add technical blogging writeup; add personal mba writeup

Author: Matt Swanson

_posts/2012-07-25-technical-blogging.md

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+---
+layout: writeup
+title: "Technical Blogging"
+categories:
+- writeup
+---
+
+![](/static/technical-blogging.jpg)  
+[Technical Blogging: Turn Your Expertise into a Remarkable Online Presence][link]   
+Antonio Cangiano    
+ISBN: 1934356883    
+
+---
+
+**What's the point?**  
+This book provides a step-by-step guide for planning and writing a successful technical
+blog. Additionally, the author describes how to get the most benefit from your blog.
+ 
+**How was it?**  
+I think someone new to blogging would get a lot out of this book. That being said, I did
+not find it to be that useful for me.
+ 
+The book starts by helping you plan out what your blog is going to be. By answering a
+series of questions (will your blog be niche or general? will you write essays or
+tutorials?), you can narrow down your focus and figure out a plan for maintaining and
+growing your blog.
+ 
+Near the end of the book was where I started finding practical advice that I could use.
+The book covers a wide range of monetization strategies (ads, sponsorships, affiliate
+links), but more importantly, also talked about some of the other benefits you get from
+blogging (building an audience, becoming an expert in the field).
+ 
+**Who should read it?**  
+Overall, I think the book would be very useful for someone interested in blogging that
+didn't know where to begin. For people that already have a blog, you can probably skim a
+few of the later sections and skip the rest.
+
+[link]: http://pragprog.com/book/actb/technical-blogging

_posts/2012-07-25-the-personal-mba.md

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+---
+layout: writeup
+title: "The Personal MBA"
+categories:
+- writeup
+---
+
+![](/static/personal-mba.jpg)  
+[The Personal MBA: Master the Art of Business][link]   
+Josh Kaufman    
+ISBN: 1591843529    
+
+---
+
+**What's the point?**  
+This book collects a bunch of business, pop psychology, and productivity books, 
+extracts the good parts and then groups them into categories.
+ 
+**How was it?**  
+I really liked this book. When someone asked about the book while I was reading it, I 
+described it as a software "patterns" book for business.
+ 
+The book consists of over 200 bite-sized articles about various business and 
+entrepreneurial topics. There is a wide range of things covered, from basic accounting 
+to the psychology of habits to systems theory. The style of writing is very approachable 
+and it was easy to digest the book a few sections at a time.
+ 
+**Who should read it?**  
+I would recommend anyone interested in learning more about business or entrepreneurship
+to start by reading this book. Afterwards, you can pick a topic to dive deeper into 
+based on the author's other recommendations.
+
+[link]: http://book.personalmba.com/