Rand's Blog

I’m not the voracious reader I should be, but I consume enough to have some opinions and recommendations. The list below is unorganized for now.

• The Billionaire Who Wasn’t - the remarkable story of Chuck Feeney, who, prior to Bill Gates, was (anonymously) the world’s largest philanthropist

• Good to Great – Jim Collins’ data driven analysis of why some companies make “the leap” while others don’t

• Made to Stick – The Heath brothers’ smart analysis and simple formula for “sticky” ideas works uncannily well. A read worthy of every marketer.

• Mindfire - Scott Berkun’s collection of essays is easy to read, fun and forces all the right kinds of questions and thinking. It’s the kind of book you read on a plane, take notes from and bring back to your company, energized like never before.

• Shantaram – An Australian convict escapes from prison and makes it to India where he becomes a slum doctor, mafia man and guerrilla fighter in Afghanistan in a remarkable narrative that explores the culture and history of very different worlds (and, unbelievably, much of it is autobiographical)

• Influence: Science and Practice – A remarkable book that explores the psychology of why humans make decisions and how marketers can/do leverage these powers

• The Yiddish Policeman’s Union – A re-imagining of history in which, following WWII, European Jews are given land in Sitka, Alaska, and the story of a detective following a case in its underworld

• Nudge – a great read on the impact of behavioral economics and how individuals, businesses, organizations and government can apply these lessons

• Kitchen Confidential – Anthony Bourdain’s brilliant exploration and expose of the restaurant world, from high heights to seedy underbelly

• Delivering Happiness – Tony Hsieh’s (of Zapppos) personally written autobiography of the Zappos story and its guiding principles

• Catch 22 – perhaps the greatest American novel written; a sharp exposition of the human race’s insanity

• Rocket City – a thoroughly modern, memorable and unique novel about strange lives in the southwestern United States

• The Art of SEO – a book I co-authored that explores basic – advanced level strategies and tactical advice for search engine optimization

• Don’t Make Me Think – the greatest book about usability so far; A must read for every designer, developer, product person and executive dealing with creating content for the web

The comments are open on this page; please feel free to suggest/recommend additional books below.