Brainsteering
Kevin P. Coyne and Shawn T. Coyne
Harper
When we interviewed Shawn Coyne in November about the failures of
brainstorming (in anticipation of the publication of this book), he
said: "Brainstorming, like its name implies, is something like a
lightning storm - there are huge amounts of energy involved, but it
is scattered all over the place. It rarely creates anything
productive." This book not only tells the tale of a number of
creative people who employed nontraditional thinking to bring us a
variety of products, services, and even literature, but it also
provides templates you can employ in your organization to break out
of that metaphorical box and bring about new ways of thinking. As
they note, many of the notions about thinking outside the box are
idea killers, and despite being told at the start of almost any
brainstorming session, "there are no bad ideas," there really are
some bad ideas.
Poke The Box
Seth Godin
The Domino Project
Lots of people think Seth Godin is a self-promoting gasbag. I
waver. He tends to redraw the world into clever sayings and
concepts that then become bite-sized books. We read a posting from
his blog almost every day at my house, but half the time we snort
in derision. He has an equally frustrated fan in author Daniel
Pink, who wrote in a review about this book: "Let me begin with a
professional and personal disclosure: If Seth Godin weren't a
friend of mine, I would probably hate his guts. He makes those of
us in the word-slinging, meme-spreading trade look like a bunch of
ne'er-do-well slackers. But after reading this remarkable book,
I've discovered Seth's secret: He's willing to poke the box. To
start. To initiate. To begin. That's all. Indeed, the message of
this book is so profoundly simple and so simply profound, I can
encapsulate it in a single word. Go."
Evil Plans: Having Fun on the Road to World
Domination
Hugh MacLeod
Portfolio
Several folks have pointed us to MacLeod's blog, and we usually end
up snorting coffee out through our nose. Why? Start with his bio:
"Hugh MacLeod is a cartoonist and professional blogger known for
his ideas about how Web 2.0 affects marketing. After a decade of
working as an advertising copywriter, MacLeod started blogging at
gapingvoid.com in 2001, publishing cartoons that he drew on the
back of business cards in his spare time." You can make money doing
that? Why are we working at real jobs? An online review offered up
this description: "Q: Why do you do what you do? A: To make money
so that I can do the things I really want to do." Truer words were
never spoken.
Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of
Remembering Everything
Joshua Foer
Penguin Press
Whether it's a function of age or just misfiring neurons, we all
eventually tend to forget things. Maybe they aren't important, but
often, they are quite important. Foer, a science writer, wanted to
know why. "Moonwalking with Einstein follows Joshua Foer's
compelling journey as a participant in the U.S. Memory
Championship," notes the Amazon.com review. "Foer became captivated
by the secrets of the competitors, like how the current world
memory champion, Ben Pridmore, could memorize the exact order of
1,528 digits in an hour. Brains remember visual imagery but have a
harder time with other information, like lists, and so with the
help of experts, Foer learned how to transform the kinds of
memories he forgot into the kind his brain remembered naturally."