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Top Ten Books this Valentine’s Day Weekend

Posted by Dana on 02.13.2009 at 7:20 am

So here we are again…another Valentine’s Day. For the record this is not my favorite holiday (not that I’m bitter or anything!). For that reason I decided to include some lovey dovey mushy gushy stuff for those of you who already have love (or just like to read about it) and some more practical stuff (and chocolate) for those of us who are still looking!
1. SIX-WORD MEMOIRS ON LOVE & HEARTBREAK by Writers Famous & Obscure
by Larry Smith and Rachel Fershleiser
My local radio station was reading some of these on the air. It’s a really cool concept and can be kind of an addictive little game.

From the editors of the New York Times bestseller Not Quite What I Was Planning comes another collection of terse true tales—this time simple sagas exploring the complexities of the human heart. Six-Word Memoirs on Love & Heartbreak contains hundreds of personal stories about the pinnacles and pitfalls of romance. Brilliant in their brevity, these insightful slivers of passion, pain, and connection capture every shade of love and loss—six words at a time.

2. WHY HIM? WHY HER? Finding Real Love by Understanding Your Personality Type

by Helen Fisher
Why do you fall in love with one person rather than another? In this fascinating and informative book, Helen Fisher, one of the world’s leading experts on romantic love, unlocks the hidden code of desire and attachment. Each of us, it turns out, primarily expresses one of four broad personality types—Explorer, Builder, Director, or Negotiator—and each of these types is governed by different chemical systems in the brain. Driven by this biology, we are attracted to partners who both mirror and complement our own personality type.
Dr. Fisher was featured on 20/20 about two weeks ago and here in our office to talk to earlier this week. I’ll be posting my podcast with her shortly! Read more…

Have your say » | Tagged Top Ten Fridays, books, chocolate, love, relationships, valentines books, valentines day

Top Ten Best Books of 2008

Posted by admin on 01.09.2009 at 2:49 pm

I sent out an email to my 200+ coworkers that read “What were the ten best books you read in 2008?” The question is not what the best books were that came out this year, but rather, what were the best books you read during the year. Considering we have 4 offices, are an international company, and are notably an eclectic group, we got some great responses. Read more…

12 Comments » | Tagged Dispatches from the Green House, Top Ten Fridays

Top Ten Best Green Books

Posted by admin on 12.12.2008 at 5:59 pm

This one is pretty straightforward. With the world changing like it is, and arguments on either side of what is to be done as a result, there are incredible opportunities both in the career world and even on your block. These are 10 books that you need to read:

1. Hot, Flat and Crowded – Barack’s favorite economist is a hot author lately, and between his tomes on the Middle East and takes on the world, this is a must read.

2. Green to Gold – If you are someone at a decision making level in your company, no matter what industry, this is a must read. It’s the new Bible of green business.

3. Natural Capitalism – Paul Hawken, Amory Lovins and Hunter Lovins are three of the smartest people in the green space and they’ve been doing this for years. This amalgamation of thoughts from the three pundits is rife with information vital to understanding how the world economy will change over the next years.
Read more…

1 Comment » | Tagged Top Ten Fridays, green books, Green Business

Top Ten Most Influential Books Ever

Posted by admin on 12.05.2008 at 3:10 pm

Ever since the written word came to the fore, after the oral tradition took the backseat to mass stories, sometime between the Lyceum and hedonism, between gravitas and the advent of gravity, books captured and shaped the path of the world. These are the Top 10 Most Influential Books EVER!

Close, but not quite: The Interpretation of Dreams by Sigmund Freud, Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler, Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe, Das Kapital by Karl Marx

10. Relativity by Albert Einstein
Set up the splitting of the atom, the creation of the atomic bomb, the phrase E=mc(squared) and myriad scientific discoveries that were previous unthinkable.

9. Principia by Sir Isaac Newton
One word: gravity.
Read more…

3 Comments » | Tagged Top Ten Fridays

Top Ten Bestselling Books Ever

Posted by admin on 11.21.2008 at 11:25 am

OK, this list is actually from The Book of Lists printed in 1978, so it’s… slightly out of date. But jump in your time capsule and let’s go check on what the Top Ten Bestsellers of all time were as disco was kicking it live (click on the image of the cover to go to the product page).

10. Valley of the Dolls by Jacqueline Susann (19,300,000 copies)

9. The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care by Dr. Benjamin Spock (24,000,000) Read more…

3 Comments » | Tagged Top Ten Fridays, bestsellers, fun, the book of lists

Top Ten Funniest Books

Posted by admin on 11.14.2008 at 1:35 pm

With the tense financial atmosphere, the insanity of the political season and the general stress of the upcoming holiday season, we figured what better time to talk about the Top Ten Comedy books. These books have serious laugh out loud value, sure to turn people’s heads as you cackle on your commute or at the coffee shop.

10. I Am America (And So Can You) (Stephen Colbert)

9. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead (Tom Stoppard) [dark but brilliant]

1 Comment » | Tagged Top Ten Fridays, christopher moore, Douglas Adams, Gary Larson, John Kennedy Toole, Joseph Heller, Stephen Colbert, The Onion, Tom Stoppard, Tucker Max, William Goldman

Top Ten Best Books about Africa

Posted by Geoff on 11.07.2008 at 11:40 am

The following list is 10 of the best books written in recent history about Africa. These titles were chosen based on their ability to give insight and tell a powerful story about what life is like on the African continent.

(N.B. click on the images to go to the product page at betterworld.com):

10. A Long Way Gone (Sierra Leone)

9. Unbowed (Kenya)

3 Comments » | Tagged Top Ten Fridays, africa, Dave Eggers, Nelson Mandela, Top 10 Books, what is the what

Top Ten Friday: Movies Based on Books

Posted by admin on 10.24.2008 at 3:55 pm

Today’s Top Ten list is best movies that came from books. Brad came up with some fantastic rules for this so I’ll let him do the honors on that. Oh, and there were 15, not 10, yes I cheated but it was way too hard to make this only 10:

-First, BOTH the book and the movie have to be great. That eliminates such luminaries as Starship Troopers (same, by Heinlein: GREAT book, but only a good movie. Underrated, but still only good) and The 13th Warrior (Eaters of the Dead – Crichton: GREAT movie, but the book… not so much.)

-Second, it must be a book, not a short story. Read: The Shawshank Redemption (Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption by Stephen King, of course) and A Christmas Story (In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash – Jean Shepherd) are out.

-Third, I eliminated the Lord of the Rings trilogy because it’s a trilogy. Felt like cheating.