Books to Buy- Here Comes Everybody - Clay Shirky
I was fortunate to catch a little bit of Clay Shirky’s talk at the Harvard Berkman Center a few weeks back, but it took me a few more weeks to grab a copy of his book, Here Comes Everybody, and read it. I’m really glad that I did. It turns out that it’s PACKED with all kinds of interesting points about how organizations can use community tools like social media software to build stronger communities of practice, interest, and more.
Essentially, the book talks about how the tools of the web (and even something as simple as Walkie Talkies) enable people to organize without formality. If that sounds hot to you, don’t listen to me, pick up your own copy of the book. Because that idea, actually, relates to the point. You are empowered. You are enabled. This new web is about giving YOU the tools, so that you can decide what to do.
The book is refreshingly NOT all cumbaya and “this will all work out fine.” Shirky does a great job of pointing out what our newfound freedoms cost us. He talks candidly about failures in the idea, such as “cooperation as infrastructure.” But even this should prove useful to your thoughts and plans and schemes.
I recommend Shirky’s book, and if he’s speaking near you, check him out. I promise that it will be informative, and that he’s a friendly enough guy.
Check it out here: Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations
Books to Check Out- Bounce by Barry Moltz
Barry Moltz starts off his book by explaining right up front that he is a rare breed of entrepreneur. He talks very candidly about failure (which should thrill my personal expert on blogging about failure, Becky McCray). Often. In fact, Barry’s made a profession out of it. So, right off the bat, Bounce takes a strange bounce and gets you thinking, “It’s easy to read about good times, but what will life be like if (when?) I suffer a failure in my business or my personal life?”
Countless stories and anecdotes are collected in this book, and the research is probably the best selling point of Bounce. Barry threads his own stories through it, but he backs everything he says up by three or four or five examples from other people’s lives.
In one way, this made the storytelling aspect of the book a little diffuse. Barry leads off the book with his story, goes into more of his story, and then uses his story as part of the backbone of the book, but there’s SO MUCH of other people’s experiences in the book, that I found myself a bit distracted by it all.
This isn’t really a knock, because this book is LOADED with things to think about, and his research assistant, who is thanked in the acknowledgments, deserves whatever he paid her and more. This book is chock full of stories on failure.
I recommend Bounce to budding entrepreneurs, especially those who maybe have their heads in the clouds and aren’t considering how to prepare for the dips in the road. It will certainly get your mind racing. In fact, maybe don’t read this just before bed. It might deliver a healthy dose of insomnia.
Check it out here: Bounce!: Failure, Resiliency, and Confidence to Achieve Your Next Great Success
