My friend, Daniel Decker, sent me the book, The Price of Everything: Solving the Mystery of Why We Pay What We Do (amazon affiliate link), because he thought I might like it. He was wrong. I loved it. Why? Because it’s the kind of book that gives you a lot of insight into how to understand pricing things. I found it quite interesting and it’ll definitely help you, should you want to understand a bit more than math on how to price things. I shot a quick video review:

If you can’t see the video, click here. That’s my review. Daniel also sent another video:

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I wrote the foreword to Phil Simon’s The New Small: How a New Breed of Small Businesses Is Harnessing the Power of Emerging Technologies (amazon affiliate link). The book is about how new versions of small businesses will form, and how new technologies will empower different types of companies. In a lot of ways, this is a blueprint for creating a company similar than Human Business Works. I shot a quick review. You should pick it up, if you’re interested in starting a small business.

If you can’t see the video, click here.

Check it out here.

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I don’t read a lot of fiction these days, but every now and again I dip in and do so. This is a quick video book review of Cory Doctorow’s wonderful book, For the Win. It’s about virtual economies (like Warcraft), gold farming, what it would be like to organize a multinational union of people who “work” video games for others, and a lot about the state of now in places like India and China for some people. In other words, I got a lot more than I bargained for with this book. Here’s the video review.

If you get a holiday gift certificate, consider spending it on this:

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Run out and buy Business Model Generation: A Handbook for Visionaries, Game Changers, and Challengers (amazon affiliate link). It’s that book that will give you the holes in your business planning. It’s that book that tells you that you could really use a bit more work in ___ department. It’s a great opportunity to see visual thinking applied to a real business challenge. And it’s so well done. Here’s my video book review:

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My friend (and publisher) Matt Holt at Wiley knows a lot of cool people. Because Wiley published Tony Hawk’s book, How Did I Get Here: The Ascent of an Unlikely CEO (amazon affiliate link), I thought I’d beg him to let me interview Tony. I got lucky with this, and recorded a quick (around 20 minutes) audio interview with Tony Hawk himself.

The book, How Did I Get Here, is a great read for business people, especially entrepreneurial types and/or small businesses aspiring to grow. What I loved most about it was that the advice most definitely applied to other types of business and not just the kind wrapped around a professional athlete.…

I’m a big fan of Jennifer Aaker and Andy Smith’s book The Dragonfly Effect: Quick, Effective, and Powerful Ways To Use Social Media to Drive Social Change (amazon affiliate link). It’s not only a book about social change, but it’s a book about understanding the formula for how to use web tools to build marketing value. It’s only extra awesome because it helps the social cause moment.

Aiker works down the hall from Chip Heath (Made to Stick, Switch – wait, did I call him Chip Heath or Chip Kidd in my video? You tell me!), and in a way, it shows. Dragonfly Effect has a great memorability factor and a formula that you want to absorb and apply to your own projects.…

I loved Chris Guillebeau’s The Art of Non-Conformity: Set Your Own Rules, Live the Life You Want, and Change the World (amazon affiliate link). I’m not sure why it took me so long to read it. The book was basically a big collection of “you can do it your own way” writing, with a lot of great how-to advice built into it. I’d browsed it once, but mostly, I know Chris through his online work. Heck, I even begged him to write on your second favorite blog.

The Art of Non-Conformity is your anthem, if you’re looking to achieve escape velocity. If you want to take the road less traveled and do it in style, it’s Chris’s book for you.…

I finally had the chance to read and review John Spence’s Awesomely Simple: Essential Business Strategies for Turning Ideas Into Action (amazon affiliate link). It’s exactly as advertised: awesome and simple. What I liked the most was that the ideas applied to you as an individual contributor as well as you if you’re the boss.

Here’s my video review:

It’s totally worth it to me, if you’re looking to better define your vision of growth. It’s not a Tony Robbins or Stephen Covey kind of feel. It’s more a management type of book, and yet, it feels awesome and simple.…

Chuck Martin is a thoughtful guy, and his book, Work Your Strengths: A Scientific Process to Identify Your Skills and Match Them to the Best Career for You (amazon affiliate link), reflects this. I loved this book because it was thorough –something that’s true of all Chuck’s books– while still being very readable and useful.

Work Your Strengths is a good book for people contemplating their next turn in their career, whether or not they’re currently in a job. You’ll find some value in the stories and data points that Chuck provides for you hear. I recommend it.…