Tracy Lynn Repchuk's "31 Days to Millionaire Marketing Miracles"

This book, "31 Days to Millionaire Marketing Miracles" was recommended to me via my stepmom, who has been a small business owner for the last 16 years, when I told her I was interested in starting my own business. The woman knows a LOT about small business success, so when she recommends something, I listen.

When I read Timothy Ferriss' book "The 4-Hour Work Week" a few months ago, I thought his concept of creating a business that generates automated income, one that basically runs itself, thus filling your bank account while freeing up your time was revolutionary. It was an eye-opener for me and something I didn't really believe that just anyone could do... until a friend actually succeeded by using his program. This friend of mine started his online retail business 7 months or so ago and last week he did more than $10k in sales, while hardly touching the business himself. Needless to say, I was motivated to try the plan for myself. 

That's where this book recommendation came in. Tracy Lynn Repchuk does for business marketing what Tim Ferriss does for business structure. She gives you step-by-step instructions for generating the most web traffic with the least amount of fuss. She tells you upfront that by putting in a few months of hard work and time, you can lay the groundwork for a future of easy traffic. 

First off, let me say that this book isn't for someone new to the idea of internet sales. She speaks at a level that assumes that you know the basics already. She also says things without fully explaining them until later, which leaves you temporarily lost. Also, a lot of the book didn't apply to the type of business that I plan to start. She teaches people how to make money on the internet, and so she's basically teaching you how to do the same - become someone who teaches people how to do something. As I plan on selling a product, rather than knowledge, this didn't really touch base with me. 

However, those criticisms aside, she had some really good tips for driving traffic that would apply to ANY online business. She teaches you how to set up your website to maximize marketing exposure, by getting your customers to join a mailing list, where you are then able to keep them updated on new products and promos, and to get referrals, so that your customers do the marketing for you. After reading her instructions, I realized how many of the sites that I frequent use this same model. In fact, most major companies do, and she explains that this is the difference between a successful website and an unsuccessful one. She had me sold. 

She also gives plenty of suggestions for software programs and web services to make doing business online easier. If you're in business for yourself, or you ever plan to be, "31 Days to Millionaire Marketing Miracles" is a good reference tool.

Dale Carnegie's "How to Win Friends and Influence People"

How to Win Friends and Influence People on Amazon

For a motivational book, withstanding the test of time is a rare quality, one that only a handful have managed. "How to Win Friends and Influence People" sits atop that throne with its prestigious fellow comrades, classics like "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" and "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People."

The thing I loved most about this book, and let me emphasize the fact that I LOVED this book, is that, were it not for the fact that it references such people as John D. Rockefeller and Woodrow Wilson, I never would have guessed that it was originally released in 1936! Every principle taught within it is just as relevant now as it was back then. I suppose that's because human nature never changes, something Dale Carnegie certainly understood.

There are no points in the book that will surprise you. However, almost every point made is something that we have a tendency to forget. Dale talks about the power of a smile, he preaches about the importance of never criticizing others, treating others as you would like to be treated, and acknowledging and empathizing with your opponant's feelings. 

My favorite tip from the book was about calling people by their names and taking pains to never misspell them. He says that "whether they know it or not, everyone's favorite word is their own name." and that using that name is the simplest compliment you can give someone. It brought to mind the hot guy at the deli counter of my local Walmart. I know his name, but there's no reason for me to know it other than the fact that I was talking about him behind his back, and my cousin happens to know him, so he clued me in. I live in constant fear of accidently calling him by his name and having to explain why I know it, thus exposing what a creeper I am. Then I think about my grocery store job I had in high school, when the incredibly attractive owner of our town's Quiznos called me by my name when I carried out his groceries. I gloated to everyone for days until someone pointed out that I wore a nametag. To this day, I still haven't forgotten how special I felt when he knew my name though. See? Just as relevant today as in the 30's. :)

Perhaps the most useful section of the book is the section on influencing people. If you have a sales job, or ever have to convince someone of something that they ordinarily wouldn't agree to, the information and strategies in this section are indispensible. I wish I had read this back when I was in sales and sales management. It would have been interesting to test the effects of his ideas. 

Regardless of what you do, who you are or what station in life you find yourself, I highly recommend this book to everyone. It should be a high school reading lists requirement, with a refresher every five years. I really can't recommend it enough. In my opinion, it is to social interaction what "The 4-Hour Work Week" is to business and lifestyle design, a necessity for success.

Margaret Atwood's "The Handmaid's Tale"

This was my first book by Margaret Atwood, and I definitely get what all of the fuss is about. "The Handmaid's Tale" was a brilliant imagining of a scary future, that resonated just as strongly with this reader today as it did with readers when it was written in the 80's.

The story opens on a time in the not too distant future, when the country has been overrun by a fanatical religion intent on bringing around a society free of sin, where men hold power and woman are subjugated. 

The handmaids are a group of woman who are used soley as vessels for procreation. They carry the children of society's elite when the men's wives are too old to concieve themselves. The main character, and narrator, Offred, is just such a handmaid.

Offred tells her story of loss, pain and emptiness, and the pining for a life that she can only vaguely remember, when she had a husband, a job and a child. In this new existence, all of those things have been taken from her. She is left to live as a walking womb for a Commander and his spiteful wife. 

"The Handmaid's Tale" is a unique twist on the typical dystopian future, one that has significant moments of foreboding that key into current battles in the women's rights arena. This book is as powerful eye-opener for any generation.

David Guterson's "Snow Falling on Cedars"

Snow Falling on Cedars on Paperback from Amazon

When I browse the book section at Goodwill, I have to tendancy to pick up any book that sounds familiar. When I came across "Snow Falling on Cedars" I recognized the name because I knew it had been turned into a movie. I had no idea what it was about, but I decided to check it out. It had a pretty name.

By the first chapter, I started to think that it wasn't for me. It opens on the trial of a Japanese man accused of killing a fellow fisherman. I have no patience for courtroom dramas. 

However, as the story progressed, I grew more and more entrenched in it. The trial is just the culmination of a several decades' worth of events, starting with the backstory of the Japanese immigration to an island off of the coast of Washington, then to a young romance between a Japanese girl and a caucasian boy, which is torn apart by the bombing of Pearl Harbor, when all of the local Japanese families were shipped off to containment camps. It describes in detail the experiences of the American soldiers during World War II, the continued prejudice towards Japanese-Americans for years afterward, and their struggles to rebuild their lives in the face of that prejudice. 

If you enjoy history at all, this is a great book, albeit a somewhat slow read. It's well-written and while not necessarily emotionally charged, it does tug at the heartstrings. It's a great look into a culture that is taught to endure anything with determination and grace.

Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson's "Hunters of Dune"

"Hunters of Dune" on Amazon

If you're not at all familiar with the Dune series, then you might want to familiarize yourself with at least the first book before reading this one. (Or you could watch the movies "Dune" and "Children of Dune") Although "Hunters of Dune" takes place in a much more distant future than the original Dune story, many of the characters are gholas, or clones, of the original characters in Frank Herbert's series.

This book was written by Frank's son, Brian Herbert and co-written by Kevin J. Anderson. However, it is supposed to be based off of an original outline written by Frank and locked away in a safe deposit box. Sounds a little too "Holy Grail" to me, but who cares? It's a good story, regardless of who wrote it.

Like I was saying, a lot of the characters and historical events referenced in "Hunters" took place in the previous books, but you can follow along perfectly well with only a base knowledge of the Dune world. The story does a good job of clarifying background information, without too much time spent backtracking. I noted a pleasant lack of "previously on Gossip Girl..." type reiteration. 

Hunters of Dune takes place after the escape of the Reverend Mother Sheena, the ghola of Mentat Duncan Idaho and several other refugees from the new rule of the Mother Commander Murbella on Chapterhouse.

While onboard their escape ship, these refugees stumble upon the opportunity to create gholas of many of Dune history's most famous characters. Meanwhile, Mother Commander Murbella is working to form a new alliance between the viscious Honored Matres and the powerful Bene Gesserite, and alliance than many, including Sheeana and tribes of rebel Honored Matres consider a horrific alliance and afront to their beliefs.

As Murbella's New Sisterhood grows, all will find that they must either join or prepare to fight, as she builds her army and prepares to fight the unknown Enemy that she knows is coming to annihilate the entire Old Empire. The book ends as the Enemy launches it's attack and is continued in "Sandworms of Dune."

It's a good read, though it starts out somewhat slow. Once it picks up, it's bloody, intriguing and fast-paced. The entire Dune series is really a must-read for any sci-fi fan.

Stephen King's "The Dark Tower: The Drawing of the Three (Book 2)"

Stephen King's The Dark Tower: The Drawing of the Three

Most people who know me, know that despite my outward "coolness", on the inside, I'm a raging fantasy nerd. So, for years, I've had the gents in my life recommending Stephen King's "The Dark Tower" series to me. He may be known for his horror books, but his fantasy series is his true legacy.

A few years ago, I decided to give it a shot by reading "The Gunslinger" (the first book in the series. Not being a western fan, I was immediately turned off by the title, but I read it anyway. To be honest with you, it didn't grab me, and I don't remember too much of the story. It wasn't a bad book, just not my thing. Needless to say, I didn't continue with the series...

... until the other day. A good friend of mine made me a deal. He would read my favorite series (The Sword of Truth by Terry Goodkind) if I would read his. That brought me back to The Dark Tower. 

"The Drawing of the Three" is infinitely more interesting than "The Gunslinger". It still has the "shoot-em-up" wild west gunslinger, Roland, but in this one, he travels through dimensions and time, fighting dope slinging mob bosses in the 80's and taking the reader into the hate-fueled race battles of the 60's. (In fact, I can't think of another time that I've heard the word "honky" thrown around quite so much.)

The book is much more sci-fi than fantasy. In fact, the only fantasy aspect is the gaint lobster creatures, but it was still interesting. Graffic, but interesting.

The place where the book scores major points in my book, is simply in the writing. There where several passages that caught my attention enough for me to actually highlight them, something I rarely do. 

"'There is steel in him, I dispute it not. But there is weakness as well.'"

"'If we were going to rape you, you would be one well-raped woman by now,' the gunslinger said evenly. 'Don't do it again.'"

and my personaly favorite, which is by far the most romantic description I've ever heard of a house of cards - 

"But they would have been amazed if he had had the words to describe it - how delicate it had been, how it had reached almost three quarters of the way from the top of the desk to the ceiling, a lacy construct of jacks and dueces and kings and tens and Big Akers, a red and black configuration of paper diamonds standing in defiance of a world spinning through a universe of incoherent motions and forces; a tower that seemed to 'Cimi's amazed eyes to be a ringing denial of all the unfair paradoxes of life.

If he had known how, he would have said: I looked at what he built, and to me it explained the stars."

I'll continue on with the series once my dear Mr. Shaw has finished the second book of his part of the bargain. For now, it's on to some Terry Pratchett.

A.A. Milne's "Once on a Time"

A.A. Milne's "Once on a Time" on Amazon

If you're familiar with A.A. Milne's work, and you most likely are since he wrote Winnie the Pooh, you'll know that he wrote very cutesy heartwarming stories. He was quoted as saying that he wrote Winnie the Pooh for the kids and "Once on a Time" for the adults, but apparently what constituted "adult content" back in 1917(ish) was a LOT different than now. I read this book to my three year-old.

It's really an adorably quirky story about a princess left to rule a kingdom after her father goes off to fight a ludicrious "war" with a neighboring kingdom, and the hijinx that ensue when a trusted countess tries to steal the throne.

The characters and goofy and the plot is downright silly. It actually reminded me of a Shakespearean comedy or something akin to Rosencrantz and Guildentstern Are Dead. 

It has love, jealousy, intrigue, war... all within a very g-rated plot. With back-to-school time, it's a great read for someone getting into chapter books.