Category Archives: Books

Musashi

I have just finished reading Eiji Yoshikawa’s Musashi.

I have never read a book quite like it before, so I have nothing to compare it to.

You should read it, too. But it’s over 900 pages long, so if you’re in advertising, I recommend quitting your day job, first.

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Filed under Books, Cool, Geek, Life

Top Usability and Interaction Design Books

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(Image from Psych Services, USCD)

A while ago, I recommended that you steal a book by Jakob Nielsen on web usability.

Recently, Smashing Magazine compiled the web usability to-read list.

Have a look at the list. Don’t you just feel like stealing reading all of them?

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Filed under Books, Usability, Web

Our Dumb World

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When I was in college, my ambition was to be a writer who could write like Nathan Rabin, Tasha Robinson or Scott Tobias from The Onion.

I’ve been a fanboy since the late Nineties and The Onion is still one of my top reads because of its constant ability to innovate and create the freshest content; the CIA jokes never get old.

While you’re at the site, check out Our Dumb World, powered by Google Maps.

I was having so much fun reading the facts on the map that it was almost twenty minutes later that I realized I was actually engaging a product demo!

What I thought was just another cool new section on the site turned out to be a promotion of content that’s available in The Onion’s new book, Our Dumb World: Atlas of the Planet Earth.

The cool thing was that book wasn’t advertised as a book, but as engaging content that could lead to a purchase. Because the experience was framed in such an unobtrusive manner, I never developed a mindset that I was being forced to try something new; on the contrary, I was surprised that I could buy a copy of the book for only $23.95.

“For more soul-crushing information in a handsomely bound volume, purchase Our Dumb World: The Onion’s Atlas Of The Planet Earth.”

Now, that’s great advertising.

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Filed under Advertising, Books, Cool, Funny, Ideas, Reviews, Trends