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I’m planning to read 50 books from June 2008 through May 2009. The Prologue, Part 1, posted on May 12, 2008, introduces the project.

If you’ve looked at my reading list, you will have seen a column called "Source." I wanted a way to track the recommendations for the titles and this field captures that. A few of the records have the names of friends and colleagues, several are blank (meaning that I don’t remember where the recommendation originated). But many of the titles came from one of three sources: Personal MBA, Presentation Zen, and Get Rich Slowly.

Personal MBA
The Personal MBA was a project started in 2005 by Josh Kaufman. The PMBA features a reading list, blog, and discussion forums. In Josh’s words, here’s what the PMBA is about:

Business schools don’t have a monopoly on worldly wisdom. If you’re serious about learning advanced business principles, the Personal MBA can help. The Personal MBA recommended reading list is the tangible result of hundreds of hours of reading and research, and features only the very best books the business press has to offer. So skip the fancy diploma and $150,000 loan - you can get a world-class business education simply by reading these books.

A favorable BusinessWeek article from April 2006 commended the site’s approach to self-education. The PMBA reading list provided several titles on my list.

Presentation Zen
Regular readers will not be surprised at the inclusion of titles recommended on Garr Reynolds’s Presenation Zen site. In December 2006, Garr recommended a number of books on presenting and design. Garr’s own book, Presentation Zen, was published in December 2007 and I highly recommend it.

Get Rich Slowly
J.D. Roth started this site, now one of the most heavily-trafficed personal finance blogs, to document his journey out of debt and into financial independence:

You will not find any get rich quickly schemes here. You will not find multi-level marketing fads or hot stock tips here. I am not pitching any product or book. (Yet.)

You will find daily information about personal finance and related topics. I’ll share stories about debt elimination, saving money, and practical investing. I will post occasional reviews of books, magazines, and software. I will scour the web for the latest personal finance tools and articles. I’ll also post news on related topics like simplicity, frugality, and personal development. (I believe that personal growth is systemic, that in order to improve financially, you have to improve in other areas of your life.)

In March 2007, J.D. wrote a post entitled Building a Personal Finance Library: 25 of the Best Books About Money. Since I’m teaching a college class in personal finance next fall, I wanted to familiarize myself with some of these popular titles.

In the next 50 Books post, I’ll share the titles I plan to read in June.

Filed under: 50 Books, Learning, Reading by Michael