Last week, while the temperatures were dropping and bad economic news filled the headlines, it seemed, oddly enough, no better time to host a book party!

Sara and I were thrilled to be at the party of the New York book launch for THE 100 BEST BUSINESS BOOKS OF ALL TIME: What They Say, Why They Matter, and How They Can Help You by our authors and friends, Jack Covert and Todd Sattersten of 800CEOREAD. More than 100 people gathered in Manhattan’s beautiful Midtown Loft to celebrate the book, Jack’s 25 years in the bookselling business and the winners of their 2008 Business Book Awards. Todd, newly sworn in as the company’s President, used the opportunity to call on some big names in publishing including Wiley’s Jack Day and Portfolio’s Adrian Zackheim, editor of THE 100 BEST, to recall the best and funniest of times from Jack’s life as a bookseller. Lots of authors were in attendance including Seth Godin, whose book Tribes won Best Business Book of 2008 and Erika Andersen (her second book, Being Strategic, is coming out in June). We saw agents Larry Kirshbaum, Jim Levine, Margaret McBride, Ron Hogan of GalleyCat and dozens of others in the publishing industry who seemed eager to take a break from bleak sales reports and mass firings to chat and mingle with their colleagues.

At the same time, Dennis headed to Dallas to help our author Bob Beaudine celebrate the publication of his book, THE POWER OF WHO. Beaudine, fresh from an appearance on NBC-TV’s “The Today Show” and glowing from a recent mention in Time, hosted about 100 guests at Legacy Books in Plano, Texas, a beautiful new independent store. Beaudine’s book suggests throwing out the old rules of networking and instead relying on your close circle of allies, advocates and fans to get ahead in life. Obviously, Bob’s top WHO were with him to celebrate including Bob’s agent Jan Miller of Dupree, Miller & Associates. To make a great night even better, the store reported that they sold over 150 books. Way to go, Bob!