After chatting with Richard Katz about the idea of an ECAR book club a couple of weeks ago, I’ve been feeling a need to catch up on some professional reading lately – I get plenty of reading about specific technologies, but not enough on strategies that make technology useful.
I was impressed by Web Worker Daily’s list of the Top 10 Books for Web Workers 2007 and immediately picked up a bunch of them. I started out by reading local author Scott Berkun’s Myths of Innovation which is interesting and insightful, if not revelatory. Also on my shelf now are Chip and Dan Heath’s Made to Stick – Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die; Dave Weinberger’s Everything Is Miscellaneous – The Power of the New Digital Disorder; and Lois Kelly’s Beyond Buzz – The Next Generation of Word-of-Mouth Marketing.
I’m also working my way through Richard Florida’s paper on The University and the Creative Economy – I’m intrigued by his ideas that it’s the creative class of workers (artists, software people, the gay community, etc.) are a driving engine of success for urban areas in today’s economy.
And when I don’t feel like reading business books, I’m really enjoying Michael Chabon’s delightful alternative history detective novel, The Yiddish Policeman’s Union.
At the urging of a couple of friends, I’m also exploring the world of social book-listing – I’m using the Visual Bookshelf app on Facebook along with Richard and other friends, and at Tom Lenon’s suggestion I’ve also joined Shelfari. We’ll see if they stick.
Oren Sreebny 