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> On business, joshkaufman recommends Kaufman's The Personal MBA: Master the Art of Business over Bevelin's Seeking Wisdom and Munger's Poor Charlie's Alamanack

> On business, joshkaufman recommends Kaufman's The Personal MBA: Master the Art of Business over Bevelin's Seeking Wisdom and Munger's Poor Charlie's Alamanack. What a rat. Recommends his own book over two others. This is exactly what is wrong with University textbook selection. They're often just picking their friends, or someone who picked their textbook. Crooked and corrupt.

swanson 8y ago
Seeking Wisdom is also really, really good. Super approachable and underrated. The Personal MBA is also great, but I do agree that it's poor form for Josh to recommend his own book.
blairbeckwith 8y ago
Probably could have used a more clear disclosure, but it is probably one of the best books for a solid overview.
- jimrandomh 8y ago
  If you look at the comment where he makes that recommendation, it starts with: > "I'm the author, so feel free to discount appropriately." The process of consolidating all the recommendations into a list didn't leave room to say that sort of thing, though.
  - Retric 8y ago
    Add a star next to the item and a foot note or exclude your book from the list.
PacifyFish 8y ago
Have you read the book?
- maerF0x0 8y ago
  I have not. It very well could be true (which I do realize would be contrary to corruption). But I do not trust the jury of 1 composed of the author.
  - jrumbut 8y ago
    Having the best product and corrupt practices aren't mutually exclusive at all. I mean this in general, this example here where an author is promoting his own book without hiding his name is borderline. Says more about the site's reliability than the author's honesty to me.
Ibethewalrus 8y ago
Agree 100%. I submitted this post but arrived at the same conclusion with this book recommendation, also the author is way too young to have ample experience...
- barry-cotter 8y ago
  Too young to have ample experience? He’s distilling the results of reading over a thousand books on various business topics into a book on what business is. You don’t need ample experience for that. You need the stamina to read, judge and summarise all those books and the good taste and writing ability to actually write it. It’s like the process of a journalist writing a book on a topic they have only the vaguest idea about, there’s a lot of reading and at some stage hopefully some understanding slips in. Except Josh has a business degree and worked at Procter & Gamble so he actually knew what he was on about before he started writing.
yontherubicon 8y ago
I can't say I blame him. I mean, if I thought someone had written a better book on a subject than I could, I doubt I'd bother writing the book!
- 394549 8y ago
  I kinda feel the most ethical thing for an author to do is focus on a recommendation for the best book that isn't theirs (e.g. besides my book X, I'd recommend Y for Z reasons).
  - komali2 8y ago
    Why would they have bothered writing the book if others existed? Or, if better books existed after they wrote theirs, why would they bother mentioning theirs at all?
    - macintux 8y ago
      You can acknowledge that someone else's book is well-written, accurate, and valuable even if you think yours is better, or has a different focus, or a different pedagogical method, or...
  - inetsee 8y ago
    The rules for the list don't say that an author can't recommend his/her own book. The rules do say that a recommender must explain why he/she recommends one book over others, which this author did.
- nerdponx 8y ago
  You shouldn't trust a book recommendation of the recommender doesn't explain why they are recommending it. If you write your own textbook, you had better be prepared to explain why your book is better than other books on the same subject.
  - Jtsummers 8y ago
    The author did, though you may not find it satisfactory. In particular, people attacked him for recommending his book, with little specific counterargument ("it's terrible" isn't good enough). If they had engaged him in a dialog instead of insulting, maybe we'd have a better justification in the list.
ProAm 8y ago
> Crooked and corrupt. It's just business. Every business does it. Get used to it. Have an iPhone are forced to buy things from the App Store? Crooked and corrupt...? Bought a Tesla and cant use it for independent ride sharing? Crooked and corrupt? It's just business.
- 394549 8y ago
  >> Crooked and corrupt. > It's just business. Every business does it. Get used to it. No, that's how you get endemic corruption, which eventually leads to things like people dying from deliberately tainted food and shoddy medicine. Widespread intolerance of corruption and scams eventually builds a trustworthy environment that's better for everyone.
  - ProAm 8y ago
    It's just business. Recommending your own text book is not crooked and corrupt. It's business. Forcing your users to acquire all apps for your iPhone through your own app store is also not crooked and corrupt. It's just business. Everyone tolerates it because money talks.
    - 394549 8y ago
      > It's just business. Everyone tolerates it because money talks. Sometimes "business" must bow down to things like ethics, otherwise it tends towards corruption and exploitation. Hocking your own book in a list of the "best textbooks on every subject" is definitely a kind of corruption. It may get you some sales but it abuses the list and any trust placed in it. Recommendations like that should be made without such conflicts of interest. Also, repeating "it's just business" a bunch of times isn't a very good argument in favor of anything, it's nearly totally free of any content.
      - ProAm 8y ago
        > Sometimes "business" must bow down to things like ethics, otherwise it tends towards corruption and exploitation. That's if you get caught. On paper I completely agree with you, but in reality I think you'll find many many many businesses and industry that skirt ethically and moral behavior to cement their bottom line. I keep repeating its just business because it is, ultimately everything comes down to money especially in business. Is it inappropriate to charge people a higher price for an airline ticket because they browse your website with a macbook? It happens. What about amazon raising the price for an item because you've browsed it several times in the past already? Recommending your own book because you believe in its contents but also helps to put a roof over your head? It's all just business.
bsder 8y ago
> What a rat. Recommends his own book over two others. This is exactly what is wrong with University textbook selection. They're often just picking their friends, or someone who picked their textbook. Crooked and corrupt. My professor for Political Science recommended his own book. He also donated all of the money he would have made on it for our class into the general fund for the students. Which meant that he lost money because not everybody in the class bought the book. Textbooks are a racket. Especially the "rental" model which effectively admits that the textbook has zero utility beyond the class. However, the professors are neither the cause nor gaining the profits from that racket. The act of writing a textbook takes so much time and effort, that it really isn't profitable for the vast majority of professors.
dvfjsdhgfv 8y ago
Well, to give credit where it's due, The Personal MBA is not a bad book. It has a slightly misleading title though. It should have been called "extremely short pieces about various aspects of business". The real value of it, at least for me, is inspiration. I read a small chapter (which is often just a page or half) and think how it relates to my actual situation. This gives me some food for thought, and very often for action, for a couple of days. Then I go back to the book, read the next piece, and so on. I sometimes disagree with the author, but it's a positive experience overall.
- ambicapter 8y ago
  God, I hate books like that. In my youth, I got on a freestyle kick (go watch Freestyle: The Art of Rhyme) and bought a book called 'How To Rap' because it was well reviewed. I was hoping for some sort of insight from the greats. It was entirely made of just quotes from different rappers. Barely any structure whatsoever.
  - jkchu 8y ago
    I am partway through reading The Personal MBA, and the book of quotes you mentions sound very, very different. Sure, The Personal MBA is not a deep dive into any subject (it's not meant to be) but it's got a lot more meat than just quotes from other textbooks.
blackstache 8y ago
We likely agree on the larger sentiment here, but in fairness to the author I think the context of the post makes this more acceptable. The textbook recommendations are all submitted in the comments below the compiled list, and the author's own submission[0] includes at least a disclaimer and a justification for why the author felt the need to write the book. 0: https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/xg3hXCYQPJkwHyik2/the-best-textbooks-on-every-subject#cxfYBFGhbbP7TgQ4c https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/xg3hXCYQPJkwHyik2/the-best-t... Edit: I have not read this book or any others in the domain, just wanted to add some context I did not already see in this thread.
jkchu 8y ago
While I agree that it's not "in good taste" to recommend your own book like this. I feel your reaction is a bit harsh and did not consider that he actually gave disclosure upon recommending the book.

swanson 8y ago

Seeking Wisdom is also really, really good. Super approachable and underrated. The Personal MBA is also great, but I do agree that it's poor form for Josh to recommend his own book.

blairbeckwith 8y ago

Probably could have used a more clear disclosure, but it is probably one of the best books for a solid overview.

jimrandomh 8y ago
If you look at the comment where he makes that recommendation, it starts with: > "I'm the author, so feel free to discount appropriately." The process of consolidating all the recommendations into a list didn't leave room to say that sort of thing, though.
- Retric 8y ago
  Add a star next to the item and a foot note or exclude your book from the list.

PacifyFish 8y ago

Have you read the book?

maerF0x0 8y ago
I have not. It very well could be true (which I do realize would be contrary to corruption). But I do not trust the jury of 1 composed of the author.
- jrumbut 8y ago
  Having the best product and corrupt practices aren't mutually exclusive at all. I mean this in general, this example here where an author is promoting his own book without hiding his name is borderline. Says more about the site's reliability than the author's honesty to me.

Ibethewalrus 8y ago

Agree 100%. I submitted this post but arrived at the same conclusion with this book recommendation, also the author is way too young to have ample experience...

barry-cotter 8y ago
Too young to have ample experience? He’s distilling the results of reading over a thousand books on various business topics into a book on what business is. You don’t need ample experience for that. You need the stamina to read, judge and summarise all those books and the good taste and writing ability to actually write it. It’s like the process of a journalist writing a book on a topic they have only the vaguest idea about, there’s a lot of reading and at some stage hopefully some understanding slips in. Except Josh has a business degree and worked at Procter & Gamble so he actually knew what he was on about before he started writing.

yontherubicon 8y ago

I can't say I blame him. I mean, if I thought someone had written a better book on a subject than I could, I doubt I'd bother writing the book!

394549 8y ago
I kinda feel the most ethical thing for an author to do is focus on a recommendation for the best book that isn't theirs (e.g. besides my book X, I'd recommend Y for Z reasons).
- komali2 8y ago
  Why would they have bothered writing the book if others existed? Or, if better books existed after they wrote theirs, why would they bother mentioning theirs at all?
  - macintux 8y ago
    You can acknowledge that someone else's book is well-written, accurate, and valuable even if you think yours is better, or has a different focus, or a different pedagogical method, or...
- inetsee 8y ago
  The rules for the list don't say that an author can't recommend his/her own book. The rules do say that a recommender must explain why he/she recommends one book over others, which this author did.
nerdponx 8y ago
You shouldn't trust a book recommendation of the recommender doesn't explain why they are recommending it. If you write your own textbook, you had better be prepared to explain why your book is better than other books on the same subject.
- Jtsummers 8y ago
  The author did, though you may not find it satisfactory. In particular, people attacked him for recommending his book, with little specific counterargument ("it's terrible" isn't good enough). If they had engaged him in a dialog instead of insulting, maybe we'd have a better justification in the list.

ProAm 8y ago

> Crooked and corrupt. It's just business. Every business does it. Get used to it. Have an iPhone are forced to buy things from the App Store? Crooked and corrupt...? Bought a Tesla and cant use it for independent ride sharing? Crooked and corrupt? It's just business.

394549 8y ago
>> Crooked and corrupt. > It's just business. Every business does it. Get used to it. No, that's how you get endemic corruption, which eventually leads to things like people dying from deliberately tainted food and shoddy medicine. Widespread intolerance of corruption and scams eventually builds a trustworthy environment that's better for everyone.
- ProAm 8y ago
  It's just business. Recommending your own text book is not crooked and corrupt. It's business. Forcing your users to acquire all apps for your iPhone through your own app store is also not crooked and corrupt. It's just business. Everyone tolerates it because money talks.
  - 394549 8y ago
    > It's just business. Everyone tolerates it because money talks. Sometimes "business" must bow down to things like ethics, otherwise it tends towards corruption and exploitation. Hocking your own book in a list of the "best textbooks on every subject" is definitely a kind of corruption. It may get you some sales but it abuses the list and any trust placed in it. Recommendations like that should be made without such conflicts of interest. Also, repeating "it's just business" a bunch of times isn't a very good argument in favor of anything, it's nearly totally free of any content.
    - ProAm 8y ago
      > Sometimes "business" must bow down to things like ethics, otherwise it tends towards corruption and exploitation. That's if you get caught. On paper I completely agree with you, but in reality I think you'll find many many many businesses and industry that skirt ethically and moral behavior to cement their bottom line. I keep repeating its just business because it is, ultimately everything comes down to money especially in business. Is it inappropriate to charge people a higher price for an airline ticket because they browse your website with a macbook? It happens. What about amazon raising the price for an item because you've browsed it several times in the past already? Recommending your own book because you believe in its contents but also helps to put a roof over your head? It's all just business.

bsder 8y ago

> What a rat. Recommends his own book over two others. This is exactly what is wrong with University textbook selection. They're often just picking their friends, or someone who picked their textbook. Crooked and corrupt. My professor for Political Science recommended his own book. He also donated all of the money he would have made on it for our class into the general fund for the students. Which meant that he lost money because not everybody in the class bought the book. Textbooks are a racket. Especially the "rental" model which effectively admits that the textbook has zero utility beyond the class. However, the professors are neither the cause nor gaining the profits from that racket. The act of writing a textbook takes so much time and effort, that it really isn't profitable for the vast majority of professors.

dvfjsdhgfv 8y ago

Well, to give credit where it's due, The Personal MBA is not a bad book. It has a slightly misleading title though. It should have been called "extremely short pieces about various aspects of business". The real value of it, at least for me, is inspiration. I read a small chapter (which is often just a page or half) and think how it relates to my actual situation. This gives me some food for thought, and very often for action, for a couple of days. Then I go back to the book, read the next piece, and so on. I sometimes disagree with the author, but it's a positive experience overall.

ambicapter 8y ago
God, I hate books like that. In my youth, I got on a freestyle kick (go watch Freestyle: The Art of Rhyme) and bought a book called 'How To Rap' because it was well reviewed. I was hoping for some sort of insight from the greats. It was entirely made of just quotes from different rappers. Barely any structure whatsoever.
- jkchu 8y ago
  I am partway through reading The Personal MBA, and the book of quotes you mentions sound very, very different. Sure, The Personal MBA is not a deep dive into any subject (it's not meant to be) but it's got a lot more meat than just quotes from other textbooks.

blackstache 8y ago

We likely agree on the larger sentiment here, but in fairness to the author I think the context of the post makes this more acceptable. The textbook recommendations are all submitted in the comments below the compiled list, and the author's own submission[0] includes at least a disclaimer and a justification for why the author felt the need to write the book. 0: https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/xg3hXCYQPJkwHyik2/the-best-textbooks-on-every-subject#cxfYBFGhbbP7TgQ4c https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/xg3hXCYQPJkwHyik2/the-best-t... Edit: I have not read this book or any others in the domain, just wanted to add some context I did not already see in this thread.

jkchu 8y ago

While I agree that it's not "in good taste" to recommend your own book like this. I feel your reaction is a bit harsh and did not consider that he actually gave disclosure upon recommending the book.