Mark Sigal's Blog - The Network Garden: Long Tail 101

WHAT I'M READING NOW

Barton Gellman: Angler: The Cheney Vice Presidency
I am early in reading this book, but so far Cheney comes across as the ultimate FU VP; at once highly aggressive in establishing his position, smart and thorough in setting up and vetting his conclusions and incredibly calculating at routing around people and process to secure his desired outcomes. This guy must have read Machiavelli more than once.
Douglas Preston: The Monster of Florence
Gripping true story of a serial killer who preys upon young couples in the throws of lovemaking in the hills of Tuscany (I'm not exaggerating), and the efforts to catch him/her. Lots of compelling backstories on Italy, Italian culture and the convoluted legal and policing system there. If you've visited these spots, it adds another dimension (albeit a very dark one) to an otherwise idyllic canvas.
Joe Simpson: Touching the Void: The True Story of One Man's Miraculous Survival
Gripping, jarring story of the power of the human spirit, and will to survive in the face of almost certain death. Into Thin Air meets Shackleton's Incredible Voyage
Anna Politkovskaya: Putin's Russia: Life in a Failing Democracy
A tragic picture of a Russia that was presented a glimmer of light following a long bout with communism. In the end, it was an Icarus, and proved too much for the government and the people to contend with. Something fractured, and Russia succumbed to moral corruption and organized criminal activity. That the author gave her life to tell the story (she was assassinated) only adds to the hardness of what's being chronicled. Very concrete stories bring to life the Chechen conflict, how influence is bought, how assets are accumulated and defended. Mostly sadly, they also show how completely the Russian people seem to be left with a sense of powerlessness, abandonment, and confusion on how things could be any different.
Burton G. Malkiel: A Random Walk Down Wall Street: Completely Revised and Updated Edition
Excellent, highly readable book that in layman's terms makes sense of stock market, from bubble logic and history of same to different models for analyzing stock valuation, etc. Largely concludes that index funds are best path for predictable, reasonably safe but meaningful, return on investment dollars.
Charles M. Madigan: -30-: The Collapse of the Great American Newspaper
As old media unravels, it gives rise to something else, something new that while on one level is a wonderful thing, on another represents a loss of our core fabric. Newspapers are the 'Exhibit A' example of the great unraveling of Old Media and this book does a good job in a readable fashion of articulating why.
Felix Dennis: How to Get Rich: One of the World's Greatest Entrepreneurs Shares His Secrets
Sage, simple, clear and actionable truths. Poetic tone of an earnest pursuit to getting rich. Straight-up delivery, including decisions made, outcomes realized and lessons learned. A joy to read.
Dan Koeppel: Banana: The Fate of the Fruit That Changed the World
Excellent, enjoyable read on the banana as a much loved fruit, the cultivation and growing science behind same and the true dark meanings behind the 'banana republic' moniker.
Philip A. Fisher: Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits and Other Writings (Wiley Investment Classics)
I am a Ken Fisher nut (read his columns in Forbes - GREAT!), and Phil was Ken's dad. This book was written in late 1950's, yet all of the concepts are timely, the antithesis of the get rich quick, trend-o-month finance books. Good constructs for thinking about business in general (in addition to investing). Somewhat dry writing style.
Marty Neumeier: Zag: The Number One Strategy of High-Performance Brands
If you have read classic business books like Crossing the Chasm, Innovator's Dilemma or Built to Last, you can probably skip this book, which is a reasonably well written consolidation of best practices around market segmentation, positioning and product delivery. Nice title, though, and some effective metaphors which are intuitive and specific.

Rawtail_1

Chris Anderson has further crystallized his Long Tail meme, which espouses that our culture and economy is increasingly shifting away from a focus on a relatively small number of "hits" (mainstream products and markets) at the head of the demand curve and toward a huge number of niches in the tail. Rather than trying to improve upon his words, read them yourself.

Side comment: it is this combination of the intuitive and "AHA" that has made Wired Magazine (where Chris is Editor in Chief) relevant again.

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