Tag Archives: Books

Book review: Same Side Selling – A Radical Approach to Break Through Sales Barriers

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Same Side Selling: A Radical Approach to Break Through Sales Barriers by Jack Quarles and Ian AltmanAs part of running my own company, I’m always looking for ways to improve various pieces of the business and my performance in it. Since one of the most important parts of any business is the sales process, I am constantly on the lookout for resources that will help me to understand the process better and to identify ways to improve it. Amazon must know it too, because their recommendation engine suggested the following to me – Same Side Selling: A Radical Approach to Break Through Sales Barriers by Jack Quarles and Ian Altman. Even though I’m not in love with the Amazon recommendation engine, I went ahead and picked it up.

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Book review: Little Brother

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Little Brother by Cory DoctorowThree of my primary criteria for putting books on my 2015 reading list were recommendations from trusted sources, sampling “classic” sci-fi authors, and avoiding book series. Little Brother by Cory Doctorow fit all of these. It was recommended by one of my favorite authors, William Hertling. It is by a renowned sci-fi author. And, although it is the first in a series, it reads perfectly fine as a stand-alone story. Needless to say, I was anxious to pick it up and was happy to see it at the top of my reading list.

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Book review: User Story Mapping – Discover the Whole Story, Build the Right Product

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User Story Mapping by Jeff PattonI am on a quest to continuously improve my understanding of software development, particularly as it applies to agile development practices. I started it by reading one of the classics on software development, The Mythical Man Month, which I found very informative. While good, I wanted something that would help me understand the concepts behind agile software development. I read a couple of books on creating user stories a few months ago, but I still felt like I was missing critical pieces to the puzzle. Then I read User Story Mapping: Discover the Whole Story, Build the Right Product by Jeff Patton.

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Book review: Sand

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Sand by Hugh HoweyAccording to my standards, I’ve read quite a few books over the last three years. When I decided to increase my rate of reading, I relied a lot on the Amazon recommendation engine (which I pretend to hate) to fill my reading list. That worked well for the first year or so, but this year I decided to populate my reading list as much as possible with books recommended by trusted sources or written by authors I like. Since I really enjoyed the Silo series by Hugh Howey, I decided to add his next book titled Sand to the list.

I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that I approached Sand with a bit of trepidation. The premise of a society mired in dirt and grit didn’t seem like it would make for much of a story. However, since I liked Wool so much, I figured I should give it a shot. Hugh Howey didn’t let me down.

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Book review: The Turing Exception

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The Turing Exception by William HertlingWhat do you do when one of your favorite authors finishes another installment in a book series that you really like? You stop what you’re doing and move that book to the top of your reading list.

That’s what happened to me recently when William Hertling, the author of the Singularity Series, finished the fourth installment titled The Turing Exception. The Turing Exception picks up 10 years after the completion of The Last Firewall. In addition to introducing the effects of advanced nanotech, It adds another layer of artificial intelligence into the mix, the ability to upload your mind to a computer. It makes for some interesting plot dynamics and gives you even more to think about if (and when) the technology becomes available. There are some vexing moral quandaries and dilemmas presented which Hertling leaves for the reader to ponder on their own.

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Book review: Positioning – The Battle For Your Mind

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Positiong: The Battle For Your Mind by Al Ries and Jack TroutThrough the course of my recent business readings, a recommendation appeared to read Positioning: The Battle For Your Mind by Al Ries and Jack Trout. I’m not sure which book it was, although I suspect it was one of the Lean Series books. Either way, the book was presented as a marketing classic that had a timeless appeal to it. Since I’m all about substance over style, it sounded like a book that would be right up my alley. Plus, being a marketer at heart, I figured it wouldn’t hurt to brush up a bit on my marketing skills.

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Book review: Uncommon Stock – Version 1.0

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Uncommon Stock: Version 1.0 by Eliot PeperI have had great success with reading recommendations from Brad Feld’s blog. The latest is Uncommon Stock: Version 1.0 by Eliot Peper.  It’s the lead title for a new entrant into the publishing industry – FG Press. They are an outgrowth of the Foundry Group venture capital firm where Brad Feld is a partner. According to FG Press, the book publishing industry will change radically over the next five years, and they want to be at the forefront of this change by “experimenting constantly in order to build a strong community around long-form written content in the domain of entrepreneurship.” With Uncommon Stock, they picked an excellent work to serve as their lead title.

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Book review: Resurrection

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Resurrection by Arwen Elys DaytonBecause I’ve been reading a lot of science fiction, Resurrection by Arwen Elys Dayton was recommended by my nemesis – the Amazon recommendation engine. After reading the synopsis and checking out the reviews, I decided to add it to my never-ending reading list. Shortly thereafter, it was featured as a Kindle Daily Deal. I went ahead and added it my library, and then moved it up in this year’s reading list.

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Book review: The Everything Store – Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon

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The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon by Brad StoneA few months ago, I discovered a new blog via Seth Godin called A Learning a Day. It’s a great blog to follow, and I particularly liked a recent post on the site titled Being Human. There was one particular passage that resonated with me:

In the really long run (i.e. generations later), almost no one will remember us or know we existed anyway. What really matters is that we live a life that means something to us and brings us happiness. There’s nobody else we really need to please. So, let’s be ourselves, and always remember… to be human.

The passage had more impact than normal since I had just watched The Men Who Built America and was in the middle of reading The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon by Brad Stone. It’s a passage that applies to all of these entrepreneurs, or capitalists if you prefer that term. They all have (or had) a desire to live a life that means something and to build something that is greater than themselves. They want(ed) to leave their mark on the world.

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Book review: Departure

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Departure by A.G. RiddleOne of the criteria I used to build my 2015 reading list was selecting books by authors I’d previously read and liked. Since I enjoyed the Origin Mystery Series by A.G. Riddle (all three books in the series made my Must Read list), adding Departure to my 2015 reading list was a no-brainer. I also liked that the book was stand-alone and not part of another series or trilogy.

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