Launched on 14 November 2006 to mark World Usability Day.
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Our Reading List
Website Marketing
- Purple Cow by Seth Godin
Originally sold inside purple milk cartons, this book is the first classic by Seth you need to read. It's about being remarkable in everything you do and how the world of marketing is changing and you too need to evolve to keep up. It's absolutely cosmic.
- Free Prize Inside by Seth Godin
We got one of the first editions which came in a cereal box, with a newspaper inside. It's the book that followed Purple Cow and puts some valuable meat on those purple bones. You simply have to read this.
- The Secrets of Word-of-mouth Marketing by George Silverman
A great book about how you can make word of mouth marketing work - the difference between speaking about what your customers want to hear and what you want to tell them.
- The Cluetrain Manifesto by Rick Levine, Christopher Locke
A collection of essays about the new manifesto of business in the digital age. There's bits of everything in here.
Website Usability
- Don't Make Me Think! by Steve Krug
A fantastic book that articulates powerful website usability concepts in simple to understand chunks. Very well illustrated and recently updated.
- Designing Website Usability by Jakob Neilson
The original website usability text book that everybody should read. We don't agree with quite a few things in the book as Jakob tends to be a little sterile in his views of how websites should be.
Sustainability
- Reduce Reuse Recycle by Nicky Scott
A cheap little book that includes an essential A-Z listing of everyday household items you can recycle. It's all in there in a concise, entertaining form. In fact, we couldn't put it down when it arrived at the office.
- No Waste Like Home by Penny Poyzer
The book that accompanied the excellent TV show that saw no-nonsense Penny educating real households in the realities of being sustainable.
Miscellaneous
- FISH! by Stephen C. Lundin, Harry Paul and John Christensen
An inspirational book about how you can choose your attitude and have fun at work. It's the first thing that new team members read at SimpleUsability. It's part of a hugely popular range of books, dvds and training programmes in the USA and gaining momentum in the UK too.
- Frogs into Princes by Richard Bandler, John Grinder
If you ever wanted an insight into how Derren Brown or Paul McKenna do their thing, this is a great introduction to Neurolinguistic Programming. Nothing about computers - it's all about how your mind can be reprogrammed to do almost anything.
- Game Over by David Sheff
A fascinating account of how Nintendo evolved out a playing-card company into a business that at one point was making $1.5 million in profit per employee. It's a little out-dated now, but still a great insight into some interesting corporate practices.
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