Greg Hartnett

I got a couple of books for the holidays, and picked up a couple more the first few days of the year. I am going to start the year with some Buddhism, media analysis, and business resources, and take it from there.

Books I read in 2006:

• Anger - Thich Nhat Hanh provides beautiful lessons to practice compassion through mindfulness. Seeing the angry person suffer, I breathe in. Feeling compassion for the angry person who suffers, I breathe out.

• The Book on Writing - Paula LaRocque dispenses pearl of wisdom. The Dozen Guidelines to Good Writing will help any writer. I plan on reading it again.

• Tibetan Buddhism From the Ground Up - B. Allan Wallace offers practical advice on living as a Buddhist. In particular, I found the tips on incorporating meditation into daily life to be very helpful.

• How to Win Friends & Influence People - Dale Carnegie’s classic offers common-sense tips that your parents should have taught you.

• The Anarchist in the Library - NYU professor Siva Vaidhyanathan examines the role of peer to peer networks, and the battle for control of the information. A provoking, though somewhat slow, read.

• The Dictionary of Concise Writing - more of a reference book than an actual read. Excellent tips on bettering your style.

• A Guide to the Bodhisattva Way of Life - not really what I expected. I thought it was going to be an instructional book. I did enjoy it very much, but was surprised to learn that it was reflections of Shantideva.

• The Tipping Point - Malcolm Gladwell’s work on making your thoughts catch like wild fire. I bought this because he will be speaking at PubCon Boston, and I wanted to know more about him.

• Freakonomics - what the hell is a rogue economist? I don’t know, but he sure does look at the world through his own lenses. Very interesting look at everything from parenting, cheating, real estate agents, and drug dealers.

• Buddhism Plain and Simple - Zen priest Steve Hagen offers some fantastic insight into awakening. The importance of seeing reality for what it is, living now, and participating in the Whole. I would recommend reading only a handful of pages at a time, and letting the ideas and concepts sink in before taking on more.

• Time Management - Harvard Business Essentials provides basic and advanced tips and techniques to help you increase your personal and professional productivity and effectiveness. Particularly helpful were the chapters on Delegation and Scheduling.

• Profit Over People - Noam Chomsky tackles neo-liberalism and the inherent problems of a world dominated by unaccountable, policy influencing, voracious corporations.

• Nexus: Small Worlds and the Groundbreaking Theory of Networks - physicist Mark Buchanan provides a incisive look into the phenomenon of small world networks, and offers mathematical explanations of how small world networks operate everywhere from the WWW to neurological functions.

• All Marketers are Liars - Seth Godin provides a gameplan for marketing for the 21st century. Successful marketers need not lie, but they better be good storytellers. What story are you telling your demographic?

• Creating Customer Evangelists - Ben McConnell and Jackie Huba offer practical advice and case studies to help turn your best customers into a volunteer sales force. While I took some useful tips away (customer plus delta), the material lacked any substantial bite.

• Howard Zinn On War - historian and activist Howard Zinn provides articles and essays from a lifetime of anti-war activities. Interesting to note how stuff written 40 years ago still rings true today, and the atrocities of war get worse and worse. When will the masses catch on?

• Government in the Future - Chomsky defines various forms of liberalism, and lays out a path for us to achieve these ideals through a revolutionary movement.

• Linked - Albert-Laszlo Barabasi puts together a compelling analysis of network theory. An intriguing book, indispensable to any online marketer. I may buy copies for people that I feel need to know about it. A top read this year.

• Dreaming War - Master essayist Gore Vidal provides a collection of 11 essays and an interview dealing with the American Empire. One of the greatest writers of our time, the work offers insight and dispels myths.

• The Corporation - Joel Bakan details the history of the corporation, it’s rise to power in the American system, inherrent problems, and what citizens can do to reign in their pathological power.

• Original Zinn - Taken from a handful of conversation between Zinn and David Barsamian, they discuss all aspects of history, terrorism, current events, and politics. A quick and enjoyable read.

• Chomsky on Miseducation - Noam Chomsky discusses the problems with the educational system, and the processes of indoctrination. Includes a cool debate at the end with Boston University president, John Silber, in which “we begin to see that the greater the rewards received, the more dogmatic the defense of the doctrinal system beomes”.

• Darfur: The Ambiguous Genocide- Gerard Prunier provides a thorough documentation of the background leading to the current genocide. Illuminating and thought provoking, Prunier speaks from the unique perspective of a critical insider.