How’s that for an eclectic title?

I read a lot. All the time in fact. Fiction, non fiction, business, self help, philosophy, you name it, I read it… here’s a few of my favourite business and thinking related papers, eBooks and books that you may want to settle down with a nice cup of tea and have a read of…

Google SEO Starter Guide

“From the horses’ mouth” an updated starter guide to SEO covering everything from site structure, content optimisation, dealing with crawlers, SEO for mobile and even marketing your website through promoting & analysing. If you’re new to SEO, it’s an absolute must. If you’re experienced, it’s a great refresher.

Rework: Change the Way You Work Forever by 37 Signals

The guys behind Basecamp, Highrise, Backpack and Campfire have written this clear, concise book about setting up and running a business, right down to how you manage your work load and prioritisation. Highly recommended.

Presentation Zen (Garr Reynolds)

How many of us have sat through (or given) 60 slide, text heavy powerpoint presentations that are just a series of bullet points that are then READ out to the audience that are also sitting there READING them??? I know I have, too many times. This book serves to overcome that, to make your presentations engaging, clear, fluid… and most of all, interesting.

What is Social Media? An eBook by Antony Mayfield, iCrossing.

Antony is one of the leading thinkers on Social Media and has written a very easy to understand introduction guide. The guide covers the basics of what social media is, why it’s vital for brands to understand, where the key networks are, and some very useful guidance and principals of engaging with the people within those networks.

Me & My Web Shadow – again, by Antony Mayfield.

In this book, Antony shifts the perspective of Social Media from brands, to people. Essentailly, the book is a guide as how to understand and manage your online self. In his own words “This book helps you to: understand how what’s said about you on the Web can affect your job, your business and your personal life, both positively and negatively; develop a personal plan for managing your online reputation; and, protect yourself against identity hijacking.”

The Art of Happiness – The Dalai Lama

Not related to business or marketing in any way shape or form, I think this is one of the most important and influential books I’ve ever read. Quite simply the book is a series of interviews with the Dalai Lama where he talks about his philosphies on being happy, being free of worry, anger and upset and to see the world with complete compassion for other people. A very enlightening read!

Saltwater Buddha – Jaimal Yogi

Continuing with the whole Buddhist Zen subject, this one is told through the medium of surfing. Kinda like a “Zen and the Art of MotorCycle Maintenance ”  but for us water dwelling folk!

Holy Trinity of Technology Marketing – Velocity Partners

I’m a big fan of Velocity. I love the way they present themselves and the language they use on the site, and in their communications. They’re a B2B Marketing Agency, and whilst I’ve never used their services (sorry, if I can ever afford to, I definitely will!), they’ve become a very useful resource for all things content marketing. Although this guide says it’s pitched at Technology Marketing, the whole idea of the things to think of when creating a brand (i.e. “Who the hell are you?” “Why should we care?” and “Why should we believe you?”), ring true across the board in my opinion.

Tracking Social Media ROI Viewing Spectrum Analytics (Marshall Sponder)

This white paper tackles the burning question of “How do we prove ROI through Social Media?”.

7 Habits of Highly Successful People (Stephen R Covey)

Kind of a business / self-help book all rolled in to one. Mr Covey talks about a principle-centred approach for solving personal and professional problems. The book gives a step-by-step pathway for living with fairness, integrity, honesty and human dignity – principles that give us the security to adapt to change, and the wisdom and power to take advantage of the opportunities that change creates.

The Networked Nonprofit: Connecting with Social Media to Drive Change (Beth Kanter & Allison H Fine)

A great resource offering a set of guiding principles to help non profits make the transition from top-down thinking to a more networked, social approach, enabled by technology. There’s a foreward by Randi Zuckerberg (co founder of Facebook) suggesting the importance of this book if you work in the not for profit sector.

A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future (Dan Pink)

This book by Al Gore’s ex-chief speechwriter explores the concept of left (analytical and sequential) and right (visual and creative) brain thinking changing in the business world today. Dan argues that a lot of the stuff that used to be “left” brain (computer programming, accounting etc) can now either be automated or outsourced to cheaper economies. Dan’s idea is that right brain thinking will become the more important and useful approach bring all things together holistically and seeing the bigger picture. One to get you thinking…

Linchpin: Are You Indispendable? How to Drive Your Career and Create a Remarkable Future (Seth Godin)

What can be said about Seth Godin that hasn’t been said? The man’s a genius. In this book, he looks at why some individuals become absolutely indesensible to their organisations (or Linchpins!), and how we can strive to become like this.

He also has a brilliant blog that’s well worth following.

Enjoy! It would be great to continue this resource, so if you get value from the recommendations made it, perhaps you’d like to share some reads that you’ve found useful or inspirational?

PS: You may have noticed that some of the books here are tracked by the Amazon affiliate program. They are and any monies donated as a result of purchases from this post will all be given to charity.