Ian M RountreeLanguage, Communication, Community and Sustainability

Well hey there, this is book review number three on IanMRountree.com, and it also happens to be Book Review For A Cause number one – so let’s go!

At the start of every interview, Mitch Joel drops the line “So who are you and what do you do?” It seems like a simple question, but as the channels Mitch talks about in the book become increasingly important, formulating an answer to “Who are you and what do you do” is swiftly turning into a complex proposal.

The point of this post is two fold. First, it’s a video book review for Mitch’s book, Six Pixels of Separation: Everyone Is Connected. Connect Your Business to Everyone. (Amazon Associates Link) Second, drawing from the inspiration of Joseph Jaffe and Mitch Joel, it’s also the announcement of a benefit auction for Haiti Relief. So, first the video, then the explanation of the auction.

If you look really carefully you can see the next two books I’ll be reading on the shelf behind me.

Now for the fun part!

In the spirit of Joseph Jaffe and Mitch Joel’s Keynote for a Cause auctions, I’ve decided to auction off my copy of Six Pixels of Separation, with the proceeds of the auction going to the Red Cross for Haiti relief.

So here’s how this works.

The winner of this auction gets the copy of Six Pixels of Separation I got for Christmas this year – with my name in the top corner of the inside cover (as shown in the video) and a shiny little card they can show off telling people how they came across the book.

If you’re interested in placing a bid, email me at “irountree” at gmail dot com.

I’m placing a reserve of $100 on this auction $35 (what I paid at McNally Robinson) because I want to make a splash. Don’t dally, I’m closing the bids on February 7th at midnight, central time when the book moves! No more deadline; until the donation is made. SOLD! See below!

Fine print? I suppose there must be some.

I’m recouping no costs from this; the book was a gift, so it will remain so. You don’t even have to send me the money – PayPall fees aren’t worth it. Make a donation to any Haiti-related charity you feel will do the best work, and email me the proof along with your address, and the book goes in the mail the following business day.(Updated Feb 6th, 2010)

Also, if once you’ve read the book, you find you’d like to do the same thing with the wood souvenir, be my guest – I’d encourage you to write a similar auction note, and sign your name in the cover to keep the chain of contribution going.

Finally, a Challenge!

If you’re a voracious reader, and have a mind to review books and share more than a few words about them, I challenge you to do the same. It doesn’t have to be for Haiti relief – further instances of this kind of review from me will be for other causes. Just keep the ripples moving forward, in every channel available.

Everyone is connected. Connect your cause to everyone.

Update – March 18th, 2010 – The book sold! A (currently) anonymous bidder finally took the book off my hands yesterday – we have success!

Six Pixels of Separation: Everyone Is Connected. Connect Your Business to Everyone. (Amazon Associates Link)

Photo by Krossbow

Last week I got the audiobook form of Seth Godin’s The Dip through iTunes – it was on for four dollars, how could I say no? – and finished it over about three days of on-foot commutes. I’ve since been trying to come up with a good way to communicate some of the lessons in the book.

Regular book reviews give me the gyp. I can’t write them. If you want a better example of a synopsis review, see Brad J Ward’s sum-up – he did a good job. I like the Dip. I like its message, I love Seth Godin’s writing. But I always have trouble with book reviews, because I look so hard to find application more than just assessment.  So why not do something entirely different. Why not an assessment, then an example?

The assessment.

Godin is very good at adding value to simple concepts, but it still feels like you only need one page to write this book. Never quit is a stupid piece of advice, because sticking with things that aren’t working for you is a waste of energy, effort and capital. Godin uses the term Strategic Quitting very often in the book, and talks a lot about the things that are legitimate reasons for us to quit, and the irrational, reactionary reasons why most people quit and then, in true Godin fashion, he wraps it all up with a very simple message.

Being prepared to quit for good reasons (and knowing the reasons why you quit) is of infinite value in any endeavour. This is because, until you reach those limits- the ones you set for yourself when you plan, you’re never going to give up and you’ll eventually become (as Godin says so many times) The Best In The World.

The example.

I’ve been reading Mark Dykeman’s Broadcasting Brain for just under a year. It was one of the first blogs I happened upon when I was looking into doing this very thing myself – and I consider myself very lucky to have found it. Mark’s writing is incredible. The angle from which he approaches life is at once pragmatic and inspired; he gathers massive numbers of ideas for blog posts, and recently crowd-sourced a lot of wisdom about doing work better in the coming year. However, this is now. The dip was then. In August, Mark wrote a perspective on his previous two years of blogging, and it was a visible sign that he was leaning into a big personal dip. Or, perhaps even better considering the awesomeness he’s been producing lately, August may have been the end of the Dip, and the Mark Dykeman we’re seeing now is on the other side, on the hard hill upward, reaping all the benefits of his experience crossing the dip.

Here are the questions I asked Mark, and his responses. (more…)