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, does not exist. 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. China's booming economy has spawned a new class of private entrepreneurs, managers and students craving how-to books on management, particularly Western ones. But in a land where bootleg goods are widespread, bogus books are no exception.

Although bogus books are not confined to business topics, they are particularly prevalent in that field, largely because most management volumes are translated and are in high demand. Management books are so popular that they take up huge sections in bookstores, often in the front.

Previously, bogus books were simply pirated copies of real versions, sold on the streets for a fraction of bookstore prices. But these days, experts say, scores of business texts in mainland book stores 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 feature glowing dummy reviews.

``There are [bogus] recommendations from Bill Gates, The New York Times or even Einstein, which is really ridiculous,'' said Jiang Ruxiang, general manager of Beijing Zion Consulting, which has been trying to expose the problem ever since Jiang found out that his own articles were copied into someone else's book.

He and his staff of six recently inspected about 1,000 different management books. A third were deceiving readers, Jiang said.

``The most harmful influence of these books is that a large number of China's best entrepreneurs are learning wrong and misleading management principles,'' he said.

Yet many readers have no idea just how common bogus books are, highlighting the mainland's bumpy transition to a market economy as well as people's inexperience with advertising.

``Most people still believe books tell the truth,'' said Oliver Liu, legal counsel for Chinadotcom, a software and mobile communications company based in Hong Kong. Although the government has begun to crack down on the fraud, Liu and other experts do not think things will improve much until laws target phony books and impose stiffer penalties on violators.

At the heart of the problem, though, is the central government's system of censorship and control of the book industry.

Before a volume can be printed, it must obtain an official book registration number. Numbers are allocated by the government to publishing house editors who, in turn, sell them to people wanting to have their books printed. All publishing houses are state owned.

On average, Jiang said, a book number in Beijing is sold for about 20,000 yuan (HK$18,850). But in the past couple of years, analysts say, some have been fetching considerably more, up to US$12,000 (HK$93,600).

Editors pocket some of the hefty gains. But the ones who profit the most are individuals or groups who put these bogus books together and collect a big share of the sales.

At about US$4 a copy, Executive Ability is estimated to have grossed about US$8 million. The publisher of the first volume, which was co-authored by a fictitious white-haired Duke University professor named David Byrne, said it was duped like everybody else.

``We lack the experience to distinguish these new fake books,'' said China Chang An Publishing House vice president Chen Xiaojun.

He said Chang An took on the book after people claiming to be from a Phoenix Publishing Group in Hong Kong showed what appeared to be a copyright license for an English version of Executive Ability. Chen said Chang An agreed to pay Phoenix Publishing an 8 percent licensing fee. (Business directories and other publishing sources show no company called Phoenix Publishing Group in Hong Kong.)

Chang An sold about 160,000 copies of Executive Ability before the publisher learned it was a sham. Chang An stopped printing it and pulled copies from bookstores. But other publishers soon put out Volumes 2 through 5, Chen said.

``Many publishing houses are having lots of troubles these days competing for readers and trying to survive in the market,'' Chen said. ``So, many of them tend to publish books that can be easily compiled and sold.''

Wang Zhe, who works for an investment banking firm in Shanghai, said he received a copy of Executive Ability for his birthday in November.

``It's a nice book,'' said Wang, who finished Volume 2 of the series in two weeks. He was hard-pressed to explain details of the 256-page book but said the overall point was that successful managers pay attention to details.

``Such a person doesn't exist?'' he asked when told of the fabricated author. ``I had no idea.''

A little incredulous, he added: ``This was the No1 book last month. A lot of people want to borrow it from me.''

It is understandable why budding executives and entrepreneurs in the mainland would be hungry for Western self-help books. Its market economy is relatively new, so there's a widespread perception that foreign books are superior.

``The Western books are more updated and provide innovative ideas,'' said Shi Qi, 22, a business administration major at Fudan University in Shanghai. Told about bogus books, Shi was also stunned.

``I would never believe it,'' he said, as he paused from browsing racks of management books at Shanghai Book City, one of the city's largest. ``No one has told me that in bookstores we have fakes.''

But right before his eyes were a number of suspicious volumes. One book, with a common title of Survival of the Fittest, had no information about who wrote the book.

There also were numerous books with the word ``Excuse'' in their title, undoubtedly mimicking the success of No Excuse, published by a Machinery Industry Press. That book, with a fictitious author, sold about two million copies last year, according to government reports.

Beijing is pushing publishers to better monitor the situation.

That would not be soon enough for Yu Shiwei, a renowned scholar and management consultant in Shanghai who has done postdoctoral work at Harvard and Oxford universities.

Yu is real, as are his credentials. But he is battling the ghost of Paul Thomas, the bogus author of Executive Ability.

The fictitious Thomas, after his name became famous, recommended another management book called Ying Zai Zhi Xing, or Execution Wins. The author of this book is said to be Yu.

But, in fact, Yu never wrote that book, which became so popular that at the end of one of Yu's lectures, a student produced 10 copies of the fake book and asked for his signature.

``For sure, we were really furious about that,'' said Li Xiufang, an assistant to Yu.

``But we also felt helpless and powerless. Yu said these readers were innocent. So he went ahead and signed the books, without pointing out that they were fakes.''

LOS ANGELES TIMES