Here is the October, 2011 New York Times Best Sellers Hardcover Business Books list.  As I regularly note, there are some “long-time” titles on this list (Drive; Delivering Happiness; 4-Hour Workweek; Strenghts-Based Leadership).  But there are some new titles this month.  The new Friedman and Maddelbaum book, That Used to Be Us, is number one.  Basically, every new Tom Friedman title ascends quickly up such lists.  My opinion:  after reading this book — it has a typical (for Friedman) compilation of good stories, but is a little lacking in comparison to his earlier books.  And, in my opinion, short on solutions.  I don’t blame necessarily blame Friedman for this — I think we are in an era that is short on solutions.  That is the great challenge of this hour.

In fact, there is still a lot of interest in “what went wrong” (see #’s 1, 7, and 15).

Here’s the October list.

1	THAT USED TO BE US, by Thomas L. Friedman and Michael Mandelbaum.
2	START SOMETHING THAT MATTERS, by Blake Mycoskie.
3	ENTRELEADERSHIP, by Dave Ramsey.
4	LEAN STARTUP, by Eric Ries.
5	TWO-SECOND ADVANTAGE, by Kevin Maney and Vivek Ranadive.
6	SWITCH, by Chip Heath and Dan Heath.
7	AFTERSHOCK, by David Wiedemer, Robert A. Wiedemer and Cindy Spitzer.
8	4-HOUR WORKWEEK, by Timothy Ferriss.
9	ULTIMATE QUESTION 2. 0, by Fred Reichheld with Rob Markey.
10	WICKED SUCCESS IS INSIDE EVERY WOMAN, by Vickie L. Milazzo.
11	STRENGTHS-BASED LEADERSHIP, by Tom Rath and Barry Conchie.
12	GRAND PURSUIT, by Sylvia Nasar.
13	TOTAL MONEY MAKEOVER, by Dave Ramsey.
14	DELIVERING HAPPINESS, by Tony Hsieh.
15	RECKLESS ENDANGERMENT, by Gretchen Morgenson and Joshua Rosner.