Each year, faculty and administrators from the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business puts out a list of their favorite books in the “Top-10 Summer Reading List for Business Leaders” for 2017.
This is the 14th annual edition of the UMD Smith School Summer Reading List, so if you’re heading off to business school as an MBA or you are already climbing up the corporate ladder, these books will keep you up-to-date on current trends.
Here are a few of the books that made the list. You can find the full list here:
The Undoing Project: A Friendship that Changed Our Minds – Michael Lewis (2016)
Written by the man who wrote Moneyball, The Blind Side and The Big Short, The Undoing Project describes how two disparate personalities collaborate on research in psychology that results in a Nobel Prize in economics. Forty years ago, two Israeli psychologists wrote a series of academic papers which explained the ways in which the human mind erred, systematically, when forced to make judgments in uncertain situations. This work paved the way for behavioral economics, Big Data studies, advances in evidence-based medicine and new approaches to government regulation.
The Great Convergence: Information Technology and the New Globalization – Richard Baldwin (2016)
Published during a time where parts of the world are rejecting the idea of globalization, this book outlines the “new age of globalization.” In this book, author Richard Baldwin argues that new information and communication technologies enable globally dispersed supply chains where technical know-how and ideas move across borders to low-wage countries.
“The impact of this new globalization, both in developed and developing nations is ‘more sudden, more selective, more unpredictable, and more uncontrollable,’” said Kislaya Prasad, research professor at Smith and executive Director of the Center for International Business Education and Research (CIBER).
Thank You for Being Late: An Optimist’s Guide to Thriving in the Age of Accelerations – Thomas Friedman (2016)
New York Times columnist and three-time Pulitzer Prize winner Thomas Friedman’s latest book explains the ways that technology, globalization and climate change are reshaping our institutions in the “age of accelerations.”
“Thank You for Being Late’ serves as a rallying cry for people to take charge of their education and focus on critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity,” said Mark Wellman, clinical professor of management and organization. “Friedman concludes, ‘everyone is going to have to raise their game in the classroom and for their whole lifetime.’”
Tap: Unlocking the Mobile Economy – Anindya Ghose (2017)
This book for perfect for readers who are interested learning how the mobile economy works, what motivates consumers’ mobile behaviors and how to make mobile work for your business. Anindya Ghose, a widely recognized expert on marketing and the mobile economy, looked back on his extensive research around the world to write this book, and comment on a variety of real-world examples from companies including Alibaba, China Mobile, Coke, Facebook, SK Telecom, Telefónica and Travelocity. Using these examples, Ghose shows the ways consumers exhibit contradictory behavior: people seek spontaneity, but they are predictable; they find advertising annoying, but they fear missing out; they value their privacy, but they increasingly use personal data as currency.
#Republic: Divided Democracy in the Age of Social Media – Cass Sunstein (2017)
Written by New York Times bestselling author Cass Sunstein, this book shows how today’s Internet is driving political fragmentation, polarization and even extremism, and offers ways to fight it.
“Cass Sunstein is able to articulate precisely why this is a danger to democracy, and provides a number of useful suggestions that might lead to a more enlightened public debate on the issues of our times,” said professor Prasad.
Check out the complete Summer Reading List here.