Five business books that you may have missed in 2014

The last year had a lot of good books that you may do well to catch up with before the 2015 stock comes rolling in. These are the five you may want:

Think Like a Freak: The Authors of 'Freakonomics' Offer To Retrain Your Brain

by Steven D Levitt & Stephen J Dubner

In 2005, the authors did the unthinkable: They made economics cool. In Freakonomics, and their follow up SuperFreaknomics, the authors argued that all sorts of surprising links shape our society. In Think Like A Freak, the authors reveal the critical thinking tool set that led them on these adventures.

Smartcuts: How Hackers, Innovators, and Icons Accelerate Success

by Shane Snow

Author Shane Snow takes a look at recurring habits and mindsets of those who are able to rise to a high level of success in a remarkably short time. Snow takes a look at examples like how Jimmy Fallon's accelerated path from sketch comic to Tonight Show host was largely due to exceptional relationship-building, and how Elon Musk was able to convince others that pursuing SpaceX wasn't insane.

Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future

by Peter Thiel

Billionaire Peter Thiel is as well known for being the cofounder of PayPal and first investor in Facebook as he is for being one of Silicon Valley's prominent freethinkers. "Zero to One" is a concise, fluff-free treatise on the business philosophy he first taught in a Stanford University class, as collected by his former student Blake Masters.

The Obstacle Is the Way: The Timeless Art of Turning Trials into Triumph

by Ryan Holiday

This is an engaging introduction to the ancient Greco-Roman philosophy of Stoicism, as illustrated by anecdotes of Thomas Edison and John D Rockefeller. Holiday uses these examples to show that Stoicism is a mindset that forces you not to ignore your feelings, but rather allows you to control emotions by acknowledging what you cannot change and determining a way to triumph over what you can.

Thrive: The Third Metric to Redefining Success and Creating a Life of Well-Being, Wisdom, and Wonder

by Arianna Huffington

Huffington says that we usually measure success by two metrics: money and power. This can get people into trouble, like when the Huffington Post founder woke up in a pool of her own blood after collapsing from exhaustion. She realised that well-being is an important part of success. In Thrive, she backs up her argument with academic studies.