The People Have Spoken And They Said I’m An Idiot
I heard the laughter from London, Ontario. It was louder than my neighbor’s guitar, louder than the baby’s screeching, louder than the deafening silence of my family’s disapproval. Everyone is laughing at me.
Apparently, I am the only person in the free world who still goes to bookstores. (In fact, since the non-free world likely doesn’t have bookstores, I may be the only one in the world.) All those other people in the stores, pretending to shop? Shills, surely.
After everyone I know said that I should be buying my books online like a normal person, I figured I’d take a mosey on down to Amazon and have a look. I surfed for about six hours and called it “working on the blog as part of my home business strategy”).
Here’s some cool stuff that I found - if nothing else, it serves as proof that I can admit I’m wrong and occasionally I follow instructions.
“Smart, honest, and refreshingly free of self-help posturing, this primer on winning-through-quitting is at once motivational and comically indifferent, making the lofty goal of “becoming the best in the world” an achievable proposition-all you need is to “start doing some quitting.” The secret to “strategic quitting” is seeking, understanding and embracing “the Dip,” the long slog between starting and mastery in which those without the determination or will find themselves burning out.”
“High school dropout turned self-made multimillionaire and five-time CEO, Comaford-Lynch presents an upbeat, irreverent business book for entrepreneurs, free spirits and eponymous renegades. Focusing on passionate young people who have grit and vision but limited experience and/or resources, the author presents practical, step-by-step advice for starting a company, making it in a cutthroat environment and reaching life goals in record time, while recounting her entertaining, often hilarious life story.”
“Redefine your personal productivity by tweaking, modding, mashing up, and repurposing Web apps, desktop software, and common everyday objects. The 88 “life hacks” — clever shortcuts and lesser-known, faster ways to complete a task — in this book are some of the best in Lifehacker.com’s online archive. Every chapter describes an overarching lifehacker principle, then segues into several concrete applications. Each hack includes a step-by-step how-to for setting up and using the solution with cross-platform software, detailed screen shots, and sidebars with additional tips.” Good for techies. Not so good for non-techies.
“In this first new and totally revised edition of the 150,000-copy underground bestseller, The E-Myth, Michael Gerber dispels the myths surrounding starting your own business and shows how commonplace assumptions can get in the way of running a business. He walks you through the steps in the life of a business from entrepreneurial infancy, through adolescent growing pains, to the mature entrepreneurial perspective, the guiding light of all businesses that succeed.”
Your Money or Your Life: Transforming Your Relationship with Money and Achieving Financial Independence
If you don’t read this book, you are insane. I can’t do it justice with a blurb, so that’s all I’m saying. Read the book. Click the link, don’t click the link, I don’t care. Steal it from your neighbor - whatever. Just read it.
“This book is for all those who are overwhelmed with too many things to do, too little time to do them, and a general sense of unease that something important is being missed. Everyone has experienced times when everything seemed effortless, and progress limitless. David Allen has captured ways for you to achieve that wonderful state of mind and consciousness more often.”
Now stop reading about business for Christ’s sake and start reading to your kids. This was my boys’ favorite, and it helps keep your life in perspective. There’s only so serious you can be when saying “Three singing pigs say la la la”.
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Overwhelmed? Freaking out? Borderline hysterical? Click here to get your own micro-business marketing plan. It’s not scary, I promise.
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Huh, that’s news to me too since I have a tendency to frequent the local Barnes & Noble. Could be because it’s right next store to Starbucks. Coffee and books are an unbeatable combination. Some things are worth getting out of the virtual world for once in a while.
Thank you, Harrison. I feel validated. You know what it is about Chapters for me? The smell. It’s half bookstore, half Starbucks. It’s a smell that can be replicated by neither bookstores nor Starbucks alone. I can’t explain it, but there it is.
hmmm … but I can have that smell at home and stay in my furry jammys. Of course I could go to B&N and overpay in my jammys, after all I live in santa cruz and no one would bat an eye.
It’s a toss up if you ask me.
There’s no one in a bookstore that can make recommendations as great at Amazon’s. End of story.
@ Shane - Why do you think I bought the sweat pants with “Snow Bunny” emblazoned across the ass? It’s not for Jamie’s benefit, let me tell you.
@ Susan - Look, Miss Smarty Pants… :)
I also love book stores! Especially browsing through used ones looking for interesting finds. But I do confess if I know what I want then it’s amazon. Btw.. I love your last suggestion! :) If you haven’t you should try her Philadelphia Chickens CD. You can definitely not take yourself to seriously when singing “Be Like a Duck” :)
She has a CD?!?!? That’s the coolest thing, um, EVER! She has a calendar, too, but it’s kind of like the books and it doesn’t exactly fit in with the decor. ;)
@Shane: The same goes for here in Las Vegas and you made me realize the real reason I like going to the bookstore/coffee shop: People Watching. Makes for great blog fodder and new characters concepts.