left my power supply at home today so i'm relegated to using windows. #

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Thinking out loud, week of 2010-07-25

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Thinking out loud, week of 2010-07-18

So for a change, I detoured to The Memory Keeper’s Daughter by Kim Edwards. I found my way to the novel via a recommendation from my dear friend Tara; her recommendations on most things creative are a sure win.

To be honest, I found the book to be a bit slow getting started. After the disaster that was All the Presidents’ Children, I found myself frightened—could I even make it through the book? I couldn’t possibly give up on two books in a row, could I?

I worried for nothing. Once the book caught hold of me, there was no turning back. The captivating story set in the 1960s, and leading its readers right through the quarter century that follows, is the story of the Henry family. Dr. David Henry and his wife Norah set out to have themselves the perfect nuclear family, but when Dr. Henry discovers—during childbirth—that his wife is delivering twins, he faces a moral dilemma. You see, his son Paul is born first, and scores “a nine on the Apgar… very good.” Up next is Phoebe, and Dr. Henry recognizes that she has been born with Down syndrome.

In the 1960s, that meant an early death, following an unhappy life. In an instant, he decides to ask his nurse to take Phoebe to an institution, and he tells his wife Norah that Phoebe was stillborn.

This split-second decision shapes the rest of their lives. In time, I found sympathy for each of the main characters, and found myself wondering what I’d have done in Dr. Henry’s shoes.

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What would you do: The Memory Keeper’s Daughter

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Thinking out loud, week of 2010-07-11

@glaad i wrote to katie couric about that like 5 years ago… don't hold your breath for a response. in reply to glaad #

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Thinking out loud, week of 2010-07-04

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Thinking out loud, week of 2010-06-27

@lbenitez you forgot to mention unreadable URLs and a whole lotta downtime … in reply to lbenitez #

@joshholden oh i'm sure you can bubbly yourself under the right circumstances. in reply to joshholden #

@joshholden pretty sure you still *are* young, sweetie. in reply to joshholden #

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Thinking out loud, week of 2010-06-20

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Thinking out loud, week of 2010-06-13

Perhaps needless to say, I don’t actually know any of the children of US Presidents. In fact, most of them died long before I was born, but even the contemporary ones don’t exactly run in the same social circles that I do, and so I’ve never even been given a chance to actually hate any of them.

Having said that, though, I do hate All the Presidents’ Children by Doug Wead.

I rarely refuse to finish a book. I feel that once I’ve invested the time to select, pick up, and begin to read a book, it deserves my attention. It deserves to be read.

Mr. Wead, you’ve challenged that assertion. Your bland, uninspired prose allowed me to quit on page 76. The book jumps around constantly, to the point that I was left uncertain more than once as to whom I was reading about. Pronouns are used indiscriminately, leaving me to wonder if the book was edited at all. I wonder whether the authors close connections to the Bush family are the reason this book was published at all; had it been left to my devices, it would have been tossed into the fire as so much kindling.

In short: don’t bother.

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I hate All the Presidents’ Children

I found myself laughing while reading this book about selling and marketing your ideas! Their combined experience and wisdom made for a great read… which is fitting, since the Heaths suggest that the single best way to sell your idea is to make it into a good story, because that’s how people get attached. They’ve followed their own advice and made what could have been a dry presentation of a framework for selling ideas into a fun book for anyone to read.

I consider this recommended reading for anyone who has ever needed to convince another person of anything. And yes, that’s everyone in the world. Whether you’re actually working in a marketing or advertising role, or you’re in sales, or not… we’re all selling ourselves and our ideas every day.

How often do you read a marketing book that uses urban legends as an example of an idea that sticks? Not too often, but this one does! Here are Chip and Dan’s six principles for ideas that stick:

1. Simplicity. But think proverbs, not sound bites.
2. Unexpectedness. This is how you catch people’s attention, but it’s not how you hold it.
3. Concreteness. Especially when dealing with new information, it must be tangible and accessible, not abstract and theoretical.
4. Credibility. If nobody believes you, it doesn’t matter how good the idea is. There are many ways to establish credibility; find one.
5. Emotions. Engage people’s feelings, and you’re more than halfway there. And it doesn’t have to be only positive emotions!
6. Stories. This is our common human practice. We swap stories, and we’re more likely to swap them if they’re simple, unexpected, concrete, credible and emotional.

Pick it up. Read it. Love it.

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Some things are better when they’re sticky