Amazon has a feature I just discovered that lets authors recommend books to their readers. The prompts were quite inviting and I found myself instantly recalling books that answered the ask… and a few I had to go to my bookshelf to grab!
This spontaneous action got me thinking about the books behind the book. Writing Social By Design with James didn’t start with a blank page. Like anything we write, it was shaped by experiences, observations, and ideas collected over years…some directly connected to organizations and work, others less obviously so.
So I added a few recommendations to my Amazon author page. Here are the Amazon prompts and my responses:
What’s a similar book readers would like?
Organizations Don’t Tweet, People Do — Euan Semple
People, conversation and social technology. A keen reminder that social media is (or can be) far more social than media.
What’s a book you couldn’t put down?
Seeing Organizational Patterns — Robert Keidel
Organizational structure and the tension between autonomy, control and cooperation. A timeless reminder of how deeply those forces shape organizations.
What’s a book that left an impression on you?
Turning Goals into Results — Jim Collins
Mechanisms and the conditions that produce behavior. The idea of catalytic mechanisms is simple, but not easy…and one of the most powerful levers for organizational performance.
What’s a book that opened your eyes to a new perspective? (I have two)
The Cluetrain Manifesto — Christopher Locke, David Weinberger, et all
Human conversation pushing against institutional structures. It rips away complexity to reveal something almost obvious: “Markets are conversations.”
Work Smarter: Informal Learning in the Cloud —Jay Cross and friends (Not on Amazon/Out of print) – Just open to page 12. Read the pitch to senior business leaders – “Next week, we will close the training department…”
What’s a book that you would like to recommend to your readers?
Design for Cognitive Bias — David Dylan Thomas
The psychology behind human action. Understanding that is foundational to designing better interactions and environments.
And then there’s Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH — Robert C. O’Brien. Which I placed under What’s a book that is important to you? This is THE book of my youth. It unlocked my imagination and my passion for knowledge, creativity and empathy. It might seem out of place with these others, but the more I look at it, it’s not. Books have a way of becoming part of how we see the world long before we realize they’re there.
I put the full recommendation list on my Amazon author page.