So look, before you do the knee-jerk comment about how I’ve crossed the line into shameless self-promotion for my book, “Options,” let me say it for you: This post amounts to shameless self-promotion for my book, “Options.” Okay? Am I buggin ya? I don’t mean to bug ya. But if I am, accept my apology, skip this item and wait for the next one. Otherwise, read on. Turns out my book was recently read by an online book group made up of law professors. These guys have an interesting take on the material because the main thrust of the book involves Apple’s attempts to deal with the SEC investigation into its accounting. And while the humor in the novel is very, very broad, the law profs understood that there’s also something serious being tackled in the book, albeit in a satirical way.

So I was gratified to read this blog post by law professor Larry Ribstein, who enjoyed “Options” and says my protagonist reminds him of Tony Soprano and that my novel touches on a subject he raised a few years ago in a scholarly paper where he discussed the notion that some modern-day CEOs are “Machiavellian, narcissistic, prevaricating, pathologically optimistic, free from self-doubt and moral distractions, willing to take great risk as the company moves up and to lie when things turn bad, and nurtured by a corporate culture that instills loyalty to insiders, obsession with short-term stock price, and intense distrust of outsiders.” (Those are his words, not mine.)

As I think other people who’ve published books will attest, it’s really a strange but gratifying experience to put something out into the world and see how people respond to it, especially because often they respond in ways that you would never have imagined. As soon as it leaves your hands the book takes on a life of its own. It means different things to different people. It’s very cool to see that happen. Much love, Larry Ribstein. Namaste. I bow to you.

And just FYI, the book is still available in fine stores everywhere. Click on the link in the right sidebar and you can snap it up on Amazon for a mere fifteen dollars.