> He would tell people they couldn't do things they'd already done and then back-peddle that it wasn't possible when he'd written his book

This was the core problem: Modern technologies and frameworks move fast. His book was about the state of the art five years ago, but it was woefully out of date for what we were doing. That didn't stop him from trying to exert superiority over the more knowledgeable team members.

Some of us read his book. It wasn't even a great resource on the topic. Re-reading the Amazon reviews, I have to believe most of the positive reviews were bought or fabricated.

Since then, I'm cautious about hiring anyone who tries to portray themselves as an expert in the field. And if you're hiring an author, at least read part of their book during the interview phase.