The Award Archive
A year with twice as many entries and an expanded Longlist alongside the usual Shortlist — five winners, ten shortlist selections and the top business books of 2018.
Every year we select less than 10% of all the books we review to be included in our Non-Obvious Book Awards Longlist or Shortlist.
The 2018 Winners
Anand Giridharadas’s unsparing look at how the global elite’s world-changing efforts often protect the very systems that created the problems. A book that reframed an entire debate about philanthropy.
Hans Rosling’s data-driven case that the world is better than you think, and a training manual for the ten instincts that distort how leaders read the world. Bill Gates called it one of the most important books he has ever read.
Network scientist Albert-László Barabási reveals the universal laws behind success, and why performance alone is never enough.
Harvard’s Francesca Gino makes the research-backed case that the most valuable people at work are the ones who break the rules, constructively.
Anthropologist David Graeber names the phenomenon everyone recognized but no one discussed: jobs that even the people doing them believe are meaningless, and what that does to us.
The Shortlist
The finalists — narrowed from the longlist and revealed during the live announcement show.
James Clear’s modern classic on how tiny changes compound into remarkable results. The best-selling productivity book of its generation, honored here on our shortlist the year it was published.
Design legend Bonnie Siegler’s cheeky, practical guide for anyone who hires creative people, on how to get the great work you are actually paying for.
Steven Johnson examines the decisions that take years to play out, and the tools that help us choose wisely when the stakes are highest and the feedback is slowest.
Joey Coleman shows that customer loyalty is won or lost in the first 100 days, then gives a phase-by-phase playbook for turning any sale into a lasting relationship.
Legendary investor John Doerr introduces OKRs, the goal-setting system he brought from Intel to Google, through the stories of the organizations it transformed.
Jamie Cat Callan’s delightful guide to the French art of charm: presence, conversation and everyday elegance as skills anyone can practice.
Jay Baer and Daniel Lemin show how to build operational differentiators that customers cannot stop talking about. Word of mouth, engineered on purpose.
Sara Wachter-Boettcher exposes the biased assumptions built into the apps and algorithms we use every day, and why tech’s blind spots become everyone’s problem.
Priya Parker transforms how we think about meetings, parties and conferences: every gathering needs a purpose, and most of ours have none. Few books change daily life this much.
Daniel Pink turns timing into a science: when to work, when to break, when to switch. Proof that when you do things matters as much as what you do.
The Longlist
Every longlist selection from 2018, listed alphabetically. Each of these books was read and selected by our review team from 1,000+ entries.
Your Turn
Entries for the 2026 Non-Obvious Book Awards are now open — and it costs nothing to enter.
How To Enter →
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