[rajekas]

1. He made $250K self publishing a book. That itself is worth writing a post about and such posts are routinely popular on HN.

2. From all appearances, he gave the money away out of generosity rather than the need for recognition. Didn't strike me as celebrity self aggrandizement.

3. He felt both the what and the how are worth publicizing. He's a known 'thought leader' after all.

Of the three, only the third is remotely objectionable. I think it's ok to say good things about oneself doing good things.

I bet it's correlated with generosity and more likely to be so than the mean spiritedness that comes from wagging a finger at those who are putting themselves out there.