This is a terrible list. Is it really likely that the 10 best books for entrepreneurs were all written after 2010? These are just the latest fad books.
Thank you. To take this one step further, these books fall into the Bermuda Triangle of bullshit: taking successful experiences and expecting that they'll work for others; make you feel good -- you can do it! Don't let your boss stand in your way!; selection bias, survivor bias, ....
I don't know if I've read it somewhere and I'm regurgitating it or if it's my own original thought, but I'm going to call this the Malcolm Gladwell effect. Take your limited scope, strip away the "irrelevant" pieces (regardless of how much they could've actually mattered), package up a bunch of anecdotes that convey the point you want them to, and make people feel good about that part of themselves.
I find this particularly true for the "163 Ways to Pursue Excellence" book. I haven't read it, but the idea is laughable. Am I supposed to be "pursuing excellence" while I sit on the toilet with this "very compelling and browsable book"? It's worthless - just a way of providing people with their small fix of self-fulfillment one paragraph at a time by giving a "helpful hint" on how to improve their lives.
Sorry for the excessive use of quotations, I just wanted to emphasize the bullshit.
I've read at least two of those, and, in particular, "Switch" is not an awful read. "The rider and the elephant" is certainly not a new idea (buddhists have been saying a similar thing for millenia), but it gives you a modern framework around it to act on.
Switch is a very reasonable book about affecting organizational change, but I wouldn't include it in a list of must-reads for entrepreneurs. Oddly, I might well advocate the Heath brothers other book, Made to Stick, as it gives a framework for effective communication which is something that can benefit many entrepreneurs.
Fad you say? Then the list is not terrible, it is awesome.
If you can name-drop the latest fad, then the elite ninja hacker coder you're trying to hire will think you're part of their clique and speak their code - they will consider you an ideological comrade, and they are much more likely to come on board without thinking too much about working conditions or how the company is about to fail! Then you can get them on board and focus on your top priority: making sure you cash out before it does.
Dollar-for-dollar, a 1993 book like "Code Complete" just can't compete with that kind of usefulness. /s
