Best Book of 2007 by BusinessWeek

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In Spite of the Gods: The Strange Rise of Modern India
By Edward Luce                Edward Luce, a onetime New Delhi correspondent for The Financial Times, highlights this distinction in his In Spite of the Gods: The Strange Rise of Modern India(Doubleday), one of the best of the current books on the subcontinent.The author graphically describes the conflicting forces at work, as hevisits Infosys’ plush offices in Bangalore, bustling call centers inMumbai, and impoverished farmers in the state of Uttar Pradesh. Hereveals that less than 10% of India’s 470 million workers are employedin the formal economy, while more than 300 million live in squalor inthe country’s 680,000 villages. Luce’s vivid anecdotes and trenchantanalysis make this volume a pleasure to read.

But if Indiaisn’t your cup of chai, there’s lots more to choose from among the top10 books of the year as singled out by BusinessWeek reviewers.

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filter-074 Godfathers: Money and Power in Hong Kong and Southeast Asia
By Joe Studwell                Another volume tackling Eastern economic developments is filter-074 Godfathers: Money and Power in Hong Kong and Southeast Asia (Atlantic Monthly Press) by Joe Studwell, founder of the China Economic Quarterly.Li Ka-shing, Robert Kuok, Stanley Ho, and other moguls are among therichest men on the planet. Yet in a region full of such tycoons, why isone so hard-pressed to identify globally competitive Southeast filter-074multinationals? Studwell argues that with these few men controllingvast enterprises, regional economies haven’t mastered the“technological capabilities, branded corporations, and productivitygains that drive sustainable economic development.” Although in need ofbetter organization, this illuminating book is “myth-shattering,” saidreviewer Brian Bremner.

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The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World                 By Alan Greenspan                The most publicized business book of the year was also among the most provocative. Former Fed chief Alan Greenspan’s The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World(Penguin Press) made headlines with its scorn for the currentAdministration’s economics, GOP congressmen, and Richard Nixon. Thevolume is also a memoir of Greenspan’s life, from his boyhood in NewYork to leadership of the world’s most powerful central bank. But thebook’s true value lies in its second half, where the author offers histake on everything from Russia to financial regulation and theinevitable slowdown of globalization. Such well-informed musings offermuch more food for thought than the usual Washington memoir.

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The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable                 By Nassim Nicholas Taleb                However,if Nassim Nicholas Taleb is right, any attempts at prediction are afool’s game. Taleb’s advice is to assume that really crazy things canand will happen. You should set yourself up so that you can benefitfrom good crazy things rather than being hurt by bad crazy things. Hisbest-selling The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable (Random House) elaborates on the unpredictability of life, a thesis first expounded in a previous book, Fooled by Randomness.Taleb ridicules the mathematical constructs underlying modern financein what reviewer Peter Coy called “a richly enjoyable read with animportant message.”

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The Strategy Paradox: Why Committing to Success Leads to Failure (And What to Do About It)                By Michael E. Raynor                Unforeseeable changes in the landscape are also a topic of Michael E. Raynor’s The Strategy Paradox: Why Committing to Success Leads to Failure(And What to Do About It) (Currency/Doubleday), which reviewer DeanFoust called “penetrating.” In this complex work, Raynor contends thatsuccessful and failing companies often share many similarities, because“the strategies that have the best chance of succeeding brilliantly arealso the ones most exposed to the most debilitating kind of strategicuncertainty.” The Deloitte Research consultant deduces that what isneeded is a change in governance structure and a serious commitment tostrategic planning, with senior executives mapping out every scenariothey can imagine.