

Just finished reading Rework by 37signals, here’s what I think - prgmatic
http://narekk.com/post/448844146/just-finished-reading-rework-by-37signals-heres-what

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prgmatic
Wow, did not think people would get offended by that. Amazon link has been
removed :)

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thesethings
The rule says you're gonna hear more feedback when people are unhappy than
when they're happy. So I thought I'd pipe in and say that I was totally aware
of the affiliate link, and didn't mind it at all.

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prgmatic
Yup! I think most people are in the same boat. My original intention was "OK,
if my 2 cents about this book motivates someone to go out and buy it, I guess
Amazon could share a few cents with me" but now I see that this lumps my
review into the "sales" and "ad pitch" department.. and that is not what I
intended.

In any case, as you can see from my tumblr blog (narekk.com) I do not write or
post much. I may, however, post meaningful things in the future. HN readers
gives great feedback.

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prgmatic
Would love to here what others thought about the book as well.

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portman
I was surprised by the lack of intellectual rigor. It reads like a cross
between "Chicken Soup" and "Dr. Seuss".

Examples: the book is 288 pages but only 30,000 words; every other page is an
illustration, and most pages are only 3/4 full; footnotes are rare, and
usually reference some pop-biz online piece from Forbes or BusinessWeek.

The final chapter (on culture) was very good. It's a topic that doesn't
require any rigor to be effective. But the rest of the book was actually one
of the more disappointing reads of the last 12 months.

Edit: I'm sorry this is so negative. I really like 37sigs and Jason in
particular. Maybe I had too high expectations?

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prgmatic
I agree on the lack of rigor, but I think this was intentionally written this
way. I think one of their goals is to disrupt the reader's assumptions on what
comprises a business.

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whalesalad
Off topic, but wow I was surprised to open this link up and find that the
author and I sat next to each other in 9th grade Physics :D

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prgmatic
I think that physics class was the highlight of our freshman year :)

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antirez
Would love to read an review without a referral link at the end.

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jacquesm
That's just a thinly veiled amazon partner ad, including the 'bait' about page
241 and the 'get it today' link at the end.

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jfornear
I agree, but I think it's worth noting that there's nothing inherently wrong
with using referral links (if your review is honest and includes a
disclaimer).

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prgmatic
Jfornear, my review was well intentioned. But I've removed the link anyway.

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jfornear
I don't doubt that, just keep in mind how sensitive "geeks" are when it comes
to advertising, affiliate links, etc. :)

You could just add a disclaimer like: "I use Amazon Affiliate links to link to
books I like."

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prgmatic
This is true. The last thing I want to do is offend the community.

I would use your disclaimer suggestion, but the few dollars that my Amazon
link would generate is not worth offending HN readers. Getting feedback,
creating discussions, and contributing to the community is more important
here.

Thanks for the suggestion.

