Want a great way to find cool books to read? Visit your local library. That’s right, your library. Then locate the “Sorting Shelves.” Ask the librarian, if you can’t find themselves. Sorting shelves contain books which have recently been returned by other patrons and are being sorted by subject, so they can be reshelved in their proper locations.
You are almost sure to find something interesting here via pure serendipity. It only makes sense that those books which have circulated recently might be of interest to you, too. These shelves will be a great mixture of every genre, from cookbooks to philosophy, as well a collection of both new books and old.
Next time you are looking for something interesting to read, check out the sorting shelves at your local library. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.
Music: “Mining by Moonlight”, Kevin MacLeod, Incompetech.com, Creative Commons License
Want a great way to find cool books to read? Visit your local library. That’s right, your library. Then locate the “Sorting Shelves.” Ask the librarian, if you can’t find themselves. Sorting shelves contain books which have recently been returned by other patrons and are being sorted by subject, so they can be reshelved in their proper locations.
You are almost sure to find something interesting here via pure serendipity. It only makes sense that those books which have circulated recently might be of interest to you, too. These shelves will be a great mixture of every genre, from cookbooks to philosophy, as well a collection of both new books and old.
Next time you are looking for something interesting to read, check out the sorting shelves at your local library. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.
Music: “Mining by Moonlight”, Kevin MacLeod, Incompetech.com, Creative Commons License
I first discovered Michael Ruhlman via his book, “The Making of a Chef” where he details his journey through the program at the Culinary Institute of America (CIA). I never had a desire to be a chef but his story was so compelling that I actually checked out the textbooks used at the school to learn more about cooking — both food and technique. A short time later, I found his book, Wooden Boats: In Pursuit of the Perfect Craft at an American Boatyard, which immersed me in the world of boat making and the people who made their living there. I have found all his books compelling reads and it is amazing to see how his career has progressed over the intervening years. Finally, Ruhlman’s book, Ratio: The Simple Codes Behind the Craft of Everyday Cooking opens an entirely new world of cooking where learning a few simple rations between ingredients can allow you to experiment widely in your own kitchen.
With my appreciation of his books, it only makes sense to follow Michael online, as well. Ruhlman.com has regular posts about a wide variety of food-related topics and I always appreciate seeing a new post appear in my feed reader. I am sure that that the fact that he is a fellow Ohio boy doesn’t hurt either. (SMILE)
From Ruhlman.com...
The best things in life happen when you get carried away. I went into a cooking school to write about what it means to be a chef, and instead I became a cook, got a job line cooking, lucked into one of the great restaurants of the world to work with the chef on his book, and I kept on writing about food. I got carried away, and it’s made all the difference.
What are some of your favorite Subscriptions? Share them here in the comments!
Subscribed is a Careers in New Media series highlighting the Podcasts, YouTube Channels and Blogs that I follow on a daily basis. Check out this entry, and past entries, for some great New Media Content — Douglas
Books on Hold is a blog series dedicated to books I have seen in passing and requested from my local library. See more in the series at the end of this blog post. — Douglas
As I move the my career more in the direction of blogging and other New Media pursuits, I am happening across more and more books like this. Certainly worth a read to see if there is anything I can glean from their experiences and advice.
“With roughly 95,000 blogs launched worldwide every 24 hours (BlogPulse), making a fledgling site stand out isn’t easy. This authoritative handbook gives creative hopefuls a leg up. Joy Cho, of the award-winning Oh Joy!, offers expert advice on starting and growing a blog, from design and finance to overcoming blogger’s block, attracting readers, and more. With a foreword from Grace Bonney of Design*Sponge plus expert interviews, this book will fine-tune what the next generation of bloggers shares with the world.
Learn how to: – Design your site – Choose the right platform – Attract a fan base – Finance your blog – Maintain work/life balance – Manage comments – Find content inspiration – Overcome blogger’s block – Choose the right ads – Develop a voice – Protect your work – Create a media kit – Leverage your social network – Take better photographs – Set up an affiliate program – Partner with sponsors – Build community – Go full-time with your blog – And more!“
I finished reading this book yesterday and found it quite useful, especially when discussing New Media/Social Media issues with folks.
Shirky provides a good overview of what is happening in today’s social society even if he cannot give us a roadmap of where it might take us. Still, knowing something about our journey can help us better understand it as it occurs rather than simply trying to apply old rules to a new world. There are a lot of good examples of how and why certain social media activities occurred along with some analysis.
I especially liked the section on understanding group behaviors. Anyone trying to start or manage a group will find that section useful and informative.
Still, in the end, Shirky can’t really tell us where this is all headed. I can’t fault him much, as I don’t think anyone can really see that future fully. He does offer some ways of looking at New Media and how people us it as guidelines to future uses. That is useful in useful in itself.
I am in the midst of reading this book and enjoying it a lot Shirley seeks to provide some background as to why people volunteer their time and energy on various Internet-conncected pursuits as varied as online communities, sharing Instagram photos and raising money for charities online. I am finding that I am highlighting quite a few sections to consider later, as I read.
From Amazon.com…
“The author of the breakout hit Here Comes Everybody reveals how new technology is changing us for the better.
In his bestselling Here Comes Everybody, Internet guru Clay Shirky provided readers with a much-needed primer for the digital age. Now, with Cognitive Surplus, he reveals how new digital technology is unleashing a torrent of creative production that will transform our world. For the first time, people are embracing new media that allow them to pool their efforts at vanishingly low cost. The results of this aggregated effort range from mind-expanding reference tools like Wikipedia, which allows Kenyans to report acts of violence in real time. Cognitive Surplus explores what’s possible when people unite to use their intellect, energy, and time for the greater good.”
Looking for a great selection of tools to “Jump Start Your Brain?” This book is for you. It is full of great ideas on how to come up with…well…great ideas. The wide variety of tools here means that anyone should be able to find one that works well for them. We all think in different ways, so it only makes sense the we all need different tools. Jump Start Your Brain today and keep on changing the world with your great ideas!
From Amazon.com…
“Ideal for inspiring marketers, artists, teachers, and anyone who needs fresh ideas for work and home, Jump Start Your Brain helps readers crank up both their cranium and career. Featuring smart and creative methods for providing better leadership, igniting sales and marketing, and realizing dreams with breakthrough innovations, this book teaches time-tested practices that generate creativity and innovation. Relying on the latest research, the author pinpoints which methods and techniques work best in today’s high-stress world so readers can get a leg-up on the competition.”
With interests in both art and business, it seems only natural to combine them in my mind. “Art & Fear” addresses the all-to-common issues with creating art and I believe there are a lot of parallels to any career. Most art is about overcoming fear and it is the same with your career. You need to work through the fear in order to create something wonderful, not matter what you do.
Creativity is an important part of every podcast and new media project, so for the next few days I am going to focus on some of my favorite creativity books. Aha! is all about freeing up your thinking and allowing yourself to think and act creatively. Too often we restrict and confine our own thinking just when we need to be coming up with new, wild, crazy (and sometimes extremely useful) new ideas.
Creating a monthly, weekly or even daily podcast requires you to generate an amazing amount of raw ideas to insure you have enough topics, thoughts and content to fuel your show. Developing your creativity will be an important part of insuring your show continues for many years to come.
“Aha! is a joyful, upbeat survey of ideas for enhancing creativity. Jordan Ayan’s enthusiasm is hard to resist, and every reader will find personally suitable strategies. Aha! is an inspiring yet practical guidebook for freeing the creative spirit.” –Betty Edwards, author of Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain
I humbly present my own Kindle eBooks as today’s addition to the 2012 Gift Guide. I hope that you find them interesting gift possibilities for your friends, family and, maybe even, yourself.
My books run the gamut from social media to careers and now, to gardening. You don’t need a Kindle to read these eBooks, as Kindle books are readable on nearly any computer, tablet or smartphone platform and even in your web browser. You can download a sample of each book for free and Amazon Prime members can “borrow” the entire book for free as part of their membership.
Want to learn how to maximize social media? When to do it, what words to use, who to tweet at? Look no further than Zarrella’s Hierarchy of Contagiousness: The Science, Design and Engineering of Contagious Ideas. Social media master Dan Zarrella has amassed years of experience helping people negotiate the often mystical place of social media marketing. Now, he has condensed those well-tried ideas into this concise and conversational book. Zarrella’s Hierarchy of Contagiousness demystifies and deconstructs how social media works, who it benefits and why we all depend upon it to help our good ideas spread.
Although podcasting is entering its 8th year, there are still new people discovering it every day.
If you are interested in diving into the nuts and bolts of podcasting, and new media in general, you would do well to look to the second edition of what was one of the first books on podcasting. Learn about microphones, web servers, RSS feeds, iTunes settings and more.
One of the co-authors for this edition of Podcasting for Dummies is fellow Friends in Tech member, Chuck Tomasi, who produces a number of podcasts. You can fund links to all of them over at ChuckChat.com.
A hilarious collection of cat cartoons. As a cat owner, it all seems a bit too close to the truth. Simon’s Cat causes trouble for everyone, including himself in these short black and white adventures. This is the channel I turn to when I need a little laughter in my day.
There are also Simon’s Cat books with large collections of comics based on the character.
Navigating the special difficulties of a high-tech career can be troublesome for workers, young and old. Career Opportunities, a weekly column for ComputorEdge Magazine in San Diego, California and Colorado Springs, Colorado, has addressed these issues for almost 13 years.
While simultaneously developing his own high-tech career, author Douglas E. Welch has shared his insights, trials, setbacks and successes with his readers. The High-Tech Career Handbook collects the best columns from 1997-2003 into a book for all high-tech careerists, whether they are just starting out, building their career or looking for a new career in the high-tech world. Topics covered in the columns include getting your career started, ethics, fairness and the benefits of doing honest business, personal development, professional development, and the tips and tricks for transitioning into a mature career.
While we often talk about one, monolithic, Reputation – with a capital R — I believe that there are a series of reputations that make up the whole. This book will focus on the combination of reputations that make up your one, overarching, Reputation. By examining each of these reputations in detail, I hope you will find specific areas where you can improve your work, your actions and your thoughts so that your overall professional reputation grows.
Why break your Reputation down into its constituent parts? It is often said that you can’t “do” projects, you can only do the individual tasks that make up the project and achieve the desired result. The same can be said for reputation. You don’t build your reputation as a whole, you cultivate the smaller reputations that create it. Each individual action builds your reputation in unique ways and each requires some thought as to how they relate to the whole.
Imagine if when you were born you were given a magical compass to lead you through your life. It would always show you the way. It would show you the right answers on tests, lead you to the right college and to the right course of study at that college. It would lead to your first job, your first (and maybe last) love and always show the path ahead. This isn’t some idle fantasy. We each have a compass to show us the way, if only we would take it out of our pocket and use it. This compass, of course, is our desire. Instead of a needle, it is a feeling, a pull, a tension — in some cases, an overwhelming flood of feeling that says “Yes, this is the way — this is the one — this is where you need to go!”
“I am deeply convinced of the importance and effectiveness of social media. Like the Internet itself, which made social media possible, social media allows you to expose your talents, your products, your creativity to a huge number of people all over the world. The “loose contacts” we make online are the beginning of what I call our own global family.This isn’t one unwieldy global online community, but rather our own personalized family made up of those that bring value into our lives. Our communities might overlap in some ways, but they will never be the same. They can’t be. We are all unique individuals so therefore our communities will reflect this uniqueness In fact, when our communities are too alike, we might be just following the crowd instead of building our own community.”
* Kindle books can be read on nearly any computer or mobile platform including, Mac, Windows, iPhone/iPod Touch, iPad, and Android phones and tablets. Download Free Kindle Reader Software
“I am deeply convinced of the importance and effectiveness of social media. Like the Internet itself, which made social media possible, social media allows you to expose your talents, your products, your creativity to a huge number of people all over the world. The “loose contacts” we make online are the beginning of what I call our own global family.
This isn’t one unwieldy global online community, but rather our own personalized family made up of those that bring value into our lives. Our communities might overlap in some ways, but they will never be the same. They can’t be. We are all unique individuals so therefore our communities will reflect this uniqueness In fact, when our communities are too alike, we might be just following the crowd instead of building our own community.”
* Kindle books can be read on nearly any computer or mobile platform including, Mac, Windows, iPhone/iPod Touch, iPad, and Android phones and tablets. Download Free Kindle Reader Software
Congratulations to Ileane S., winner of a copy of Podcasting for Dummies (1st Edition), written by two of my podcast buddies, Evo Terra and Tee Morris.
This book is a great introduction into the world of podcasting and can get you up and running in just a couple of hours. Learn about recording your show, starting your blog, RSS feeds, the iTunes podcast directory and more.
It’s starting to happen. I was talking to someone just the other night about how such deals would greatly benefit mainstream media outlets. The price of the readers is falling very rapidly while their capabilities just keep growing.
Well, this was bound to happen. Barnes & Noble is offering big discounts on its Nook e-readers to people taking out subscriptions to digital editions of magazines and newspapers:
The Nook edition of People is $9.99 a month; with a one-year subscription, customers will receive a Nook Tablet, a color device with a 7-inch display, for $199, a discount from its regular price of $249. Customers who buy a one-year subscription for the Nook edition of The New York Times for $19.99 a month, which in…
Best-selling author and popular speaker Garr Reynolds is back in this newly revised edition of his classic, best-selling book, Presentation Zen, in which he showed readers there is a better way to reach the audience through simplicity and storytelling, and gave them the tools to confidently design and deliver successful presentations.
In this new edition, Garr gives his readers new, fresh examples to draw inspiration from, with a whole new chapter for those who present on more technical and educational topics based on techniques used by many presenters who give high-level talks at TED and other powerhouse events. Whether the reader is in research, technology, business, or education–this book will show them how to take what could look like a really dry presenation and reinvigorate the material in totally fresh (and sometimes interactive!) ways that will make it memorable and resonate with the audience.
Staying true to the mission of the first), Garr combines solid principles of design with the tenets of Zen simplicity to help readers along the path to simpler, more effective presentations that will be appreciated, remembered, and best of all, acted upon.
It’s starting to happen. I was talking to someone just the other night about how such deals would greatly benefit mainstream media outlets. The price of the readers is falling very rapidly while their capabilities just keep growing.