The Best Books of 2012, A Season of Lists

The season of lists is upon us. The first ornament up on the tree was Steve Coll's Private Empire: ExxonMobil and American Power, published by The Penguin Press, which took home the Financial Times and Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year earlier this month. And there was another large nonfiction title related to economics—Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty by Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson and published by Crown Business—on a list of The 10 best books of 2012 from the Washington Post.

CNNMoney put up a list of The 5 must-read business books of the year two weeks ago that included:

• Turn the Ship Around!: How to Create Leadership at Every Level by David Marquet, Greenleaf Books Group
• Uncommon Service: How to Win by Putting Customers at the Core of Your Business by Frances Frei and Anne Morriss, Harvard Business Review Press
• Abundance: The Future Is Better Than You Think by Peter Diamandis, Free Press
• The Only Way to Win: How Building Character Helps You Achieve More and Find Greater Fulfillment in Business and Life by Jim Loehr, Hyperion Books
• Inside Apple: How America's Most Admired—And Secretive—Company Really Works by Adam Lashinsky, Business Plus

Late last month (unnoticed by us until searching for the list we know they put out every year this morning), Hudson Booksellers announced their Best Books of 2012. Being an airport bookstore, they always stock and sell a lot of business titles, and always include a Business Interest section of their yearly list. This year's included:

• Leadership 2.0 by Travis Bradberry & Jean Greaves, Talentsmart
• Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain, Crown
• The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business by Charles Duhigg, Random House
• End This Depression Now by Paul Krugman, W.W. Norton & Company
• Heart, Smart, Guts and Luck: What It Takes to Be an Entrepreneur and Build a Great Business by Anthony K. Tjan, Richard J. Harrington, & Tsun-Yan Hsieh, Harvard Business Review Press

And, finishing up this morning's round up, we have a list from Fast Company put out today, which includes the following 12 titles:

• Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain, Crown
• How Will You Measure Your Life? by Clayton M. Christensen, HarperBusiness
• Extreme Productivity: Boost Your Results, Reduce Your Hours by Robert Pozen, HarperBusiness
• The Signal and the Noise: Why So Many Predictions Fail—but Some Don't by Nate Silver, The Penguin Press
• Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead by Bren Brown, Gotham Books
• The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business by Charles Duhigg, Random House
• Renegades Write the Rules: How the Digital Royalty Use Social Media to Innovate by Amy Jo Martin, Jossey-Bass
• Heart, Smarts, Guts, and Luck: What It Takes to Be an Entrepreneur and Build a Great Business by Anthony K. Tjan, Richard J. Harrington, & Tsun-Yan Hsieh, Harvard Business Review Press
• The Click Moment: Seizing Opportunity in an Unpredictable World by Frans Johansson, Portfolio
• Wait: The Art and Science of Delay by Frank Partnoy, PublicAffairs
• The Leadership Challenge: How to Make Extraordinary Things Happen in Organizations (25th Anniversary) by James M. Kouzes and Barry Z. Posner, Jossey-Bass
• 11 Rules for Creating Value in the Social Era by Nilofer Merchant, Harvard Business Review Press (e-book)

We'll have two of the larger, more comprehensive lists—and two of our yearly favorites—up on the blog for you this afternoon or tomorrow morning.

We've also picked our own extensive shortlist here at 800-CEO-READ, and will begin announcing that on December 10th, so be sure to keep an eye out for that, as well.