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There are tons of business books these days and I felt that most of them have become a "Self-Help Business" books as opposed to understanding/textbook-y kind of

There are tons of business books these days and I felt that most of them have become a "Self-Help Business" books as opposed to understanding/textbook-y kind of books. I have no problem at all with "Self-Help Business" type of books. But authors, could you please reduce the number of pages to the very essentials? Can "Lean Startup" book be reduced to 100-150 pages instead of 338 pages? Can "The Checklist Manifesto" book be reduced to 80-100 pages? What's the essentials of your words? I don't need reams of "here's a story to convince you more". These are called "Use-Cases" or "Business-Cases". Separate them to another book, or put them in your website as a pay/free PDF download PER business-cases (or bundle them, whichever). Those "stories that try to convince the theory works" sound too fluffy when the author cherry-pick a specific event/case that match with the point they're trying to deliver.

jamesbritt 15y ago
Can "The Checklist Manifesto" book be reduced to 80-100 pages? Oh, certainly. I read that book either last year or early this year, and while it had some interesting points it felt highly padded. It made me wonder, though, if the inclusion of a lot of touchy-feely content with emotional resonance was a technique to make things more memorable. That is, people respond to stories more so than just facts, so wrapping your bare facts in a story leads to a more lasting impression and (hopefully) action. I still think most books could cut out a lot of their True Stories but it may not be all fluff. My own true story: A few years ago at a local Ruby user group I was passing around some books, and one of them was about 100 pages and cost US $40. I commented on the price/page ratio, and a friend remarked that he would pay twice as much if they author could have made the book half the length.
swombat 15y ago
The huge problem with taking out all the stories is that the book becomes quicker to read, but much drier and less memorable. Stories make things stick in the reader's mind, as well as providing additional angles to explain complicated concepts by example. As a simple example, I could explain that you shouldn't call for help when you don't need it, because people will start to ignore you and then you won't get the help when you do need it... or I could tell you the story of the boy who cried wolf. Which one do you think you'll remember in a year? Stories are powerful stuff.
- hello_moto 15y ago
  I hear you and agree to what you said given the context (complicated concepts, etc). But somehow I doubt these books (Lean Startups, Checklist Manifesto, Agile) are complicated concepts. Derivatives and HFT might be considered complicated concepts. Quicker to read but if it is to the point (especially bullet points) might lead to quicker to remember. I've seen many bloggers claimed they read a 350 pages book in 2 sessions, 1 session, a flight to Chicago (5 hours?) and claiming that they "get it" is a bit questionable. Perhaps they know where the points are and skip the irrelevant parts? If that's the case, why not make the book slimmer? :D But, it is what it is: there's probably a demand from society expecting their money to be worth. I'm asking for a separation of the theory and the application. Start the book with the theory first and finish it with the application (business-case, use-case) to avoid intermingling the concept and the examples.
wpietri 15y ago
My theory is that it's an audience problem. Most buyers of business books are managers. Managers spend most of their time focused on people. So I suspect they will only feel like they really understand something when they understand it in terms of people. For those of us who are more oriented to fact and data, it's just the opposite. Thus every business book seems to us like it's padded with bullshit and light on facts.
davidw 15y ago
One of my own endeavors was to create a site for 'squeezing' books: http://www.squeezedbooks.com http://www.squeezedbooks.com It never really got anywhere, but I think business book summaries are a good idea; they're a direct response to all the added fluff.

jamesbritt 15y ago

Can "The Checklist Manifesto" book be reduced to 80-100 pages? Oh, certainly. I read that book either last year or early this year, and while it had some interesting points it felt highly padded. It made me wonder, though, if the inclusion of a lot of touchy-feely content with emotional resonance was a technique to make things more memorable. That is, people respond to stories more so than just facts, so wrapping your bare facts in a story leads to a more lasting impression and (hopefully) action. I still think most books could cut out a lot of their True Stories but it may not be all fluff. My own true story: A few years ago at a local Ruby user group I was passing around some books, and one of them was about 100 pages and cost US $40. I commented on the price/page ratio, and a friend remarked that he would pay twice as much if they author could have made the book half the length.

swombat 15y ago

The huge problem with taking out all the stories is that the book becomes quicker to read, but much drier and less memorable. Stories make things stick in the reader's mind, as well as providing additional angles to explain complicated concepts by example. As a simple example, I could explain that you shouldn't call for help when you don't need it, because people will start to ignore you and then you won't get the help when you do need it... or I could tell you the story of the boy who cried wolf. Which one do you think you'll remember in a year? Stories are powerful stuff.

hello_moto 15y ago
I hear you and agree to what you said given the context (complicated concepts, etc). But somehow I doubt these books (Lean Startups, Checklist Manifesto, Agile) are complicated concepts. Derivatives and HFT might be considered complicated concepts. Quicker to read but if it is to the point (especially bullet points) might lead to quicker to remember. I've seen many bloggers claimed they read a 350 pages book in 2 sessions, 1 session, a flight to Chicago (5 hours?) and claiming that they "get it" is a bit questionable. Perhaps they know where the points are and skip the irrelevant parts? If that's the case, why not make the book slimmer? :D But, it is what it is: there's probably a demand from society expecting their money to be worth. I'm asking for a separation of the theory and the application. Start the book with the theory first and finish it with the application (business-case, use-case) to avoid intermingling the concept and the examples.

wpietri 15y ago

My theory is that it's an audience problem. Most buyers of business books are managers. Managers spend most of their time focused on people. So I suspect they will only feel like they really understand something when they understand it in terms of people. For those of us who are more oriented to fact and data, it's just the opposite. Thus every business book seems to us like it's padded with bullshit and light on facts.

davidw 15y ago

One of my own endeavors was to create a site for 'squeezing' books: http://www.squeezedbooks.com http://www.squeezedbooks.com It never really got anywhere, but I think business book summaries are a good idea; they're a direct response to all the added fluff.