Another (perhaps the final?) book published by The Domino Project (books for the attentively poor). Short, heavy duty and actually a good level above some of the business “ra-ra” drivel and mini versions of classics that have come out of the project.

Two things struck me about The Flinch:
1. The language used is direct and engaging; a great match for the subject matter. It can be read and understood with intent. Something will happen when you read it.
2. The book/long essay is exactly the right length. Any longer and it would feel padded (looking at you, “Read This Before Our Next Meeting”), any shorter and it would have felt incomplete.

There is free irony to be had in thinking that The Domino Project, a publishing initiative that never flinched, finally got it right on their last ever book.

I found this book on Audible and bought it purely based on the reviews (which I really don’t do often). The author/narrator’s voice takes a little getting used to. It’s not a natural voice for audiobooks, but it didn’t take too long to figure out all of his accent and language nuances.
The book itself is addictive. The way Jon Ronson builds up the visual in each chapter is the work of an artist. It’s difficult to not be drawn into the story, which is all the more remarkable because it’s a true (and rather bizarre) set of stories.
The “punchline”, the actual psychopath test, is a little flat – but against the backdrop of an engaging story it makes sense. It’s not all about mad people, psychos and crazy folk – the most interesting piece for me was Jon casting the characteristics of psychopaths into the corporate world to answer whether or not some company leaders are psychopaths.
Well written, captivating and worth your attention. Only half way through did I realize it was the same author as “Men Who Stare At Goats”.

Every year I reread Robert Greene’s The 48 Laws of Power. It’s a definitive, sensible and valuable reference. My thoughts on that drew me to this book as well as a recent unhealthy personal interest in topics of psychology.
This is not a book for light reading. It’s heavy duty and requires all of your attention.
Robert gives his often dark analysis of seduction in a logical, sensible order that overlays on itself to build up to a massive compendium on the topic. It is dark, deceptive, anti-social and goes against most people’s views on what the morally right thing to do is, very much like 48 Laws, but I doubt there’s a better reference on the behaviors and psychology behind seduction.
If you haven’t read 48 Laws of Power, start with that instead. For younger folks, the equally strong 50th Law with 50 Cent is a great read too. This book could be considered an addendum to the other two, but equally valuable.

You have to listen to this audiobook for no other reason than the quality of the narration. The best I’ve heard by far. Craig Beck makes full use of his own hypnotic sales skills to convince you of his thesis.
The audiobook is short and poorly edited, but there is a small handful of useful information to be gained out of this. However, probably nothing you didn’t already know if you’ve read any of the mainstream “how to sell” references.
It’s great for a quick refresher, but there’s better material out there.

It was 2007 in a conference room in Paris when one of the great product minds in payment, Stephane Jacquis, uttered “blah blah blah” in reference to some fluffy, irrelevant details being talked about. I loved the expression, the sheer audacity and “cut to the chase” of it, and I’ve used the phrase ever since.
Then the absolute best author in visual communication releases his new job entitled “Blah Blah Blah”. His “Back of the Napkin” completely and positively changed how I communicate – I had very high expectations for this book.
It delivered, complete with too many ‘aha’ moments and insights that will stick in all my written interactions from here on. It’s a grand book and a complete work on its own, not an augmentation of “Back of the Napkin”. It weaves grammar and drawing, simplicity and impact. This is a tremendous book and, if you ever have to convey ideas and concepts to others, you should read it.

Recently a startup called CodeAcademy launched with its first set of three courses covering the basics of Javascript – the language of the client-side internet. I did those short courses for kicks and giggles and finished them thinking that it’s been a while since I read any formal work on Javascript. A long while – 2002 was the last time.
To solve that, I picked this up from my favorite source of programing books and tore my way through it in two hours.
This is a wonderful, quick, easy to read and understand deep dive into Javascript. While Javascript isn’t exactly complex, there are numerous quirks and catches (I’m looking at you “falsy” and “truthiness”) that you need to be aware of. The book is also quite gentle on non-programmers too, or – like me – long time programmers who haven’t programmed in a long time.
If it’s Javascript you need to know quickly, this is the book to read.

This book was a tremendous help to me in building my understanding of the challenges banks and financial institutions face in the years ahead. There was one side benefit of reading this book which I believe to be unintended and that is in its usefulness in painting a picture of how banks work today too.
So why don’t I recommend this book to everyone? This book is a snapshot in time and that time isn’t now, it was two years ago. More a dig at book publishers: is there a way to publish a book regularly to maintain its relevance without punishing readers? The book has elements that are heavily subjective without much basis in precedent or fact. There’s not a lot of them, but they’re there and do take away something from the more concrete points of impact in the book.

I have read this before, many many years ago, and read it again this past week. I did this for two reasons: 1) it’s a title back in fashion thanks to Steve Jobs pointing out his admiration for the book via his biography and 2) I was struggling to frame up a “no regret” + innovation strategy for a wider audience and needed help articulating the nuances of where continuation and disruption part ways.
I do love this book. It is so sensible – in a way that you probably know a lot of what is in here but don’t realize it until it’s pointed out within the book. It delineates business approaches and arms you with a clear view on where you need to go and how you can get there sensibly and with a high degree of certainty (hell – it worked for Steve Jobs!).
However, I would more strongly recommend the follow on book, The Innovator’s Solution, over this as it has better and tighter context with slightly more “go get it done” advice.

Not too much new information for an Apple fanatic such as myself, however I was truly impressed with the style, tone and how engaging the writing was. Mr Isaacson is an exceptionally talented writer. To turn the well scrutinized roadmap of an extraordinary man’s life into an engaging tale that doesn’t feel long and laborious – even at 600+ pages – is the work of yet another extraordinary man.

Every year or so I’ll dig out a book on sales or selling and force myself to read it. Being a massive advocate of permissive marketing, I struggle to “get” sales – especially the interruptive type. Reading this type of book isn’t so much to let me learn sales as empathize with salespeople.
This little red book, I’m told, is a classic. Now having read it, I kinda wish all sales people would read it too. It kicks off with “people hate being sold to, but they LOVE to buy”. Okay – I’m buying that. The rest of the book points out all the bad things sales people do and gives a very solid right way to follow. Lots of good psychology (which I personally think is great – I can’t help but feel sales is only a psychological pursuit) and “do the right thing” philosophies.
It’s a little cheesy, but overall it is a good book. While I’ll never be in sales (I just don’t roll that way), I think I can now be of more value to the salespeople around me.