Book Club

These titles have been recommended by colleagues across the country – and we concur. You may find these useful for your individual work or to recommend to the community leaders and entrepreneurs with whom you work. Unless otherwise noted, most of these books are available in any bookstore and many public libraries.

General Economic Development Interest

  • The World is Flat by Thomas L. Friedman, 2005. 
  • The Rise of the Creative Class (2002) and The Flight of the Creative Class (2005) by Richard Florida.
  • Boomtown USA: The 7-½ Keys to Big Success in Small Towns by John M. Schultz, 2004.

Business Incubation

The National Business Incubation Association recommends five books for your library. All these books can be obtained through the NBIA Bookstore online at www.nbia.org/store. 
 

  • Incubation in Evolution by Philippe Albert, Michel Bernasconi and Lynda Gaynor.
  • Best Practices in Action by Dinah Adkins, Chuck Wolfe and Hugh Sherman.
  • A Comprehensive Guide to Business Incubation by Meredith Erlewine and Ellen Gerl (editors).
  • Self-Evaluation Workbook for Business Incubators by Kathy Cammarata.
  • Incubating Technology Businesses by Louis Tornatzky, Hugh Sherman and Dinah Adkins.
  • Incubating in Rural America: Challenges and Keys to Success by Dinah Adkins, Hugh Sherman and Christine A. Yost.

Community Economic Development

  • Your Field Guide to CommunityBuildingby Vicki B. Luther and Mary Emery.  Copies can be obtained through the Heartland Center for Leadership Development at www.heartlandcenter.info.
  • Creating an Economic Development Action Plan by Thomas S. Lyons and Roger E. Hamlin. Copies can be obtained through the National Business Incubation Association at www.nbia.org/store.  

Entrepreneurs and Entrepreneurship

  • Energizing Entrepreneurs: Charting a Course for Rural Communities by Deborah Markley, Don Macke and Vicki B. Luther, 2005.
  • The Emergence of Entrepreneurship Policy – Governance, Start-ups, and Growth in the U.S. Knowledge Economy by David M. Hart (editor), 2003. This book is available from Cambridge University Press at www.cambridge.org.
  • The E Myth Revisited – Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It by Michael E. Gerber, 1995. 
  • The StartupGarden: How Growing a Business Grows You by Tom Ehrenfeld, 2002.
  • Daring Visionaries – How Entrepreneurs Build Companies, Inspire Allegiance, and Create Wealth by Raymond W. Smilor, 2001. 
  • Enterprising Nonprofits – A Toolkit for Social Entrepreneurs by J. Gregory Dees, Jed Emerson and Peter Economy, 2001. 
  • Ripples from the Zambezi – Passion, Entrepreneurship and the Rebirth of Local Economies by Ernesto Sirolli, 1999. 
  • Entrepreneurs are Made, Not Born by Lloyd E. Shefsky, 1994. 
  • Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap.. and Others Don’t by Jim Collins, 2001.
  • Seeds of Success: Entrepreneurship and Youth by William B. Walstad and Marilyn L. Kourilsky, 1999.
  • The E Generation by Marilyn L. Kourilsky and William B. Walstad, 2000.
  • The Origin and Evolution of New Businesses by Amar V. Bhide, 2000.

The RUPRI Center for Rural Entrepreneurship

The RUPRI Center for Rural Entrepreneurship strives to be the focal point for efforts to stimulate and support private and public entrepreneurship development in communities throughout rural America.  By supporting practice-driven research and evaluation and facilitating shared learning among practitioners, researchers and policy makers, the Center works to encourage entrepreneurship development as an effective route to building prosperous, dynamic, and sustainable rural economies. The Center is part of the Rural Policy Research Institute, an organization dedicated to providing unbiased analysis and information on the challenges, needs, and opportunities facing rural America. To learn more about RUPRI, go to www.rupri.org.

 

 

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