Brad Feld

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A Weekend Reading Theme

Mar 05, 2007
Category Books

Every now and then I realize that I had a theme to my weekend reading.  This weekend I absorbed three books: Ego Check, Toilets of the World, and The No Assholes Rule.  Do you see the theme?

Ego Check – written by CU Professor Mathew Hayward – was pretty good although once again a 225 page book could have been edited down to about 75 pages and gotten the same point across.  The anecdotes and stories were mostly familiar to me, although Hayward put them together in a cohesive framework that’s useful if you want to study leadership styles and how “executive hubris” can destroy people and companies.  Note to anyone writing a business book – think “75 pages.”

I’m fascinated by toilets and Toilets of the World didn’t disappoint.  Enough said.

The No Assholes Rule weighed in at 186 pages – about 100 pages too long.  Like Ego Check, it wasn’t a bad business book, but it was too long for the simple point that it was making.  So far, my favorite business book of all time is On Bullshit which is about the perfect length.