Guerilla Marketing

Jay Conrad Levinson has written 42 books, all with the words "Guerilla Marketing" in the title. I can't bring myself to read any of them. For some reason my eyes glaze over when I read advice like "Stay in touch with your customer base". He offers a thousand tips about obvious ways to get your message across but he never comes right out to say what is creative marketing. Not recommended.

book review - outliers

malcome gladwell is a staff writer for the new yorker. his style is pop psychology anthropology. he is a compelling storyteller. his gift is finding unusual people, like the guy with a 190 iq whose day job is a ranch hand raising horses. or this one, six degrees of lois weisberg about an anonymous grandmother in chicago who is also a kingmaker.

his book outliers is about people who have achieved extraordinary fame or wealth. his conclusion is that being smart helps, having the right opportunities helps, and that your cultural upbringing - your work ethic - helps. but it is really the matrix of all of the above that is the magic. it's almost worth reading the book just for the stories.

but i gotta tell you, his world view: "we are only a chaotic random collection of atoms - that just happens to write books and listen to mozart" [my words not his...] is sort of limiting. but that's a story for another time.