Ripping Off Good Reads in China

SHANGHAI — The five-volume "Executive Ability" book series is a classic in
Chinese business and management circles. Collectively, it has sold more than
2 million copies in the last two years. Top universities and public
libraries in China keep multiple copies on hand.

It's also a big fake.

The series purports to be a translation of English-language works, but no
such titles exist. The principal author — a Paul Thomas, said to be an
eminent Harvard University business professor — is not real. Also made up is
the rave review on the back cover, attributed to the Wall Street Journal:
"The most practical and advanced management thought of our time."

There are many more where these came from.
....
Previously, fake books simply were pirated copies of real versions, sold on
the streets for a small fraction of bookstore prices. But these days,
experts say, scores of business texts in Chinese bookstores make phony
claims of origin or authorship. The contents of some are lifted right out of
journals and magazines. Others overstate the number of volumes sold or gin
up glowing reviews.

"There are [bogus] recommendations from Bill Gates, New York Times or even
Einstein, which is really ridiculous."
....
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-f...99.story?coll=
la-home-business

ROTFLMAO!

Li.Changchun wrote:

Ripping Off Good Reads in China

SHANGHAI — The five-volume "Executive Ability" book series is a classic in
Chinese business and management circles. Collectively, it has sold more than
2 million copies in the last two years. Top universities and public
libraries in China keep multiple copies on hand.

It's also a big fake.

The series purports to be a translation of English-language works, but no
such titles exist. The principal author — a Paul Thomas, said to be an
eminent Harvard University business professor — is not real. Also made up is
the rave review on the back cover, attributed to the Wall Street Journal:
"The most practical and advanced management thought of our time."

There are many more where these came from.
....
Previously, fake books simply were pirated copies of real versions, sold on
the streets for a small fraction of bookstore prices. But these days,
experts say, scores of business texts in Chinese bookstores make phony
claims of origin or authorship. The contents of some are lifted right out of
journals and magazines. Others overstate the number of volumes sold or gin
up glowing reviews.

"There are [bogus] recommendations from Bill Gates, New York Times or even
Einstein, which is really ridiculous."
....
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-f...99.story?coll=
la-home-business

ROTFLMAO!

Hey, give the Chinese an A for effort. A few years ago a zillion copies
were sold of books purporting to tell you how to prepare your child for
an American Ivy League university. Usually the only thing that changed
was the name of the school, ie "How to Get Your Child Into ****" with
**** being Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, etc. Whoever wrote the
original book got very rich if he had any business smarts at all. Hey,
China is changing, it's becoming capitalist, and soon the only thing
left of Communism will be a bunch of empty slogans.


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RD,