What business books do you recommend as the most informative/useful?

How to understand business in London

• I'm looking for a part-time course (in or around London UK) , online course, or book(s) that will help me understand business. Hello, I work for a Organisational/Talent Development consultancy in London in the UK. Although I really love it, I sort of ended up here by accident (after a humanities degree, followed by a postgrad and then a career in the arts), and I am looking to increase my business acumen, credibility and long term career prospects. The trouble is, I'm finding it really difficult to know where to start. I know there are courses, books, podcasts etc, but there are so many out there I feel totally overwhelmed. My colleagues have mostly completed masters in Occupational Psychology, and I considered going down that road, but it's a long path and I actually think I'd rather do something with broader application- my long term goal is to consult businesses/ coach individuals on innovation and strategy. I'm creative and think conceptually, but a strategist needs to have an understanding of business and market context, and I'm not entirely sure what that means, or where to find it. I've done a lot of Googling but I'm a bit overwhelmed by everything out there, and as an 'outsider' I don't have a clue how to assess what would be valuable and which brands are credible. I learn best in a classroom setting so my ideal would be a part-time evening weekend, or short course (I wouldn't mind taking off around 5 days for something brilliant). As I said, I've googled, I'm aware of what's out there, but I could really do with an expert view on what would be a good investment of my time. In an ideal world, I'd do this course: http://www.city.ac.uk/courses/postgraduate/innovation-creativity-and-leadership#course-detail=1 But I don't know if it's business focused enough, and although I know City is the best journalism school in London, I don't know anything about its reputation in the business world. Any guidance on this would be wonderful. I am considering doing an MBA, but would be some way off because of the huge cost. My budget would be an absolute max of £10k per year. I will ask for help from my company, but have no idea if this will be available. Otherwise, I'm looking for credible resources that are easy for a layman to understand- books, podcasts, publications etc. I don't want a university reading list- more like: if you could recommend just one book what would it be? Or, if you picked up your business savy by reading financial publications, which ones? How often? Cover to cover, or certain topics only? How did you apply what you learnt. I'm know I sound very remedial, but coming from an arts background, this stuff is totally alien! Thanks your your time.

• Answer:

  http://changethis.com/manifesto/98.02.PersonalMBA/pdf/98.02.PersonalMBA.pdf is worth a look as a starting point for some resources. I don't make any claims for Josh Kaufman's own book as I've not read it but I can definitely say several of the books on his list are well worth reading.