Sharing that one is well past what has been conventionally defined as an ‘impressionable age’, would be an understatement. But, having said that, the past few months had me having the opportunity to be accessing extremely well written material, which I am happy to be sharing.
Being a sucker for words (apart from being a self claimed wordsmith and copywriter), what jolted me to immediate attention was the title of this book ‘ Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less ‘. Having read it(and forwarded it to more than 100 of my friends and business associates), the least I would want to say is that the book, beautifully put together by Greg McKeown, is essential reading. The book is a gentle yet powerful reminder that we have been(or are) missing the wood for the trees, most of the time. A reality check in an era of virtual dominance. To summarise, what Greg says is that less done better is the best way ahead.
If logical and numerical sequence is anything to subscribe to, Zero to One is the obvious way to go. Peter Thiel(co founder of PayPal and Palantir and the first outside investor in Facebook apart from funding companies like LinkedIn and SpaceX) has a different take on that. What he says is that when we make something new, we go from zero to one not when you do something that you already know. The act of creation is singular, as is the content of the creation, and the result is something fresh and strange. The book acts as a navigation tool to get there. If a risk taker like Peter Thiel suggests something, it is worth taking up.
The difference between helping and selling is just two letters. That’s what Jay Baer articulates in his high utility book ‘ Youtility ‘. Smart marketing is about help not hype. About brands creating content that will be valued and revered by customers. If you sell something, you make a customer today, but if you genuinely help someone, you create a customer for life. In an always on, hyper cluttered marketplace, brands just cannot break through with product messages like they used to. Providing information that is usable helps immensely. For all those brands wanting to create long term and meaningful engagement with their customers, this book is truly ‘ Youtilitarian ‘.
Seth Godin, Scott Belsky, Sebastin Thrun, Chris Guillebeau, Andy Dunn, Tim O’Reilly and several more of like high pedigree, all in one book, offered as a distilled compendium of actionable, future ready nuggets…how is that for impact? Make Your Mark: The Creative’s Guide To Building A Business With Impact features hard won wisdoms from 21 leading entrepreneurs and experts. Make Your Mark (published by 99U, Behance) arms you with practical insights for building a creative business that will make a lasting impact. So, if you are ready to make a ‘ dent in the universe ‘, this book is for you.
Yet another brilliantly coined title pulled me towards the book ‘ Stuffocation ‘by James Wallman, the author tells us through a compelling narrative, why we have had enough of gathering stuff and why we need to accumulate experiences more than ever. It’s a happy confluence of Freakonomics meeting The Tipping Point.
These were some of the ‘read hot‘(pardon the pun) books that I had the privilege of reading the past few weeks and I look forward to sharing more in the coming weeks.
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