Professor Richard E. Foglesong: Married to the Mouse: Walt Disney World and Orlando
This is the first book that I am reading via the Kindle reader on my iPod touch. Great book that shows how Disney maneuvered its way into establishing Disney World as it's own pseudo government, free from the oversight and controls of traditional city, county and state control. Hardly, a slam piece, it shows how centralized planning can lead to a better, more fully conceived product (think: Apple), but also shows the pitfalls for eager cities and states willing to agree to any and all pre-conditions to secure major corporate patronage.
Robert B. Cialdini: Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion (Collins Business Essentials)
One of my recurring interests is better understanding how to influence the actions of others. This book looks at the psychology and underlying trigger mechanisms, such as reciprocity, that drive people to act in the way that you want them to. Relevant to people in sales, marketers and pretty much anyone who wants to turn the gravity of persuasion to their advantage.
George Friedman: The Next 100 Years: A Forecast for the 21st Century
Provocative, enjoyable, compelling read that makes the somewhat counter-intuitive argument that the next 100 years is destined to be the American Age (US), replacing the European Age, which has been the locus of gravity for the past 500+ years, and that our emerging counter-challengers will be Turkey, Mexico, Japan and Poland - not China or India.
Jessica Livingston: Founders at Work: Stories of Startups' Early Days
Not since I read Accidental Empires many years ago have I had so much joy and insight reading about the AHA moments, the blood, sweat and tears, the mistakes, the victories and the lessons learned in the birthing of tech startups like Apple, Lotus, Hotmail and a couple dozen other seminal companies. If you are an entrepreneur or want to know what being one feels like, this is a must read.
Ian Williams: Rum: A Social and Sociable History of the Real Spirit of 1776
The history of rum, with the exotic spirit as a key character in the founding of the United States. Next book in my Chatopic group, and a fun read so far.
Pip Coburn: The Change Function: Why Some Technologies Take Off and Others Crash and Burn
I have been ruminating a lot about the relationship between user experience and user adoption. Coburn is one of my favorite writers/analysts from back in the days of Red Herring, and this book focuses on the user experience/user-centered approach to solutions thinking. Personally, Inmates are Running the Asylum is a better book.
Lynn H. Nicholas: The Rape of Europa: The Fate of Europe's Treasures in the Third Reich and the Second World War
I actually just saw the DVD and blogged about it. Brilliant and compelling. Captures the shocking scale and systematic way that the Nazis sought to plunder the world's great art as part of their plan on world domination and re-making humanity, art and culture. Wow!
Alan Moore: Watchmen
Just finished this graphic novel, written by same author of V for Vendetta, one of my favorite all time movies. Watchmen is being released as a major motion picture early 2009, and this novel is a classic to many, but to me it fell a bit short of the promised target. Why? Characters interesting but not compelling, story arcs came together in a bit uninspired fashion, and left with a bit of a EH sensation.
Chogyam Trungpa: Crazy Wisdom (Dharma ocean series)
For serious Buddhist devotees, Trungpa is the late great master; a real gift. This series of books is derived from seminars he led, so beauty is that you get Trungpa's synopsis, then Q&A from audience and then of course your own interpretation; a great way to triangulate on complex topics. This is my second time reading, as this is a time for Crazy Wisdom (search for my post on the topic).
Barton Gellman: Angler: The Cheney Vice Presidency
This is a classic, IMHO. Really gives a good sense of how government works and how Cheney drove executive branch to reclaim lost power (of that branch). Cheney's depth of detailed knowledge on everything - policy, law, protocol, people and process is pretty impressive. Raises all sorts of questions on the delineation between him and Bush, and how that defines culpability.
Total behind the scenes on key events, not partisan or editorializing but very strong analysis and excellent narrative from many of the key players.
Hi Mark,
I'm not sure which video capture sites are the most successful, but I believe vSocial tries the hardest to fulfill an important user need: control and depth.
People can watch TV or attend a lecture instead of surf the Internet, but people who choose to surf the Internet do so because they want more than just a BLINK tag.
I'm not a fan of the badges for whatever reason I can't put my finger on, but the underlying principle (stated above) is what I am a fan of. If the badges no longer require a "user manual," then even better.
Posted by: John "Z-Bo" Zabroski | April 03, 2006 at 06:37 PM
Appreciate the comments, John. User badges are not for everyone but they do serve the purpose of providing a window into a person's video content, their favorites, newest, etc. As to your comments on control and depth, well put. Captures our intent well.
Mark
Posted by: Mark Sigal | April 05, 2006 at 04:46 PM