FIR Reviews
Reviews of books dealing with PR and online communications
Monday, January 31, 2011
FIR Book Review: The New Small by Phil Simon
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The New Small: New Breed of Small Businesses Is Harnessing the Power of Emerging Technologies, by Phil Simon
Contributor Donna Papacosta reviews Phil Simon’s “The New Small.” According to the book’s website, “...you’ll discover how…companies creatively and intelligently use technology to reach new customers, reduce costs, increase internal collaboration and communication, and create flexible work environments. Rife with profiles from a wide variety of industries, The New Small offers pragmatic advice and lessons about how small businesses are harnessing the power of emerging technologies. It’s a must-read for small business owners, those thinking about starting their own shops, and those who work for larger outfits intent on capturing the agility and spirit of a group of dynamic companies.”
About our reviewer
Donna Papacosta, owner of Trafalgar Communications, based in the Toronto area, works with clients all over the world, helping them to communicate with employees, customers and prospects. A former systems analyst and magazine journalist, Donna has combined her love of communications and technology into a thriving independent practice since 1985. Her roster of clients includes major manufacturers, leading organizations in healthcare and information technology, nonprofits, universities, government agencies, small- to mid-sized businesses and more.
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The New Small, by Phil Simon
Publisher: Motion Publishing
302 pages
Published November 2010
ISBN-10:0982930232
ISBN-13: 978-0982930236
Purchase at Amazon US, Amazon Canada, or Amazon UK.
Share your comments or questions about this show, or suggestions for future shows, in the FIR FriendFeed Room. You can also email us at fircomments@gmail.com; call the Comment Line at +1 206 222 2803 (North America), +44 20 8133 9844 (Europe), or Skype: fircomments; comment at Twitter: twitter.com/FIR. You can email your comments, questions and suggestions as MP3 file attachments, if you wish (max. 3 minutes / 5Mb attachment, please!). We’ll be happy to see how we can include your audio contribution in a show.
The FIR Book Review theme music is “Pocketbook” by Derek K. Miller.
To stay informed about occasional FIR events (eg, FIR Live), sign up for FIR Update email news.
This FIR Book Review is brought to you with Lawrence Ragan Communications, serving communicators worldwide for 35 years. Information: www.ragan.com.
Saturday, January 22, 2011
FIR Book Review: Resonate by Nancy Duarte
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Resonate: Present Visual Stories that Transform Audiences, by Nancy Duarte
FIR book editor Bob LeDrew reviews Nancy Duarte’s “Resonate.” According to the Amazon.com review, “Presentations are meant to inform, inspire, and persuade audiences. So why then do so many audiences leave feeling like they’ve wasted their time? All too often, presentations don’t resonate with the audience and move them to transformative action. Just as the author’s first book helped presenters become visual communicators, Resonate helps you make a strong connection with your audience and lead them to purposeful action. The author’s approach is simple: building a presentation today is a bit like writing a documentary. Using this approach, you’ll convey your content with passion, persuasion, and impact.”
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Resonate, by Nancy Duarte
Publisher: Wiley
272 pages
Published September 2010
ISBN-10:0470632011
ISBN-13: 978-0470632017
Purchase at Amazon US, Amazon Canada, or Amazon UK.
Share your comments or questions about this show, or suggestions for future shows, in the FIR FriendFeed Room. You can also email us at fircomments@gmail.com; call the Comment Line at +1 206 222 2803 (North America), +44 20 8133 9844 (Europe), or Skype: fircomments; comment at Twitter: twitter.com/FIR. You can email your comments, questions and suggestions as MP3 file attachments, if you wish (max. 3 minutes / 5Mb attachment, please!). We’ll be happy to see how we can include your audio contribution in a show.
The FIR Book Review theme music is “Pocketbook” by Derek K. Miller.
To stay informed about occasional FIR events (eg, FIR Live), sign up for FIR Update email news.
This FIR Book Review is brought to you with Lawrence Ragan Communications, serving communicators worldwide for 35 years. Information: www.ragan.com.
Friday, January 14, 2011
FIR Book Review: UnMarketing by Scott Stratten
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UnMarketing: Stop Marketing, Start Engaging, by Scott Stratten
FIR book editor Bob LeDrew reviews Scott Stratten’s “UnMarketing.” According to the official Amazon.com review, “UnMarketing shows you how to unlearn the old ways and consistently attract and engage the right customers. You’ll stop just pushing out your message and praying that it sticks somewhere. Potential and current customers want to be listened to, validated, and have a platform to be heard-especially online. With UnMarketing, you’ll create such a relationship with your customers, and make yourself the logical choice for their needs.”
Get this podcast:
UnMarketing, by Scott Stratten
Publisher: Wiley
Hardcover: 272 pages
Published September 2010
ISBN-10:047061787X
ISBN-13: 978-0470617878
Purchase at Amazon US, Amazon Canada, or Amazon UK.
Share your comments or questions about this show, or suggestions for future shows, in the FIR FriendFeed Room. You can also email us at fircomments@gmail.com; call the Comment Line at +1 206 222 2803 (North America), +44 20 8133 9844 (Europe), or Skype: fircomments; comment at Twitter: twitter.com/FIR. You can email your comments, questions and suggestions as MP3 file attachments, if you wish (max. 3 minutes / 5Mb attachment, please!). We’ll be happy to see how we can include your audio contribution in a show.
The FIR Book Review theme music is “Pocketbook” by Derek K. Miller.
To stay informed about occasional FIR events (eg, FIR Live), sign up for FIR Update email news.
This FIR Book Review is brought to you with Lawrence Ragan Communications, serving communicators worldwide for 35 years. Information: www.ragan.com.
Monday, January 03, 2011
FIR Book Review: Deadly Spin by Wendell Potter
Deadly Spin: An Insurance Company Insider Speaks Out on How Corporate PR Is Killing Health Care and Deceiving Americans, by Wendell Potter.
FIR book editor Bob LeDrew reviews “Deadly Spin” by former CIGNA PR executive Wednell Potter. According to Publisher’s Weekly, Potter “exposes the PR pros’ propaganda tricks—fake grass-roots organizations, bogus scientific studies—and recounts his shame-faced repentance. But he also trenchantly critiques the failure of America’s for-profit health-insurance system: the underhanded methods insurers use to “dump the sick”; the skyrocketing premiums and deductibles that put health care beyond the reach of millions; the obscene salaries executives rake in while denying benefits to patients.”
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Get this podcast:
Deadly Spin, by Wendell Potter
Publisher: Bloomsbury Press
Hardcover: 288 pages
Published November 2010
ISBN-10:1608192814
ISBN-13:1608192816
Purchase at Amazon US, Amazon Canada, or Amazon UK.
Share your comments or questions about this show, or suggestions for future shows, in the FIR FriendFeed Room. You can also email us at fircomments@gmail.com; call the Comment Line at +1 206 222 2803 (North America), +44 20 8133 9844 (Europe), or Skype: fircomments; comment at Twitter: twitter.com/FIR. You can email your comments, questions and suggestions as MP3 file attachments, if you wish (max. 3 minutes / 5Mb attachment, please!). We’ll be happy to see how we can include your audio contribution in a show.
To stay informed about occasional FIR events (eg, FIR Live), sign up for FIR Update email news.
This FIR Book Review is brought to you with Lawrence Ragan Communications, serving communicators worldwide for 35 years. Information: www.ragan.com.
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Introducing Bob LeDrew, FIR’s new book review editor
Your FIR co-hosts are delighted to welcome Bob LeDrew as the new editor of our book review feed.
We started the book review podcast as a means by which we can share our views of books related to the themes we cover on FIR—business, communications, PR, social media, and the like. Our first review was posted in December 2006. Here we are four years later, and we have posted a total of eight reviews.
With Bob focusing on book reviews, we hope to do much better. And we hope to get more reviews from our listener community, since you’re always welcome to submit audio content for the show!
Bob plans to publish his first review of the book, “Deadly Spin,” Wendell Potter’s hyper-critical look at the healthcare industry’s use of propaganda to influence the public debate in support of profitability.
Bob is a podcaster, writer, and public relations consultant in Ottawa, Ontario. Bob currently has his own company, Translucid Communications. Before that, he slogged away in the trenches of higher education communications for the better part of a decade, where he dealt with everything from drive-by shootings to cancer breakthroughs to coming up with more ways to break ground or open buildings that you can shake a stick at (and no, shaking a stick wasn’t one of them.) Bob became Canada’s first PR blogger in April 2003 when he started Flacklife. He’s also an avid podcaster, with three podcasts he hosts or co-hosts: The Kingcast, about Stephen King; PR and Other Deadly Sins, with Mark Blevis; and The Contrarians, with Susan Murphy and Joe Boughner. He is a cofounder of the meetup Case Study Jam. When he successfully tears himself away from a computer, Bob immerses himself in making music, cycling, and appreciating good single-malt whisky (there is no bad single-malt, a notion with which Shel agrees entirely, although some are even tastier than others).
We hope you enjoy our new focus on books of interest to the FIR community—and we hope you’ll join in the conversation!
Thursday, July 15, 2010
FIR Book Review: Open Leadership by Charlene Li
Open Leadership: How Social Technology Can Trasform the Way You Lead is the new book by Charlene Li, founder of The Altimeter Group and co-author of Groundswell.
FIR co-host Shel Holtz and TWI Surveys president Ryan Williams set out to produce a short review of Charlene’s book, but the conversation turned into a longer discussion of leadership. Given that Ryan earned his Master’s Degree in leadership, the review explores various leadership theories and how Charlene has applied them in the book.
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Get this podcast:
Open Leadership, by Charlene Li
Publisher: Jossey-Bass (a Wiley imprint)
Hardcover: 311 pages
Published May 2010
ISBN-10:0470597267
ISBN-13: 978-0470597262
Purchase at Amazon US, Amazon Canada, or Amazon UK.
Share your comments or questions about this show, or suggestions for future shows, in the FIR FriendFeed Room. You can also email us at fircomments@gmail.com; call the Comment Line at +1 206 222 2803 (North America), +44 20 8133 9844 (Europe), or Skype: fircomments; comment at Twitter: twitter.com/FIR. You can email your comments, questions and suggestions as MP3 file attachments, if you wish (max. 3 minutes / 5Mb attachment, please!). We’ll be happy to see how we can include your audio contribution in a show.
To stay informed about occasional FIR events (eg, FIR Live), sign up for FIR Update email news.
This FIR Book Review is brought to you with Lawrence Ragan Communications, serving communicators worldwide for 35 years. Information: www.ragan.com.
Monday, June 07, 2010
FIR Book Review - Delivering Happiness: June 7, 2010
Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose is the new book by Tony Hsieh, the CEO of Zappos.com. A combination of memoir, essays, business lessons, inspiration and a bit of zen, the book recounts the road taken by Zappos.com from unlikely online shoe outlet to billion-dollar business and Amazon.com acquisition target.
The book focuses on Hsieh’s unwavering commitment to a culture of service supported by a commitment to openness. Combined with charm and wit, this quick and easy read is inspirational if not a guide to embracing the same practices for your own business.
In this FIR Book Review, FIR co-host Shel Holtz offers an overview of the book and its strengths as one man’s journey to cultural enlightenment.
Listen to this podcast now:
Get this podcast:
Delivering Happiness, by Tony Hsieh
Publisher: Business Plus
Hardcover: 258 pages
Published June 2010
ISBN-10: 0446563048
ISBN-13: 978-0446563048
Purchase at Amazon US, Amazon Canada, or Amazon UK.
Share your comments or questions about this show, or suggestions for future shows, in the FIR FriendFeed Room. You can also email us at fircomments@gmail.com; call the Comment Line at +1 206 222 2803 (North America), +44 20 8133 9844 (Europe), or Skype: fircomments; comment at Twitter: twitter.com/FIR. You can email your comments, questions and suggestions as MP3 file attachments, if you wish (max. 3 minutes / 5Mb attachment, please!). We’ll be happy to see how we can include your audio contribution in a show.
To stay informed about occasional FIR events (eg, FIR Live), sign up for FIR Update email news.
This FIR Book Review is brought to you with Lawrence Ragan Communications, serving communicators worldwide for 35 years. Information: www.ragan.com.
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