Your Presentation is a Joke.  Marshall Chiles. 2016. ISBN 9781523409334.  How to improve your B2B presentations.   The author does  a very good job of humour at the right time and place will enhance  and maximize the impact of your presentations.  Yes,  start with humour, and then use it at your transition points.  He gives you his rules on humour ( which is not about comedy)  and how to  find, add and rewrite your works with  humour woven in.  Quite an easy to read book,  short and beneficial if you use language in your job.

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Drive. Henry Ford, George Selden and the race to invent the auto car. Lawrence Goldstone. 2017. ISBN 9780553394184.  A well researched,  extensively footnoted and thorough work on what were very tumultuous times.  The author leads you back to how steam engines were first developed and then eventually what lead to “motorized” carriages.  You will see many parallels to other roads to invention in this book , including what Eldon Musk is trying to do with electric cars.  Selden would today be a master patent troll and Ford was not the only builder who ran counter to the “patent war”. The author stays well away from Fords “eccentricities” which might appear similar to Trump today.  The book holds your interest as the story builds.  Of great interest is just how far Europe was and remained ahead of the US in all this.  Once again the desire to have a monopoly was foremost in this industry early one as was the negative reputation of financiers.  Well worth the time ~ 4 hours.

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Sales Readiness. Paul Fornelli. 2015. ISBN 9780692579091.  This book has three audiences.  It was written for the sales pros who realize they need to find a new vertical, niche market, company to work for but they may think they do not have the experience to do this.  Then it can be used by sales manages  who see the need to train soft and hard skills to build a flexible, responsive sales force.  Last it can be used by sales strategists to need to analyze new marketplaces.   The book is useful for all three audiences.   I appreciated the thought that the author put into this book.   For me the maximum utility is in the first 9 chapters and the final summary.

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Naked City. The death and life of authentic urban places. Sharon Zukin. 2010 . ISBN 9780195382853.  A very useful viewpoint of how New York ( and related large cities have dealt ( or not dealt) with progressive change in its neighborhoods.  By looking closer at Brooklyn, Harlem, East Village, Union Square, Red Hook, neighborhood gardens the author illustrates the relentlessness of change and how city approaches can help or hinder that. What is interesting is that when a neighborhood moves from gritty to cool, then gentrification and rising property values will follow, at some time or another.  The author does not forget her history with notes on  the likes of Jane  Jacobs and Robert Moses as well as notable mayors and their impacts.   Good grounding for the urbanest.

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Nonsense. The Power of Not Knowing. Jamie Holmes. 2011 ISBN 9780385348379. One of those books full of unexpected treasures in knowledge.   And it does not stop at the notes pp. Like Christensen, the notes are  another intriguing book . Delightful.  The power of holding two or more separate conflicting ideas in your head have been shown before , but Holmes delivers even more good thought on the idea.   Eg Negative capability is not fixating/clutching on one aspect of a shifting complex reality. ( This is a good thing) . Prejudice is driven by a need for order, social order, where individuals can not tolerate ambiguity, having a desire to latch onto what is safe, familiar, simple and apparently definite.  Bigots fail to see all relevant sides to a problem and have a high need  for closure.  A very useful book  An essential part of your own journey toward a more enlightened and calmer self.