I tried, I really did, and it’s really difficult to admit I fell short.
I had checked out from the Multnomah County Library a number of books on sustainable business to review here. A couple appeared in my informal poll of industry must-reads, and there were a couple of others. I will be reviewing none of them, however, because I couldn’t get through any of them (I have a 50-page rule: if a book doesn’t grab me in 50 pages, I won’t finish it).
I have read a fair share of dry and boring academic, theoretical, or business texts, in college, at grad school and for work. I remember my thesis advisor say, “A lot of crap gets published”. I have learned – though not mastered – reading only the important stuff by a variation of skimming (first read the table of contents, introduction and conclusion, then intros and conclusions of chapters, then first and last sentences in a paragraph, tables and figures…). Even thus equipped, I couldn’t get through any of the books I’d loaned.
It’s not that the unfinished books had no valuable content – I really wanted to read them to be better at what I do. It’s not that I have a short attention span – I’ve enjoyed reading and reviewing books here and elsewhere. It’s not that I had no time – I schedule reading for business.
It’s my purely subjective opinion that it was the writing. Perhaps you’d like what I didn’t. Too wordy, too self-involved, using too much jargon, too technical, simply on a different plain, or any combination of these. I’m not saying dumb it down, or shorten it, or use more visuals. I am saying that even though every book contains a certain amount of fluff, the ones I’m going to finish will draw me in with a compelling narrative. Even business books can tell a story. Books about sustainability should.
Now where’s my library card?
***
Image credit: LeJyBy
{ 1 trackback }
{ 0 comments… add one now }