Book Reviews

[Gurtie]

I thought it might be worth a thread for anyone who's read a good, or not good, book to comment on it? Since I read many more novels than info books I'd love them to be included, but as it happens I'm just finishing a 'self help' stylee one right now so I'll start with that....

Since anyone could be reading this - note;

1) Comments are directed at the central audience of these forums who have a certain knowledge of things involving the internet, but still like to learn more. You might have to adapt them to your own level.
2) Check the date of the review. If a comment is three years old then probably things will have moved on....

[Gurtie]

Real Time Marketing & PR; How to instantly engage your market, connect with customers and create products that grow your business now
David Meerman Scott

Published October '10.

I read a blog post by the author which inspired me to order the book, which has to be a good start. Overall I'd say (so far, I haven't quite finished) that its target market is more CEO and Communications Officer than anyone who 'does' the internet on a daily basis. That said, although much of the book is pretty much a rehash of things most of your probably already know, I've certainly made a few notes and, really importantly for me, it has some nice anecdotes and concepts which do work well in explaining why things may or may not work on social media, whcih I can see myself using.

As an Brit, I also quite like the fact that not all examples are US based, and he speaks British English (mobiles not cells). Thats one of the problems I tend to have with a lot of guru books and it predisposes me to like the book (may work in reverse for you, obviously). Its certainly not un-put-downable but I'll finish it in three sessions, which is somewhat of an achievement this time of year and for a book of this type, for me!

In summary; if you work for yourself and know a bit about social media and PR then this may not help you much, but it probably won't offend you. If you deal with clients, bosses and/or legal types who move at the speed of sloth then this is well worth the time and money if you fancy something other than the TV on boxing day.

/edited; typo