25 Unconventional Business Books

There are few better shortcuts in life than

reading. Distilled knowledge that often took
years to assemble can be consumed in just a few
hours.
The problem is that many business books are just plain awful. Bloated to
meet book length quotas, overly self-promotional, or a regurgitation of
common sense, most serve little purpose.

Those that are real winners become ubiquitous on book lists, to the point
where you are tired of seeing them. If I have to read one more list that
includes How to Win Friends and Influence People, I'm going to start
losing friends and dis-influencing people out of spite.

25 underrated books for entrepreneurs

Today I thought we'd look at a few unconventional books for
entrepreneurs that deserve a place on your bookshelf, even if they aren't
on everyone else's.

1. Breakthrough Advertising
Written by Eugene Schwartz in 1957, the hype surrounding this book is
immense.

You'll be lucky to find a copy for under $90. Talk to many world-class
email marketers like Ramit Sethi, however, and they'll tell you it's worth
the hunt:

"Eugene Schwartz's Breakthrough Advertising has some of the most

sophisticated thinking on human psychology that I've ever read."

It's a dense tome, but Schwartz put together one of the most sought after
books on marketing and copywriting ever written.

Buy the book

2. The Social Animal

Perhaps the finest introduction to social psychology that one can ask for.

Author Elliot Aronson is the only person in the 120-year history of the
American Psychological Association to have won all three of its major
awards for writing, teaching, and research. In other words, he's one of
psychology's greats, and he knows how to communicate his knowledge.

This book, along with Mistakes Were Made (But Not By Me)showcases
his distinct ability to put important topics on human behavior in
laymen's terms. I'd recommend it for anyone, but entrepreneurs in
particular will get a lot out of it.

Buy the book

3. Be Our Guest
Perhaps the one additional book I wish would have made our list
of customer service books, I get some redemption by being able to tell
you about this exceptional piece of writing right now.

This is the Disney Institutes guide to creating memorable experiences,

and as you hopefully know, Disney continually raises the bar in how far
they will go for customers.

If you want an introduction to the Disney way of doing things, you can't
ask for a better source.

Buy the book

4. Hooked
I'm a big fan of Nir Eyal's blog and Ryan Hoover's writing, so I was very
excited to pick up this book upon release.

Hooked, a guide on "how to build habit-forming products," has a ton of

insights on building products that will keep people coming back.

Certainly SaaS focused, but a great read for entrepreneurs of all types.

Buy the book

5. My Life in Advertising / Scientific Advertising

It's a must to get these in tandem. Luckily, they come packaged in a

single book.

Claude C. Hopkins is the legendary advertiser who is credited for get

this popularizing toothbrushing.

Hopkins work may have been written in the early 1900s, but there isn't a
word of it that cant be applied to marketing today.
These works truly should be the foundation of anyone getting into
marketing.

Buy the book

6. Raise the Bar

Why recommend a book that is clearly geared toward bar owners?

If you recall our brief overview of some of Jon Taffer's principals, you'll
know that studying the hospitality industry offers a plethora of insights
on providing an outstanding customer experience. After all, it's what the
industry is all about.

Taffer shows his pragmatic side in this book, and it's filled with some
amazing insights on differentiation and market research, hiring the right
people, and mindset-changing advice on creating great customer
experiences.

Buy the book

7. Increasing Customer Loyalty

This is quite the unique "book" on this list because it's actually a
collection of some stellar Harvard Business Review articles on customer
loyalty.

Don't let that stop you from missing out on a great read; from retention,
to service, to loyalty programs and more, this the best collection I've
bought from HBR.

Buy the book

8. Never Eat Alone

Many entrepreneurs overlook networking because its often synonymous

with a slick haired guy in a bad suit who's handing out business cards.
The fact is, however, that great relationships can be built on sincere
connections and respect, and those are the best way to avoid Field of
Dreams Syndromethinking that if you build it, they will come (they
won't.)

Never Eat Alone was recommended by our friend Brian Balfour as one of
the best guides on authentic networking.

Buy the book

9. Accounting Made Simple

Slowly but surely, great accounting information for entrepreneurs has

been making its way online. Examples include guides from the friendly
folks at LessAccounting.

If you're looking for a single book to purchase, however, Accounting

Made Simple has to be the one I recommend.

It is the single best overview that concisely explains one of the driest
topics imaginable (for people like me, at least).

Buy the book

10. On Writing Well

As the classic guide to writing non-fiction, you can hopefully think of a

few reasons why I love recommending this book to online entrepreneurs:

It will improve how you communicate with customers(most of your

communication will be done through writing).

It will help make you a better team member or leader, as you'll be

able to relay information to your team more concisely.

It will make you a better marketerso much of marketing,

especially today, has to do with your ability to broadcast an
interesting message and tell your business's story.

Buy the book

11. The Copywriter's Handbook

Perhaps you've looked into books like Breakthrough Advertising and
were a tad overwhelmed.

Books like that can be the equivalent of diving into Moby Dick, and
intimidating yourself is no way to learn.

Bob Bly's writing is perfect for people interested in learning great

copywriting, but who don't already consider themselves copywriters.
Think of it as Copywriting for Dummies; you'll certainly be a lot smarter
after you read it.

Buy the book

12. The Essays of Warren Buffet

What really needs to be said about this book? Youll get an honest look
at:

Warren Buffet's thoughts on how a business should be run

Candid overviews of his mistakes (he lists quite a few) and what he
would have done differently

Page after page of his flawless writing style

Perhaps this review said it best:

"Those who share my own keen interest in Warren Buffett's leadership

and management principles will learn a great deal from a careful
reading of these essays. They are quite literally "from the horse's
mouth."
Buy the book

13. Priceless

Much of the research mentioned in our article on pricingcomes from the

topics explored in this book.
While it's very heavy on scientific literature and does deal a lot in the
philosophy of pricing ("What is value?, etc), this remains one of the
most important books on pricing ever written.

If nothing else, at least read the second half of this book to see the many
examples Poundstone gives that prove his point: humans beings are
clueless about prices.

Buy the book

14. Financial Intelligence for Entrepreneurs

Great for anyone looking to understand financial statements, but as

noted in the title, crafted for entrepreneurs.

Stop being clueless and get educated on:

What income statements, balance sheets, and cash flow statements

really reveal

How to use ratios to assess your venture's financial health

How to calculate return on your investments in your enterprise

 How to instill financial intelligence throughout your team

I think it was Big Daddy Kane who said, "Financing ain't easy, but it's
necessary."

Buy the book

15. Brainfluence

One of the best introductions to neuromarketing available, this book is

from Roger Dooley, author of the always interesting Brainy Marketing on
Forbes, as well as the Neuroscience Marketing blog.

This book is a collection of one hundred of Dooley's favorite studies,

from pricing, to loyalty, to sensory & perception, plus many more topics.

Each chapter is a quick read, making it a great book to flip through;

you'll almost always walk away having learned at least one new thing.

Buy the book

16. The New Strategic Selling

This has to be one of the most interesting sales books out there,
especially for folks who don't consider themselves to be salespeople.

The review that "sold" me on this book makes a succinct case for why it's
a great read:

"This is a great method for people who don't want to consider

themselves "salespeople", but who indeed sell. Engineers, architects,
high-tech products sales consultants, and other professionals, will find
this to be a low pressure, ethics-based approach to selling. I call it "the
engineers approach" to sales because it provides such a methodological
approach."

You're always selling, even when you aren't, and this book will help you
master the fundamentals. I've bookmarked it plenty.

Buy the book

17. Brain Rules

This is one of the best examples of a book being able to communicate
hard science in an interesting and even humorous way.

John Medina is a master storyteller, and it's no wonder that this book
often appears on leadership and management lists on Amazon.

Itll help you better understand yourself and others, with a plethora of
great examples. It's a book on knowing people, without the typical fluff.

Buy the book

18. The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding

What makes the top brands of the world so memorable?

This book does a great job analyzing this question. It is also, at least in
my opinion, better than it's more popular counterpart, The 22
Immutable Laws of Marketing.

If you want to go beyond the "have a good logo" drudge that appears in
most articles on branding, give this a read.

Buy the book

19. Strategic Customer Service

Not to pat ourselves on the back, but if you loved the following articles
from the Help Scout blog:

15 Customer Support Skills that Every Employee Needs

15 Customer Service Tips You Need to Know

How to Handle 8 Difficult Customer Service Scenarios

Then ou'll love this book. It's made for support managers, and its one of
the most valuable books on customer service I've read.

Buy the book

20. Customer Winback

A damn solid read on customer retention and winning back customers

on the brink of defection.

A wide range of industries can benefit from this booknot simply SaaS
or eCommerce, but service industries, too.

If you're in SaaS, read it to complement the better articles on retention

out there.

Buy the book

21. Growing Great Employees

Many employees can naturally achieve 90% output on their drive and
innate skills alone.

But it's that polish, that last ten percent, where managers and company
leaders often play a pivotal role.

Pushing people without pushing them away, giving them honest

feedback without letting the criticism go too far: this book offers some
great advice on helping people thrive, especially for new
founders/managers.

Buy the book

22. Ca$hvertising

Don't let the $ scare you away, or that the author's experience is (once
again) grounded in traditional direct response advertising; that's an area
of marketing where you can often learn the most.

You'll definitely dog-ear a few pages in this book, and the writing style is
one of the funnier ones I've read in a marketing book.
My fondness for marketing books with ties to direct response is probably
best explained by this tweet from Brennan Dunn:

"Growth hacking" = when geeks discover what direct marketers have

known for decades.

Brennan Dunn (@brennandunn) January 17, 2014

Buy the book

23. Made to Stick

Maybe the most popular book in this list, but you know I love the work of
the Heath brothers (I would also recommend Switch).

There have been many books in the business arena on "ideas that
spread," but this to me was by far the most practical.

You won't walk away entertained but lacking in legitimate advice, like
you might with a Gladwell book. It's certainly a fun read, but you'll have
insights you can actually apply, too.

Buy the book

24. First, Break All the Rules

This is my favorite management book.

I'll be frank with you: I'm not in the business of managing anyone other
than myself.

That said, this book came highly recommended when I began scratching
an itch to learn more about effective management and this, to me, was
the diamond in a sea of mostly garbage.

Buy the book

25. Making Things Happen

This was the book everyone told me I had to read to get informed on
effective project management.

If you accept my caveat above, that I'm not in the business of managing,
allow me to say that I was definitely impressed not only in the
frameworks this book lays out, but in the writing style.

As someone who is more of a single-tasking doer, I gained a ton of

insight into how smart project managers operate.

Let me also add this exceptional list of over 50 books and articles on
product management, worthy of a bookmark.