
Ask HN: Books about “unethical” behavior? - tucaz
I’m looking for books on “unethical” behavior. More specifically about non conventional practices, stories or anecdotes about situations that people may not have acted in good faith.<p>We all look up to successful people and what they did to get there. However, most of the time only the ethical and good things are published.<p>Is there a book that describe bad things people did to get there that they couldn’t talk about publicly? Even if it’s fictional it is ok as long as it is related to business.
======
Nomentatus
It's hard to find books about ethical behavior, except maybe good behavior in
extremis. Man bites dog is a story, not the other way 'round, after all. And
"dog nicely licks hand" is certainly not a story. I have a lot of books, and I
wonder if I could find five that don't discuss unethical behavior if only as
counterexample illustrations. Certainly no novels that don't.

Among the best though: Barbarians at the Gate, Enron: The Smartest Guys in the
Room, most books concerning the history of medicine and any Trump biography
published after he leaves office, no doubt. Any Jobs biography. The story of
NeXT - his European head committed fraud that brought the company down.

Years ago I read an excellent biography of John D. MacArthur, the Insurance
giant that would suit you well. Famous now for the "Genius Grants" given out
by the MacArthur Fellows Program. John D. Rockefeller (who would argue his own
virtues, of course.) Wolf of Wall Street.

On my list to read:

Images of organization Paperback – Jan 1997 by Gareth Morgan (Author)
[https://www.amazon.ca/Images-organization-Gareth-
Morgan/dp/0...](https://www.amazon.ca/Images-organization-Gareth-
Morgan/dp/0761906320)

The Organization Man by William H. Whyte
[http://a.co/2kRfJHA](http://a.co/2kRfJHA)

The above 2 books said to be consistent with The Gervais Principle:

[https://www.ribbonfarm.com/2009/10/07/the-gervais-
principle-...](https://www.ribbonfarm.com/2009/10/07/the-gervais-principle-or-
the-office-according-to-the-office/)

Plus The Prince of War: Billy Graham's Crusade for a Wholly Christian Empire
by Cecil Bothwell [http://a.co/17NKkDg](http://a.co/17NKkDg)

and

MOTHER TERESA: The Untold Story by Aroup Chatterjee
[http://a.co/hqumhdA](http://a.co/hqumhdA)

Plus a small pile of (contemporary) books about slavery, and slavery as a
business, most in the public domain, now.

One problem you might encounter is that sociopaths often do very well in
business, but are not always interesting in a story-sense because their self-
concern is so predictable. Mere lack of empathy isn't a motive, so wrapping a
detailed story around that is pretty hard.

~~~
tucaz
Thanks for all the recommendations! My question came from a sort of personal
anecdote. A situation that made clear how many people are successfull because
they play in the “grey” area and usually the people just trying to do the
right thing get screwed.

Of course thinking that the doing the right thing gets you the best results is
naive but I still think it’s knda crazy to know that a lot of people we
consider to be references might be there because they played dirty a few times
while climbing the ladder.

~~~
Nomentatus
Yeah, "grey" is a VERY interesting question. You have me there. I definitely
wasn't grey enough when I was younger, and that could hurt others, not just my
results.

------
Rzor
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confessions_of_an_Economic_Hit...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confessions_of_an_Economic_Hit_Man)

Part autobiography, part novel.

