Book Reviews

Just as we can expect spring to bring new life and new Apple products, we can also expect Seth Godin to have a new book. Seth has a series of core tenets that he’s shared in book after book after book after… well, you get the idea. What are these tenets? Well, in no particular order, they seem to be…

• Be remarkable (see his book, “Purple Cow”).
• Don’t get stuck in a rut (as he talked about in “The Dip”
  [my review here]).
• Get the early adopters on your side (which he talks about in “Unleashing the Ideavirus”)
• Talk only to those people who’ve given you their permission (actually he’s the guy who popularized the idea of ““Permission Marketing”. I even the sub-title: “Turning Strangers Into Friends And Friends Into Customers”)

And Seth, bless his shiny dome, is at it again. Only this time, he’s doing more than just writing down these tenets. He’s living them. In his quite literally remarkable new book, “Poke the Box”, Godin asks you to start something. Almost anything, really. To get out of your rut. As he says,

“All of the other elements [needed to produce something new] are cheaper and easier to find than ever before. Which makes the motive force so critical.”

Godin aims for this book to provide that motive force. And as we’ve come to expect, Seth has done it in a truly remarkable fashion. Instead of going with a traditional publishing company, he’s partnered with Amazon.com to launch his own [Full disclosure: I am an Amazon affiliate]. He’s gotten the early adopters to buy-in (via, again, a remarkable pricing promotion). And he started by telling only those early adopters who let him tell them.

Brilliant.

The book itself? It’s good. It’s quick. It’s inspirational. In short, it’s what anyone who’s read a Seth Godin book before expects a Seth Godin book to be. I liked it. If you like Godin, you’ll probably like it, too. If you don’t like Godin, it’s not likely to change your mind. If you’ve never heard of Seth Godin, you should give it a try. Or, if you prefer, try the the Kindle edition.

In fact, I’m going to make it easy for you to try the book. Post a comment below and tell me what project you want to start. I’ll pick one project I think is most interesting and I’ll send you a copy of the book. Just be sure to post your comment before 11:59 PM Eastern Monday, March 7th, OK?

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