My boss recently bought a couple of books that he expected my team to read.
In the past when previous bosses have done this, I've generally gained a lot out of reading the books, even if I disliked some aspects of their arguments I've been able to get a lot of insight from the arguments and evidence presented.
But this book is complete garbage. Truly first rate trash. It barely qualifies as a book. Conquer Your Rebrand, is ostensibly meant to be a business strategy guide to branding. But it is more like a long winded LinkedIn post. It's clearly an attempt by the author to fill his sales pipeline that's barely disguised as him passing on 'expertise.' It presents no compelling arguments, no evidence, is severely lacking in any sort of citations and is written like someone desperately trying to flog a timeshare at a weekend convention. I have redlined the shit out of it but I got so infuriated reading it that I can't imagine how to have a decent discussion with my boss about this book without seeming like my low opinion of this book reflects back on him (which in reality it really does.)
I think it's so much worse because I just finished two brilliant books on my own time —Jack Welsh: The Man Who Broke Capitalism and When McKinsey Comes To Town: The Hidden Influence of The World's Biggest Consulting Firm — that both present compelling arguments, detailed referencing and excellent writing.
How would you handle this?
If your boss gave you this book with the honest intention to hear you opinion and share ideas, just be sincere and say what you said here: "It presents no arguments, is severely lacking in any sort of citations..." and the rest. You say that it's garbage without explicitly saying it. It may even give birth to a real interchange of ideas. Mentioning the books you liked instead may even prove positive for everybody involved.
If, on the contrary, it's the usual material from crappy bosses that only want to reaffirm themselves in their bossy bullshit, just tell them that it was "very remarkable and with very enlightening ideas" and move on.