So, I’m finally back in Cape Town and after this trip, I realised that this year has been most productive for me with regard to consumption of printed matter! I have a very select group of books that I’m currently reading and have read over the past 12-18 months, so I’m going to share this list with you. I will post reviews from time to time, but this is a nice consolidated view, with links to the books on Amazon:
The Long Tail – Chris Anderson
The long tail covers the impact of the Internet on the costs of production and distribution and what the future might hold for niche products vs mass consumerism. I’ll be posting a full review of this book over the next weekend – I found it fascinating, and a must read, although certain portions of the book are slow, as the point is reiterated.
Blink & The Tipping Point – Malcom Gladwell
These two are a must read, two totally different pieces of work, however they do correlate. Blink discusses the ability of experts to instinctively deduce conclusions by thin slicing data (a skill that many of us would cherish) and the Tipping Point discusses how when society begins to embrace a product/servce/website, it needs to achieve a certain critical mass in order to go mainstream.
The World is Flat – Thomas Friedman
incuBeta is a South African based company which delivers world class software solutions and services, and where we earn all of our revenues in foreign markets and create jobs locally using the world as our playground. This book discusses how companies like ours is now able to participate in the global economy, regardless of our geographic location and slant. We obviously do have smaller offices in other countries, however the bulk of work is done in Cape Town.
The Widsom of Crowds – James Surowiecki
I have only just begun reading this book, however it’s quite apparent that the insights provided so far are very advanced. The sub title says it all: Why the Many Are Smarter Than the Few and How Collective Wisdom Shapes Business, Economies, Societies and Nations.
This is the quintessential “State of the Search Nation” book which, if you’re a newcomer, is a must read. It basically explains how we got to where we are today, and what a hypothetical path forward is. Well researched, although, John has come under criticism lately for admitting to never having even used Google Adwords until recently, after the book was published. Nevertheless, still a great book.
Freakonomics – Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner
This was a seriously open view of the world! Examining things like, why drug dealers live with their Moms and the social ramifications of Roe vs Wade – this is a highly recommended and easy read.
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Comments On This Post
August 5, 2006 at 8:18 am
I’m very surprised that there are no comments here! This post attracted a few thousand pageviews and has been my most popular post, ever!
August 5, 2006 at 6:18 am
I’m very surprised that there are no comments here! This post attracted a few thousand pageviews and has been my most popular post, ever!
August 6, 2006 at 5:43 pm
Well, finish reading them and hand them out! : )
Lee | Cape Town Office
August 6, 2006 at 3:43 pm
Well, finish reading them and hand them out! : )
Lee | Cape Town Office
August 12, 2006 at 9:50 pm
You know you are right there should be more comments on this post so here is one. I totally agree with you on the list above having read all books except one however I would be inclined to take away one book and add one more. I am continually unimpressed by the long tail, Chris takes it to ridiculous extremes and makes a lot of very very obvious comments in the book in my opinion. It also irritates me that he is creditted with creating this term, while studying physics I remember at least one professor referring to the long tail of high energy molecules in a gas cloud with a skewed gaussian distribution. Basically the long tail adds nothing new for me and I don’t think is a great book.
Conversely I think Good to Great is a fantastic book for our industry. A hell of a lot of web companies make the step to being a good company think slashdot, stumbleupon, del.icio.us and similar companies that have been around a fairly long time become quite big but haven’t quite cracked the step to hit great and are at risk from new competitors (esp. digg in the case of the first two). Studying this book and applying the suggestions within it to your web company is actually something quite important in our industry, and I would add it to your list.
August 12, 2006 at 7:50 pm
You know you are right there should be more comments on this post so here is one. I totally agree with you on the list above having read all books except one however I would be inclined to take away one book and add one more. I am continually unimpressed by the long tail, Chris takes it to ridiculous extremes and makes a lot of very very obvious comments in the book in my opinion. It also irritates me that he is creditted with creating this term, while studying physics I remember at least one professor referring to the long tail of high energy molecules in a gas cloud with a skewed gaussian distribution. Basically the long tail adds nothing new for me and I don’t think is a great book.
Conversely I think Good to Great is a fantastic book for our industry. A hell of a lot of web companies make the step to being a good company think slashdot, stumbleupon, del.icio.us and similar companies that have been around a fairly long time become quite big but haven’t quite cracked the step to hit great and are at risk from new competitors (esp. digg in the case of the first two). Studying this book and applying the suggestions within it to your web company is actually something quite important in our industry, and I would add it to your list.
November 13, 2006 at 10:04 pm
[...] The Best Business Books of our Paradigm [...]
December 24, 2006 at 2:16 am
Hi Vinny,
I have read all these apart from The Search — though I have read the Google Story that hits on similar subjects needless to say, and likewise, is a great read. Thanks for your views.
Lisa
December 24, 2006 at 12:16 am
Hi Vinny,
I have read all these apart from The Search — though I have read the Google Story that hits on similar subjects needless to say, and likewise, is a great read. Thanks for your views.
Lisa
August 26, 2008 at 7:24 am
I have, until now, only read marketing/advertising/branding books.
I hope you continue to add to and update this page, 'cos this is now my source of “what's to read” online..
September 27, 2008 at 1:15 am
i’d second the vote above for “from good to great” (when i started my job the ceo gave it to me and said it was his bible).
i’d also add guy kawasaki’s “art of the start”. bootstrapping lessons that everyone can benefit from
November 11, 2008 at 12:09 am
Good stuff on here
November 14, 2008 at 6:09 am
hello! thanks for your notes. they are really helpfull.nice idea and interesting points of view.i like your style of writing! continue to work in this manner. good luck!
January 8, 2009 at 6:35 am
I think that most people will share your reading and after that I suppose you will create something to see the opinions. It will be a good idea. Thanks for the review.
April 6, 2009 at 3:06 pm
Freakonomics is a great book. My brother had it lying around so I decided to give it a read. I thought it was really interesting. Thanks Vinny for the other great books, i'll be sure to give them a read!
May 19, 2009 at 11:18 pm
Nice list, it is a good one for ones who likes to read though
May 26, 2009 at 6:20 am
My favorite among the list is Widsom of Crowds. I love to read it and thanks for the list of the great books.
June 13, 2009 at 2:52 pm
Great list- I've read all par one of these. The great thing about Tipping Point and Blink is a greater level of accessibility to all people to start exploring more ideas. I love a huge number of books that have come out in the last few years- do check out http://blog.freedoma.com/2009/06/12/the-best-10-b... to see my list!
June 25, 2009 at 5:01 am
hello! thanks for your notes. they are really helpfull.nice idea and interesting points of view.i like your style of writing! continue to work in this manner. good luck!
June 26, 2009 at 2:04 pm
Great list…
I believe those book are the best
June 29, 2009 at 3:54 am
hi, thanks for this articles, good post
June 29, 2009 at 3:27 am
I wanna learn about business. I am looking for business book which give me a lot of business knowledge. Thanks for this excellent business books list. Good post!
July 1, 2009 at 6:36 am
Hey, great article and great recommendations. I'll give them a try!
July 10, 2009 at 4:22 am
I have read all these apart from The Search — though I have read the Google Story that hits on similar subjects needless to say, and likewise, is a great read. Thanks for your views.
July 14, 2009 at 8:12 am
Very interesting info. We’ve just got to remember that the notion of it…Thanks for posting the blog…
July 26, 2009 at 12:54 pm
hi, thanks for this articles, good post
August 13, 2009 at 3:25 pm
Great list. So far I've only read "The Search", and loved it. Will keep a look out for the other ones. thanks a bunch
August 16, 2009 at 3:13 pm
thank you for your great post
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