This relatively recent trend in popular business books about new media and "the creative economy" etc.

Doe anyone here read these things? There seem to be so many of them and I wonder what the deal is. Are they basically self-help books for Wired readers and internet "entrepreneurs"?

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51RlN6xO7ZL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41nwHsCEUTL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU02_.jpg
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41oK6AwnKbL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg

Do not click here to look inside

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41AC-V29SiL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg

the Florida book isn't all that recent, though

That's not really what I'm asking here

I'm wondering why I'm so suspicious of these books and people who read a lot of them

haha i'm only now aware of these books but i'm suspicious too

"right-brainers" is not a real thing iirc

Really? Can you elaborate on that?

i just thought that though lateralization of the brain is a real thing, the pop science version where there are right-brained people and left-brained people is a vast oversimplification of how the brain actually works? like, basically everyone's right and left brain work together for the kinds of thinking that are associated with one hemisphere. i am not a neuroscientist, though, so maybe i'm wrong.

you're NOT a neuroscientist?

it is shocking, i know

it is! I think I have to go lie down for a bit

lol shut up

for all we know many ilxors are also neuroscientists

they're neuro-somethings

Someone at my work gave me this book (also by the bros Heath) but I refused to read it and then someone stole it from my desk.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41hMTwhl6IL._SS500_.jpg

That cover is stunningly beautiful (and thought-provoking too)

whose name is "chip"?

"They start by relating the gruesome urban legend about a man who succumbs to a barroom flirtation only to wake up in a tub of ice, victim of an organ-harvesting ring. What makes such stories memorable and ensures their spread around the globe?"

I have a cousin named Chip actually.

sorry :\

It's was used in place of Junior for a a certain generation.

i.e. an older generation.

Also WHY do these books have such LONG titles with added sub-titles in parentheses and whatever (and what does it mean for the future of business?)?

Apparently you can blame Malcolm Gladwell for the Heath brothers.

I think you can blame Malcolm Gladwell for that too.

(and ten other things to blame Malcolm Gladwell for)

is it to make them look "serious"? Like academic books often have those sub-titles.

Please tell me other things I can blame Malcolm Gladwell for.

Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking
The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference
Outliers: The Story of Success
What the Dog Saw: And Other Adventures

I think every non-fiction book has a long subtitle these days.

Malcolm Gladwell invented sadness, and heavy traffic

Maybe we should blame Malcolm Gladwell's editor.

Outliers! I was looking at that yesterday. I mean seriously what the hell??

I wonder if these books are more or less popular in a bad economy, like are they more of a wishful thinking "I can idea my way out of this pickle" kind of thing, or more of a caught-up-in-the-adrenaline-rush kind of thing.

whose name is "chip"?

― horseshoe, Friday, September 17, 2010 3:34 PM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

I had an Uncle Chip. I thought it was funny because he worked at Disney World and it made me think of Chip and Dale. Then he got divorced from my aunt.

Thinking Without Thinking!!

I read the Tipping Point actually. It was okay. Some of his New Yorker pieces are okay, but his tone gets wearying across a whole book.

Whoosh!: How Facile Ideas and Three Cups of Coffee Can Convince You You're Just On The Verge of a Breakthrough That Will Lead You to Untold Riches

are there people who are forced to read things like this by their bosses? At one company i worked at, all the managers were forced to read "Who Moved My Cheese?"

xxxxp was he a Junior?

xp Yes.

I Can Eat My Way Out of This Pickle: Plunging Into "Femivore" Success With The "Everything Old is New Again" New Canning and Preserving Trend

the gladwell books aren't really about "business" per se though right? maybe they have some business essays but also other stuff too? I think I read one of them.

There are bosses who like buy 50 copies of one of these shitty books and give one to every one of their subordinates.

i never knew "Chip" as a name functioned in a "chip off the old block" kind of way!

When I lived in Jersey City among the wall street commuters I noticed a disproportionate number of people reading Freakonomics type books.

xxxp Yes, but there are still business types who love these sorts of pseudo-social-psychological stuff even if they aren't explicitly HOW TO SUCCEED books.

lol Abbott

Who Moved My Cheese? What Color Is Your Parachute? How To Change Things When Change Is Hard. Thinking Without Thinking!!

The Seven Highly-Effective Habits of Ten Cheeses that can Blink for 10,000 Hours and Become Rich Geniuses

Yes, but there are still business types who love these sorts of pseudo-social-psychological stuff even if they aren't explicitly HOW TO SUCCEED books.

well sure, because EVERYONE is reading business books, but I've got an edge, because I'm, like, interdisciplinary

http://prospect.org/cs/articles?article=the_ruse_of_the_creative_class