Crowds good you crap

Sometimes, it's while doing nothing where the best ideas are created. Last week, I read a very interesting book called The Wisdom of Crowds—Why the Many are Smarter than the Few and How Collective Wisdom Shapes Business, Economies, Societies and Nations by James Surowiecki . Besides having a really long and boring title, I think it's an important book. The premise is that while conventional wisdom says that a crowd is stupid, actually, if it's properly populated, it's quite a bit smarter than any one individual.

Consistent with this thesis, our fascination with blogs is driven by the opportunity to harness the collective wisdom of the World Wide Web. Open source and Wikis are a direct example of how group participations can dramatically enhance product and accelerate development.

Other books we recently read and recommend for the beach include:

Blink: The Power of Thinking without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell. Blink is the sequel to Gladwell's enormously influential book The Tipping Point, and the gist of it is that you can often make better decisions from first impressions rather than prolonged analysis. In other words, trust your gut.

1776 by David McCullough. I think McCullough's biography on John Adams was better but the coverage and leadership exhibited by George Washington is breathtaking.

The World is Flat by Thomas Friedman. Certainly one of the best books I've read in a while—Tom Freidman is remarkable in his ability to articulate complex issues in a very simple manner. "There is no room for vanilla in a flat world…" and "Bangalore is a suburb of Boston..." are two of the more memorable quotes.

The Monk and the Riddle by Randy Komisar. Komisar who recently was brought in as a partner at Kleiner Perkins blends fact and fiction to provide a highly readable tale about following your passion. The story of how to put the "fun" back into funerals with funeral.com is a must-read—you'll die laughing.

Winning by Jack and Suzy Welch. The much better-written follow up to Straight from the Gut is a classic "do as I say, not as I do" business manifesto. Still, 29 lessons from the "Master of Business" makes it worth reading.

And after the sun goes down, I must recommend the love story of the summer—The March of the Penguins. This masterful documentary narrated by Morgan Freeman tracks the emperor penguins for one year, from going back to the places of their birth, to finding a mate, to having a baby and back again. It's truly one of the most amazing and inspirational films I've seen—ever.

What does this have to do with anything? I'm not sure. But I am bullish and ready for a very interesting fall.

[ Always On ]