2013 800-CEO-READ Business Book Awards: Entrepreneurship & Small Business

The entries were submitted, the books were read, the shortlists determined, and we are now ready to announce the category winners of the 2013 800-CEO-READ Business Book Awards! In the Entrepreneurship & Small Business category... Alexis Ohanian's Without Their Permission: How the 21st Century Will Be Made, Not Managed from Business Plus is our pick.

"I'm motivated by all the awesome people whose ideas we've never benefited from because of where they were born or because of their race, sex, or other characteristics. ... When all links are created equal, your ideas can win simply because people like them. The future of innovation will be made, not managed. We cannot (and should not) control it. Our responsibility is to get everyone on the paying field with the skills they need to succeed." Without Their Permission, page 7-8

Alexis Ohanian's deliberations on the infancy of the Internet provide ample fuel for the entrepreneurs of tomorrow. Ohanian explains how the Internet supplants the old boundaries and obstacles of entrepreneurship in a purely physical world with digital tools, platforms, and ideas. The story of reddit and Ohanian's subsequent adventures bolster his argument for the power of the Internet and the importance of it remaining free and accessible to all. Without Their Permission is an entrepreneur's guide for the young. It is a reminder that the Internet hasn't always been as it is now, and it is up to those young entrepreneurs to determine what it will be in the future.

To revisit the runners-up, check out our Entrepreneurship & Small Business shortlist announced last week.

(Our top award for The Best Business Book of 2013 will be announced in early January. Stay tuned!)