You thought the MTV Music Awards and the Oscars were surrounded by suspense? You have seen nothing yet. It's that time of year again when our thoughts turn to special things. I speak, of course, not of presents, mistletoe, tinsel, and family gatherings near the hearth. No, instead, I speak of the succession of excellent books that have appeared over the past year, books that have illuminated key themes of risk management and which have held us (or will hold us) in rapt attention.

Okay, so I exaggerate slightly. Nevertheless, let us take a minute to stroll down the memories of recent books to round out your hands-on risk management insights. Are you ready to curl up with a good risk management book? Well, okay, don't answer just yet. Many have waited long for this list, so we must tarry no longer before disclosing … the top 10 risk management books of the past year:

Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why, by Laurence Gonzales, W.W. Norton, New York. Risk management has both a corporate and a personal context. This book addresses the latter. When confronted by life-threatening situations, 90 percent of people freeze or panic. How do the remaining 10 percent cope with the risk in order to survive and even thrive? Gonzales examines the biological and psychological reasons that people risk their lives, and why some do it more successfully than others. Those who successfully surmount risk possess specific traits, Gonzales argues. Read and heed his 12 rules of survival, and challenge yourself to apply them to the discipline of organizational risk management.