The Face Facts Online Book Exchange
17/08/2012
Are you sitting comfortably?
Here’s a little list of inspiring, challenging and thought provoking books that you might consider adding to your shelf…
Thanks to your input online we’ve built up a fantastic list of suggestions. We’ll keep writing up your little gems as quickly you can get them to us, so keep it up!
Any personal favourites that aren’t on the list yet? Please feel free to chip in! Use the #FFBooks tag to submit your ideas!
Read Us…
1. A State of Denmark by Derek Raymond (review by Maxine Suich of The Book Exchange)
Written in the 1960’s this is a poignant and gripping read in the George Orwell vein. There is an ominous sense of foreboding that hangs over the whole novel and from the moment you meet Richard and Magda in their idyllic Italian farmhouse you can sense that things are not as they should be and will not end well. Raymond creates a devastating vision of what life could so easily become in the UK if someone modelling themselves on the fictional Jobling ever came to power and the growing sense of unease Raymond builds throughout the book reaches an unbearable conclusion. It’s a remarkable feat of dystopian fiction which should be read by anyone who cherishes democracy and freedom of speech.
Maxine Suich is a bold and innovative protector of the print, having launched the wonderful www.thebookexchange.com (@bookexhangeuk) in March she’s see the company go from strength to strength. Her dream is to build a truly valuable online book exchange that’ll inspire generations to come to keep on reading. All books sold for £2.50, and yours traded in for £1 credit! Nice one Maxine.
2. Victor E. Frankl – Man’s Search For Meaning (review by Asif Mirza of Mobile Fieldwork)
This book by Victor E Frankl, is his account of his time in Auschwitz. Despite the subject matter of the book, it is written with a certain detachment and objectivity of a psychologist’s report (he had to hide these transcripts during his time there). It recounts his journey from entering the camp, to the steady progression of how the mindset changes to deal with life in such traumatic circumstances. You are confronted with the horrors of that existence, but written in a matter of fact style, but most significantly this becomes the reason this book gives an insight to the very essence of the human spirit and its ability to change and cope with anything.
The uniqueness of this book is that it lack an authors emotional bias on the concentration camp existence. It is less of a story and more of an account, but still elicits feelings from the reader. The more you read the more it becomes a fascinatingly vivid take on the humanity of the inside of the camps, and fills you with horror, curiousity, admiration and eventually an greater sense of faith in human nature. Worth a read for anyone willing to challenge their perceptions on life.
Asif Mirza (@asifmirza) Managing Director of Mobile Fieldwork (@MobileFieldwork) is a man who ‘knows his [Market Research] onions’. Father and poet, Asif is a man passionately disposed to champion mobile as a unique methodology; so for all things mobile he’s your man.
3. Simon Garfield – The Nations’ Favourite | The True Story of Radio 1 (review by Tom Ewing of Brainjuicer)
Unlike most books about “business change”, The Nation’s Favourite – an account of a coup at British pop broadcaster Radio 1 – strips away the polite veneer of ‘opportunities’ and ‘synergies’ to reveal the ghastly truth of backstabbing, venal office politics and egos in almighty meltdown. The fact said egos belong to the likes of Chris Evans and Zoe Ball will further delight British readers, but whether you know your 90s UK celebrities or not this is a compelling read, and one that will tell you an awful lot about Britain and boardrooms alike. And there’s more! Writer Simon Garfield arranges his interviews and tells his story so artfully that he hardly needs interject his own voice – this is brilliant oral history and an inspiration to anyone who has to tell stories using other people’s words, i.e. a lot of us.
Tom Ewing (@TomEwing) is the Digital Culture Officer at Brainjuicer (@Brainjuicer): a wordsmith and a gentleman, enjoy his Blackbeard Blog for witticisms, (constructive) criticism, and his thoughts on ‘The Authencity Unicorn!
4. Yann Martel – Life of Pi (Review by Elliot Simmonds | DJS Research)
“The Life of Pi is a story about a young Indian boy who, essentially, survives for 227 days whilst adrift in a lifeboat with a fully grown Bengal tiger (Richard Parker) and, initially, several other animals. He spends much of this time delirious with thirst, forcing the reader to consider the fact that the tale is one of hallucination. When Pi’s boat makes landfall in Mexico, Richard Parker runs away, leaving Pi to be discovered on his own. He is questioned by local officials, and, when they do not believe his initial tale, eventually gives two different stories – one revolving around animals in the boat and one describing a much more bloody, but ultimately more ‘believable’ account of cannibalism, violence and man’s inhumanity.
The key issue within the book, for me, is whether human beings can see beyond what they can reasonably understand, what makes reasonable sense, to begin to believe the better story. In essence, the text is a treatise on religion – it forces the reader to take a leap of faith in order to believe Pi’s account of story as described throughout the novel, even though this may be much more removed from what most humans could ever reasonably have experienced – much like the leap of faith that is expected from those who choose to believe in a ‘better story’ than that humans are simply a randomly occurring chemical accident.”
Elliot Simmonds is Marketing Executive at DJS Research Ltd. In addition, he is also currently undertaking his own work of fiction (we look forward to receiveing signed manuscripts Elliot) Twitter: @etsimmonds1
5. Umair Hague – The New Capitalist Manifesto
Those of you who follow @umairh will know that he is somewhat of a divisive character! But to many he’s a sharp and ultimately intriuging fellow, who has penned some great work examining the nature of ‘Capitalism’ today. Rather than persuing some sort of ‘hippy liberal agenda’ he actually sets about proposing a practical blueprint for fundamentally rebuilding capitalism and society in turn. Try it out, you might like it.
6. Sun Tzu – The Art of War
Written centuries ago on reels of bamboo, Sun Tzu’s words stand the test of time. It’s an easy and short read (probably an evening’s worth) written in digestible lessons each not much more than 140 characters ( so as far as we’re concerned he pretty much invented Twitter… visionary!). Applicable to business, war and all walks of life he’ll get you thinking about the way you plan with nuggets of pure gold!
7. Jay Conrad Levinson – Guerrilla Marketing
Pretty much a core text for anyone in marketing. As with anything, reading it isn’t going to make turn you into a hot-shot, but it deals in common sense. As a whole it preaches simplicity, repetition and resourcefulness in your marketing; the Guerrilla way! It’s a great book to dip into for common sense lessons that’ll re-affirm that you’re on the right track, or even steer you back on course. Top read.
Use the #FFBooks tag to submit your ideas!
Thank you for reading, there are plenty of your suggestions to come, including…
- Rezina Chowdhury (@RezinaChowdhury) Freelancer with The Rivers’ of London, by Ben Aaronovitch
- AND MORE, you know who you are!
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