J Blair, Consulting
Counsel to Management
P. O. Box 5008
Carefree, AZ 85377
ph: 480 488 3145
fax: 480 488 4336
alt: 602 738 5774
john
Interesting Reading
When I began consulting, one of my colleagues caused me to start keeping a "reading list." I was drawn to the task initially as a challenge: "Mine is bigger and better than yours . . ." sort of thing. It also seemed appropriate that a consultant ought to try and stay informed in order to provide the best and most current counsel and support.
Two decades of intense airline travel provided a good environment for me to read. Now that most of my commuting is via auto, audio books have become the source for much of my "reading." Audible Books has a very robust inventory.
In the next column are some of the more interesting and useful books read (or listened to) in the past several years. The interface of technology and business is always interesting and useful. The intense conflict between cultures is another area that has shaped much of history and will continue to influence our lives. When I look at the diverse titles an initial reaction is that these appear to be random. A more kind assessment is that the diversity provides context for all the events in play. Some wise individual said that context is worth 80 IQ points
In addition to the books listed there is one print and one electronic newpaper, thirty years of HBR, Yahoo news, a news magazine, several semi-technical magazines and a lot of ad hoc print and electronic publications.
Novels and fun reading (such as "Road and Track") are not included.
Name | Author |
Adventure of English | Melvyn Bragg |
Adventures from the Technology Underground | William Gurstelle |
America's Great Depression | Rothbard |
The Americas | Fernandez-Armesto |
The Ascent of Money | Niall Ferguson |
The Birth of Plenty | Bernstein |
The Black Swan | Taleb |
The Blind Side | Lewis |
Blue Ocean Strategy | Kim and Mauborgne |
The Clash of Civilizations | Huntington |
Click | Tancer |
The Coming Economic Collapse | Leeb and Strathy |
Connected | Altman |
Conscious Business | Kofman |
The Consolations of Philosophy | de Botton |
Conspiracy of Fools (Enron) | Eichenwald |
The Defining Moment | Jonathan Alter |
The Discoverers | Daniel J. Boorstin |
The Elephant and the Dragon | Robyn Meredith |
The End of Faith | Sam Harris |
The Forever War | Dexter Filkins |
Freakonomics | Levitt and Dubner |
Free Agent Nation | Daniel H. Pink |
Freedomnomics | John R. Lott, Jr |
A Future Perfect | Micklethwait and Wooldridge |
The Great Age of Discovery | Herrmann |
Guns, Germs, and Steel | Diamond |
Hot, Flat, and Crowded | Thomas L. Friedman |
How the Mighty Fall | Jim Collins |
Inventing Japan | Ian Buruma |
Islam Unveiled | Robert Spencer |
The Island at the Center of the World | Russell Shorto |
The Lexus and the Olive Tree | Thomas L. Friedman |
The Limits of Power | Andrew J. Bacevich |
Linked | Barabasi |
The Long Tail | Chris Anderson |
Longitude | Dava Sobel |
Longitudes & Attitudes | Friedman |
Love the Work, Hate the Job | David Kusnet |
Made to Stick | Chip and Dan Heath |
Maestro | Bob Woodward |
The Making of Modern Economics | Mark Skousen |
Mao | Chang and Halliday |
The Modern Scholar: The Enlightenment | James Schmidt |
The New American Workplace | O'Toole and Lawler |
On Intelligence | Hawkins and Blakeslee |
Our Country | Michael Barone |
Outliers | Malcolm Gladwell |
Planet India | Mira Kamdar |
The Politically Incorrect Guide to Global Warming | Christopher C. Horner |
Power, Faith, and Fantasy | Michael B. Oren |
Predictably Irrational | Dan Ariely |
The Return of Depression Economics | Paul Krugman |
The Search | John Battelle |
Small Is the New Big | Seth Godin |
Super Crunchers | Ian Ayres |
The Ten Faces of Innovation | Kelley with Littman |
Think! | Michael R. LeGault |
This Just In | Bob Schieffer |
Tribes | Seth Godin |
The Undercover Economist | Tim Harford |
The War Within | Bob Woodward |
The Way We'll Be | John Zogby |
Wikinomics | Tapscott and Williams |
The Wisdom of Crowds | James Surowiecki |
The World Is Flat | Thomas L. Friedman |
Worlds at War | Anthony Pagden |
The Worst Hard Time | Timothy Egan |
13 Things That Don’t Make Sense | Michael Brooks |
1491 | Charles C. Mann |
1968 | Mark Kurlansky |
Copyright 2009 J Blair, Consulting. All rights reserved.
P. O. Box 5008
Carefree, AZ 85377
ph: 480 488 3145
fax: 480 488 4336
alt: 602 738 5774
john
