MBA Books - Good books to read prior to MBA [Merged]

A new section has been added on design-thinking, an approach to problem solving that brings about greater innovation and creativity.

Design Thinking Books
1. The Design of Business: Why Design Thinking is the Next Competitive Advantage - Martin shows how leading companies such as Procter & Gamble, Cirque du Soleil, RIM, and others use design thinking to push knowledge through the stages in ways that produce breakthrough innovations and competitive advantage.
2. Change by Design: How Design Thinking Transforms Organizations and Inspires Innovation - Tim Brown, CEO of IDEO, introduces the idea of design thinking and it′s a human−centered approach to problem solving that helps people and organizations become more innovative and more creative.

Here's a good overview of design-thinking.
https://www.fastcompany.com/blog/dev-pat ... enting-mba

Hi there, may I chime in? A couple of weeks ago I finished "Creative Capital: Georges Doriot and the birth of Venture Capital" by Spencer Ante, which is basically a biography on G. Doriot, professor of HBS, one of the most important players in the early VC industry and one of the founders of INSEAD.

I found the book to be well written and engaging. I think it gives a nice intro on how VC companies work and the dynamics of financing and capital structure, in a very basic but entertaining way.

So yesterday got my full-of-gmatclub-inducted-books Amazon package. Already went through the first fifty-so pages of Monkey Business, and must say it´s absolutely hilarious and just can´t stop reading it. Mixed feelings, the more I read about banking, the more awful it sounds but the war stories almost make it sound funny!!

A couple of books I would also recommend are "Brewing Up a Business" by Sam Calagione (of Dogfish Head fame) and Beer School (by Steve Hindy and Tom Potter of Brooklyn Brewery). I read both of them because they are related with my brewing hobby and might be interesting to the entrepreneur wannabe.

The first one is written in a more entertaining style, and Sam is a very interesting person. Deffinetely recommended.

The second one is kind of more academic. A little more to the point, but not so dinamic.

Take into account that they are more oriented to a "family business" kind of entrepreneur and not to the techie or high potential type that might be more common in BS students...

Hi Rohansherry,

This book is certainly a good book to learn the process of how to prepare/market/frame yourself for the MBA admissions process. If you have not applied for business school before it really gives a good framework to understand the importance of essays, coaching your recommenders, and get an idea of what some of the admission commitee representatives of some of these schools take into consideration. That being said, there is no book that will "Get you In," but I can say that it was useful for me when I was going through the application process.

I just noticed that your post was made in August. If you decided to apply this year you may already have recieved your results. I hope that you got into your first choice!

I just started reading "The McKinsey Way." Pretty interesting so far.

Thanks for putting together a list of recommended books!

From Higher Aims to Hired Hands: The Social Transformation of American Business Schools and the Unfulfilled Promise of Management as a Profession

by Rakesh Khurana

This book gives the history on b-schools in America. It discusses why the schools formed and why/how they have transformed over the last 100+ years. I found out about this book from BusinessWeek and have found that it has helped me frame my rationale for going to b-school.

How is it that nobody has mentioned The Partnership: The Making of Goldman Sachs by Charles D. Ellis? This is THE definitive book on the history of GS and an excellent read for anyone interested in anything finance related post-MBA.

Also i scanned thru the thread and didn't see one of my all time favorites - Inside The House Of Money by Steve Drobny.

Another one that provides great first hand accounts of the S&T business is Traders, Guns, & Money by Satyajit Das.

Also a great read on the history of world finance - The Ascent of Money by Niall Ferguson.

I also highly recommend Jim Rogers' Investment Biker and Adventure Capitalist, both of which I've seen mentioned in the thread but not on the front page? Same with From Good to Great and Built to Last by Jim Collins.

I also like Victor Niederhoffer's Education of a Speculator.

Assuming you want a headsup on the MBA itself - I'd go for the Guerrilla MBA software (clickok dot org) and also afew of those MBA in 24hours type books. You basically want to get your head around the models.

Favorited this page.

Never Eat Alone is an excellent read. Also surprisingly relevant to dating.

Great suggestions guys, I have a lot to read.

Agree with Good to Great by Jim Collins. He's also got a few interviews about the book on https://www.charlierose.com

New industry
1. Netscape Time: The Making of the Billion-Dollar Start-Up That Took on Microsoft

2. Game Over: How Nintendo Conquered The World

Does anyone know if there is a great Magazine list comparable? I know they change with the times but I think that might be helpful.

The Myth of the Rational Market: A History of Risk, Reward, and Delusion on Wall Street by Justin Fox
A must read for anyone interested in/going to Booth.

I'd say the following for magazines:

Energy Sector
Oil & Gas Financial Journal
Offshore
Oil & Gas Pipeline Journal
Renewable Energy
uptreamonline.com

Retail
Mass Market Retailers

Internet
E-Content

General
The Economist
The Deal (Finance Focus)
Businessweek (for informational purposes)
Global Finance
CFO
World Trade (Mainly Supply Chain)

Thank you for the list. There are a few there that I have not looked into.