Business Book Breakdown
Joe Wikert swears off business books:
http://jwikert.typepad.com/the_average_joe/2008/11/business-book-breakdown.html
and in the process, he highlights one of the reasons for Squeezed Books to exist: most business books are pretty high on the fluff/content ratio. Even a lot of the good ones which present a noteworthy idea need to pad out those ideas to make a book out of them, as the basic idea can usually be described in a few pages.
The part of Squeezed Books that I really hope to get going is the discussion of books, because I think that can add a lot of value for people. Reading a book is part of learning, but you often internalize and consider things more deeply when you actually discuss the ideas in the book, subjecting them to critical examination, and applying them to situations you have experienced.
Incidentally, I also rejigged the site's look and feel, using the blueprint CSS 'framework'. I'm not much of a designer, so I have to aim for simple and not unpleasant, rather than beautiful and flashy.
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about 8 hours later:
on the subject of padding, see also http://www.economist.com/blogs/freeexchange/2006/12/doing_the_books.cfm
about 12 hours later:
Gregor, good find, although my inclination is to believe that it's not a question of sunk costs (they get started and discover there's not that much there), but more a question of authors who want to expand something that's not that complex into a book, and get into it with their eyes open, so to speak.