We lived in Beaumont, TX for one year. It was the early 1970s, I was fresh out of college, getting my feet wet in the work world. I was a youth minister, but really preparing for my preaching years. Every week, (sometimes more than once a week), I would drive to a small bookstore. These… Read More My Very Fond Memory of My Favorite Bookstore Owner – (And, Where Will the Jobs Be?)
I am a convert. As I have written before, I now buy most of my books (all that are available digitally) on Amazon’s Kindle App for my iPad. I get my protein bars though Amazon. I get my ink for my printer from Amazon. And a whole lot more. And my experience on Amazon has… Read More Amazon’s Secret – Make it Easy; Make it Fast; Make it Insanely Convenient
News item: Best Buy is in a lot of trouble News item: The robot population is growing…fast. ————— Put this in the “what have you read recently that makes you stop and think?” category. Yesterday, I read the article by Farhad Manjoo, Making Best Buy Better: The electronics chain’s only hope is to stock fewer… Read More Help Wanted – Humans Need Not Apply
One of the most popular books for our CCN on-site presentations last year was The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains” by Nicholas Carr (New York: Norton, 2010). In that book, he discusses how the Internet tinkers with the brain, reamps its neural circuitry, and reprograms the memory. While the mind… Read More The Never-Finished Book: Problems with Perpetual In-Progress Revising
The Parable of the Japanese Steel Executives – Don’t Even Try To Do Everything; Do! One! Thing! Very, Very Well Let’s call this the parable of the Japanese Steel Executives. I remember an interview years ago with Walter Mondale, then the Ambassador of Japan. He was touring the largest steel plant in Japan, and he… Read More The Parable of the Japanese Steel Executives – Don’t Even Try To Do Everything; Do! One! Thing! Very, Very Well
An increasing number of consumers now download and read books on electronic devices, such as the popular Kindle by Amazon, the Nook from Barnes and Noble, or the iPad from Apple. As you survey my blog posts, I have long been an opponent of these devices. I have previously argued why traditional books should be… Read More The Show-Stopper for the Kindle, Nook, and iPad
In a previous post in our blog, you read this quote from Seth Godin, who proclaims that the e-readers have killed the bookstore. His rationale for this is that heavy users have already switched to the electronic format. Here is that quote: If you want to know if a ship is going to sink, watch… Read More Why Godin is Wrong about e-Books
News item: Tony Romo got a Kindle for Christmas, his favorite gift — he is a voracious reader… ——– Slate.com has a terrific interview conducted by Daniel Lyons with Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon (borrowed from Newsweek). Here are two key lessons to learn from Bezos from this interview: 1) Start with the customer, and… Read More Start With the Customer; Acquire New Skills — Wisdom from Bezos of Amazon
First Friday Book Synopsis 