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What books do you recommend?

Being an entrepreneur, we may need to learn from books. What was the last book you read? To me, it was "Founders at work".

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Can you please add more detail to your question? As it stands now, it risks being closed. The last book someone read could have been an excellent book, or it could have been a totally worthless book. Similar questions have already been asked on the site, see the books tag. – Zuly Gonzalez♦ Dec 19 '10 at 16:17
This question is a possible duplicate of answers.onstartups.com/questions/270/… and answers.onstartups.com/questions/7542/… – Zuly Gonzalez♦ Dec 19 '10 at 16:19
I think this question is slightly different than those others, and has value as a sampling of what books other entrepreneurs are interested in at the moment, even if the selection wouldn't be in their all-time top 5 books. – Karl Krantz Dec 20 '10 at 17:05
The OnStartups site is to answer specific questions about starting up and running a business. Thank you for your participation but general polling of the membership isn't really what we do here. There are other must-read book threads that have been grandfathered in (as @Zuly linked in her comments). If you have any questions about your business, feel free to try again. – Robert Cartaino♦ Dec 22 '10 at 17:41

marked as duplicate by Robert Cartaino♦ Dec 22 '10 at 17:42

This question has been asked before and already has an answer. If those answers do not fully address your question, please ask a new question.

6 Answers

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Dance With Chance

I can't recommend it enough. Every entrepreneur should read it.

Why did no one see the subprime crisis coming? Does golf make you live longer? Why does the casino always win at roulette? What are the odds of a coconut landing on your head?

Dance with Chance answers these questions and many more besides. More importantly, it shows us how to gain greater control over many aspects of our lives - by knowing just when to trust to luck.

Written by experts for anyone with an enquiring mind, Dance with Chance will inform, inspire and entertain. In the meantime, this site offers a taster of this wonderful and timely new book.

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Just started reading it. Its different, has a "the secret" vibe, but worth reading. – Frank Dec 20 '10 at 0:06
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The last book I read was Rob Walling's Start Small, Stay Small.

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What did you think of it? – Zuly Gonzalez♦ Dec 19 '10 at 14:41
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Brilliant. Full of really practical, well-researched advice backed up by lots of evidence – mark stephens Dec 19 '10 at 15:53
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I've just finished it too. It's very good but it's meant specifically for solo developers. – Alex - Aotea Studios Dec 19 '10 at 18:44
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I really enjoyed it. It is packed with tips and good advice. I especially learnt alot about determining specific markets to target. I agree with Alex, it is aimed at solo developers whose prime goal is to automate as much as you can and the things you can't, outsource them. Overall a good read. – SmartCompanySoftware Dec 20 '10 at 8:14
I think you can download a sample chapter if you head over to www.startupbook.net – SmartCompanySoftware Dec 20 '10 at 8:15
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The last book I read (not counting those I'm in the middle of) was Making Things Happen by Scott Berkun. It was a great book on project management, which I think is important to anyone trying to run a business. The downside to it is that if you aren't involved in programming, then much of the book is too industry specific.

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Delivering Happiness by Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos.com. It's wonderful, and a book about building your business through core values, from the bad days to the heydays.

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Free by Chris Anderson

It tries to shed some light on the seemingly ludicrous freemium business model. I loved it.

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I just finished Word of Mouth Marketing for the second time. It is filled with tons of marketing how-tos, to-dos, ideas, and examples. It puts a big emphasis on marketing to your existing customer base. Definitely worth the read.

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