Dan’s Bookshelf

Summer reading — Part Two

The next book I recommend for your summer reading list is Now The Hell Will Start by Brendan Koerner. This one may be non-fiction. But the narrative is so weirdly compelling — and the Koerner’s eye for detail so wonderful — that it reads like a novel.The story begins on the segregated streets of World […]


Summer reading — Part One

Now that we’ve made it past the Fourth of July, many of you are assembling your summer reading lists. Because I’m here to serve, let me offer two suggestions — books I recently finished and heartily recommend.The first is The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears by Dinaw Mengestu. It’s one of the best novels I’ve […]


Don’t be so smart

(cross-posted from JohnnyBunko.com)The older I get, the more I realize how stupid it is to be, try to be, or think you are the smartest person in the room. Now comes a bit of empirical proof.Here’s a short audio op-ed from social psychologist Robert Cialdini, co-author of the outstanding new book Yes!: 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to […]


Maybe-I-chose-the-wrong-line-of-work factoid of the day

Number of new books published last year: 276,649  (That’s 758 new books per day.)Number of new business books published last year:  7,651 (That’s nearly one new biz book each hour.)(Source:  RR Bowker report, 5/28/08)


G-O-O-D-B . . .

Reeling from growing irrelevance and the circulation of a dead man, the Washington Post recently offered buyouts to staffers who’ve reached the age of 50.  If we cut costs and clear out expensive personnel, the Post reasons, maybe we can figure out how to make this Internet tubes thing work for us.Alas, my guess is that readers won’t […]


Six word stories can say lots.

Sometimes when I go out and talk about the ideas in AWNM, I have time do some exercises with the audience.  And one of my new favorites is the six-word memoir,which helps demonstrate and hone the power of story. The idea comes from the endlessly entertaining book, Not Quite What I Was Planning, in which people famous […]


My 5 favorite books on writing

This post is getting a lot of hits over at JohnnyBunko.com.  Some of you might find it interesting, too.


Speech impediments

I devoted some of my misspent youth to writing speeches for politicians. Tim Ferriss of The 4-Hour Workweek fame found that intriguing — so we did an interview on effective speechifying, which is now posted on his incredibly popular and preposterously useful blog.  Added bonus:  You can see Tim breakdance.  


A book that made me paranoid

Last month at Naperville Reads, I was talking with the amazing folks at the equally amazing Anderson’s Bookshop about what titles they were excited about for the spring. A few people mentioned Cory Doctorow’s Little Brother. And since I’d heard about the book and been intrigued by it, I snagged an early copy. Yowza. Now […]

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