Welcome to our books section.  Here you will find some of the books we feel will be able to motivate, encourage and inspire you to create the life you want.  Enjoy.  Ps don’t forget to re-tweet this as your followers will appreciate it.

Status Anxiety

This is a book about an almost universal anxiety that rarely gets mentioned directly: an anxiety about what others think of us; about whether we’re judged a success or a failure, a winner or a loser. This is a book about status anxiety.

We care about our status for a simple reason: because most people tend to be nice to us according to the amount of status we have (it is no coincidence that the first question we tend to be asked by new acquaintances is ‘ What do you do?’).

With the help of philosophers, artists and writers, the book examines the origins of status anxiety (ranging from the consequences of the French Revolution to our secret dismay at the success of our friends), before revealing ingenious ways in which people have learnt to overcome their worries in their search for happiness. It aims not only to be entertaining, but wise and helpful as well. For more information visit: alaindebotton.com

SuperFreakonomics

SuperFreakonomics Global Cooling, Patriotic Prostitutes, and Why Suicide Bombers Should Buy Life Insurance.  This is the book that @BillGates has been reading.

The New York Times best-selling Freakonomics was a worldwide sensation, selling over four million copies in thirty-five languages and changing the way we look at the world. Now, Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner return withSuperFreakonomics, and fans and newcomers alike will find that the freakquel is even bolder, funnier, and more surprising than the first.

Four years in the making, SuperFreakonomics asks not only the tough questions, but the unexpected ones: What’s more dangerous, driving drunk or walking drunk? Why is chemotherapy prescribed so often if it’s so ineffective? Can a sex change boost your salary?

SuperFreakonomics challenges the way we think all over again, exploring the hidden side of everything with such questions as:

• How is a street prostitute like a department-store Santa?
• Why are doctors so bad at washing their hands?
• How much good do car seats do?
• What’s the best way to catch a terrorist?
• Did TV cause a rise in crime?
• What do hurricanes, heart attacks, and highway deaths have in common?
• Are people hard-wired for altruism or selfishness?
• Can eating kangaroo save the planet?
• Which adds more value: a pimp or a Realtor?

You can buy it at harpercollins.com

The Cluetrain Manifesto

Every wanted to read a book about the future that talks in simple terms?  The cluetrain Manifesto is one such book.  The manifesto was written in 1999 by Rick Levine, Christopher Locke, Doc Searls, and David Weinberger.

It discusses how A powerful global conversation has begun.

Through the Internet, people are discovering and inventing new ways to share relevant knowledge with blinding speed.

As a direct result, markets are getting smarter—and getting smarter faster than most companies. These markets are conversations. Their members communicate in language that is natural, open, honest, direct, funny and often shocking. Whether explaining or complaining, joking or serious, the human voice is unmistakably genuine. It can’t be faked.

You can find out more by visiting the site at cluetrain.com The book is  also on Amazon

OPEN

For anyone who loves tennis this is a definite must.  For those of you who want a book that talks from heart with compelling and intelligent prose of humor, sadness and self awareness then this book is should definitely be on your christmas list.

The book is available in all good bookstores including Borders and Waterstones and also on Amazon

“One Person/Multiple Careers:

This book will change your life!  I know that sounds like a cliche, however to anybody who is struggling with who they are Marci Alboher’s book is a real revelation to anyone who is labelled as X, however is also X.

Here’s a synopsis of her book

From lawyer/chefs to surgeon/playwrights and mom/CEOs, today’s most fulfilling lives are the ones filled with slashes. One Person/Multiple Careers is essential reading for anyone who is loathe to answer “What do you do?” with a singular definition.

Marci interviewed hundreds of people pursuing multiple careers simultaneously — from a longshoreman/documentary filmmaker to a management consultant/cartoonist — and discovered how slash careers integrate and fully express the multiple passions, talents, and interests that a single career often cannot accommodate. The book is a blueprint for building a life filled with slashes and custom-blending a career.

Has anyone else read this book?  Re-tweet and comment

There is also a great video from AtGoogleTalks with her & Tim Ferriss which discuss their books.

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Upstarts!

he rather long title of “Upstarts! How GenY Entrepreneurs are Rocking the World of Business and 8 Ways You Can Profit from Their Success” suggests that there is more to this generation that first meets the eye.  If you’ve read it already, leave a comment and let us know what you think.

If you have not yet read it you can buy it now at amazon or find our more at upstartsrock.com

The Knack:

I try and read or recommend books I think will add value to your business.  The book currently on my read list is “The Knack” Synopsis from author below:

“People starting out in business tend to seek step-by-step formulas or specific rules for success, but in reality there are no magic bullets. Rather, says veteran company-builder Norm Brodsky, there’s a mentality that helps street-smart entrepreneurs solve problems and pursue opportunities as they arise. He calls it “the knack,” and it has made all the difference to the eight successful start-ups of his career.

Brodsky explores this mind-set every month in Inc. magazine, in the hugely popular column he co-writes with journalist and author Bo Burlingham (best known for his acclaimed book Small Giants). In both their column and now their book, they tell stories about real companies facing real challenges and show readers how to apply “the knack” to their own businesses.

“Visit the website theknack for more information.

What Do You Say After You Say Hello?

“Hello how are you?”
“Can you lend me some money?”
“What are you looking at!”

All responses  argue Eric Berne play an important role in how you deal with the world and may impact on how successful you are as an entrepreneur or business person.

In What Do You Say After You Say Hello? Berne presents a summary which introduces the concept of Scripts to the mainstream world audience for the first time.

Berne approaches scripts chronologically. He shows how parental programming will lay the basis for the script in the “plastic years” of childhood and how adolescent rebellion may lead to an “anti-script”

So the next time someone you know, or perhaps someone you don’t know asks you this question, think about the consequences as they may impact on your business.  You can buy the book from Amazon.