Worthy Reads. Worthless Reads. (#5)

For the fifth edition of Worthy Reads & Worthless Reads (WRWR), I decided to do it off-the-cuff audioblog style. For this edition, I riff on 16 business books I've read since WRWR #4. Below you'll find the download link, books mentioned in the audioblog, worthy/worthless ratings, and purchase/information links.

DOWNLOAD AUDIOBLOG HERE
[26:32 minutes | 18.2 MB]

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The Macintosh Way | Guy Kawasaki | WORTHY READ (@ 1:25)

Rules for Revolutionaries | Guy Kawasaki | WORTHY READ (@ 3:15)

Selling the Dream | Guy Kawasaki | WORTHY READ (@ 3:50)

How to Drive Your Competition Crazy | Guy Kawasaki | WORTHY READ (@ 4:24)

The Cult of Mac | Leander Kahney | WORTHY READ (@ 5:04)

Revolution in the Valley | Andy Hertzfeld | WORTHY READ (@ 5:04)

Buzzmarketing | Mark Hughes | WORTHLESS READ (@ 6:42)

Brand Sense | Martin Lindstrom | WORTHLESS READ (@ 9:03)

Fast Company Magazine article| Smells Like Brand Spirit | WORTHY READ

Branded Customer Service | Barlow & Stewart | WORTHLESS READ (@ 10:36)

Marketing Playbook | John Fox | WORTHLESS READ (@ 13:14)

Brain Tattoos | Karen Post | WORTHY READ (@ 14:30)

Secret Service | John Dijulious | WORTHY READ (@ 14:30)

Brewing Up a Business | Sam Calagione | WORTHLESS READ (@ 14:58)

The Radical Leap | Steve Farber | WORTHY READ (@ 17:07)

Improv Wisdom | Patricia Ryan Madson | WORTHY READ (@ 18:58)

The War of Art | Steven Pressfield | WAY WAY WAY WORTHY READ (@ 21:53)

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More Worthy Reads/Worthless Reads:

Edition #1 | April 4, 2004

Edition #2 | May 28, 2004

Edition #3 | October 22, 2004

Edition #4 | January 29, 2005

Comments

[Paughnee]

Thanks for another edition of Worthy Reads, Worthless Reads. For me personally, I prefer the text version to the audio version. Much easier to skim and reference. The audio version is almost 30 minutes long, but in text format, I could get the information in a fraction of the time.

However, I admit that I do have a strong bias towards reading versus listening. But that's just me. :-)

[johnmoore (from Brand Autopsy)]

Paughnee ... I agree with you. I also prefer skimming the written word and not having to listen to full audio. Chalk the WRWR #5 audioblog up as an experiment. Not sure I will do it again but I may experiment with doing a deep dive 10-minute audioblog on one book.

I did try to solve for the skimming issue by posting track timing so if a reader/listener only wanted to hear thoughts on one book then they could skip to that section of the audioblog.

While I have your attention ... what would you do to make an audioblog version of WRWR more worthy of listening to?

[Paughnee]

John, I did use the timings you provided to skip over some of the sections in which I wasn't interested, so that was helpful to include.

Hmm . . . how to make an audio blog a "worthy listen" . . . Maybe some dialogue with an author of a "worthy read" if that's possible? Or, if a 2-way conversation isn't possible, then maybe a snippet of audio from the author.

I'll give it some more thought. I'm really audio-resistant, so it's difficult to think of what would compell me to listen. Thanks for asking :-)

[Dustin]

If you could get Paul, or someone else, to read the same books then you could do an Ebert & Roeper-type review. "We gave this book two worthy thumbs up."

Nevermind, that sounds about as cheesy as hiring Hugh Grant as a spokesperson.

I agree with Paughnee that the text version is easier to skim and follow along. I focus on blogs, but I multi-task during podcasts.

[Michael]

Thanks for the "worthy read" post! Books have been for centuries the way the "great conversation" takes place on any subject that matters. How an audioblog fits is an interesting question. It seems that for those that want a quick way to gain insight the written word is preferred. What relevant value does an audioblog bring? Entertainment? A Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keillor comes to mind. I heard he picked the term "companion" since he imagined that the listener was most likely doing something else while listening and therefore not giving full attention.

Another question: Do you have a "fiction worthy reads" list? Fiction doesn't supply its asnwers in a quick linear way either. How about something like William Gibson's Pattern Recognition as fiction worth reading for insight into branding?

[johnmoore (from Brand Autopsy)]

Michael, interesting tid-bit on PHC ... I’d never heard the rationale behind calling it a 'companion.' Makes complete sense to me. Might just change the name of any Brand Autopsy audioblog to ... A Brand Autopsy Companion. (Ha.)

I'm gonna have to leave the fiction version of WRWR to someone else. Truth be told … I rarely, if ever, read fiction. Yeah, this may be a character flaw. However, I find non-fiction books more 'tangible' in that the takeaway learnings are more evident and applicable.

[Tim Germer]

This was excellent! You do very well at presenting - tone, pace, creativity, etc. It made my ride home much more interesting; plus, I now have a couple books I'm primed to read. A Brand Autopsy podcast would make my day :)

[johnmoore (from Brand Autopsy)]

Thanks Tim ... really appreciate the kind feedback. Instead of doing an all-out podcast, Brand Autopsy will probably do shtick laden audio-blogs like the Marketing Masterpiece Theatre stuff. For an upcoming Business Blog Tour I plan to do some audioblog shtick. I reckon I should sync up these one-off audioblogs through RSS.

Thanks for enduring the 26-minute audioblog. So … what books are now on your reading list?