Product Reviews: Part 6
This past week (August 1, 2013), my Amazon reviews hit the milestone of 2000 cast votes. I had originally written a draft post that marked the milestones of 250 written reviews and 1500 helpful votes (May 24, 2012 marked the milestone of 1500 cast votes), but these milestones were quickly surpassed in a relatively short period of time, making it a moot point to write about them.
In the spirit of my Google Analytics posts that discuss most frequently visited pages alongside the top countries and cities of origins for these visits, listed below are my top 5 reviews of business and technology books with at least 20 helpful votes, ranked by the number of helpful votes each has received.
As mentioned in my last post in this series, nonfiction books in other subject areas have received more votes that these, but somewhat like the New York Times Bestseller lists, I have filtered the list based on the audiences this blog is intended to target.
#1: 54 helpful votes of 56 (96.4%)
Software Estimation: Demystifying the Black Art (Best Practices), by Steve McConnell, Microsoft Press, 2006.
Reviewed on July 4, 2006. Currently still the top Amazon review of this book.
At the time, I commented that "this book is absolutely the best software estimation text I have read to date". While this is still true, alongside this book I now recommend a book by Mike Cohn that I reviewed the following year called "Agile Estimating and Planning".
#2: 43 helpful votes of 48 (89.6%)
Playing to Win: How Strategy Really Works, by A. G. Lafley and Roger L. Martin, Harvard Business Review Press, 2013.
Reviewed January 8, 2013. Currently still the top Amazon review of this book.
Good business texts are rare, and this book is among the top strategy texts that I have read in my career. Two other strategy texts that I recommend are "The Limits of Strategy: Lessons in Leadership from the Computer Industry", by Ernest von Simson, and "Strategy Safari: A Guided Tour Through the Wilds of Strategic Management", by Henry Mintzberg, Bruce Ahlstrand, and Joseph Lampel.
#3: 33 helpful votes of 48 (68.8%)
The Lean Startup: How Today's Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses, by Eric Ries, Crown Business, 2011.
Reviewed January 8, 2013.
The low number of helpful votes relative to the number of cast votes is an anomaly. Most of my other reviews which have received a relatively low number of helpful votes were likely the result of readers disagreeing with either what the authors or I had to write, rather than the purpose of a vote, which is intended to indicate whether the review was helpful as part of an individual purchase decision.
#4: 28 helpful votes of 29 (96.6%)
DW2.0: The Architecture for the Next Generation of Data Warehousing (Morgan Kaufmann Series in Data Management Systems), by William H. Inmon, Derek Strauss, and Genia Neushloss, Morgan Kaufmann, 2008.
Reviewed September 26, 2008. Currently still the top Amazon review of this book.
This book maintains the distinction of being one of the worst technology texts that I have read in my entire career. The fact that I have received such a high number of helpful votes for a book about which I have been so openly disappointed seems to indicate that readers respect honest opinions. The interesting thing is that honest negative opinions seem to be more well received for technology texts.
#5: 24 helpful votes of 27 (88.9%)
The Secrets of Consulting: A Guide to Giving and Getting Advice Successfully, by Gerald M. Weinberg, Dorset House Publishing, 1986.
Reviewed November 13, 2003. Currently #3 of 48 reviews of this book at Amazon.
Nearly 10 years ago, I commented that this is "an incredibly informative and entertaining consulting book", and I still continue to recommend it. I have written about some of the author's laws, rules, and principles in the past, and have received surprise correspondence from Gerald M. Weinberg as a result. Given the time, I would love to write additional commentary based on my years as a consultant.