Internet Algorithm Arrives at Top 100 Business Books

Jurgen Appelo at Noop.nl has created and algorithm that takes the number of Amazon reviews, average Amazon ranking, and number of hits on Google to create the Top 100 Best Books for Managers, Leaders & Humans. In talking about some of the analysis Appelo says:

The book with the largest number of Amazon reviews is Freakonomics (#53, by Steven D. Levitt, Stephen J. Dubner). And the book with the largest number of Google hits is The World Is Flat (#56, by Thomas L. Friedman). However, both books scored a somewhat low average rating, which means they didn't end up among the top 10. The book with the best average rating is Love 'Em or Lose 'Em (#36, by Beverly Kaye, Sharon Jordan-Evans), though this book scored only a moderate number of reviews and Google hits.

Any experiment of this nature produces interesting results. You'll find a mixture of old and new, common and uncommon. I have pulled over the top 10 off the list:

1. The Success Principles by Jack Canfield, Janet Switzer
2. The Elements of Style by William Strunk, E. B. White
3. How to Win Friends & Influence People by Dale Carnegie
4. Made to Stick by Chip Heath, Dan Heath
5. Peopleware by Tom DeMarco, Timothy Lister (out of print)
6. Influence by Robert B. Cialdini
7. What Got You Here Won't Get You There by Marshall Goldsmith, Mark Reiter
8. Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies by Jim Collins, Jerry I. Porras
9. Presentation Zen by Garr Reynolds
10. Getting Things Done by David Allen

You can find the rest of the list here. Appelo has a similarly constructed list for The Top 100 Best Software Engineering Books.