Understanding Media
Marshall Mcluhan
The ultimate think piece on communciation of information: hot and cold mediums.
Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die
Chip Heath, Dan Heath
About 10% of the books I read have practical value to my everyday life in addition to helping me see patterns of change or grasping certain technologies or histories better. This was one. Want to make an idea actually stick better? This is probably the book. Filled with great stories and examples.
The Hero With A Thousand Faces
Joseph Campbell
Joseph Campbell is considered one of the greatest contributors to societal thinking in the 20th century so I dove into one of his major works -- The Hero With A Thousand Faces. This works is strictly focused on the Hero story and from my starting point of zero it was a bit too much for me... Interesting but he picks up on subtleties that are far too expert for me... The great news is that there is a 7 page finish that pulls all the lessons together and connects to the new world society. Society today is one in which the individual dominates over the group and where the state dominates over religion. The question of what effective ways in society today can the values and lessons and spirit that our stories (including those of Heroes)developed be effectively developed still today thru stories or otherwise. An important issue. Campbell wrote this in 1949! The issues have only grown I suspect.