If that special executive on your gift list is a book lover, you may be wondering what books will be hot this holiday season.
According to local booksellers, the selection this year is eclectic. They range from the serious (“At Any Cost: Jack Welch, General Electric, and the Pursuit of Profits,” by Thomas F. O’Boyle, Alfred A. Knopf, $29.95) to the jocular (“The Joy of Work: Dilbert’s Guide to Finding Happiness at the Expense of Your Co-Workers,” by Scott Adams, Harper Business, $22).
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And there’s lots in between, especially if you take a wide view of what makes a good executive gift. “That will absolutely be selling like crazy,” said Mike Katz, store manager of College Hill Bookstore on Thayer Street in Providence, of the new Dilbert book
Many of the most popular business books are those that help people deal with specific problems — how to buy a house, how to invest, etc., Katz said. The Portable MBA Desk Reference (by Nitin Nohria, John Wiley & Sons, $35) is an example. Other popular choices include those that forecast into the next millenium, such as “The Roaring 2000s: How to Achieve Personal and Financial Success in the Greatest Boom in History,” (by Harry S. Dent, Simon & Schuster Trade, $25), Katz said.
While books about investing are always popular, books about spending seem to be gaining on them. James O’Shaughnessy’s “How to Retire Rich: Time Tested Strategies to Beat the Market and Retire in Style,” is a big seller, but an even better seller has been “Die Broke” (by Stephen M. Pollan, Harper Business, $13), Katz said.
To some executives, none of the above titles would be of interest. Some might prefer the new Tom Clancy novel, “Rainbow Six,” (Putnam Publishing Group, $27.95) or the new John Updike book, “Bech at Bay: A Quasi-Novel,” (Alfred A. Knoph Inc., $23), noted Peter Sevenair, senior book buyer for the Brown Bookstore on Thayer Street.
Other selections the well-rounded executive might enjoy include: “Competing on Internet Time: Lessons Learned from Netscape in its Battles with Microsoft,” (by Michael A. Cusumano and David B. Yaffie, The Free Press, $26), “Working with Emotional Intelligence,” (by Daniel Goldman, Bantam Books Inc., $25.95), and P.J. O’Rourke’s new book, “Eat the Rich: A Treatise on Economics.”
Sevenair noted that many books that were popular last year are coming out again this year — but with pictures. For example, “The Illustrated Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time,” (by William Andrewes and Dava Sobel, Walker Publishing, $32.95) is a follow up to last year’s hit “Longitude.”
Sevenair also noted that some popular books of last year are just coming out in paperback now, such as Jon Krakauer’s “Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mount Everest Disaster,” (Doubleday & Co. Inc., $7.99).
If you go with any of the above selections, you should find something that will please your favorite executive, booksellers indicated.
“I’d be surprised if people didn’t like `em,” Sevenair said.
