Best books of 2012

As the year draws to a close I've canvassed the team for their favourite books of 2012. It's an eclectic list; one that'll expand your horizons and sharpen your investing processes. Enjoy.

Also, Share Advisor members can enjoy a 15% discount on any books purchased from the Educated Investor bookshop until 31 December 2012.

Members can click here to access the exclusive promo code.

1. The Most Important Thing - Howard Marks

Process is everything in investing. Here Oaktree Capital founder Howard Marks details twenty easy to understand tests to help shape your investing process. Everyone who has read the book found it phenomonly useful. Plus it's easy to read, and not too long. A must read for all investors.

2. Periodic Tales: The Curious Lives of the Elements - Hugh Aldersey-Williams

A fascinating and amusing run through the discovery, isolation, use and general history of the elements.

3. The Design of Business: Why Design Thinking is the Next Competitive Advantage - Roger Martin

Most companies today have innovation envy. They yearn to come up with a game-changing innovation like Apple's iPod. Many make genuine efforts to be innovative but they get disappointing results.

Why? The Design of Business offers a compelling and provocative answer: we rely far too exclusively on analytical thinking, which merely refines current knowledge, producing small improvements to the status quo.

4. Thinking, Fast and Slow - Daniel Kahneman

In Thinking, Fast and Slow Kahneman takes us on a groundbreaking tour of the mind and explains the two systems that drive the way we think. System 1 is fast, intuitive, and emotional; System 2 is slower, more deliberative, and more logical.

Kahneman exposes the extraordinary capabilities—and also the faults and biases—of fast thinking, and reveals the pervasive influence of intuitive impressions on our thoughts and behavior. It's chock-full of interesting stories and examples. Highly recommended.

5. Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength - Roy Baumeister & John Tierney

Willpower is similar to Thinking, fast and slow and examines the Victorian concept of willpower and how to harness it. It is very interesting and a great way to understand why we are weak when we are and how to strengthen our resolve.

6. The Earth - Richard Fortey

For those interested in geology The Earth is a fascinating 500-page rollick around the world and back through time.

7. The King of California - Mark Arax & Rick Wartzman

For those interested in agribusiness The King of California is an interesting tale about J.G. Boswell, America's largest farmer. The book reveals some amazing feats, including draining one of America's biggest lakes to help build the richest cotton empire in the world.

8. Body by Science - Doug McGuff & John Little

For those sweating it out in the gym Body by Science, combined with the similar but sometimes contrasting thoughts of Art De Vany, present an counterintuitive fitness framework—less time, more effort: high intensity training works very well for the inherently lazy. Maybe one to help work off the post-Christmas paunch?

9. Mindset - Carol Dweck

For those interested in brain plasticity, try Mindset. The book itself isn't all that engaging or well written, but it represents a lifetime of very interesting research and lots of useable principles.

10. The Talent Code - Daniel Coyle

Similar to Mindset, but in a more self-help oriented slant, is the The Talent Code, which advocates a systematic model for acquiring and boosting abilities.

11. Two Centuries of Panic: A History of Corporate Collapses in Australia - Trevor Sykes

As Matt Ryan, who recommended the book, explained, 'it's a bit like watching 200 train wrecks from all different angles'. It's an interesting insight into Australian corporate history, and well worth the investment, especially if you are new to investing.

12. In the Plex: How Google thinks, works and shapes our lives - Steven Levy

Few companies in history have ever been as successful and as admired as Google. How has Google done it? Steven Levy was granted unprecedented access to the company, and in In the Plex he takes readers inside Google headquarters—the Googleplex—to show how Google works.

The key to Google's success, Levy reveals, is its engineering mind-set and adoption of such Internet values as speed, openness, experimentation, and risk taking.

13. The Happiness Advantage - Shawn Achor

Our most commonly held formula for success is broken claims Achor. Conventional wisdom holds that if we work hard we will be more successful, and if we are more successful, then we'll be happy. But recent discoveries in the field of positive psychology have shown that this formula is actually backward: happiness fuels success, not the other way around.

When we are positive, our brains become more engaged, creative, motivated, energetic, resilient, and productive at work. This isn't just an empty mantra; this discovery has been repeatedly borne out by rigorous research in psychology and neuroscience.

Oh, and if you're lazy, here's a link to Achor's recent TED talk.

14. Inside Job - Charles Ferguson

Following on from Ferguson's Oscar winning documentary by the same name, Inside Job is a detailed critique of the financial crisis and the system, actions and laws that facilitated it.

15. The Great Degeneration - Niall Ferguson

Based on a recent series of lectures, The Great Degeneration, is a brisk look at what's driving the decline of Western civilisation. It's a deliberately polemical call to action in an age of negligence and complacency.

And remember, Share Advisor members receive a 15% discount on any books purchased from the Educated Investor bookshop until 31 December 2012. Click here to access the promo code exclusive to Share Advisor members.

If you'd like to become a member of Share Advisor, take advantage of our Christmas savings and join online today.

What books did you find most interesting and thought provoking in 2012? Did you read anything that changed the way you think about investing?