Should You Read Business Books?

I started writing a reply to a HackerNews thread on "Most business books are a waste of time." It got long, so I turned it into this blog post. Here's my response.

Having read hundreds of books over the last 25 years, here’s what I’ve come to believe.

There are academic books and there are business books. Academic books are written for precision. They’re written for peers. Business books are written to be accessible and readable. A spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down. That’s why they’re filled with stories and case studies. But that’s also why they often feel fluffy. You can’t dismiss them just for that.

# Knowledge, Insight, and Discernment

I look at business books through the lens of a prayer Paul writes to the Philippians. He prays for knowledge, depth of insight, and discernment. For any executive or leader, or anyone trying to be useful, these three are non-negotiable.

And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best - Philippians 1:9-10

Business books give you knowledge. They help you understand the vocabulary, the frameworks, the mental models others are using. But knowledge alone is not enough.

Insight comes when you synthesize what you’ve read across different books and even different disciplines. That’s when you start connecting ideas, not just repeating them.

And discernment? That only comes when you’ve applied what you’ve learned in your context, with all the mess and risk that come with it. You have to try something, fail, succeed, reflect. Only then do you begin to develop judgment.

These three—knowledge, insight, and discernment—do not follow a neat sequence. It’s a cycle. You read, you try, you reflect, and you go again.

# Every Book Has a Bias

“When we study a topic we need to follow an organizing scheme. Any organizing scheme will inevitably emphasize some aspects and overlook other aspects. As like in maps, reality is portrayed partially and incompletely to help you get to your destination. The way to evaluate an organizing scheme, then, is to find out how faithfully it assists the traveler in the journey.” — Practicing the King’s Economy

Every book is a map. And all maps leave things out.

So before you judge a book, ask:
What is the author’s point of view? What are they leaving out? Who are they writing for?

If their context is different from yours, the book might feel useless. But that doesn’t make it bad. And if it sounds perfect, it still may not fit your world.

# Directives vs Stories

Some books should have been essays. Some essays should have been tweets. But that only works after you’ve lived it.

Derek Sivers describes this well in his piece on directives. He says:

Compressing wisdom into directives — (“Do this.”) — is so valuable, but so rarely done.

Once you understand something, it should be expressed as a directive. Until then, you need stories, explanations, and nuance.

When I started in sales, I had a tech background. No idea how to connect with clients. Someone told me: “Make them smile.” At first, I didn’t get it. What does smiling have to do with sales?

Then someone explained: When a client smiles, they drop their guard. They start to trust you. It’s not about telling jokes. It’s about connection. Self-deprecating humor. Lightness.

Now that line—Make them smile—says everything to me. All the stories. All the failures. All the lessons. In one line.

But if you told me that on Day 1, I would have been lost. I needed the stories, until I didn't need them.

# Building a Base Before Asking Better Questions

When I became a junior project manager, I came across Josh Kaufman’s Personal MBA reading list. I bought almost every book on that list. I came from a software development background, so I didn’t understand finance, marketing, or even the basics of project management.

Those books in that list gave me a starting point. It helped me see the landscape.

I took my time. I read slowly. I tried to absorb what each book was trying to teach. As I began to apply those ideas, I started forming my own questions. They were sharper, more grounded in real experience. I could now ask experts for advice that made sense to my context. I could look for books that addressed specific gaps.

Later, I joined communities—some free, some paid—where I could talk to people who were actually doing the work. That combination of broad reading and direct conversations helped me move forward faster and with more clarity.

# Scripture Did It First

This is not a new idea.

The Bible already did this. The Ten Commandments are the directives. The rest of the Bible? It’s the fluff. Stories, explanations, interpretations, applications.

Until you understand the directives, you need the stories. You relate to the people. You see yourself in them.

And when you get the directives, they’re enough.

In fact, Jesus compressed even the Ten into just two: Love God. Love your neighbor as yourself.

That’s it.

Zoom out, and you get two lines.
Zoom in, and you find ten commands.
Zoom in further, and you find hundreds of stories.

Same truth, different levels.

Take the first commandment. You shall have no other gods before Me. All of us have a hierarchy of values. Whatever value sits at the top becomes your god. You may call it honesty or financial freedom or success. But that top value is what you pursue, and what you become like. Be careful what you put there.

Or take the command to observe Sabbath. That’s a call to rest, not just for you, but for your team, your family, your ecosystem. It’s a principle that keeps us from burnout, from emotional depletion, from depleting the land itself. You skip rest long enough, and you break not just your health, but the system around you.

And the last commandment—do not covet—warns us against mimetic desire. The more we imitate what others want, the more we lose our own identity. We become what we chase. And if we’re just copying others, we end up hollow.

All of this sits inside ten directives. And even that can be compressed to two. Zoom in, and you’ll find layers. Zoom out, and you’ll find clarity.

# Let Time Filter the Books

I don't buy business books when they just come out. I wait.

If a book is still being read and discussed five years later, it might be worth it. Otherwise, it’s just noise.

If I want to learn something current, like GenAI, I’d rather join a community. Hang out in forums. Read blog posts and conversations. The action is happening there. Not in books.

# Learn from Practicing Philosophers

If I want to learn swimming, I’ll ask someone who’s been in the water. Not someone who stood poolside watching 10,000 swimmers.

Consulting? Alan Weiss.
Life & Business? Derek Sivers.

And I read annual letters. Letters from likes of Jeff Bezos and Warren Buffett. These are not motivational fluff. They are condensed thinking from people who have done the work for decades. They are clearer and more useful than most business books I’ve read.

Wrote about what I learned from Jeff Bezos on building in public.

They don’t just tell stories. They show you how to think.

# Read Slowly, Read Deeply

I don’t speed-read. I don’t read for status.

If a book is good, I read slowly. I take notes. I think. I connect it with what I already know.

I ask:

• Do I agree with this?
• Does it apply to me?
• Why does something feel off?

Insight doesn’t come from finishing a book. It comes from wrestling with it.

# Stories Change, Truths Don’t

The basics haven’t changed in thousands of years. Money, work, trust, rest, identity.

The Richest Man in Babylon talked about camels and coins. Today we talk about SIPs and portfolios. Same ideas, different wrappers.

Each generation just tells the story in its own voice. The truths are old. The packaging changes. When you already know the truth, packaging seems waste.

# So, Should You Read Business Books?

Yes, you should. But read the ones that have survived. The ones that have been looked at from different angles, applied in real situations, challenged, and still found useful.

Know that every book carries a bias. That’s not a flaw. It’s how maps work. Just make sure you carry more than one.

Read across domains. Talk to people doing the work. Test ideas in your own context.

And when you’ve lived through the ideas—when you’ve made the work your own—distill it. Boil it down into your own set of directives. The few short lines that carry your failures, your insights, and your context.

Don’t read for status. Read for education. Read for yourself.
Not to boast on LinkedIn. Or Twitter. Or Facebook. Or whatever your show-off place is.