Moved: Good books/tapes?

[theindustry]

I'm trying to find good books on audible.com and amazon.com on the topic of business/investing/real estate. Any suggestions to what topics and books I should be studying? I don't want to learn get rich quick schemes, I want to learn about money and how I can run a business smartly.

[JFeldman]

Here is my last purchase on Amazon:

Think & Grow Rich
Getting Past No
Getting to Yes
How to win friends and influence people
7 Habits of highly effective people
Monopolize your marketplace

This is a mini MBA program....

[JPO]

Think and Grow Rich is a great read for both business and life in general but don't buy it, get it free here.

[theindustry]

really appreciate your replies.
looking into those books now.

[EntrePR]

Here is my last purchase on Amazon:

Think & Grow Rich
Getting Past No
Getting to Yes
How to win friends and influence people
7 Habits of highly effective people
Monopolize your marketplace

This is a mini MBA program....

Ouch. I would call that list "all pumped up and nowhere to go".

OK if you are in sales, but aside from motivation, are of little use in the real world.

[tekmoney]

I enjoy a lot of Brian Tracy.... I would recommend Jay Abraham for Marketing.

[JPO]

Ouch. I would call that list "all pumped up and nowhere to go".

OK if you are in sales, but aside from motivation, are of little use in the real world.

What entrepreneur can afford not to work on their sales skills? Using the principles from How to Win Friends and Influence People increased my sales by 43% when I was way back in high school. " Just listen and use people's names? How's this going to help?" It showed me the little things matter.

[made4success]

So "EntrePR" you feel these books…
Think & Grow Rich
How to win friends and influence people
Monopolize your marketplace
Amount to nothing, and only relevant to sales?

Ever hear of "Paul Allen", or "Bill Gates", they have both read and applied these books to their business lives. I know a lot more famous names that have used these books to enable them to pursue their dreams of success.

Do not knock what you can't move or replace. (For you: If you can not suggest better reading material do not condemn what others have)

[akula]

read blogs, listen to podcasts

it's timely, free and from people in your neighborhood who are doing what you want to do

this kind of info is infinitely more useful than books and tapes

[NeeJam]

Thread moved to correct place

[EntrePR]

So "EntrePR" you feel these books…
Think & Grow Rich
How to win friends and influence people
Monopolize your marketplace
Amount to nothing, and only relevant to sales?

Actually no. How to win friends is a great read. Full of entertaining anecdotes and well written. There is some great advice in there about personal relationships. I don't really consider it a business reference book though, more self help. I would readily recommend it for it's intended purpose though.

I haven't read Monopolize your Marketplace, but here are some of the less then happy readers from amazon:

Monopolize Your Marketplace is about as close to a scam as is possible without crossing the boundary. If I could give this book and system a zero rating, I would. This company has morphed into a variety of different guises over time, staying almost one step ahead of the law and/or bankruptcy. However, they were successfully prosecuted by the FCC and lost. They have filed for bankruptcy. Don't be fooled by the slick language in their ads. It is not effective.

Separate Your Business from the Competition Then Eliminate Them". This sounds so cool...but Mr. Harshaw is full of cool terms and one-liners. These Harshaw-isms do not work. Marketing is hard, hard work, and Rich makes one believe that cleverly worded material will make all the difference. Millions of dollars have been invested by individuals to try to make Monopolize Your Marketplace concepts in this book work. An overwhelming majority of these folks did not come near what is espoused in this book. It is "pure" fantasy.

If I could rate this zero stars I would. This book is full of puffery and platitudes. The concepts are just that - concepts. There has been an enormous amount of money invested by individuals trying to get these concepts to work, only to face dismal failure. [...] If you like fiction, you will love this book.

Yes, I picked only the bad reviews, but they were all right next to each other so....

I tried to find a copy of this book to see for myself, but B&N say it's out of print and no copies in the city or county library. I'm sure as heck not going to order a copy online to prove myself right though. I did read through the amazon excerpt though and what I saw definitely jibed with the above reviews. Check out page 18 paragraph two for a shining example of complete BS. http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/1930...24#reader-link

And finally, you can read my rant against think and grow rich on the other "what to read" thread. (I would link but I'm lazy). The gist of it is: It's a self help motivational book. As I mentioned in my above post, it will get you all jazzed up and help you visualize your pot of gold. My problem with that book; aside from the quasi-spiritual puffery, untestable assumptions and bad logic; is that there is just no real direction. Nothing actionable. Nothing that will actually help you run a successful business, only some basic psychological techniques that will help you want to run a business and be successful.

And finally, since I do hate to be only negative without offering suggestions, please feel free to look up the other what to read post for my book recommendations. Number one author though: Chris Argyris. Guy is a freaking genius, but you have to work at grasping the concepts. Anyone else even heard of his work?

[made4success]

EntrePR,

The work of Chris Argyris (1923-) has influenced thinking about the relationship of people and organizations, organizational learning and action research. A director of the Monitor Group, is the James Bryant Conant Professor of Education and Organizational Behavior at Harvard Business School. ... Motivational Theories clear explanations of a number of aspects of his theories, Organizational Development and Action Science.

Chris Argyris received an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree from the University of Toronto at the convocation ceremony (MBA & BComm) on June 13, 2006. His Management Gurus and Heros Theories highly regarded guru or process and human interactions. Harvard Business School's Chris Argyris is the father of the learning organization though MIT's, theories of business management, etc.

You mean that "Chris Argyris" ?