Not everything I read suits the Sustainable Marketing Blog as review or sharing material. But I realized the other day that the content that doesn’t make it to the website shapes not only my thinking and writing, but also my business and its development. So at the end of every calendar quarter, I’ll devote the Friday review space to the unsung heroes in my reading pile. Here goes, in no particular order. All recommended, albeit for different reasons.
- Tyler Cowen, Discover Your Inner Economist: Use Incentives to Fall in Love, Survive Your Next Meeting, and Motivate Your Dentist, 2008Â and Create Your Own Economy: The Path to Prosperity in a Disordered World, 2009Â - Tyler Cowen is always a pleasure to read, whether on his Marginal Revolution blog or in book form. You’ll be hard pressed to find a more entertaining, readable, and empowering deep-view at the intersection of economics, culture, and psychology.
- Betrand Russell, The History of Western Philosophy, 1945Â - This 836-page tome is a long-term project. I read a few pages a day in between tasks. Who knew Pythagoras hated beans, or that St. Augustine’s City of God influenced Marx.
- Nassim Nicholas Taleb, The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable, 2007 – No one knows anything (not even, and perhaps not especially, experts). Life is non-linear and unpredictable, no matter what you think or tell yourself. Beautiful and biting.
- Al Ries and Jack Trout, Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind, 1981 – A marketing classic that, from a sustainability perspective, reads like a horror story. Read it to learn how and why things went wrong.
- Chris Balish, How to Live Well Without Owning a Car: Save Money, Breathe Easier, and Get More Mileage Out of Life, 2006Â - Only if you’re ready (though it’ll help you get there, too).
- Peter Berger and Thomas Luckmann, The Social Construction of Reality: A Treatise in the Sociology of Knowledge, 1967 – Your reality comes from other people. Their reality comes from you, and others. A fascinating read, if you have the patience to read through the dense language.
- Russell Ackoff, Re-creating the Corporation: A Design of Organizations for the 21st Century, 1999 – Systems thinking applied to organizational design. Read if you want to build a flexible, interactive, learning, and democratic organization.
- Donella Meadows, Thinking in Systems: A Primer, 2008Â - A must read for every sustainability professional. Every human being, I dare say. Clear, concise, enlightening. I can’t believe I’d waited this long to read it.
- Dan Pallotta, Uncharitable: How Restraints on Nonprofits Undermine Their Potential, 2008 – The nonprofit sector is long overdue for an overhaul. Many major complaints and a few good ideas from a heart in the right place.
- Peter Senge, The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization, 1990 – Another classic. If every organization applied systems thinking the Senge way, the world of business would be a different place. Why are we not doing this?
- Theodore Roosevelt Malloch, Spiritual Enterprise: Doing Virtuous Business, 2008 – Doing well by doing good in your business, from a faith-based perspective. Not my cup of tea, but an interesting look at yet another way of reaching a familiar conclusion.
- Douglas Rushkoff, Life, Inc.: How the World Became a Corporation and How to Take It Back, 2009 – It may be a 240-some-page rant about the power of evil corporations, but it’s an informative and insightful one. Only the last 5% of the book outlines the solution: money (okay, “local currency”). Epically anti-climactic.
- Dalai Lama and Howard Cutler, The Art of Happiness: A Handbook for Living, 1999 – Exactly what the title promises.
- Nicholas Christakis and James Fowler, Connected: The Surprising Power of Our Social Networks and How They Shape Our Lives, 2009 – Saving the best for last. May the network science prevail: We must understand people in the context of their social networks, rather than as individuals. Social construction of reality, squared.
P.S.: As a bonus, I recommend Julien Smith’s guide to reading 52 books a year. It’s easier than you think.
What are your favorite books of the year so far? What do you recommend?
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Image credit: Bronia sawyer
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