book review

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30
May 12

Book Review: Those Guys Have All The Fun: Inside the World of ESPN

“I was used to being part of the background, not part of the story. But ESPN intentionally and unintentionally created the celebrity sports journalist.” - Jemelle Hill, columnist, ESPN.com

When Bill and Scott Rasmussen started what would eventually become ESPN in 1978, they certainly didn’t intend to fundamentally shift the nature of journalism. They just loved sports.

But somewhere along the way, as journalists-turned-ESPN icons like Chris Berman and Stuart Scott began to hear their personal catchphrases muttered aloud,  the idea that commentators on the network were there only to deliver the news became as ludicrous as the idea that the way they commentated would, one day, be mimicked across the world of sports broadcasting.

They were part of the news. And, in extreme cases, they were the news.

Welcome to the New World of Journalism: an era ushered in by the rise of the Worldwide Leader in Sports.

In the book “Those Guys Have All The Fun: Inside the World of ESPN”, author’s James Miller and Tom Shales, through the use of a massive pile of interviews of anybody who has ever been associated with the network, tell the story of ESPN as only the people who were a part of it can tell, with the occasional italicized buffer from the authors to transition from one era to the next. What you find between the covers is an expansive look into the station that most sports fans turn to nowadays without a second thought.

And what you come away with, after reading about events such as “The Decision”, is a greater sense of how this tiny station based in Bristol, Connecticut changed the way we consume sports.

Journalists are no longer impartial observers. Their take on certain events has the power to shift the public’s perceptions. And they know it. This is especially true in sports.

Never before have the media held such power.

We should look no further than the history of ESPN to see how this came to be.

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03
Jan 11

Book Review: On Writing

I enjoy getting inside the brains of others.  Especially authors.

I want to know what makes them different from you and I; what makes them willing to sit down at a computer for hours on end and churn out words, with nothing but a story to be told.

It’s all so fascinating.

So when I came across Stephen King’s On Writing (affiliate link), I thought I had died and gone to heaven. (Or, knew that this was a book I needed to read. Whatever.)

The first half of this book covers King’s writing life in his own words. And, surprisingly, King wasn’t hit with a magic lightning bolt that bestowed the power of writing upon him. He just worked terribly hard at it. He had stories he wanted to tell — often spurred by two connecting ideas — so he told them. But, again, he worked damn hard at it. Wrote every single day.

In the second part of the book, he shares his ideas on writing. One thing that really stood out — and if you work in the PR industry, pay attention — was the idea that the best writing eliminates all unnecessary words. Especially adverbs. King argues that you don’t need to tell the reader that Mr. Smith answered excitedly if the writing up until that point is doing the job.

[Editor's Note: In our field, I think there is a tendency to write more than is needed, if only to make an e-mail pitch seem more worthy. But reporters hate long-winded diatribes. Keep it brief. Make your words count.]

Even if you are not an aspiring writer, I still think this book is worth a read. And at right around 300 pages, it’s relatively short. It provides a nice glimpse into the life of a best-selling author, a life most of us will never know.

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24
Nov 10

Book Review: Trust Agents

The social web is a game.

And just like the games you play and watch, the highest score wins.

Soon, everything you post — tweets, Facebook updates, blog posts — will contribute to your “social score,” if this article in Social Media Today is to be believed. (And, I think it is.)

If that’s the case, then you need to read  “Trust Agents” (affiliate link) by Chris Brogan and Julien Smith.

Found within the pages of this book are tips on how to excel on the social web by wielding your influence to build trust, with the guiding factor in all of this being The Golden Rule: Treat others as you would like to be treated. In other words, think of content that would be valuable to your audience, and share it with them.

Provide value.

Put people in touch with others who they might benefit from knowing.

Step back.

What you will not find in this book are cutthroat business practices to get ahead, or ways to fake your way to the top. By genuinely helping others and building a community around yourself or your product, you will flourish on the Web and bring others inside your sphere of influence.

The idea of gaining trust is not some pie-in-the-sky fantasy that is achieved through hyperbole and New Age thinking. There are tangible ways to become a Trust Agent, and Chris and Julien do a great job sharing how to get started, what to do once you’re off and running, and why it’s important. After all, they know a thing or two about being social.

I highly suggest taking a look at this book if the social web factors into your professional livelihood.

The bottom line?

Act human.

You’ll emerge victorious.

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16
Jul 10

Book Review: The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet’s Nest

Like a friend of mine put it the other day, the saddest part about finishing The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest (Amazon affiliate link) isn’t that we’ve reached the end of yet another great story.

No, the hardest part to accept is that we will never, ever get to experience the anticipation of another release by the late Stieg Larsson, the Swedish-born author who rocketed onto the literary scene posthumously with his Millennium Trilogy.

And, if I’m honest with you, knowing that one of my favorite authors is delivering another (hopefully) brilliant story that will keep me turning pages late into night is one of life’s great pleasures, which means there is now one less pleasurable thing in my future. Sad. 

Fortunately, Larsson went out on top.

This book takes up where The Girl Who Played with Fire left off: Lisbeth Salander, everybody’s favorite anti-social bi-sexual hacker, is holed up in a hospital with a bullet lodged in her brain, thanks to an altercation with her estranged father.

Meanwhile, intrepid reporter Mikael Blomkvist is up to his usual tricks, drinking massive amounts of coffee while trying to fight off women with a stick at every turn. When he’s not bedding his latest fling, he’s helping Salander beef up her defense for her upcoming court case where she will be forced to stand trial for the attempted murder of her father, all the while trying to piece together the story of a shadowy clique buried deep inside Sweden’s security police.

What happens outside of this overarching storyline is best kept between the covers for those who wish to read it. But suffice it to say, Larsson brings together all of the ingredients of the story in a way that would make a master chef proud. Rarely does anything feel out of place within the book. Rather, there is a very organic nature to the way in which certain elements of the story appear, as outlandish as they may seem on the surface, which is what drew me to the series in the first place.

It certainly is a tragedy that Mr. Larsson will never be able to realize the fruits of his efforts. But judging by what I can only imagine was the creation of characters near and dear to his heart, perhaps the time he spent toiling away on his books late into the night was reward enough. We’ll never know.

What I do know, however, is that we, as readers, should be thankful we had the opportunity to share in his story.

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21
Jun 10

Book Review: The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership

I believe that strong leaders are born, not bred, which is probably why I scoff at the notion that a book can lead you on the path to leadership greatness.

If your parents didn’t bless you with the right combination of charisma and chutzpah — two requirements for good leaders, obviously – odds are that you aren’t destined to be a future CEO.

So when a colleague of mine passed along “The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership”, written by a former pastor, no less, I was skeptical. But I took the plunge if for no other reason than to prove my views on leadership correct.

Turns out, I was only sort of right.

If you’re looking for a book that’s going to force you to jump out of bed each morning with renewed confidence and vigor, ready to sieze the day and your team, this is not that book.

But if you’re looking for a leadership book that shares practical advice on how to act as a leader when given an important role, complete with relatable anecdotes for each law, you might want to check this one out.

Frankly, I’m a little surprised by how much I’ve retained since I finished reading the book, but I think that has more to do with using dudes like John Wooden and Abraham Lincoln to drive his laws home, than it does with the actual laws. Because when you get right down to it, there are no surprises.

Still, for somebody like me, who is trying to increase his leadership potential, this book was a good exercise in helping me figure out what I need to do to better my leadership.