Quick Read

We Are Smarter Than Me: How to Unleash the Power of Crowds in Your Business
By Barry Libert and Jon Spector

Conference Board president Spector and consultant Libert have plenty of their own wisdom to draw on, but that didn't stop them from getting help in writing their book. Using wikis, they collected expertise from more than 4,000 people representing top B-schools and organizations. There's plenty of advice about cutting costs, raising capital and understanding the potential of social networking, but the tale of how the collaborators turned all this advice into a book may be the most interesting thing they have to offer.

The Wolf of Wall Street
By Jordan Belfort

Belfort's improbable rise from anonymity in New York's outer boroughs to infamy as the drug-gobbling chieftain of a fraudulent stock brokerage has already been fodder for a cult movie, Ben Younger's 2000 "Boiler Room." But now after time in jail and rehab, Belfort gets to tell this sordid tale himself. The title misleads (Belfort's crew of scammers operated from Long Island, not Manhattan), and you may hate yourself for giving him $25 of your hard-earned money (even if it'll go to a victim's restitution fund). Yet the allure of the drama and depravity in these pages render such quibbles as meaningless as a promise from one of Belfort's brokers to protect a client's investments.

How Toyota Became #1
By David Magee

From its renowned production system to its unerring sense of customers' tastes, the factors that fueled Toyota's drive to the summit of the auto industry are all well recounted here. But despite his access to key players like U.S. boss Jim Press, Magee doesn't explain Toyota's greatest feat—maintaining a hold on American public opinion. Despite engine-sludge lawsuits, the irony of peddling Priuses while spending billions to develop gas-guzzling pickups, more recalls than sales or even the fact that Press himself has left for a top job at Chrysler, Toyota's mystique remains coated with Teflon. Toyota's PR prowess inspires awe. If only Magee showed his readers how it does it.