Recently on my bookshelf …
I just finished my recent semester and can get into some serious reading. Here’s what’s been on my bookshelf lately:
- Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed, by Jared Diamond
Great book, really excellent … exploring the various factors in how societies fail. Talked about Anasazi, Norse in Greenland, Easter Island, Rwanda, and many other cultures/societies. - Bias, by Bernard Goldberg
Interesting book on the bias in what and how established media cover the “news.” - East of Desolation, by Jack Higgins
Fluffy but enjoyable. - The Borman Testament, by Jack Higgins
Ditto. - The Fall of Hyperion, by Dan Simmon
Overrated - bigtime. I am seriously not impressed with books that mix science fiction and fantasy …
More details later … but we’ve got to run into town to the library, mall, and grocery store as it’s snowing outside and we’re a little worried we won’t be able to drive soon.
Recently on my bookshelf …
John Varley’s Mammoth:Great read with a nice twist at the end.Blindsight by Peter Watts:Dark - both literally and figuratively. Impressive work, though.Menace in Europe, by Claire Berlinski:Good read, but a pretty pessimistic view of Europe’s direction. Berlinski should know, though: she’s a grand-daughter of Jewish escapees from Hitler’s Germany and lives in Europe today.Platinum Pohl, by (of course) Frederick Pohl:Collected best short stories of Frederick Pohl … and Pohl’s best is very, very good.
Latest books …
Some books that I’ve just finished up:
- Witnesses of War, by Nicholas StarGardt
About children’s lives under the Nazis before, during, and slightly after WWII. Appalling, moving, engrossing. - In Search of Stones, by M. Scott Peck
Peck’s tale of a trip he and his wife took to the UK in search of dolmen and menhirs … which he intertwines with frank discussion of himself, his life, what he’s learned, and his mistakes. One important thing to remember from this book: the concept of “overdetermination,” the idea that most things have more than one cause … they are “overdetermined.” We like to have one cause, and one effect, but that’s simplistic. - Ashes of Glory, by Ernest B Furgurson
The story of Richmond, Virginia, the “other capital” of the US … at least during the civil war. A little tedious and narrowly-focused, but interesting. Most memorable anecdote: Abraham Lincoln comes to Richmond shortly after the city is taken. Black men and women surround him. One aged black man doffs his cap and offers a short bow. Lincoln doffs his cap and bows in return. That must have been a big deal to those just-recently-slaves. Wonderful! - A Perfect Hell, by John Nadler
The story of the Canadian-American commando unit “First Special Service Force,” composed somewhat of misfits, which fought like heroes and died by the hundreds in multiple campaigns throughout WWII. All that you need to know about them to know something of them is that the Germans called them “Schwartzer Teurel,” or Black Devils.
Made to stick … sticks
Not a single person has passed through my office and seen the cover of this book without touching it to see if, in fact, the cover has duct tape stuck to it:
(It does not.) But it is bumpy and tactile, just as if it was.
And the book is very, very good.
What information consumes
Was finally reading through Tim Ferris’ Low Information Diet ebook and was struck by this quote from Nobel and Turing prize-winner Herbert Simon:
What information consumes is rather obvious: it consumes the attention of its recipients.
Hence, a wealth of information creates a poverty of attention and a need to allocate that attention efficiently among the overabundance of information sources that might consume it.
Books for the past few weeks
I’ve had some really good books out from the library … been on a bit of a history kick lately …
Here’s a selection:
Shadow Divers, by Robert Kurson
Excellent book - wonderful story of 2 amateur deep-sea divers who through sheer persistence and amazing energy and effort wrote a new chapter in WWII history.
Walking Up and Down in the World, by Smoke Blanchard
Extremely interesting life story of a hiker, moutain climber, trucker, guide, naturalist, photographer, author, and much, much more. (See this post of mine on a different blog for an interesting quote from the book.)
Jerusalem in the Twentieth Century by Martin Gilbert
Jerusalem, city of peace, has always been a bloody city. This is a good but very narrowly focused history of Jerusalem’s last 100 years. Note: published in ‘96 so a bit out of date.
Me Against My Brother by Scott Peterson
Seriously disturbing, but still something you can’t put down. Journalist Scott Peterson writes of something like 20 years in Africa, particularly during the Somalia crisis of Black Hawk Down fame, the ever-lasting civil war in the Sudan, and the genocide in Rwanda (of Hotel Rwanda fame). Required reading if you want to understand something about African wars and their insidious connections to African aid.
Agincourt by Juliet Barker
A detailed history of one of the most famous victories England has ever won. Fascinating, especially for it’s portrayal of the famous and remarkable King Henry V.
Walking up and down in the dark
While not straying too far off the beaten track for this blog, I just had to post a great quote.
It’s from Smoke Blanchard, mountaineer, hiker, traveller, guide, climber, trekker, truck driver, and about a thousand other things in between … and appropriately enough, it’s about life and career choices.
Most choices at the crossroads of life are made under weak starlight with a feeble lantern that illuminates poorly the farther stretches of trail.
I’ve just finished his 1984 memoir, Walking Up and Down in the World: Memories of a Mountain Rambler, and had to mention it here because it rings so true.
Tags: career, books, quote, smoke blanchard, john koetsier
New rules of PR: I’m apparently in the book
Well this is too cool …
David Meerman Scott just wrote The New Rules of PR and Marketing and he’s thanking bloggers who helped him. Apparently I’m one of them … although I have only a vague recollection of the fact. In any case, thanks!
It’s a great way to alert people that your book has been published … here’s David’s list of those who helped in one way or another …
Robert Scoble
Adele Revella Buyer Persona Blog
Joe Wikert Publishing 2020 blog
Steve Johnson
David McInnis
Mark Levy
David Hamm
Mike Levin
Colin Delaney epolitics
Steve Goldstein Alacrablog
Todd Van Hoosear
George L Smyth Eclectic Mix
Mark Effinger
Michelle Manafy EContent magazine
Kevin Rose Diggnation
Grub Street Writers
Dave Armon
Britton Manasco
Jordan Behan
Nettie Hartsock
John Havens
John Blossom ContentBlogger
Larry Schwartz Newstex
Steve Smith
Melanie Surplice
Nate Wilcox
Ian Wilker
Cody Baker
Dianna Huff
Brian Carroll
Ken Doctor
Jonathan Kranz
Barry Graubart
Steve O’Keefe
Ted Demopoulos
Debbie Weil
Paul Gillin
Matt Lohman
Seth Godin
Rob O’ Regan
Steve Rubel Micro Persuasion
Paul Gillin
Joan Stewart The Publicity Hound
Glenn Nicholas Small Business Inspiration
Mac MacIntosh The B2B Sales Lead Expert
Jill Konrath Selling to Big Companies
Guy Kawasaki How to Change the World
Court Bovée and John Thill Business Communication Headline News
Grant D. Griffiths Kansas Family Law Blog
Robin Crumby The Melcrum Blog
Jim Peake My Success Gateway
Eli Singer Refreshing the Daily Grind
Duane Brown Imagination+Innovation
Scott Monty The Social Media Marketing Blog
Ian Lamont
Blog Campaigning
Rich at Copywrite Ink
John Lustina SEO Speedwagon
Adam Tinworth OneMan+HisBlog
Scott Clark Finding the Sweet Spot
Amanda Chapel Strumpette
Jennifer Veitenheimer reinventjen
Morty Schiller Wordrider
Matthias Hoffmann the power of news
Erin Caldwell’s PRblog
Ferrell Kramer Talking Communications
Anita Campbell Selling to Small Businesses
Rugjeff
Karl Ribas’ Search Engine Marketing Blog
Tony D. Baker Advanced Marketing Techniques
Tom Pick The WebMarketCentral Blog
Tina Lang-Stuart
Bryan Eisenberg Jeffrey Eisenberg Robert Gorell and the rest of the team at Grok Dot Com
Michele Miller WonderBranding
Publicity Ship Blog
The Media Slut
Brad Shorr Word Sell
Sasha Where Business Meets the Web
Ellee Seymour ProActivePR
Chris Kenton The Marketers’ Consortium
Paul Young Product Beautiful
By Ron Miller
Michael Morton
James D. Brausch
Janet Meiners Newspapergrl
Andrew B. Smith The New View From Object Towers
Cristian Mezei SeoPedia
Jim Nail Cymfony’s influence 2.0
Denise Wakeman and Patsi Krakoff The Blog Squad
Forward Blog
Ben Argov
Zane Safrit Duct Tape Marketing—Business Life
Will McInnes Online Marketing Guide
Robbin Steif LunaMetrics
Mike Boss
Marc Gunn Music Promo Blog
Nancy E. Schwartz Getting Attention
Kami Watson Huyse Communications Overtones
Todd Defren PR Squared
Michael Stelzner Writing White Papers
Dee Rambeau Adventures in Business Communications
Glenn Fannick Read Between the Mines
Owen Lystrup Into PR
Morgan McLintic
Mark Batterson Evotional
Jay Coffelt
John Richardson
Robin Good MasterNewMedia
Shel Israel Naked Conversations
Robert J. Ricci Son-of-a-Pitch
Mike Sigers Simplenomics
Dan Greenfield Bernaisesource
Brian Clark copyblogger
Lee Odden TopRank Online Marketing Blog
David Weinberger
Carson McComas
The FutureLab blog
John Bradley Jackson Be First Best or Different
Wired PR Works by Barbara Rozgonyi
Mark Goren Transmission
John Wall Ronin Marketer
MarketingProfs Daily Fix Blog
John Koetsier bizhack
Steve Kayser Cincom Smalltalk
Dale Wolf The Perfect Customer Experience
Eric Mattson Marketing Monger
Scott Sehlhorst Tyner Blain
Seeds of Growth blog
Hugo E. Martin
David Phillips leverwealth
Terry Affiliate Marketing Blog
Gavin Heaton Servant of Chaos
Mark White Better Business Blogging
Eric Eggertson Common Sense PR
Michelle Golden Golden Practices
Liz Strauss
Tony Valle Small Business Radio
Chris Heuer’s Idea Engine
David Evans The Progress Bar
Todd Andrlik The Power to Connect
The New PR Wiki
NewPR
Pelle Braendgaard Stake Ventures
Lisa Banks Search Engine Optimization Eblog
Chris Brown Branding & Marketing
Graeme Thickins Tech-Surf-Blog
Ardath Albee Marketing Interactions
Lauren Vargas Communicators Anonymous
Lori Smart Lemming
Dane Morgan
Jason Leister Computer Super Guy
Bill Trippe
Jason Eiseman Jason the Content Librarian
Reuben Steiger Millions of Us
Taran Rampersad Know Prose
John Richardson Success Begins Today
Valentin Pertsiya Brand Aid
Bill Belew Rising Sun of Nihon
Joe Beaulaurier An Ongoing Press Release
David Koopmans Business of Marketing and Branding
Chris Anderson The Long Tail
Roger C. Parker Design to Sell
Paddle to the Amazon documentary
Chris Forde, a documentary filmmaker, is doing a movie on Paddle to the Amazon … the longest canoe journey ever.
I’m interested in this because I read and reviewed the book Paddle to the Amazon, which is the amazing story of Don Starkell and his son Dana, who paddled from their home in Winnipeg, Manitoba, to Belém, Brazil … all in an open-top canoe, and Chris commented on that post.
Looking forward to seeing it!
Tags: paddle to the amazon, canoe, chris forde, don starkell, john koetsier, documentary, film, movie
70-620 70-620 Certification Free Exam Practice Questions
Words on pages …
Books that I’ve recently finished …
My Dying Breath, by Ben Reed
Highly recommended fictional retrospective of combat in Vietnam by a veteran.
Spin, by Robert Charles Wilson
Excellent hard sci-fi with real characters.
Heavy Weather, by Bruce Sterling
Also very good … kinda cyber-punk meets survivalist in a dystopic breaking-down world.
Tags: books, john koetsier, ben reed, robert charles wilson, bruce sterling
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Sparkplug 9 is John Koetsier's blog on life, the universe, and everything,
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