My crazy project : Read 52 of the best business books in 52 weeks
Author: Olivier Roland

"You wasted $150,000 on an education you coulda got for a
buck fifty in late charges at the public library." - Will
Hunting (played by Matt Damon), Good Will Hunting

Are you familiar with the Personal MBA? It's a concept
created by Josh Kaufman (following an idea by Seth Godin).
Going off the assumption that business schools don't have a
monopoly on knowledge and wisdom, he suggests that every
one of us passes a personal MBA by reading a selection of
the best business books that exist, around 77 published in
2008 (93 with supplements) in 12 different categories :

1.Quick Start
2.Productivity and Efficiency
3.Psychology and Communication
4.Design and Production
5.Marketing, Sales and Negotiation
6.Entrepreneurship
7.Management and Leadership
8.Strategy and Innovation
9.Finances and Analysis
10.Personal Finance
11.Supplement : Business History
12.Supplement : Business Reference

My crazy project involving the Personal MBA consists of 52
books from this list. I am approaching this project
seriously, and I am preparing for it in the same way I
would train for a marathon: I know that the challenge will
be long and difficult, especially once the initial
motivation - as well the enthusiasm of getting started -
wear off.

How shall I undertake this task? Here are the rules of the
challenge:

1) Choose 52 books from the actual list of The
Personal MBA.

2) Read one a week for 52 weeks. Write a relevant
summary, that includes an overall summary as well as
chapter by chapter, if the book lends itself to that.

3) Sacrifice only what is useless. I don't plan on
giving up my other activities - my business, improv
theater, sports, my two entrepreneur clubs, my other blogs,
my leisure time, my personal life. I am going to try and
organize myself better and get rid of only what is useless
- casually surfing the web, video games, YouTube,
everything that wastes precious time in general. I can't
cut out TV, since I hardly watch it anyway.

4) Take action. To think without doing something is
just as stupid as to do something without thinking. Thought
is based both on our experience - in the field - and our
knowledge - acquired from books, school, in conversation
with others.

I don't plan on necessarily reading the books in this
order, but I will try to read everything one category at a
time so that it is easier to compare and connect my new
knowledge. It will be a difficult challenge, but a really
interesting one ! :)


About the Author:

Olivier Roland is a French Entrepreneur and the Blogger of
Books that can change your life (
http://www.books-that-can-change-your-life.net/ )