I'm in the process of creating a product which includes an ebook. In it I want to recommend and cite a few other sources, authors and materials which I've found helpful along the way. Am I able to do this or do I require each authors permission to even mention thier product? It is free advertising and I'm sure that if I do ask, most won't have a problem with it, I'm just wondering if anyone knows the legalities of doing this before I wade in.
No I think you should be fine. If you cite them, make sure that it is obvious that it is a citation and have a number after the citation. At the end of each chapter (or the book) have a references section with a numbered list of publications. It is common practice among scientific papers and I believe it should apply in your case too. Here is an example of what I mean (I randomly googled it): http://www.icsl.ucla.edu/aagroup/PDF_files/lna-jssc.pdf I have written a bunch of papers and it is very common to use references. After all, the scientific referencing system is where the Google founders got their idea of Pagerank from (a good paper gets referenced a lot)
Well I wouldn't have a problem with people using my stuff if they lined to my content and gave me credit, I doubt anyone else would either but I would be careful with big corporations they could be a mite more touchy.