Reads of the Week: October 12, 2012

Let’s start with a freebie! Jeff Cobb has a slew of great ideas about lifelong learning and he practices what he preaches, so it’s not a bunch of hoo-haw. He’s offering a free Kindle version of his book, 10 Ways to Be a Better Learner – but today is the last day to download it, so chop chop!

“Lifelong learning” may sound cliché to some, but it’s a necessary mindset and practice to survive and thrive in our ever-changing world. If reading isn’t your thing (gasp!), then check out the webinar Jeff is doing today at 1pm Eastern on 10 Ways to Be a Better Learner.

Content marketing sounds so smart in theory, but how the heck do you get it done when everyone on staff is already stretched thin. John Bell has some ideas in Getting Internal Experts to Create Content.

Over at Marketing Sherpa, Courtney Eckerle is ready with more advice, seven steps, in fact, for creating and optimizing content in any size organization. With her post at your side, you will start to think, “Yeah, we can do this.”

If your organization wants to become an industry source for curated content – and frankly, why wouldn’t you? – you must check out Leo Dirr’s post: How to Consistently Out-Curate Your Competitors. It’s packed full of tactics and content sources – one of the most thorough I’ve seen.

I am such a sucker for serendipity. The more you’re open to it, the more you get. I love this post at GigaOm by Mathew Ingram about the effect social media has on his real-world serendipity. This could happen to you!

This book intrigues me, but I already have too many unread books: Makers: The New Industrial Revolution by Chris Anderson. Is this really the future? We’ll see. I’ve noticed lots of reviews lately for this book, but the first one I read was by Andrew Keen at Barnes & Noble. So I better not link to Amazon, huh?

If you know me, you know I’m a big fan of professional cycling, especially of the American team Garmin-Sharp founded by ex-pro cyclist Jonathan Vaughters as an alternative to the predominant doping culture of most professional teams. Many of my favorite cyclists used to dope and have ‘fessed up and cleaned up. Others, I still wonder about. Omerta in the cycling culture is strong, but beginning to crumble.

For years, there’s been suspicion about Lance Armstrong’s doping habits. But he’s used his money and prestige to paint any accusers as liars or disgruntled employees or teammates. If you want to know the truth about Lance and his team director Johan Bruyneel, you can read through the recently released USADA report, or check out the salacious bits shared by The Daily Beast.

Even better, read the book ex-doper and former Armstrong teammate Tyler Hamilton co-wrote with Daniel Coyle. I read the whole thing the weekend it came out, it’s an easy read — The Secret Race: Inside the Hidden World of the Tour de France: Doping, Cover-ups, and Winning at All Costs. That pretty much describes Lance.

I’ll leave you with some music inspired by my Coursera modern poetry class. Hat tip to Brain Picker for this one: Emily Dickinson’s poetry set to music by Israeli singer-songwriter, Efrat Ben Zur. Sort of Cocteau Twins meets Massive Attack meets Patti Smith, or something like that.

Happy Friday!

Author: deirdrereid

Deirdre is a freelance writer for companies serving the association market. After more than 20 years managing associations and restaurants, she's enjoying the good life as a ghostblogger and content marketing writer for the association community. Away from her laptop, you can find her walking in the woods, enjoying live music, reading hundreds of newsletters, watching hockey, cooking, hanging at the local brewery or tap room, or relaxing in a comfy chair with a good Kindle book and a glass of something tasty in hand. View all posts by deirdrereid