Beth Robinson

Heroics for Beginners by John Moore

Why on earth did this book spend so long on my "to read" shelf? I picked it up one day, finished it the next, and chuckled at manipulation of fantasy story stereotypes of characters who were keenly aware of them and even capitalized some of them for emphasis. I think my favorite was that the only way to escape the Evil Overlord's fortress was through the gift shop... The plot and characters were nice too, of course, but they weren't what made the book fun for me.

Get Seen by Steve Garfield

I can only sort of claim I read this book because there was a lot more skimming going on. It's very much geared towards people ready to get going and needing careful details on how to actually carry out doing video, although it seems to be a great resource for that. I did enjoy the interviews with people who are using video.

The War of the Flowers by Tad Williams

What a convulated, layered, and detailed imagining of Faerie with a classic Hero's Journey embedded in it. Although that journey is a bit messier and more confused than they often tend to be. I enjoyed the book, but it's very long and I'll not be reading it twice.

Outside Innovation by Patricia B. Seybold

This in-depth coverage of using people outside your company to help create and improve on your products was intriguing. I'd known about open-source software, but hadn't realized how much Lego fans had contributed to the development of their robotic models. I was especially glad to read a b2b chemical industry study, since that's where my greatest interest lies.

The Collection by Gioia Diliberto

This was one of the novels I picked up for a window into another time and place. The story was told with a light hand, although it touched on some experiences that weren't as pleasant. I appreciated how much importance could be put on a dress and its stitches due to my own hobbies.

Selling the Invisible by Harry Beckworth

The philosophy here really hit me and I'll be keeping this one around to review later. I'd read about how we were selling experiences, not products, in other places, but there was a lot more to the book than that. Although it was published in 1997 I still found the ideas compelling and relevant. I especially enjoyed the section on the eighteen fallacies of planning. 

Ideas that Changed the World by Felipe Fernandez Arnesto

I enjoyed this history of the world told in ideas and blogged about it. It was fun to read something that was so visual as well. Each double page spread described one idea, with images, call-out boxes for details, and recommendations for additional reading.

Guilty Pleasures, The Laughing Corpse, Circus of the Damned, Lunatic Cafe, Bloody Bones, and The Killing Dance by Laurell K. Hamilton

Another set of re-reads. I have all but the last few books in the series (now at 16) and these are the first six. They change in nature as time goes on, becoming more adult and more about supernatural politics, but at the beginning they're more mysteries. It was interesting to be reminded of how Anita was at the beginning. And, of course, they were fun to read.

I started them up again because I'd read the recent graphic novel version of Guilty Pleasures and was curious as to how close it was to the original. It's almost an exact map. I think the drawing style is a little too pretty and pointy and could have stood to be a bit grittier, but enjoyed it anyway.

Who Says Elephants Can't Dance by Louis V. Gerstner, Jr.

I'd heard good things about this book and am glad I finally got around to reading it. What impressed me the most was how seemingly effortlessly Gerstner provided the context for all he discussed, even for someone (like me) who didn't really have the background of the whole mainframe/PC thing. I enjoyed the story and hearing about a transformation like this from the man who'd directed it. I liked his attitude and approach. Although, wow, I wasn't expecting so much controversy when I skimmed the reviews on Amazon!

On the Nightstand:

Product Development, The Invention of Air, Purpose

Sidenote:

Halfway through the year I have read 72 books. About a dozen were fast fiction rereads.

Are Your Lights On? by Donald C. Gause and Gerald M. Weinberg

This was a light hearted way trip into improving thinking abilities. It was really all about defining your problem, figuring out whose problem it actually was, and where it came from illustrated with stories and drawings. It's one of those that if you want the bullet points you'll have to go back in and do it yourself but won't mind the extra effort. 

The Way of Shadows, Shadow's Edge, and Beyond the Shadows by Brent Weeks

I'd looked at these before but never picked them up. It was a world with depth to it, but not too much to make you have to work really hard at keeping the politics straight. There were some neat variations on standard fantasy concepts that really worked. The best part was the compelling characters in their emotional complexity. They do take a while to read though. I was pushing myself hard through them (because I was having fun) and reading at my usual breakneck speed and it still took me rather longer than I expected. 

Words that Work by Frank I. Luntz

The sub-title is "It's not what you say, it's what people hear." and the book goes into great detail. It was very interesting to read about this phenomena of different words carrying significantly different meanings even when they technically have almost the same definition. Especially since it was from the point of view of the political world, not the marketing world in which I've been immersed.

A Perfect Red by Amy Butler Greenfield

I had no idea that reds were once dyed through little tiny insect bodies called cochineal nor that this was one of the discoveries that Europeans made in the Americas, though they didn't exploit it as much as they might have. Cochineal, like maize, had been improved on for years beforehand by the current inhabitants. It also proved impossible to transplant to other locations in a cost-effective way until after it was no longer profitable to do so due to the development of the artificial shades. I really enjoyed the way the historical narrative took its twists and turns. 

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith

I really enjoyed this book. It wasn't a novel exactly, but written more as a third person biography. The various voices coming from journals and stories suddenly told in the main narrative enlivened the text. It was as original and interesting a premise as you could hope for from the man who started the "... and Zombies" trend. I especially liked the surprise at the end and realizing how subtly and appropriately the stage had been set for it throughout the earlier pages.

An Introduction to General Systems Thinking by Gerald Weinberg

I enjoyed the read and need to go back and review it to comment more thoroughly. I'll admit to skimming past some of the equations, but they weren't as frustrating as I was kind of expecting when I had flipped through the book at first. They made some of the abstract concepts easier to understand.

One idea that really stood out was that when we try to determine patterns and systems that even that answer depends on our point of view and our assumptions. One person was determining cycles of a music box by including the lights, but another said they were irrelevant but was hearing high and low tones that the first person wasn't and came up with different answers, for example. 

How to Drive Your Competition Crazy by Guy Kawasaki

A fun and light read with some intriguing ideas on how to be contrary. I was especially amused by some that involved essentially a strategic feint - doing just enough in a market area you don't expect to succeed in so that you annoy, involve, and drain resources from your larger competitor. 

DAW 30th Anniversary Fantasy Anthology edited by Betsy Wolheim and Sheila Gilbert

I enjoyed these short fantasy stories, although not enough to keep the book. The best part was the little historical introductions by the editor for each of the authors. These had little tidbits about how they got started and so forth. This was especially cool since I'd read at least something from almost all of these authors before.

The Inner Economist by Tyler Cowen

This book was just plain FUN which I really hadn't expected. It's not one of the most practical of the how to influence people genre, but it's illuminating and has a number of tidbits to carry forward into life, especially the portions on finding good food to eat at restaurants. 

On the nightstand: Ideas, Outside Innovation

The New Rules of Marketing and PR by David Meerman Scott

In many ways this was simply a comfortable read for me, as I knew most of what was in here, including some of it from David's blog. On the other hand, watching some of the keynote speeches he gives makes it all feel new. This book is a fantastic introduction to working with the current expectations that people have on how companies should interact with them. And for the experienced it's a great reminder on how all the individual bits that we tend to concentrate on on a daily basis actually pull together. 

The Wealthy Freelancer by Steve Slaunwhite, Ed Gandia, and Pete Savage

I've seen stuff from all three of these guys before, including some of the content in the book, since I've taken classes and webinars and so forth. I enjoyed seeing it in this format, put all together in a useful and inspirational package. Reading it made me realize how far I could go if I set my mind to it. It's not my first choice for a career though, despite its perks. 

Personal History by Katharine Graham

I would have never picked this book up on my own - but I won the free giveaway at In Bubble Wrap and decided to give it a try. It's thick with tiny print and a biography. But it was written in a compelling way and gave me glimpses into another life and time.

It was very interesting to hear how this woman felt so out of place and yet did the job anyway. How she stumbled fearfully through and yet that was not what most others saw. How she wasn't aware of things at the time that she could see with the passage of years.

I was especially delighted to see that one of her granddaughters is now the publisher of the Washington Post, working with her uncle, Katharine's son, since keeping the Post in the family was part of what drove Katharine. 

Heart of Stone and House of Cards by C. E. Murphy

I needed a break in the middle of Personal History and threw in this urban fantasy detective story. I enjoyed it enough I was glad I had the second, both picked up at a used bookstore. The second one pulled the main character more deeply in to the politics of the hidden world and everything got more complicated. 

Green to Gold by Daniel Esty and Andrew Winston

I have to admit I kept losing the thread here, even though I pushed through to the end. The Necessary Revolution resonated more for some reason. This one does live up to the promise of its subheading and supplies multiple ways to think about, enact, and communicate making a company more environmentally friendly so that there is also improvement at the bottom line. 

The Curse of the Good Girl by Rachel Simmons

A couple chapters into reading it this book started feeling like a kick in the gut. And not for the sake of raising my daughter, which is why I'd bought it, but because I recognized some of the things I did, including a couple that drove my husband nuts and would surprise my colleagues. I'm going to need to think about this some more. 

Little Red Book of Selling by Jeffrey Gitomer

This started out as an audio book I picked up right after I bought the new car and I needed something to listen to on the way home. I was thrilled to have a CD player!

After listening to the book twice I decided to buy it, so I could read it as well, and so that I could actually look up the extra online information without having to try to write down the passwords while driving. I haven't yet though, oops. I need to go back and do that.

What amazed me the most was some of the things he included were very relationship centered. They were about building trust and belief. Salesmen who follow Gitomer shouldn't have any trouble shifting to supporting inbound marketing techniques as long as they are compensated properly. There was even a chapter on creativity. 

On Writing Well by William Zinssner

The last time I read this was early in 2009 and it was the 3rd edition which I'd permanently borrowed from my Dad some years before. This time it was the tenth and I could tell how it had changed. One of the most powerful sections for me was his discussion about people and places. He showed how personalizing the story during the writing process created a much stronger and more specific story even if the end result was back to being in third person and article instead of memoir form. 

Ackoff's Best by Russell Ackoff

This was a good introduction by I'm passing it on to the used bookstore because the most interesting portions came from Re-creating the Corporation, which I want to buy and The Art of Problem Solving, which I already have. I'd also like to pick up the newest book, and last, that he contributed to - Systems Thinking for Curious Managers.

Muse and Reverie by Charles de Lint

The latest collection of Newford urban fantastic realism stories, although they were published before in various places. My favorite this time was probably "That Was Radio Clash", a story about getting to correct a mistake in the past. It's always hard to pick though.

Envisioning Information by Edward R. Tufte

This was a highly anticipated and oddly disappointing read for me. I didn't feel like I really learned much. Perhaps I'd just absorbed it from other areas. It was easy to get through and does include some important concepts, though. 

On the nightstand is kind of irrelevant this month as we're nearly done May. I'm not entirely sure I didn't lose a book or two as the month turned but that's okay.