NON-FICTION
RULES FOR RADICALS, Saul Alinsky. The 1971 organizer’s classic. The Bible on moving people to action. Hint: Applies to a Y2K finance project as much as to a 1960s union certification drive!
INFLUENCE: SCIENCE AND PRACTICE, Robert Cialdini. Best and best researched book … ever(?) … on this topic. He would have predicted 10 years ago the power of permission marketing on the Web!
THE POWER OF MINDFUL LEARNING, Ellen Langer. When we are deeply engaged, we soar. When we ain’t, we don’t! This is an incredibly readable, brilliantly researched tome.
DIFFICULT CONVERSATIONS: HOW TO DISCUSS WHAT MATTERS MOST, Douglas Stone, Bruce Patton, Sheila Heen. I’m on my third reading. Half the pages are dog-eared. This is a mind-bogglingly (yech!) powerful book. For life. For getting things done in organizations. (From members of the renowned Harvard Negotiation Project.)
WHY WE BUY: THE SCIENCE OF SHOPPING, Paco Underhill. Goes very deep on this eternally relevant subject. (More relevant than ever, as we try to fathom the impact of the Web.)
WORLDLY GOODS: A NEW HISTORY OF THE RENAISSANCE, Lisa Jardine. I find that, paradoxically, reading history helps me feel my way through these mad times much more effectively. (This has long been Peter Drucker’s secret weapon.)
THE VICTORIAN INTERNET: THE REMARKABLE STORY OF THE TELEGRAPH AND THE NINETEENTH CENTURY’S ON-LINE PIONEERS, Tom Standage. The telegraph, relatively, was as big a deal as the Web! Great read!
THE AGE OF SPIRITUAL MACHINES, Ray Kurzweil. If you only read one book in the next few months, make it this one. In short, we ain’t seen nothin’ yet! Speaking of ain’t, Ray Kurzweil ain’t no flake!
FICTION
DAMASCUS GATE, Robert Stone.
THIS SIDE OF BRIGHTNESS, Colum McCann.
