Marcel Kampman » Books

Rework

admin — Sun, 30 May 2010 17:42:49 +0000

Got this book as a present from Thomas, thanks!

Reasons according to Seth Godin:

This book will make you uncomfortable. Depending on what you do all day, it might make you extremely uncomfortable. That’s a very good thing, because you deserve it. We all do. Jason and David have broken all the rules and won. Again and again they’ve demonstrated that the regular way isn’t necessarily the right way. They just don’t say it, they do it. And they do it better than just about anyone has any right to expect. This book is short, fast, sharp and ready to make a difference. It takes no prisoners, spares no quarter, and gives you no place to hide, all at the same time. There, my review is almost as long as the first chapter of the book. I can’t imagine what possible excuse you can dream up for not buying this book for every single person you work with, right now.

Stop reading the review. Buy the book.

Everything Bad is Good for You: How Popular Culture is Making Us Smarter

admin — Sun, 30 May 2010 17:29:05 +0000

In his fourth book, iconoclastic science writer Steven Johnson takes on one of the most widely held preconceptions of the postmodern world–the belief that video games, television shows, and other forms of popular entertainment are detrimental to Americans’ cognitive and moral development. Everything Good builds a case to the contrary that is engaging, thorough, and ultimately convincing. In my talks I often use a small clip taken from a documentary where he compares books to games in a really powerful way.

A Book About Innocent: Our Story and Some Things We’ve Learned

admin — Sun, 30 May 2010 17:12:09 +0000

They started making smoothies in 1999. On that first day they sold twenty-four bottles, and now they sell over 2 million a week, so they’ve grown since then. This book is about the stuff innocent has learned since selling those first few smoothies. About having ideas and making drinks, about running a business and getting started, about nature and fruit, about company life and working with friends, about the stuff they’ve got right and the stuff they’ve got wrong, and about squirrels . . . and camping . . . and doing the right thing. They thought they’d write it all down in a book so they didn’t forget any of it, and to maybe help other people too. They started innocent from scratch, so they’ve learnt a lot of things by getting stuff wrong. Some other lessons have come from listening carefully to people clever than them. And some stuff they just got lucky on. An inspiring little book, and you should really try their pineapples, bananas & coconut smoothie. You should. Really.

Never Leave the House Naked, and 50 other Ridiculous Fashion Rules

admin — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 10:58:01 +0000

Bought this little book in Antwerp, was on my list for a while, the entire series actually. I’m a fan for little books with bold statements and quotes and also this one is stuffed with multi-applicable quotes. This the third in the 50 Other Ridiculous Rules series. Whereas the first two books could be said to be perhaps more limited in scope as they were about ridiculous rules in the realms of advertising and design, everyone gets dressed.

Never Use White Type on a Black Background, and 50 other Ridiculous Design Rules

admin — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 10:57:58 +0000

Bought this little book in Antwerp together with Never Leave the House Naked, was on my list for a while, the entire series actually but they only had two. Design has many rules that claim to be big truths and full of wisdom. Designers all go by rules that work for them. However, their rules may not work for someone else, or for a particular piece of design work. When a rule is forced upon you, it stops working and becomes a joke, like “Never use a PC,” or “Leave it until the last minute,” or the most famous of them all, “Less is more.” The problem is that every rule related to, or governing, design is ultimately ridiculous. This book collects the most talked-about rules and the viewpoints of designers and thought leaders who live by them or hate them. A fun read.

QI: The Pocket Book of General Ignorance

admin — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 12:26:58 +0000

Got this fine coffee table conversation piece and a handy resource for prepping clever cocktail party banter from my team mates of PICNIC for my birthday. Stuffed with trivia with real answers to a number of less-than-burning questions-camels store fat, not water, in their humps; only five out of every 100,000 paper clips are used to clip papers; the first American president was in fact Peyton Randolph-that you nevertheless may be embarrassed to have completely wrong. Although some of the entries rely on technicality more than actual excavation of obscure fact (Honolulu is technically the world’s largest city, despite the fact that 72% of its 2,127 square miles is underwater), these page-length entries prove entertaining and informative, perfect for trivia buffs and know-it-alls. So, lots of answers for questions my kids might ask me :) Thanks!

Linchpin: Are You Indispensable?

admin — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 06:48:35 +0000

Blindly bought this new book by Seth Godin based on the value his previous books have for me. Still a bit sad that I could not find the time to meet him in person at Knowmads, but hey, his books make Seth portable. Linchpin is a most unusual, well-organized, concise book about what it takes to become indispensable in the workplace – whether you work for someone else (at any level) or are self-employed. It’s about how business has rapidly changed and how treating employees like factory workers (or doing your job like one) doesn’t work any longer. We must make choices and take action to “chart our own paths” and add value that others do not. We cannot wait for a boss or a job description to tell us what to do, rather we must just take the initiative ourselves. Only then can we become indispensable “linchpins,” rather than replaceable “cogs.” There are so many fantastic quotes in the book too, as always.

Glimmer: How Design Can Transform Your Life, Your Business, and Maybe Even the World

admin — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 16:24:05 +0000

Popcorn for the design-brain: What can be learned from great designers? How can design improve our lives? Answers abound in Glimmer. In the cutting-edge studios of Canadian design phenomenon Bruce Mau and other visionary designers, everything is ripe for reinvention — including how businesses function, children learn and communities thrive. Warren Berger, with the full cooperation of Mau, tallies and explores the deceptively simple principles that steer design’s vanguard — “ask stupid questions,” “begin anywhere” and “make hope visible” — and illustrates how these and other such principles can provide the means for finding hope in these anxious times.

Tribes

admin — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 16:10:19 +0000

A book that describes how I work by Seth Godin who argues that lasting and substantive change can be best effected by a tribe: a group of people connected to each other, to a leader and to an idea. Smart innovators find or assemble a movement of similarly minded individuals and get the tribe excited by a new product, service or message, often via the Internet (consider, for example, the popularity of the Obama campaign, Facebook or Twitter). Tribes, Godin says, can be within or outside a corporation, and almost everyone can be a leader; most are kept from realizing their potential by fear of criticism and fear of being wrong.

Superfreak onomics

admin — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 21:34:12 +0000

Got this book by the Knowmads crew for helping them in the admission process. Those future tribes will change the world. Will be exiting times for the students to see if they make it through the procedure. Can’t wait to read the book because Pieter K. was so incredible enthusiastic about it when he handed it to me, that I will move it up in my must-read-to-to list directly. SuperFreakonomics, the highly anticipated sequel to the best-selling Freakonomics, was released on October 20, 2009. Steven Levitt, professor of economics at the University of Chicago, and author Stephen Dubner have again teamed together to apply economic reasoning to a wide range of real-world questions. As with the original Freakonomics, SuperFreakonomics is largely based upon the research of Professor Levitt, who has tackled problems inside and outside the field of economics. Sweet. Thanks!