful books nonetheless. Also, in comparison to last year, I have chosen to read books from diverse interest areas this year. As a result, there are books on Global Economics, Philosophy, Financial markets and Investing, Brand management, Social Media, Advertising, Psychology and Behavioral Economics. All in all, to borrow a phrase from investing world, I have got myself a well-diversified portfolio.
I have kicked 2012 off with Ha-Joon Chang's '23 Things they don't tell you about Capitalism'. 23 things is an iconoclastic book where Chang shreds the conventional fodder dished out by Free-market economists to the general public for nearly 3 decades. Markets should be left to operate on their own with minimum Government intervention, organizations should be run in the interest of their shareholders, Government can't pick winners, Equality of opportunity is a fair thing - all these theories and more, are the subject of Chang's momentous critique of free-market economics. I have also included Alan beattie's 'False Economy' on my list- a book on what drives various societies and countries to make certain choices and what those decisions can mean for the world economy. One more book in 'Global Economics' category for my 2012 reading is Nirmalya Kumar's 'India's Global Powerhouses' - a comprehensive account of some of India's largest and most successful corporations and their impact on the global business landscape.
Reading business literature can get a tad monotonous, so I have decided to sneak in Michio Kaku's 'Physics of the Future'. At the same time, there are some books in the Philosophy section that I have been longing to read and had purchased them well in advance but due to my preoccupation with books on other subjects, I haven't yet read them. One such book is Karl Popper's thought-provoking compilation of essays called 'Conjectures and Refutations'. Also on my list is what is considered by many as one of the all-time classics of 20th century, a book that inspired politicians, philosophers, economists alike - Friedrich von Hayek's 'A Road to Serfdom'. I was introduced to Hayek while reading Justin Fox's 'The Myth of the Rational Market' last year. Intrigued by the account of his work in Justin Fox's book, I researched more about Friedrich Hayek online. Consequently, I realized the enormous cultural impact his book - a tremendous treatise on the inherent flaws in the socialism ideology - had had on the politics of that time and made up my mind to put it on my reading list this year.
I'll be reading two marketing books this year: One is my favorite author David Aaker's 'Brand Relevance: Making Competitors Irrelevant' and the other is Jennifer Aaker's 'The Dragonfly Effect'. For the uninitiated, the surnames are not a mere coincidence, that's a father-daughter duo there. I hold David Aaker in high regard; I still go back to his 'Brand Leadership' - one of my favorite books on Branding - while seeking answers to my branding queries. His new book 'Brand Relevance: Making Competitors Irrelevant' is, apparently, a logical extension of last work on brand leadership. Jennifer Aaker prior to her commentary on Social media in 'The Dragonfly Effect' was more famous for her conceptualization of 'Brand Personality' framework.
Call me a laggard but there are books that I should have read a long time back but haven't. 'Good to Great' authored by Jim Collins is a case in point. Besides 'Good to Great', I plan on reading Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan's 'Confronting Reality' and Avinash Dixit and Barry Nalebuff's ' The Art of Strategy'. Avinash Dixit has been a long-time proponent of Game Theory and Strategic Thinking whereas Barry Nalebuff is a Yale Professor in addition to being an entrepreneur and Game theory practitioner.
This year, I also wish to join the indefatigable Dan Ariely in his unending exploration of irrationalities of human behavior in 'The Upside of Irrationality'. This book has been lying on my shelf for the last 6-7 months (courtesy my bibliomaniacal tendencies) but I could not get around to reading it somehow. I had loved Ariely's previous work in 'Predictably Irrational' - one of the best books on 'Behavioral Economics' I have read. My other reads in area of Behavioral Economics in 2012 are James Surowiecki's 'The Wisdom of Crowds' - a book on the counterintuitive notion of wisdom of masses being greater than that of elite few, no matter how brilliant; Malcolm Gladwell's tribute to the power of rapid cognition in 'Blink' and Steven Levitt's sequel to Freakonomics - 'Superfreakonomics'.
Also on my 2012 list are a couple of books from acclaimed author John Allen Paulos . I have been tracking Paulos work on online blogs and discussion forums for quite sometime. Paulos work often neatly combines mathematics and philosophy, bordering on 'Philosophy of Mathematics'. After having read several reviews online about his books, I have decided to put two of his bestselling books - 'Innumeracy' and 'A Mathematician reads a Newspaper' - on my reading list of this year. Besides Paulos' books, I have 'Fortune's Formula' authored by William Poundstone on my list, too. Apparently, an insightful study between such unrelated topics as Applied Mathematics, Stock Markets and Gambling. I so look forward to reading this one.
Last but not the least, I hope to read at least three books on Investing this year. First up, there is an anthology of some of the most important works of Benjamin Graham. Since I have already purchased the book and have already flipped through some of the content, I can tell you that most companies (and hence their case-studies) mentioned in 'Benjamin Graham on Investing' have long faded into obsolescence. But what has stayed intact is the unassailable logic behind investing principles of the Father of Value Investing. 'Benjamin Graham on Investing' is edited by Rodney G. Klein and David M. Darst. Second book on Investing that I am planning to read is Benoit Mandelbrot's 'The Misbehavior of Markets'. A leading mathematician and father of 'Fractal Geometry' and 'Chaos Theory', Mandelbrot was on the cutting edge in diverse disciplines. Nassim Nicholas Taleb's acknowledgement of Mandelbrot's work in 'The Black Swan' had initially sparked my interest in Mandelbrot (If Taleb is showering praise on someone, that person can safely be assumed to be damn good!). After having grappled with some of Mandelbrot's highly technical papers online, I stumbled upon this book (relatively non-technical than his papers) in a local bookstore last month and at once, lapped it up. My initial glimpse into the book has left me excited to no end. I have also shortlisted Parag Parikh's 'Value Investing and Behavioral Finance' as the third book on Stock markets. Hopefully, Parikh's book will help me whet my value-investing skills and simultaneously, improve my insight into Indian financial markets.
Finally, my endeavor is to keep this list dynamic as I go along reading and satiating my thirst for reading quality business literature. I earnestly hope you would find some of the books on my wishlist worth your consideration as well.
| 
