I don’t usually recommend books I have not yet read, but after seeing Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos, talk about his book, Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion and Purpose, on “The Colbert Report” earlier this month, I’m going to suggest you head on over to Amazon.com and hit the “Buy now with 1-Click” button.

In the book, Hsieh [pronounced Shay] retells his entrepreneurial life so far, which includes selling LinkExchange to Yahoo in 1999 for $265 million, when he was only age 24. But most importantly he tells how he turned Zappos, the online retailer, into a brand with wildly loyal customers by emphasizing a corporate culture focused on “delivering happiness” to employees and customers alike.

In his interview with Colbert, Hsieh said that number one among the Zappos Family Core Values is “Deliver wow through service.” He gave a couple examples of how they do this, including the fact that delivery for repeat customers is upgraded at no extra cost so their order arrives the day after it’s placed. Wow…that IS good!

Hsieh also talked about studying the science of happiness, which has produced some very interesting research in recent years. With a culture that is devoted to helping employees grow both personally and professionally and in which customer service is everyone’s job, not just the Customer Service Department’s job, Hsieh has more than proven the merits of his strategy of emphasizing the corporate culture above all else. Zappos now sells over $1 billion in good annually and Hsieh sold the brand to Amazon.com in 2009 for over $1.2 billion. He continues on as CEO.

Let me know how you like the book and whether you’re going to apply any of Hsieh’s ideas to your business.