Interposed reading: "How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia" by Mohsin Hamid

A cheeky interloper, this book. I am currently embarked on a hefty historical novel, which, though admirable, is not a quick read. So when, serendipitously, this book, of which I had read complimentary reviews, presented itself on a bookshelf in Perugia's Feltrinelli (where else?), I was easily tempted. Three days later it was read and I am back to my historical novel.

Insubordinate reading: "Tribes" by Seth Godin

What do you get when a famous blogger and New York guru writes a book? Short sentences is what. Short paragraphs too. Lots of colons. Wisdom is best communicated through aphorism. Lots of them, indeed.

This is a short book and a quick read. It contains 147 pages. But, fear not, the pages are small, the margins generous and the print sizeable, while the paragraph breaks and subtitles are abundant. Seth Godin knows what he thinks and means what he says. Which is basically this: in the modern world success for individuals and organisations does not come from managing processes, it comes from leading tribes.

If you want to make a difference, if you want to get on, be a heretic and lead a tribe, says Godin. Here are three examples of how he says it:

Leadership isn't difficult, but you've been trained for years to avoid it. I want to help you realise that you already have all the skills you needs to make a huge difference, and I want to sell you on doing it. The best thing is that you don't need to wait until you've got exactly the right job or built the organisation or moved up three rungs on the corporate ladder. You can start right now. (p.13)

***

Crowds and Tribes

Two different things:
A crowd is a tribe without a leader.
A crowd is a tribe without communication.
Most organisations spend their time marketing to the crowd. Smart organisations assemble the tribe.
Crowds are interesting, and they can create all sorts of worthwhile artifacts and market effects. But tribes are longer lasting and more effective. (p.30)

***

The Look of the Leader

What does a leader look like?
I've met leaders all over the world, on several continents, and in every profession. I've met young leaders and old ones, leaders with big tribes and tiny ones.
I can tell you this: leaders have nothing in common.
They don't share gender or income level or geography. There's no gene, no schooling, no parentage, no profession. In other words, leaders aren't born. I'm sure of it.
Actually, they do have one thing in common. Every tribe leader I've ever met shares one thing: the decision to lead. (p.145)

Do you see how that could get a bit tiring after 147 pages?

It's just as well he's basically right, otherwise it would also be deeply irritating. As it is, it is both mildly irritating and mildly illuminating. At moments, it was even mildly inspiring. He is right. At least I think so. But this is one of those cases where a blog post has been stretched to book length. A nice idea, and some good illustrative anecdotes, do not really need 147 pages to be related. Frankly, after a while, you've just had enough, you've got it and you start to get nit-pickingly fussy about paragraph length and sentence construction. Which is a shame, because I enjoyed reading this book - I even enjoyed being irritated by it - and this review is coming out more negative than I feel.

But I still have a slight block when it comes to forms of thinking for which the subordinate clause is off-limits.  Could it be that more complex grammar reveals doubt? Nuance? Lack of Authority? Ambiguity? Sometimes you just want Mr Godin to be a heretic himself and write a long sentence... Go on, dare you.

Recommendation: worth reading, probably. But I suspect not much more than the blog. www.sethgodin.com, by the way.

Twisting reading: "Gone Girl" by Gillian Flynn

Dear reader, surely you have read Gone Girl? Everyone else has, it seems, which makes writing this small review largely redundant except as record keeping. But maybe there is someone still out there unaware of this publishing phenomenon, which pops up in all sorts of "best books of 2012" lists (admittedly sometimes in the crime/mystery/thriller category). Assuming there is such a person, I will endeavour not to spoil, though to talk about this book without talking about the twists and surprises it delivers is not an easy task.

Inter-connected (?) reading: "A Possible Life" by Sebastian Faulks

Sebastian Faulks is a master of his art, no question. His range is famous; why, he recently even wrote a James Bond novel, dutifully in the style of Ian Fleming, Devil May Care. For me, he is in that select group of must-buy novelists, and he has not so far disappointed. I thought his last novel A Week in December was superb, one of the best state-of-the-nation books I have read. So when I saw A Possible Life displayed in Nottingham Waterstones, I grabbed it from the shelf.

Wow reading: "American Gods" by Neil Gaiman

The author of this rather good blog was the one who talked me into reading this book. In fact, I suspect it was part of a larger plan to convince me of the merits of the graphic novel, to which, in standard British fashion, I have been rather sniffily resistant. Neil Gaiman (British, actually) usually authors graphic novels, one of which, World's End, I was prevailed upon, by the self-same Tayebot, to read and, truth to tell, very much enjoyed (though never wrote up on this blog, you will note). American Gods is not graphic, at least not in the literal sense, but a 635-page conventional paperback novel - though "conventional" is certainly a misnomer from a content point of view. Anyway, perhaps the missionary idea behind getting me to read this was that I would thereafter ineluctably be drawn to take the graphic plunge for real. You never know, I've already been checking Amazon...