The 2019 Non-Obvious Book Award Winners

The Shortlist & Winners:

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. 2019 was an extremely competitive year with more books submitted and considered than any previous year. After multiple rounds of conversation and debate among our team of reviewers and judges, here are the finalist selections for the 2019 Non-Obvious Book Awards Winners & Shortlist:

2019 Most Shareable Book of the Year:

Late Bloomers

by Rich Karlgaard

Our Review: For anyone who has ever been just a little frustrated with just how much credit we give to the genius billionaires who dropped out of school and changed the world in their 20s, this book will be a welcome read. Some of the greatest moments in human history have some from the "late bloomers" - those who found success later in life, and offer an example for the rest of us who want to believe our best days are still ahead, no matter what age we happen to be.

2019 Most Important Book of the Year:

Secondhand

by Adam Minter

Our Review: What happens once you throw something away? In this fascinating book, Adam Minter goes inside the global garbage business to illuminate a topic that most of us know far too little about. As we humans selfishly fill our world with garbage and turn a blind eye to the impact of the things we discard, this book is a much needed wake up call and urgent read.

2019 Most Entertaining Book of the Year:

Junior

by Thomas Kemeney

Our Review: Longtime ad copywriter Thomas Kemeney opens up his considerable notebook of techniques to help you solve any challenge with words - from finding the right ones to avoiding clichés. This book exposes the sometimes silly, often stupid side of the marketing industry while also offering a grab bag of surprisingly useful tips for how to describe or sell anything with less words. Or at least better ones.

2019 Most Original Book of the Year:

Nine Lies About Work

by Marcus Buckingham & Ashley Goodall

Our Review: Clearly we love non-obvious ideas, and this book was full of them as authors Marcus Buckingham and Ashley Goodall reimagine some of the most entrenched beliefs of business. Do people really need feedback? Are the best workers always well-rounded? Read this book to challenge what you think about business and to shift your perspective about work.

2019 Most Useful Book of the Year:

Writing to Persuade

by Trish Hall

Our Review: What could you learn from the former editor of most selective opinion editorial program in the world? This book is part memoir and part guidebook as author/editor Trish Hall breaks down the truth behind why some ideas resonate, what makes an idea worthy of printing in the NY Times Op-Ed section and how those same questions can help you write anything more persuasively.

2019 Shortlist Selection:

Alchemy

by Rory Sutherland

Our Review: Rory Sutherland is a legend in real life and this book does a better job than you might expect at distilling his unique genius into digestible parts. Blending his penchant for bluntly brilliant storytelling along with his experiences from the front lines of advising some of the largest brands in the world on advertising strategy for the past several decades, this book will give you a chance to go inside a uniquely talented mind. Along the way, it shines a glorious lens on the oddities and realities of human behavior with a signature wit that only Sutherland could deliver .

2019 Shortlist Selection:

Audience of One

by James Poniewozik

Our Review: An insightful exploration of how the history of television has come to mirror the often disturbing evolution of our reality-obsessed, rage-friendly culture. TV didn't create Trump, but they have fed off one another, and this book will help any reader to decode what that has meant for our current reality of business, politics and media. Wonderfully argued and powerfully written, this is a fascinating read and highly recommended. .

2019 Shortlist Selection:

Invisible Women

by Caroline Criado Perez

Our Review: The many ways that our world, and everything in it, have been created by and for men has been an underappreciated truth for too long. In this richly researched book, award-winning author Caroline Criado Perez shares stories from around the world of how women have too often been forgotten or ignored in everything from product design to architecture. The solution starts by making the invisible newly visible - and this book does that.

2019 Shortlist Selection:

Medallion Status

by John Hodgman

Our Review: Using the familiar analogy of the elite-or-not class system inflicted on passengers by the airline industry, comedian and writer John Hodgman explores life as a "somewhat famous person." His understated wit comes through in this part-memoir, part-critique of our modern culture and just how hard it is to actually stay somewhat famous. And perhaps why it's an impossible quest unworthy of the pedestal we often place it on.

2019 Shortlist Selection:

Loonshots

by Safi Bahcall

Our Review: The world is not short of crazy ideas. The problem is they routinely fail. Yet as author Safi Bahcall points out, this routine has some predictable elements. Good teams often kill great ideas. Organizations too focused on "culture" often miss changing their "system" to evolve. This book proposed a new path forward to help any leader nurture more of those crazy ideas and realize the monetary and societal gains that come from making them work. Bonus: Watch Safi Bahcall's appearance on the Non-Obvious Insights Show >>

2019 Shortlist Selection:

Stop Being Reasonable

by Eleanor Gordon-Smith

Our Review: The more deeply held a belief, the harder it is to shift your perception. Yet there are those who manage to do it - and their example is one we can all learn from. In this dense but short read, radio broadcaster Eleanor Gordon-Smith offers an inside look at how any of us can actually practice something that is already becoming one of the most underappreciated and forgotten of human skills: how to change our mind.

2019 Shortlist Selection:

Scam Me If You Can

by Frank W. Abagnale

Our Review: You might know Frank W. Abagnale's story from the film adaptation of his con artist story with Leonardo DiCaprio, but the footnote to the film is the backdrop for this book. After his capture, Abagnale went on to assist the FBI to identify and deter bank fraud. In this instructive book, Abagnale offers a crash-course in street smarts for anyone (and their parents) who might be faced with phishing schemes, too-good-to-be-true offers or manipulative televangelists.

2019 Shortlist Selection:

Range

by David Epstein

Our Review: If you have ever resisted the idea that you need to become an expert in just one myopic thing, you will love this book that argues for each of us to get better at more things, not less. In a world that constantly seems to reward those who have a singular talent, this highly readable book offers plenty of evidence that our perception of the value of siloed expertise may be flawed. Instead, the best people are those who can exist in multiple worlds, bring them together and have more range ... not less.

2019 Shortlist Selection:

User Friendly

by Cliff Kuang with Robert Fabricant

Our Review: A leading journalist and a world class designer team up in this book to tell the story of how user interface design shapes many aspects of our world - and why it will become even more critical in the future. The way that humans interact with machines will likely be one of the defining elements of the next century - and much of this will be based on the user experience interfaces we create. Humanity needs to get this right. User Friendly is the book that can help make sure we do.

2019 Shortlist Selection:

Ultralearning

by Scott H. Young

Our Review: We all would love to learn new skills faster and this book fits into a growing category of books written to help you learn the right techniques to memorize anything faster and become a better learner. Like other books in this category, Ultralearning features plenty of practical advice and tips for how to shift your own mental abilities to achieve more. What helps this book stand out is that the techniques presented are less about gimmicks for memorizing things and more about true learning - which is the real thing that will improve how you think.

*Note - All reviews above are written by Non-Obvious Company founder Rohit Bhargava.

The Longlist Selections:

Here are the finalist selections for the 2019 Non-Obvious Book Awards Longlist:

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About the Non-Obvious Book Awards

These awards are organized and judged by the team at the Non-Obvious Company. Our mission is to help leaders, organizations and curious minds learn the habits that allow them to see what others miss and face the unknown. We do this through our published books, popular keynotes, custom workshops, annual book awards and our weekly Non-Obvious Insights Show.

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