Everyone is Reading it – Are You?
Here’s an interesting little piece of insight — a lot of people claim to have read books that they have not actually read.
Why? Because, to stay in the “admired/with it” group, they have to appear as with it. And reading the current hot books, in some circles, especially some business circles, is a way to be and stay with it.
Seth Godin recently captured this in one of his short and tremendously insightful blog posts. Here’s a brief excerpt:
The reason the New York Times matters isn’t about the delivery of news (it’s old by the time it arrives) or even the analysis (which is often spotty or wrong or banal or biased or boring). No, the reason it matters is because everyone else reads it…. You can change the definition of “everyone” and customize it for your industry or passion, but the fact is, we need to read what everyone else is reading in order to have a sense of being in sync. If it’s in there, it matters, because everyone else read it.
This fact — that we all need to read what everybody is reading in order to keep up with the buzz, “to have a sense of being in sync” — partially explains why the First Friday Book Synopsis (and other book summary entities — there are many!) is so valuable. We identify most of the “hot” books, and then provide enough of the content to help our participants appear to be with it. I think Godin is onto something here. We have to read, or at least be very familiar with, the book — you know, the book everybody is talking about. In the last few years, that book has been:
The World is Flat
and/or
Hot, Flat, and Crowded,
and/or
Good to Great
and/or
Wikinomics
and/or
Freakonomics
and/or
Blink
and/or
The Tipping Point
and/or
The Black Swan
and/or
Never Eat Alone
and/or
The Five Dysfunctions of a Team
and/or
Outliers
and… (Yes, I know I’ve missed some…)
What will be next on the “with it” list? I don’t know, but this I do know — we will choose the next “with it” book for a presentation at the First Friday Book Synopsis. (We haven’t missed many over the last 11+ years!)
Are you feeling like one of the with it group?
(And, by the way – most of these books are worth reading and knowing about for the useful content in the books, and not just for your reputation).
{To purchase our synopses of most of these books, with handout + audio, go to our 15 Minute Business Book site}.
