Last time they picked John Batelle's book about search, with Google in the title, so could a sloppy wet kiss to Google (CEO Eric Schmidt knew author Chris Anderson by face and name at the Portfolio lunch a few weeks back) win this time?

We're not placing odds. But here's the just-released short list for the second annual Financial Times and Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year Award:

The Long Tail, Chris Anderson (Hyperion)

Small Giants, Bo Burlingham (Portfolio)

The Wal-Mart Effect, Charles Fishman (Penguin)

China Shakes the World, James Kynge (Houghton Mifflin)

The Box, Marc Levinson (Princeton University Press)

We'll blog the dinner gala next month (live, we hope) and let you know. We'll also make nice with the winner, after he receives his $54,000-plus prize, and see if he'll (it will be a "he," we note) buy us a round of drinks.

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