Sunday June 05, 2005

The Cluetrain Manifesto

The Cluetrain Manifesto, Rick Levine, Christopher Locke, Doc Searls, David Weinberger, ISBN 0-7382-0431-5, ~190 pages.

I'd poked around the website long ago when this was fresh. But I never read the book (I don't find reading online to be all that comfortable¹). The basic idea of bringing humans in closer contact so that (market) conversation can be more real is interesting to me but doesn't seem all that ground breaking. Personally I think the aggressive "street" (not as in wall) style of writing doesn't enhance the message. A little bit of grittiness helps contrast the writing to that of the suit world. But the rest of it manages to obscure the real message of the book. That is really a contradiction for a book which focuses on human communication.

¹I say that, but recently I've become addicted to Safari. The difference is that I use Safari for reference works and introductions that I am unlikely to read again. While I now know that The Cluetrain Manifesto fits into the second bucket it wasn't obviously so until I was partially through the book. ( Jun 05 2005, 10:53:10 PM PDT ) Permalink Comments [0]

Tahe Ice Grave

Tahoe Ice Grave, Todd Borg, ISBN 1-931296-13-8, ~288 pages.

Tahoe Ice Grave is the third is the Own McKenna Mystery Thriller series. I've written about the two earlier books, Tahoe Deathfall and Tahoe Blowup, in the past. I'm somewhat embarrassed to admit that I read them out of order and didn't realize until I was into the second book. I think some of my discomfort with the earlier books character development was partially based on this confusion. In any case I recommend those books as fun reads. Tahoe Ice Grave follows in the same line as the earlier books. A mysterious death is investigated by Owen McKenna. Besides a sequence of events which happen in the Tahoe area (stretching to Virginia City) Owen also travels to Hawaii to gather evidence. And hey, Owen is still going to my favorite breakfast spot (off diet!) and happens to venture into my neighborhood! If there was anything I disliked about the storyline it was a plot device used at the end to clean up some loose ends. But that doesn't distract much from my enjoyment of the story. ( Jun 05 2005, 10:30:55 PM PDT ) Permalink Comments [0]

Innovation Happens Elsewhere

Innovation Happens Elsewhere, Ron Goldman and Richard P. Gabriel, ISBN 1-55460-889-3, ~400 pages.

I finished Innovation Happens Elsewhere last week and was waiting to post a review until I could post about some related work. But thats been delayed a bit so I thought I should heap some praise on this more then worthy book. The web presence for the book is here.

In one way I've already over hyped this book. If you've been around many open source projects most of the ideas will be familiar. The really cool thing about this book is the very clear and straightforward way it presents using open source in business both for those with an understanding of the open source world and for those that might be just dipping their toe into "gift cultures". Its always hard to become the newbie again when the topic of discussion is something that has been a part of life for almost two decades (I remember plundering comp.sources.games in college). But I think the example laden, task driven, straight shooting discussion of open source and what business reasons exist for entering and what pitfalls one might encountering will help those who are still thinking they are having a flashback to the hippie commune they stumbled into one summer during their youth when they are faced with either having to integrate open source or having their customers or employees talk to them about wanting to open source a product. The chapter list is: Introduction, Innovation Happens Elsewhere, What is Open Source, Why Consider Open Source, Licenses, How To Do Open-Source Development, Going with Open Source, How To Build Momentum, What To Avoid - Known Problems and Failures, and Closing Thoughts. If the reader is familiar with open source development most of the chapters are standalone. But there are very nice nuggets of common sense spread throughout the book which would recommend a cover to cover reading for anybody. ( Jun 05 2005, 10:03:01 PM PDT ) Permalink Comments [0]