“Print is Dead” How Creative Professionals will Survive the Internet Tidal Wave

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Author @thatjeffgomez
I just wanted a book about the Publishing Industry. Okay, what I really wanted was an eBook about the Publishing Industry, published in the last five years. What I found was much, much, more.

The more you try to understand what’s happening to the Publishing industry, the more you start thinking about what’s already happened to the Music and Film industry. It’s all part of the same story.

The Internet = Disintermediation. Taking out the middle man. Here we are, in 2011. Gone are Tower Records and Blockbuster Movie rentals. Many of their competitors have been sold off, and everything (legal and illegal) is going digital, and put up on the web, to be shot between our phones, tablets and connected TVs. This is the dream, right? But if it means Artists aren’t making any money (so they quit making art, and become bankers) then what’s it all for? We need to understand how creative professionals (no matter what form their creativity takes) are going to deal with the onslaught of the Internet. Continue reading →

“Blink” Learn to Speak the Language of Intuition

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Author @gladwell

Years ago, Legendary NBA Coach (recently retired) Phil Jackson started handing out books to his players, to rectify any flaws or hone any mental aspects of the game in the offseason. If a player had a problem with his jumpshot or defense, that could be rectified in practice, but if a player had an overarching attitude problem, or consistency problem, maybe that would have to be rectified with reading, and contemplation. And so, as far back as the Chicago Bulls era, Phil was handing out what he thought were great books, each one suited for each unique player’s game, personality and weaknesses.

A few years ago, I remember hearing he gave “Blink” to Kobe Bryant. Kobe, more than anything, has been known for these insane last second buzzer beater shots. He’s taken tons of them. And if you factor in all the shots he missed, frankly, his hit/miss ratio isn’t even that good. As the leader and captain on the team, he keeps finding himself with the ball in his hands at the end of games, and usually, he can get a shot off. Phil knew that Kobe was under incredible pressure late in games, in moments where every millisecond counts, and that’s why he gave Kobe this book. If Kobe could just stop thinking altogether, he’d know exactly what to do. What could you improve if you could switch off your mind in the clutch?

This review is going to sound like a Coda to the Steve Jobs book from last week. It just turned out that way. Steve, time and time again, relied on his intuition, laying waste to months and months of work, design, coding, budgets etc. What is our Intuition, really, and why is it so damn smart (at some things), if our senses and hunches seem, at first, so vague? Continue reading →

“Steve Jobs”: Asshole. Impresario. Artist.

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Author @WalterIsaacson Recommended@gruber

Before I’d even got this book on my Kindle,I’d already written about 3000 words of ‘notes’ for this review. After all, I’d been using Apple products my whole life. Surely, I thought, there’s nothing in the book that’s going to change my opinions. Boy was I wrong. A word of warning: if you love Apple, or its co-founder, or its design aesthetic, or its amazing brand, be prepared to see everything in this book, including things you don’t wanna read. Finding out intimate details about Apple, is kind of like going backstage at a Led Zeppelin concert in the 70′s and seeing your heroes wasted, and babbling like babies, surrounded by bimbos. You might not be ready to meet your heroes, and find they’re human. Maybe that’s what’s so heartbreaking about Steve’s passing. He was human after all. And we wanted him so bad to live up to his image, as a perpetually young, dashing, charismatic genius, who seemingly waved his hands, and showed us the future. Continue reading →

“Chinese Lessons” History of Modern China through the eyes of an American

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About 4 years ago, I first made it to China, landing in Hong Kong, and then dragging my worldly possessions into Shenzhen the following day. At the time, I could read and speak a little Chinese, learned mostly from textbooks. My listening skills were hardened by countless hours of Zhang Yimou movies, and late night Mandarin radio shows. What followed was the most intense year of ‘Chinese Lesssons’ I could have asked for.

Shenzhen in those days (and yes, 4 years ago, in Shenzhen, in ancient history) was pretty much devoid of foreigners. My first year was disorienting, and thrilling. Apart from overcoming huge language barriers, it was my first time to meet and befriend Mainland Chinese. John Pomphret’s story, exceptional and poignant, reminded me of that first year. Continue reading →

“Hooking Up 2011″: Creating that Spark

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Introducing Hooking Up 2011. I just keeps getting better and better: while scores of poets, romantics and fledgling pickup artists have devoted entire libraries to the following subject, we’re going to try and handle in under thirty pages. When you start going out, invariably you’re gonna meet some beautiful people who want to get to know you better, up close and personal. And when they do, you’ll be ready, you’ll be smooth, and you’ll be in control. Have fun!

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“The Personal MBA”: Two Years and $100k in sleek portable book form

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Author @joshkaufman

“You dropped 150 grand on an education you could have gotten for $1.50 in late charges at the public library.” Matt Damon in Good Will Hunting

In The Personal MBA Josh Kaufman makes a very compelling case (as does Will Hunting) that for people considering an MBA, the economics aren’t that great. For many graduate students (not just Business majors), it feels like a Casino: everyone takes the tests, and gets primed, then takes out a huge loan from the bank (often a six-figure amount) hoping that when they come out the other side, there will be an awesome, high-paying job waiting for them. It’s a financial transaction, not really an educational one. In fact, much of the education gleaned from an Master in Business Administration is theoretical and marginally updated from the projects and Case Studies done in Bachelor of Business and Economics programs; after all, how can you possibly sit in a classroom and ‘learn’ how to be a Manager, or an Executive? Of course you can’t. But the schools are more than willing to let you try, as long as the cheques clear. Continue reading →

“Kindle Fire” and “Kindle Touch”: Meet Amazon’s latest crop of Kindles.

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Maker @amazonkindle

Today, Amazon held a press conference in New York to launch their 2011 line of Kindles, and they are beautiful. This full color version, known as the Fire (clever, I know) marks Amazon’s first entry into the tablet market. No small feat for a company that, up until a few years ago, had zero experience designing electronics. What started as a quick and dirty eReader has grown into an entire product line of sleek, web-enabled, and now Android powered devices, with a nice price range from $79 all the way up to the $199 tablet. While the top range Kinde isn’t going to kill the iPad anytime soon, it doesn’t really have to: still a couple months away from launch, the Kindle Fire is already the best Android tablet on the market. Slim pickings. Continue reading →