A List of the Top 40 Books on Presentation Skills

With recent the passing of Casey Kasem, I allowed nostalgia to grab hold of me this week and decided to dive into a Top 40 list.

Following are the top 40 books listed under the category of “Running Meetings & Presentations” as ranked by Amazon.com on Monday, June 16, 2014. A few of these are classics and must-reads. I had never heard of some of these books and have added them to my reading list. It surprised me to find some of these titles so high on Amazon’s rankings. And a word of advice: if you want a highly ranked book on the topic of presentations, you might want to put “TED” in your title.

If you think there’s an important, influential or classic book on presentation skills not included on this list, let me know in the comments section at the end of this article.

1. How to Win Friends & Influence People: The Only Book You Need to Lead You To Success (Dale Carnegie)
2. Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking when Stakes are High (Kerry Patterson)
3. Power Cues: The Subtle Science of Leading Groups, Persuading Others, and Maximizing your Personal Impact (Nick Morgan)
4. Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us (Daniel Pink)
5. Talk Like TED: The 9 Public Speaking Secrets of the World’s Top Minds (Carmine Gallo)
6. How to Design TED Worthy Presentation Slides: Presentation Design Principles from the Best TED Talks (Akash Kana)
7. Pitch Perfect: How to Say it Right the First Time, Every Time (Bill McGowan)
8. A Social Strategy: How We Profit from Social Media (Mikolaj Jan Piskorski)
9. Just Listen: Discover the Secret to Getting Through to Absolutely Anyone (Mark Goulston)
10. World Class Speaking in Action: 50 Certified Coaches Show You How to Present, Persuade and Profit (Craig Valentine)
11. Whoever Tells the Best Story Wins: How to Use Your Own Stories to Communicate with power and Impact (Annette Simmons)
12. Secrets of the Voice: Read People and Influence Others Using the Voice (Ehud Segev)
13. Sell from the Stage: Without Toasting Rubber Chickens (Sam Crowley)
14. Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind (Al Ries)
15. Humble Inquiry: The Gentle Art of Asking Instead of Telling (Edgar Schein)
16. Death by Meeting: A Leadership Fable… About Solving the Most Painful Problem in Business (Patrick Lencioni)
17. Pitch Anything: An Innovative Method for Presenting, Persuading and Winning the Deal (Oren Klaff)
18. How to Deliver a TED Talk: Secrets of the World’s Most Inspiring Presentations (Jeremy Donovan)
19. Crucial Accountability: Tools for Resolving Violated Expectations, Broken Commitments and Bad Behavior (Kerry Patterson)
20. Public Speaking: Storytelling Techniques for Electrifying Presentations (Akash Karia)
21. How Successful People Think Differently (Akash Karia)
22. Body Language Expert, Male Focus: How to SUCCESSFULLY READ & SHOW a Man’s Body Language in Business, Social Skills and Dating (F. R. Lifestyle)
23. The Power of Presence: Unlock Your Potential to Influence and Engage Others (Kristi Hedges)
24. Conversational Intelligence: How Great Leaders Build Trust & Get Extraordinary Results (Judith Glaser)
25. Robert’s Rules of Order Newly Revised (Henry Robert)
26. It’s the Way You Say It: Becoming Articulate, Well-spoken and Clear (Carol Fleming)
27. Magic of Impromptu Speaking: Create a Speech that will be Remembered for Years in Under 30 Seconds (Andrii Sedniev)
28. Designing for Growth: A Design Thinking Toolkit for Managers (Tim Ogilvie)
29. How to Deliver a Great TED Talk: Presentation Secrets of the World’s Best Speakers (Akash Karia)
30. Presentation Zen: Simple Ideas on Presentation Design and Delivery (Garr Reynolds)
31. Liespotting: Proven Techniques to Detect Deception (Pamela Meyer)
32. The Sketchnote Handbook: The Illustrated Guide to Visual Notetaking (Mike Rohde)
33. Resonate: Present Visual Stories that Transform Audiences (Nancy Duarte)
34. The 5 Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace: Empowering Organizations by Encouraging People (Gary Chapman)
35. slide:ology (Nancy Duarte)
36. Networking is Dead: Making Connections that Matter (Melissa Wilson)
37. The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs: How to be Insanely Great in Front of any Audience (Carmine Gallo)
38. Show and Tell: How Everybody Can Make Extraordinary Presentations (Dan Roam)
39. HBR’s 10 Must Reads on Communication (Harvard Business Review)
40. Emotional Intelligence – The Ultimate Guide to Develop your Emotional Intelligence and Improve Your Communication Skills Now  (Patrick Cogen)

So there you have it. Go forth, read a lot, apply what you’ve learned and amaze your audiences. As Casey would say: keep your feet on the ground and keep reaching for the stars.