I recently embarked on a “personal MBA” program using The Personal MBA, which is essentially a list of 77 books. The site’s creator, Josh Kaufman, links you to each of the books through his Amazon affiliate account, which I’m sure generates him enough money to pay for hosting and then some (no skin off my nose).

“Top MBA programs don’t have a monopoly on advanced business knowledge: you can teach yourself everything you need to know to succeed in life and at work. The Personal MBA Recommended Reading List features only the very best business books available, based on thousands of hours of research. So skip b-school and the $100,000 loan: you can get a world-class business education simply by reading these books.”

The reading list is broken down into several sections, and there is no need to read in order.  It’s not all business, either. There’s a whole section on “Psychology & Communication”.

You may have already read some of the books, as I had…such as “Getting Things Done” by David Allen and “The 4-Hour Workweek” by Timothy Ferriss. So far I’m enjoying the reading list and getting a fair amount of benefit from it, especially considering I haven’t paid a dime for the books I’m getting from the library.

The Personal MBA isn’t a substitute for an MBA program, but is more than adequate for those of us who want to get some basic MBA knowledge for our own endeavors.