Top 5 Books I’ve read and enjoyed

List #4, this one covers books I’ve read over the past couple of years and enjoyed. Cover a wide variety of topics, from innovation, to web apps to advertising, but thought they were all worthy of sharing.

It’s not how good you are, it’s how good you want to be - Paul Arden. This pocket sized read you could knock over in an hour, but I see myself referencing it again and again. Bold, too the point statements that just make sense. Paul has a long history in the ad industry, being Exec Creative Director at Sacchi & Saatchi for 14 years, so it’s very ad/sales focused, but would recommend to anyone. Also the author of Whatever you think, think the opposite.

Age of conversation – A joint project between Drew McLellan and Gavin Heaton (behind another great local blog Servants of Chaos), this is the result of asking 237 authors to submit a page of content with the overriding topic “The Conversation Age”. Great to pick up and read a few pages at a time, includes submissions from David Berkowitz and Neil Perkin. You can buy it in hard copy or soft.

Getting real – Ok, this one’s more for you web app creators, but an honest and upfront read that challenges the norm. If you know 37signals, you’ll know what to expect. Free to read online, or you can buy the PDF or paperback.

Small is the New Big - Seth Godin – This is champagne Seth. It’s easy to pick up and put down, with 183 riffs, rants and business ideas, but I could easily recommended any of Seth’s reads, starting with Purple Cow. If you haven’t heard of Seth, worth previewing his work over at his blog.

Making Innovation Work – by Tony Davila, Marc J. Epstein, Robert Shelton – One of my ex-boss’s gave me a copy of this before he left, it took me a while to getting round to reading it, maybe it was the cover that put me off, but I’m glad I did. The term ‘innovation’ get’s thrown around a lot, this puts some structure around it, and more importantly how you measure it.

Blue Ocean Strategy is another one which almost made the cut. I think the idea behind it is strong, just the execution for me doesn’t get me excited about picking it up. Be interested to hear your favourites.

Top 6 Local Blogs, Top 5 O/S Blogs

List #2, here are my most-read marketing/digital/web2.0esque blogs. There's a lot that goes into Google Reader these days, but these guys always rise to the top, providing consistently good, honest reads.

6 Local Bloggers worth subscribing to -

Ben Barren – Ben’s been RSS’ing down under for longer than most, his blogs often read like a brain dump of constant thought.. brilliant.

Duncan Riley – ex-Techcruncher, now Inquisitr, one of Australia’s biggest names in the digital game, I still find his personal blog the preferred read.

Dave King’s The Royals – ex-Net-X’r, now king of The Royals, this new blog picks up where hit St Edmonds contributions left off. Smart thinking from a smart man.

Ben Shepherd – DJ Ben Shepherdeu’s Blog about Digital Media tells it how it is on the local scene. Arriving at a good time when Pascoe's Under the Rotunda headed UK way, great analysis from the man from Mindshare.

Laurel Papworth – This Sydney lecturer has also been in the game a long time, her blog focuses on social networks but there’s tangents all over the place making for an entertaining read.

Julian Cole – Naked Comm’s digital guru, Marketing mag contributor, blogger and behind his own 4 dimensions of social media marketing, he's a busy man.

5 O/S Bloggers worth subscribing to -

Talent imitates, genious steals – Another Naked guru, Faris pulls on some excellent resources, worth it for his presentations alone.

Seth Godin – Like an extension of his books, Seth makes you think about obvious things differently.

Scobleizer – Between him and Mike Arrington, probably accumulate more time behind the keyboard (and now the camera) than most in the industry.

Signal vs Noise – The 37 Signals Blog, inspiring stuff from the hit-makers. If you’ve got more time and into web-based app creation, their book, free to browse online, is a must read.

Greg Verdino – Chief strategy officer at crayon, he manages to pick up on things other marketing bloggers don’t.