It's fairly easy to criticize something that somebody did, but it's usually a lot harder to do better.
From what I understand about how Daniel put this together, he wrote some software to create these lists, he did not try to add his own 'value judgement' to what got on there or not.
Presumably he could have done a better job, but that goes for any piece of software, so instead of saying that 'we could do a better job' try to be specific and indicate which books you think belonged there and which did not (and maybe why?) that way Daniel has something that he can use to try to figure out if he can improve things.
There have been many attempts at 'crowdsourcing a list of relevant books' but none that I've seen got longer term traction and I'm really happy that someone is willing to invest the time and the effort in to making this happen.
First versions almost always suck, now let's see how to make it much better than what it is today without diminishing the contribution in a way that reads as though you think Daniel intends to score 'big bucks' from this somehow.
I understand your perspective, but I don't think a list of books generated from best sellers/most popular is the way to go... after all that's why I don't want to get an MBA - because it's the same old populous thinking that actually ISN'T the way forward nor most relevant to startups.
Boy are you preaching to the choir. It's weird to see my own objections to my own article repeated back to me.
I'd like to make a couple of points for you to consider:
1) Regarding monetizing the links, there are two possible arguments: a) that it is beneath the quality of the board to publish sites that monetize so blatantly, and b) it was an attempt by me to somehow "game" HN so I could (presumably) make a buck from something that people liked.
This is a startup-related board. Hundreds, if not thousands of startup founders read and post here every week. Guys that are making money using Adsense on free web sites, guys that are making money on freemium models, guys that are trying to get as much traffic as possible and worrying about the money all the time. No matter what kind of application or startup you have, monetizing eyeballs is part of the discussion here. At the end of the day, each bit of traffic means server costs. That means that there has to be some trade-off. As several pointed out, print out the list and take it to your bookstore.
As far as gaming the system and making the board go to hell, let me remind you that we've had "rate my startup" posts for years. Lots of them had blatant monetization strategies right there for folks to see. Apps asking for donations, apps using paid recommendations, apps for using gradual engagement. I think this is a pretty sophisticated bunch of folks. If I thought for just one second that my post would lead to blatant link-spamming of HN I wouldn't have posted it. Fact is, HN is already being blatantly link-spammed. All sorts of articles both on the front page and on the new page have all sorts of profit models. That's why we vote. I honestly think the quality will continue on at about the same level as before. If not, then I'll be the first to ask PG to remove my article. My reputation in the community is not worth the few bucks I might make off the article.
2) about the following the crowd thing, boy am I in there with you.
I am not a book-seller. I'm simply a startup guy who has read a lot of books and would like to share that with others. In my post, I recommended that people follow the discussion on places like Amazon (or here) before deciding to buy any kind of book. I have to say here that there were a lot of benefits to the readers (and author) by using those affiliate links. Amazon serves the image, Amazon provides an up-front price current price before you click. Amazon even hosts a reviewing an discussion system. All of that is simply too much to ask for one blogger to put together for one article. I strongly advise folks to come back to HN and read the discussion and also to track the discussion over on other sites before buying a book. After all, Ben, I'm the guy who wrote a blog article a couple of weeks ago criticizing both popular authors and people who follow their books blindly! So I'm the last guy to want to see people just follow the crowd in their purchasing decisions. Use your brain, compare notes, make an informed choice. Even after you get a book, be careful how you apply it. I really hope that I got that message through.
Finally, why be so cynical? This board is all about hackers and startups. I'm happy to share my traffic and revenue numbers from the post, I'm happy to talk about whether or not a website that provided information like my blog article would make sense. Perhaps somebody else can take what we've learned with my post and make something of value to people. We're here to learn from each other, not make a quick buck at other people's expense. That was never the intention.
From what I understand about how Daniel put this together, he wrote some software to create these lists, he did not try to add his own 'value judgement' to what got on there or not.
Presumably he could have done a better job, but that goes for any piece of software, so instead of saying that 'we could do a better job' try to be specific and indicate which books you think belonged there and which did not (and maybe why?) that way Daniel has something that he can use to try to figure out if he can improve things.
There have been many attempts at 'crowdsourcing a list of relevant books' but none that I've seen got longer term traction and I'm really happy that someone is willing to invest the time and the effort in to making this happen.
First versions almost always suck, now let's see how to make it much better than what it is today without diminishing the contribution in a way that reads as though you think Daniel intends to score 'big bucks' from this somehow.