800-CEO-READ's Bestselling Books of 2018

I'm not sure why looking at the yearly bestseller list always makes me reflective about our business and its place in the world, but it does. Looking back on the books we literally shipped the biggest quantities of into the world over the course of a year, I feel grateful for the authors and publishers (and everyone else who helped in their creation) we worked with, and hopeful that these books have a positive impact on people's lives and work.

I almost always think of the quote from David Schwartz, our former owner, and the father of our current owner and CEO, at this time. He spoke of how "The true profit in bookselling is the social profit; the bottom line, the measure of the impact of the books on the community."

I also think of 800-CEO-READ founder Jack Covert who, upon his retirement in 2014, told us the thing he was most proud of in his career was being able to give everyone here a job they could make a living by. Many of us have worked here for over a decade (some on or over the cusp of two decades) and Jack saw many of us buy and move into our first homes, start families, and try to find a foothold financially. That is also a social profit, an impact on the community. And as so many of the books on our awards longlist this year look at the changing nature of work, it makes me reflect on and appreciate that part of our history. It also reminds me that Jack was able to do that by forming relationships and trust with authors and others in the publishing community, helping those who bring books into the world deliver them when and where they need to be. Continuing to build that connective tissue within the industry is the only reason we're able to do the work we do—until this day. 

And finally, I think of the present moment, and of the importance of books to help us make sense of it all. As our current CEO, Rebecca Schwartz, wrote recently of her personal reading experience and of the importance of getting away from the quick hits of the news cycle and social media, and into a good book, "Rejecting the immediate for the immersive is, in fact, a better way to gain an understanding of our current moment, to gain perspective and make meaning of it all. For in the act of giving over to someone else’s story, be it through literature or nonfiction, we can focus less on the latest outrage and more on the humanity between the covers in our hands." 

So, as we get further into the already-heady days of 2019, we want to pause to look back at
800-CEO-READ's Bestselling Books of 2018. 

Thank you to everyone who helped bring them into existence, brought them to our awareness, and worked with us to deliver them into the hands of readers. 

1. The Culture Code: The Secrets of Highly Successful Groups by Daniel Coyle, Bantam
2. The Power of a Positive Team: Proven Principles and Practices That Make Great Teams Great by Jon Gordon, Wiley
3. When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing by Daniel H. Pink, Riverhead Books
4. The Go-Giver: A Little Story about a Powerful Business Idea by Bob Burg & John David Mann, Portfolio
5. The Energy Bus: 10 Rules to Fuel Your Life, Work, and Team with Positive Energy by Jon Gordon, Wiley
6. Big Potential: How Transforming the Pursuit of Success Raises Our Achievement, Happiness, and Well-Being by Shawn Achor, Currency
7. Bring Your Whole Self to Work: How Vulnerability Unlocks Creativity, Connection, and Performance by Mike Robbins, Hay House
8. Rise and Grind: Outperform, Outwork, and Outhustle Your Way to a More Successful and Rewarding Life by Daymond John & Daniel Paisner, Currency
9. Dare to Lead: Brave Work. Tough Conversations. Whole Hearts. by Brené Brown, Random House
10. New Power: How Power Works in Our Hyperconnected World—And How to Make It Work for You by Jeremy Heimans & Henry Timms, Doubleday Books
11. Human + Machine: Reimagining Work in the Age of AI by Paul R. Daugherty & H. James Wilson, Harvard Business School Press
12. The Space Barons: Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and the Quest to Colonize the Cosmos by Christian Davenport, PublicAffairs
13. Blitzscaling: The Lightning-Fast Path to Building Massively Valuable Companies by Reid Hoffman & Chris Yeh, Currency
14. A Tribe Called Bliss: Break Through Superficial Friendships, Create Real Connections, Reach Your Highest Potential by Lori Harder, Gallery Books
15. The CEO Next Door: The 4 Behaviors That Transform Ordinary People Into World-Class Leaders by Elena L. Botelho & Kim R. Powell, Tahl Raz, Currency
16. Growth IQ: Get Smarter About the Choices That Will Make or Break Your Business by Tiffani Bova, Portfolio
17. Imagine It Forward: Courage, Creativity, and the Power of Change by Beth Comstock & Tahl Raz, Currency
18. Frenemies: The Epic Disruption of the Ad Business (and Everything Else) by Ken Auletta, Penguin Press
19. The Fourth Age: Smart Robots, Conscious Computers, and the Future of Humanity by Byron Reese, Atria Books
20. Takingpoint: A Navy Seal's 10 Fail Safe Principles for Leading Through Change by Brent Gleeson, Touchstone Books
21. Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance by Angela Duckworth, Scribner
22. The Ideal Team Player: How to Recognize and Cultivate the Three Essential Virtues by Patrick M. Lencioni, Jossey-Bass
23. Willpower Doesn’t Work: Discover the Hidden Keys to Success by Benjamin Hardy, Hachette Books
24. This is Marketing: You Can't Be Seen Until You Learn to See by Seth Godin, Portfolio
25. Girls Who Code: Learn to Code and Change the World by Reshma Saujani, Viking Books for Young Readers

You can keep up with our ongoing monthly bestseller lists by subscribing to our newsletter, the Keen Thinker.