Al Crowley's blog has another great post, commenting that business books often rehash old ideas in new ways. I agree with Al for the most part, although there are occasionally some new business books that genuinely do present new ideas. Neil Rackham's "Rethinking the Sales Force" is one example, and Jim Collins' "Good To Great" is another. Their attraction, for me, is that they're founded on reasonably solid, new research. In my experience, too many business books fawn around the edges of pseudo-science, mostly full of anecdotes and "business fables". My one-second judgement call is this: If the book has a cover with the author grinning inanely or with a superior expression on his/her mug, it probably ain't worth reading. (Notable exception: "Getting Things Done" by David Allen!)
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