Here is why this updated edition is worth your time—even if you’ve already read the original. The tagline of the book is simple: Master the Art of Business. Kaufman’s argument is radical for the academic world. He believes that the core curriculum of a $200,000, two-year MBA can be learned for the cost of a public library card (or a $15 book).
If you’ve ever felt the pang of imposter syndrome because you don’t have an MBA from Harvard or Stanford, Josh Kaufman’s The Personal MBA has likely been on your radar.
Also, if you hate reading and want step-by-step video tutorials, this will feel like homework. It is dense. There are no pictures. It is 500 pages of pure text. The Personal MBA is not a shortcut. It is a scaffold .
9/10 Best for: Self-learners, freelancers, startup founders, and anyone afraid of business jargon.
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For the entrepreneur bootstrapping a side hustle, the middle manager who feels stuck, or the recent grad who wants to understand how the world actually works—buy the 10th Anniversary Edition.
It won’t give you a network of alumni connections, but it will give you the vocabulary to have intelligent conversations with those alumni. It won’t give you a summer internship at Goldman Sachs, but it will teach you why Goldman Sachs makes money (arbitrage and spread) in the first ten pages.
The 10th Anniversary Edition doesn’t change that thesis; it sharpens it.
