ktoddstorch @ business thoughts

The Long Tail

Over the weekend I picked up Chris Anderson's book, "The Long Tail".  I knew the book was coming out, because he has broken through and gotten "hit" status from the mainstream media (ironic!) with his economic theory.

I posted about his Wired article back in October of 2004 (along with a bunch of others!) right when my interest was very high about podcasting.

Expect to hear a lot more from the mainstream media about this "Tail".

Amazon link.

The World is Flat...

Thank you to Dave Presher for recommending this book to read a few months back.  If you haven't heard of this book, or if you have and haven't read it yet, do so today!

This is a must read.  Why?

• China should scare and excite you
• India should scare and excite you
• America should scare and excite you
• Your profession is in jeopardy
• Help educate your children for the upcoming world economy
• Why Politics do matter

Go Buy This Book! The Tour by Dave Shields

Back in June of 2005, I interviewed Dave Shields, the author of The Race.  I found Dave through an article in a cycling magazine about his book, found his website and I was hooked on his writing.

Dave has finished the sequel to The Race, aptly titled, The Tour.

Why you should be interested in this book:

- you've read The Race
- you are a cycling fan
- you are interested in the Tour de France
- you are a Tour de France freak!
- you would like to know about the behind the scenes activities of a pro cycling team
- you enjoy reading "page turner" books

The Tour continues the story about Ben Barnes and his quest to win the Tour de France.  The way this book reads, you feel like you are in Ben's shoes the whole way.  The battle to make a name on the team, the in-fighting between coach and owner, the struggles and pain of the stages; it is all here.

I nearly read the entire book in one night and I wouldn't be suprised if you end up finishing it in one sitting.

As you can tell, I highly recommend this book.  If you haven't read The Race, pick them both up; you won't be disappointed!

Be sure to check out Dave's blog as well here.

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tags:  dave shields | the tour | the race

Putting Yourself in a Position to be Lucky

Author and blogging friend, Dave Shields, has a great post on just this topic.

I hope you sell a ton of books Dave!

Are you putting yourself in the right position to get lucky?

[read]

**UPDATE**
As I was catching up on TiVo, watching Stage 11 (7/13/05) on OLN, Dave shows up at 4:16 and 4:29 of the 5 hour broadcast!

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tags:  dave shields

Vacation Reads

As you know, I love to read and consume words on the written and web page.

I brought 2 books to read while on vacation.  Lance's War by Daniel Coyle which I received for Father's Day and had gotten about a third of the way through it before leaving for vacation.

And Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town by Cory Doctorow.

Lance's War is an incredible read that gets you inside the Tour de France and Lance Armstrong's Team Postal for the 2004 TdF.  If you are interested in Lance, cycling or how this amazing sporting event works, you must read this book.

Cory's work is a wonderful piece of science fiction.  I have been keeping up with him after reading his posts at Boing Boing and hearing him on the IT Conversation podcast.  I haven't read a good science fiction book since High School and jumping back into the "have an open mind" and just "accept what the writer is doing" was refreshing.  You can buy Cory's book or download it free via the Creative Commons license.

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tags:  lance armstrong | daniel coyle | cory doctorow | books

The Long Tail - Best Article I've Read

...in at least a month! Seriously, thank you to Jon Strande for bringing this article to my attention!

If you want to take a good look at the new economics of how distribution/demand/supply of the obscure (music, books, film, dvd's, etc.) really work, read this article.

[read] via Business Evolutionist

BTW, I'm looking forward to the redesigned blog Jon!