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Books Beside My Bed

  • Chip Heath and Dan Heath: Made To Stick

    Chip Heath and Dan Heath: Made To Stick
    Roger Von Oech called this one months ago; "The next 'Tipping Point'," he enthused. While I don't think the Brothers Heath will make as much of a social dent as Malcolm Gladwell, their book is much more relevant as a "hands-on" tool for any marketer (and makes a compelling case for the infusion of Surprise. Thanks guys!). Taking their own advice, Chip and Dan make a handful of powerful points, and do so simply, interestingly and eloquently. Along with the Sernovitz book, this is my bible for many of my new business endeavors, as well as for the fundraising campaign my wife and I are leading for our son's school. A real find! (*****)

  • Andy Sernovitz: Word of Mouth Marketing: How Smart Companies Get People Talking

    Andy Sernovitz: Word of Mouth Marketing: How Smart Companies Get People Talking
    Andy is smart. He's getting people like me, and hundreds of others I suspect, to talk about his book. How? By being simple, to-the-point, no-nonsense, but most importantly, pertinent. Fewer anecdotes than "Citizen Marketers," but more of a practical How To manual. He's the reason every one of my posts have an "Email This" link. (****)

  • Daniel Gilbert: Stumbling on Happiness

    Daniel Gilbert: Stumbling on Happiness
    More than I bargained for here. Thought it would be another treatise on "How To Be Happy," but this is more of a "Why" and "How Come." Incredibly well-documented and a breezy, whimsical writing style that almost speaks out loud. His Harvard students must have a blast. (****)

  • Ben McConnell and Jackie Huba: Citizen Marketers

    Ben McConnell and Jackie Huba: Citizen Marketers
    A lot of common sense and stuff I aready knew, but I love the way they neatly package the User-Generated Comment movement. McLuhan would be proud--we have become the message. (****)

  • Paul Allen Smethers & Alastair France: Five Myths of Consumer Behavior: Create Technology Products that Consumer Will Love

    Paul Allen Smethers & Alastair France: Five Myths of Consumer Behavior: Create Technology Products that Consumer Will Love
    Read this? I devoured it in two days (interrupted only be the need to sleep). Very specific, but incredibly relevant to anyone creating tech products, like we do at Airborne. Written in a breezy, accessible style (despite its subject matter), the authors' melding of the standard product S-curve and a broken-up consumer adoption funnel is pure genius. What a find!

  • John Perkins: Confessions of an Economic Hit Man

    John Perkins: Confessions of an Economic Hit Man
    Just started, but needed a tale of international greed, corruption and badness to get over Mitch Albom.

  • Mitch Albom: For One More Day
    Give it up, Mitch. You had a good run with Morrie, but this is lame. I read this on the seventh anniversary of my mom's untimely death, and couldn't even force half a tear through my ducts. One's gotta know when the cow's out of milk, and your moo factory has run dry. (*)
  • Tom Standage: A History of the World in Six Glasses

    Tom Standage: A History of the World in Six Glasses
    Not as eye-opening as The Victorian Internet (his previous), this is still a wild romp through history, showing the progress of man via six vital liquids. Blood would've been an interesting #7... (****)

  • Gavin Weightman: The Frozen Water Trade

    Gavin Weightman: The Frozen Water Trade
    Brilliant and unsung. The story of Frederic Tudor, who chopped up the frozen lakes of Massachusetts and sold the result to the West Indies. Ridiculed, committed to an asylum and bankrupted, he eventually saw his dream come true, introduced the concept of refrigeration and changed the world. Thanks to him, I can play hockey indoors. (*****)

  • Seth Godin: Small is the New Big

    Seth Godin: Small is the New Big
    I am a Seth Godin junkie. I buy just about everything he puts out. While I get off on a lot of his ideas, I get off even more on the way he has built himself into a cottage industry. At this point, he could get lazy, but I'm amazed at his consistency in coming up with gems and staying poppin' fresh. (****)

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May 08, 2008

The Sweetest Spice

Hosted a fundraiser for cancer last week (Sheila Kussner's amazing Hope and Cope group) and had the chance to meet Mel C, a.k.a Sporty Spice of the Spice Girls.  Now given my age and taste in music, the Spice Girls were never in heavy rotation on my charts, but I must say I came away with more admiration for Melanie than I thought I would. 

No attitude, sweet and highly accommodating. A pleasure to deal with, and charmed everyone that she did.  Say what you want about her quintet, but they are still the top selling girl group of all time, and the fact that Melanie's not sitting back but taking a solo act out on the road, grinding it out in small clubs and actually showing up to help raise money at fundraisers says a lot about her character.

So Mel, you may not sell me any CDs, but you are definitely on my Hit List.  Hope your solo career benefits from the good karma you exude.

Melctalksmall

(P.S.  Big shout-out to Howard Kay, photographer of the stars, for the above snap.)

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Comments

Andy,

You're not the first to say that Mel C is good people. But don't worry about her career. There are not many small clubs involved: she is already huge in Europe.

Wikipedia says:

"Chisholm holds the record for most United Kingdom number-one singles by a female co-writer (equal with Madonna). She is also third after Lennon and McCartney for the most UK number-one singles by a British co-writer and is the only female to reach the UK number-one as part of a quintet, quartet, duo and as a solo artist."

She has also been nominated for Brit and Echo awards.

More (girl) power to her!

Adam
Spice Fan, somehow

Thanks for this, Adam. Guess she didn't need the spare change I tossed her way.

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