Pails in Comparison

AI Podcasters Are “Reviewing” Pearson’s Reviews?

PIC No. 84 (updated on Jan. 15, 2025) 
• Podcast: “Deep Dive Podcasts” (AI-Generated)
• Podcasters: 2 (unnamed) AI-generated Podcasters!
• Publisher: Google’s “NotebookLM” tool
• Management Bucket #19 of 20: The Printing Bucket (aka Communications Bucket)

Welcome to this SPECIAL edition of PAILS IN COMPARISON, the value-added sidekick of John Pearson’s Buckets Blog. This blog features my “PICs”—shorter reviews of helpful books—with comparisons to other books in my 20 management buckets (core competencies) filing system. (This is Issue No. 84.)

Wait…What? AI Podcasters Are “Reviewing” Pearson’s Reviews?

You read that right! After reading a fascinating article in the Wall Street Journal (see below), I dipped my toe into Google’s new “podcaster maker” (my term). But I’m not the podcaster. Click on any of the podcast links below and you’ll meet two “chatty” podcasters generated by AI. Honest! It will, as they say, “blow your mind!”

If you’re happy and content reading my reviews—thank you. But if you want to move from 1950 to 2050 (watch for my review on that), then click on any "AI podcast" below, created by Google's NotebookLM. After I cut and pasted my reviews into the software, each podcast popped out in just about four minutes! (How’d they do that?)

Reminder: Google says this is still experimental. Some of the added content, by AI, may not be accurate. Enjoy!

PODCAST #1 on “4 Leadership Books and 48 Niche Chapters,” including the new book, The Journey of Leadership: How CEOs Learn to Lead from the Inside Out.
   • Read John Pearson’s reviews (4 books)
   • Listen to this AI-generated podcast by two “AI” hosts who “review” John’s review (12 minutes, 37 seconds). 

PODCAST #2 on the book, Everyday Influence, by Bill Butterworth.
   • Read John Pearson’s review.
   • Listen to this AI-generated podcast by two “AI” hosts who “review” John’s review (6 minutes, 59 seconds). 

PODCAST #3 on the book, The 365 Day Leader: Recalibrate Your Calling Every Day, by Dick Daniels.
   • Read John Pearson’s review.
   • Listen to this AI-generated podcast by two “AI” hosts who “review” John’s review (7 minutes, 28 seconds). 

PODCAST #4 on the book, Mindshift: Transform Leadership, Drive Innovation, and Reshape the Future, by Brian Solis.
• Read John Pearson’s review.
• Listen to this AI-generated podcast by two “AI” hosts who “review” John’s review (10 minutes, 31 seconds). 

PODCAST #5 on the book, Oh God, I’m Dying! How God Redeems Pain for Our Good and for His Glory, by Terry Powell and Mark Smith.*
• Read John Pearson’s review.
• Listen to this AI-generated podcast by two “AI” hosts who “review” John’s review (13 minutes, 55 seconds). 

PODCAST #6 on the book, Faith for the Curious: How an Era of Spiritual Openness Shapes the Way We Live and Help Others Follow Jesus, by Mark Matlock.*
   • Read John Pearson’s review.
   • Listen to this AI-generated podcast by two “AI” hosts who “review” John’s review (12 minutes, 26 seconds). 

*Note: I wondered if the AI podcasters for Podcasts #5 and #6 could thoughtfully and authentically communicate the heart (and theology) of these two faith-based books. I think the jury is still out on that—but maybe faith-based leaders and authors will be more laser-like in “teaching” AI how to accurately have “conversations” about Jesus-followers. Maybe?

PODCAST #7 on the book, A Comedian’s Prayer Book, by Frank Skinner, plus 2 More LOL Books!
   • Read John Pearson’s review.
   • Listen to this AI-generated podcast by two “AI” hosts who “review” John’s review (7 minutes, 4 seconds). 

PODCAST #8 on the song, "Little Is Much When God Is in It," by Kittie Suffield, as shared by John's next-door neighbor, Pastor "Mac" McCandless.
   • Read John Pearson’s review (and "the rest of the story" not shared to the podcast)
   • Listen to this AI-generated podcast by two “AI” hosts who “review” John’s review (5 minutes, 57 seconds). 

PODCAST #9 on the book, Next Level Nonprofit: Build A Dream Team + Increase Lasting Impact, by Chris Lambert.
   • Read John Pearson’s review.
   • Listen to this AI-generated podcast by two “AI” hosts who “review” John’s review (5 minutes, 57 seconds). 

PODCAST #10 on the book, Be the Unicorn: 12 Data-Driven Habits that Separate the Best Leaders from the Rest, by William Vanderbloemen.   
   • Read John Pearson’s review.
   • Listen to this AI-generated podcast by two “AI” hosts who “review” John’s review (14 minutes, 6 seconds). 

PODCAST #11 on the book, Lead with Prayer: The Spiritual Habits of World-Changing Leaders, by Ryan Skoog, Peter Greer, and Cameron Doolittle.
   • Read John Pearson’s review.
   • Listen to this AI-generated podcast by two “AI” hosts who “review” John’s review (9 minutes, 53 seconds). 

PODCAST #12 on the book, Becoming a Future-Ready Church: 8 Shifts to Encourage and Empower the Next Generation of Leaders, by Daniel Yang, Adelle M. Banks, and Warren Bird.
   • Read John Pearson’s review.
   • Listen to this AI-generated podcast by two “AI” hosts who “review” John’s review (12 minutes, 31 seconds).

PODCAST #13 on the book, ChatGPT and the Future of AI: The Deep Language Revolution, by Terrence J. Sejnowski.
   • Read John Pearson’s review.
   • Listen to this AI-generated podcast by two “AI” hosts who “review” John’s review (21 minutes, 53 seconds).

PODCAST #14 on the "Leadership Lessons" from AI, on the book, The Spy and the Traitor: The Greatest Espionage Story of the Cold War, by Ben Macintyre.
   • Read John Pearson’s blog--asking ChatGPT to create 10 leadership lessons from the book.
   • Listen to this AI-generated podcast by two “AI” hosts who “review” John’s review (16 minutes, 36 seconds). Note: the last four minutes are a summary of the first 12 minutes.

PODCAST #15 on the book, Paradise Found: A High School Football Team's Rise from the Ashes, by Bill Plaschke.
   • Read John Pearson’s blog.
   • Listen to this AI-generated podcast by two “AI” hosts who “review” John’s review (17 minutes, 34 seconds). 

READ MORE ABOUT GOOGLE’S NotebookLM. Warning! This new AI tool is addictive. For more, read Ben Cohen’s Wall Street Journal article, Oct. 4, 2024, “There’s a New Hit Podcast That Will Blow Your Mind. With this Google tool, you can make a show about any topic you could possibly imagine. The hosts aren’t human. You won’t believe your ears.” Ben Cohen writes:
     “Have you heard about the latest hit podcast? It’s called Deep Dive—and you have to check it out.

     “Each show is a chatty, 10-minute conversation about, well, any topic you could possibly imagine. The hosts are just geniuses. It’s like they know everything about everything. Their voices are soothing. Their banter is charming. They sound like the kind of people you want to hang out with.

     “But you can’t. As it turns out, these podcast hosts aren’t real people. Their voices are entirely AI-generated—and so is everything they say.” Cohen adds, “And I can’t stop listening to them.” (Ditto!)

RETURN HERE OFTEN…for more podcasts as our new “Deep Dive” AI-generated podcasters (John’s new best friends!) review his reviews of new books and some of the golden oldies!

PAILS IN COMPARISON: Listening to these podcasts reminded me of several other must-read books in the Printing Bucket and the Strategy Bucket, plus other buckets/core competencies.

[  ] Restoring Our Sanity Online: A Revolutionary Social Framework, by Mark Weinstein (Read my review.)

[  ] Mastering AI: A Survival Guide to Our Superpowered Future, by Jeremy Kahn (Read my review.)

[  ] Rewired: The McKinsey Guide to Outcompeting in the Age of Digital and AI, by Eric Lamarre, Kate Smaje, and Rodney Zemmel (Listen to the “Zoom Review” by John Reynolds, David Schmidt, and John Pearson—and read the review by Reynolds.)

[  ] Future Normal: How We Will Live, Work and Thrive in the Next Decade, by Rohit Bhargava and Henry Coutinho-Mason (Read my review.)

[  ] WSJ Article: “There’s a New Hit Podcast That Will Blow Your Mind. With this Google tool, you can make a show about any topic you could possibly imagine. The hosts aren’t human. You won’t believe your ears.” Read Ben Cohen’s Wall Street Journal article, posted Oct. 4, 2024.
 
For more reviews, visit John Pearson’s Buckets Blog and subscribe to Your Weekly Staff Meeting. 

© 2025. John Pearson Associates. All rights reserved.
Pails in Comparison is posted every once in a while. We do not accept any form of compensation from authors or publishers for book reviews. As an Amazon Associate, we earn Amazon gift cards from qualifying purchases. As a Libro.fm Affiliate, we earn credits. By subscribing to Your Weekly Staff Meeting, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing. Learn more about Typepad.com’s privacy policy here.

Phillips' Book of Great Thoughts and Funny Sayings

PIC No. 70: 
• Title: Phillips' Book of Great Thoughts and Funny Sayings: A Stupendous Collection of Quotes, Quips, Witticisms, Ponderings, and Humorous Comments
• Author: Bob Phillips
• Publisher: Tyndale Momentum (May 7, 2024, 352 pages)
• Management Bucket #19 of 20: The Printing Bucket (aka Communications Bucket)
 


Welcome to Issue No. 70 of PAILS IN COMPARISON, the value-added sidekick of John Pearson’s Buckets Blog. This blog features my “PICs”—shorter reviews of helpful books—with comparisons to other books in my 20 management buckets (core competencies) filing system.

3,800 Quotes, Quips, and Witticisms!

Last month, I wrote a short review of a book with 3,000 quotations: Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers, compiled by Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert. At the time, I had no idea that Bob Phillips, author of more than 130 books (not a typo!), would publish his latest book today:

Phillips' Book of Great Thoughts and Funny Sayings: 

A Stupendous Collection of Quotes, Quips, Witticisms,
Ponderings, and Humorous Comments

 

Not to be outdone by Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert (1834-1909), Phillips’ book has more than 3,800 entries. And get this—earlier editions have sold more than 350,000 copies (not a typo!). I love this book and it’s everything you’d want in a collection of quotations, quips, and more. 

 

You’ll recognize many of the contributors: Ben Franklin, Winston Churchill, Mother Teresa, Williams James, G.K. Chesterton, and familiar (and unfamiliar) Bible verses. So I took the book for a test run—looking for entries that would align with my 20 management buckets. Eureka!

 

#1. RESULTS BUCKET. “Well done is better than well said.” (Benjamin Franklin)

 

#2. CUSTOMER BUCKET. “A man without a smiling face must not open a shop.” (Chinese proverb)

 

#3. STRATEGY BUCKET.
  • “Act quickly, think slowly.” (Greek proverb)
  • “The farther backward you can look, the farther forward you are likely to see.” (Winston Churchill)

 

#4. DRUCKER BUCKET. “A good manager is a man who isn’t worried about his own career but rather the careers of those who work for him.” (Henry S.M. Burns)

 

#5. BOOK BUCKET

   • “You are the same today as you will be five years from now except for two things . . . the people you meet and the books you read. (Charles E. Jones)

   • “Nobody who can read is ever successful at cleaning out the attic.”

 

#6. PROGRAM BUCKET. “When people don’t want to come, nothing will stop them.” (Sol Hurok)

 

#7. PEOPLE BUCKET. “It is easy to see through people who make spectacles of themselves.”

 

#8. CULTURE BUCKET. “Men are not only bad from good motives, but also often good from  bad motives.” (G.K. Chesterton)

 

#9. TEAM BUCKET. “No member of a crew is praised for the rugged individuality of his rowing.” (Ralph Waldo Emerson)

 

#10. HOOPLA! BUCKET. “I now perceive one immense omission in my Psychology—the deepest principle of Human Nature is the craving to be appreciated.” (William James)

 

#11. DONOR BUCKET

   • “Give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven.” (Matthew 19:21)

   • “He gives double who gives unasked.” (Arabian proverb)

 

#12. VOLUNTEER BUCKET. “He profits most who serves best.” (Arthur F. Sheldon)

 

#13. CRISIS BUCKET. “Great occasions do not make heroes or cowards; they simply unveil them to the eyes of men. Silently and imperceptibly, as we wake or sleep, we grow strong or weak; and at last some crisis shows what we have become.” (Brooke Foss Westcott)

 

#14. BOARD BUCKET. “If you want to kill any idea in the world today, get a committee working on it.” (Charles F. Kettering)

 

#15. BUDGET BUCKET. “A study of economics usually reveals that the best time to buy anything is last year.” (Marty Allen)

 

#16. DELEGATION BUCKET. “If a soldier or a labourer complains of the hardship of his lot, set him to do nothing.” (Blaise Pascal)

 

#17. OPERATIONS BUCKET

   • “Things could be worse. Suppose your errors were counted and published every day, like those of a baseball player.” (Anonymous)

   • “A ship, to run a straight course, can have but one pilot and one steering wheel. The same applies to the successful operation of a business. There cannot be a steering wheel at every seat in an organization.” (Jules Ormont)

 

#18. SYSTEMS BUCKET. “Don’t ever promote a [person] who hasn’t made some big mistakes—you’ll be promoting [someone] who hasn’t done much.” (Herbert H. Dow)

 

#19. PRINTING BUCKET. “Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted, and the trouble is, I don’t know which half.” (John Wanamaker)

 

#20. MEETINGS BUCKET. “When you talk, you repeat what you already know; when you listen, you often learn something.” (Jaren Sparks)

 

You need this book so you’ll have immediate access to some of the best quotes, quips, witticisms, ponderings, and humorous comments! Unless you’re from the George Bernard Shaw school of quotations, who said, “I often quote myself. It adds spice to my conversation.”

PAILS IN COMPARISON: Reading this book reminded me of several other must-read books in the Printing Bucket (aka Communications Bucket), plus other buckets/core competencies. 

[  ] Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers, Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert. (Read my review.)

[  ] The Manager's Book of Quotations, by Lewis D. Eigen and Jonathan P. Siegel. (Order from Amazon.)
“The factory of the future will have only two employees, a man and a dog. The man will be there to feed the dog. The dog will be there to keep the man from touching the equipment.” (Warren G. Bennis)

Check out other books written by Bob Phillips:

[  ] Attitude Is a Choice―So Pick a Good One: Practical Steps to a Positive Outlook (read my review).

[  ] 101 Leadership Insights: Practical Tools, Tips, and Techniques for New and Seasoned Leaders (read my review).

[  ] Overcoming Conflict: How to Deal with Difficult People and Situations (read my review).

[  ] And a very helpful book on the four social styles: How to Deal With Annoying People: What to Do When You Can’t Avoid Them (read my review).

To order from Amazon, click on the title for Phillips' Book of Great Thoughts and Funny Sayings: A Stupendous Collection of Quotes, Quips, Witticisms, Ponderings, and Humorous Comments, by Bob Phillips. For more reviews, visit John Pearson’s Buckets Blog and subscribe to Your Weekly Staff Meeting. (And thanks to the author for sending me a review copy.)

© 2024. John Pearson Associates. All rights reserved.
Pails in Comparison is posted every once in a while. We do not accept any form of compensation from authors or publishers for book reviews. As an Amazon Associate, we earn Amazon gift cards from qualifying purchases. As a Libro.fm Affiliate, we earn credits. By subscribing to Your Weekly Staff Meeting, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing. Learn more about Typepad.com’s privacy policy here.

Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers

PIC No. 69: 
• Title: Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers
• Author: Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert
• Publisher: Wentworth Press (Feb. 27, 2019)
• Management Bucket #19 of 20: The Printing Bucket (aka Communications Bucket)
 


Welcome to Issue No. 69 of PAILS IN COMPARISON, the value-added sidekick of John Pearson’s Buckets Blog. This blog features my “PICs”—shorter reviews of helpful books—with comparisons to other books in my 20 management buckets (core competencies) filing system.

Quotes for the Senate, the Bar, and the Pulpit!

Back in 2020, I was searching high and low for an appropriate retirement gift for a friend when I stumbled across this gem by Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert (1834-1909).

Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers has several subtitles, depending on which edition you find. The title page of my book reads, “A Cyclopaedia of Quotations from the Literature of All Ages—Designed for Use of the Senate, the Bar, the Pulpit, and the Orator.” Another publisher titled it, “Three Thousand Selected Quotations From Brilliant Writers.”

Whatever you title it (the book is now in the public domain)—it makes a great gift and a fascinating book for your coffee table at home or office.

My friend was a brilliant writer—and his burning words ignited numerous blazes in meeting rooms and boardrooms. Since he was retiring, I wondered if any brilliant writers had said anything brilliant about retirement?

The book was originally published in 1895 (I have a “replica” edition), and is organized alphabetically with A-to-Z quotes over 688 pages! Certainly, there would be a treasure trove on retirement, right? But, alas, I found nothing in the “R” section on Retirement. However, appropriately sandwiched between Procrastination/Profanity and Sabbath, the “R” section topics were both abundant and convicting:
   • Reason, Redemption, Regeneration
   • Religion, Repentance, Reputation
   • Resignation, Rest, Resurrection
   • Revenge, Revival, Riches

Filed under “Rest,” I found this by Rev. George Whitfield (1714-1770):

“Lord Jesus, I am weary in Thy work,
but not of it.
If I have not yet finished my course,
let me go and speak for Thee once more in the field,
seal Thy truth, and come home to die.”

I also found this on “Mistakes” (my favorite subject since 2021!), by Rev. F.W. Robertson (1816-1853):

“Life, like war, is a series of mistakes;
and he is not the best Christian nor the best general who makes the fewest false steps. Poor mediocrity may secure that; but he is the best who wins the most splendid victories by the retrieval of mistakes. Forget mistakes; organize victory out of mistakes.”

You’ll enjoy this amazing collection of “burning words of brilliant writers.” Check out several other quotable-quote books (below) that I’ve leveraged to populate my pontifications!

PAILS IN COMPARISON: Reading this book reminded me of several other must-read books in the Printing Bucket (aka Communications Bucket), plus other buckets/core competencies. 

[  ] The Manager's Book of Quotations, by Lewis D. Eigen and Jonathan P. Siegel. (Order from Amazon.)
     “The factory of the future will have only two employees, a man and a dog. The man will be there to feed the dog. The dog will be there to keep the man from touching the equipment.” (Warren G. Bennis)

[  ] Leadership: A Treasury of Great Quotations for Those Who Aspire to Lead, compiled by William Safire and Leonard Safir. (Order from Amazon.)
     “If you don’t know what to do with many of the papers piled on your desk, stick a dozen colleagues’ initials on ‘em, and pass them along. When in doubt, route.” (Malcom Forbes)

[  ] The Best of Success: A Treasury of Inspiration, by Mac Anderson and Bob Kelly. (Read my review.)
     “People have a way of becoming what you encourage them to be—not what you nag them to be,” says Scudder N. Parker. Ella Wheeler Wilcox says it memorably with this: “A pat on the back is only a few vertebrae removed from a kick in the pants, but is miles ahead in results.”

[  ] Books Are Tremendous: What They Represent to Some of Those Who Have Written, Read and Loved Them (Life-Changing Classics), by Charlie “Tremendous” Jones (Read my review.)
     “Never lend books, for no one ever returns them; the only books I have in my library are books that other folk have lent me.” (Anatole France)

To order from Amazon, click on the title for Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers, by Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert. For more reviews, visit John Pearson’s Buckets Blog and subscribe to Your Weekly Staff Meeting. 

© 2024. John Pearson Associates. All rights reserved.
Pails in Comparison is posted every once in a while. We do not accept any form of compensation from authors or publishers for book reviews. As an Amazon Associate, we earn Amazon gift cards from qualifying purchases. As a Libro.fm Affiliate, we earn credits. By subscribing to Your Weekly Staff Meeting, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing. Learn more about Typepad.com’s privacy policy here.

An Admirable Point: A Brief History of the Exclamation Mark!

PIC No. 41: 
• Title: An Admirable Point: A Brief History of the Exclamation Mark!
• Author: Florence Hazrat
• Publisher: GODINE (March 28, 2023, 176 pages)
• Management Bucket #19 of 20: The Printing Bucket (aka The Communication Bucket)
 


Welcome to Issue No. 41 of PAILS IN COMPARISON, the value-added sidekick of John Pearson’s Buckets Blog. This blog features my “PICs”—shorter reviews of helpful books—with comparisons to other books in my 20 management buckets (core competencies) filing system.

Stop Laughing at Your Own Jokes!!!!!

First, let’s get one thing straight. Florence Hazrat’s short book on the exclamation point (I mean, the exclamation “mark”—as it’s known in the UK) is so well written that I hesitated. Full stop. (That’s another UK oddity to my American ears.) Dare I write a review and expose my feeble, sophomoric vocabulary—coupled with the likely inappropriate sequencing of the King’s English?

Second, I pray this review won’t deter you from reading this exquisite book, An Admirable Point: A Brief History of the Exclamation Mark! I can think of dozens of friends and colleagues who will devour this history book.

Wait a minute! It’s not really a history book! It’s more like an everything bagel (or scone?) with your favorite Starbucks drink, enjoyed with amiable friends—who are ready to stop whatever they’re doing while you read paragraph after paragraph after paragraph to them, with feeling, including all appropriate verbal exclamation points and marks!

If you loved Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation, by Lynne Truss, you’ll champion this book. (By the way, Truss dedicates Eats, Shoots & Leaves “to the memory of the striking Bolshevik printers of St. Petersburg who, in 1905, demanded to be paid the same rate for punctuation marks as for letters, and thereby directly precipitated the first Russian Revolution.”)

You gotta read this! The history journey in An Admirable Point is fascinating—but there’s more. Did you know that it was not until the middle of the 18th century when ! became an accepted member of the punctuation family? And it took a while before all the foundries across Europe would sell the ! to printers? Did you know the first typewriter in 1867 did not include an exclamation point?

“In fact, a dedicated ! typewriter key continued to be so rare that the 1973 Secretary’s Manual still explained how to create one by performing the dot-apostrophe manoeuvre.”

Writers of books, articles, essays, reports, websites, emails, texts, and Amazon reviews—will all appreciate the therapeutic comfort from reading An Admirable Point. I’ve been jabbed frequently for my injudicious use of the exclamation point. The author piles on with her laundry lists from the naysayers who describe our types with such venom. Forget the sticks and stones—these killing words (!!!) actually do hurt some of us. When we use !, we’ve been labeled:
   • “excitable, screechy, and frenetic”
   • “the sure sign of a diseased mind”
   • “too noisy, too attention-grabbing, too powerful, too present.”
   • “the selfie of grammar”
   • And if we use five exclamation points in a row? That’s “a sign of someone wearing his underpants on his head.”

And there’s this:
   • “F. Scott Fitzgerald declared that exclamation marks are like laughing at your own jokes.”
   • Creative writing adviser Noah Lukeman writes that perhaps “the bright green dress” or “the flaming pink scarf” may require an !, on occasion, but only “…every five years, when it is needed, until then, like those clothes, it is best left in the closet.”

Exclamation points have torpedoed their way into pop culture:
• LL Cool J raps punctuation rules on the children’s TV show, The Electric Company. (View here!)
• The lack of an exclamation point prompts Elaine’s breakup with then-boyfriend Jake on Seinfeld. (View here!)
• Classical pianist/comedian Victor Borge delights with a LOL five-minute tutorial on “Phonetic Punctuation.” The ! finally gets it due! (View here!)

The exclamation point has been called “the prince of punctuation.” According to the author, women tend to use ! more than men. I’m guessing, however, that if you compared the four social styles (Analyticals, Drivers, Amiables, and Expressives), both genders in the Expressive category use far more !!! than the rest of us.

This pointy trip through the lands of literature, poetry, art, politics, religion and more—reveals fascinating side trips through the eyes of punctuation. Example: How many exclamation points were in the original languages of the Bible? (Google it!)

The chapter on politics was my favorite side show. I now have permission to critique any and all political campaign fonts and punctuation! Read more on the “Jeb!” logo from Jeb Bush’s campaign. Why did the Obama re-election team tussle over “Forward” vs. “Forward.” with a full stop? Fascinating! And the ubiquitous “KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON” signs—those Ministry of Information’s posters for wartime Britain? “A bit of a flop at the time.”

Spoiler Alert!!! Florence Hazrat’s head-turning phrases are frosting (or icing) on the cake. Enjoy a cuppa and drink deeply from her creativity. Describing one of many attempts at early and late innovations in punctuation, the author describes one unique proposal: “a sort of full stop with a comma or apostrophe hovering to its right. A cheeky little textual earring dangling from the top of the line.”

On today’s emojis: “…it’s hard to imagine the likes of Luther or Erasmus sending prayerhands. Instead, writers harnessed punctuation to capture and evoke emotion, well aware that the naked content of words without the dress of feelings would have a hard time convincing anyone.”

You will love this wonderful book!!!!! (Yikes! I may have exceeded my allotment of exclamation marks—and now I’m absolutely knackered.) Note: No surprise for a book on !!!, you will find a few adult words on a few pages. (Full stop.)

PAILS IN COMPARISON: Reading this book reminded me of several other must-read books in the Printing Bucket (aka the Communications Bucket), plus other buckets/core competencies. 

[  ] Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation, by Lynne Truss. (Order from Amazon. This book is referenced in the Printing Bucket in Mastering the Management Buckets.)

[  ] Keys to Great Writing, by Stephen Wilbers (Read my review.)

[  ] 15 Minutes Including Q&A: A Plan to Save the World From Lousy Presentations, by Joey Asher (Read my review.)

[  ] Doesn't Hurt to Ask: Using the Power of Questions to Communicate, Connect, and Persuade, by Trey Gowdy (2020 Book-of-the-Year! Read my review.)

To order from Amazon, click on the title for An Admirable Point: A Brief History of the Exclamation Mark!, by Florence Hazrat. And thanks to the publisher for sending me a review copy. For more book reviews, visit John Pearson’s Buckets Blog and subscribe to Your Weekly Staff Meeting. 

© 2023 John Pearson Associates. All rights reserved.
Pails in Comparison is posted every once in a while. We do not accept any form of compensation from authors or publishers for book reviews. As an Amazon Associate, we earn Amazon gift cards from qualifying purchases. As a Libro.fm Affiliate, we earn credits. By subscribing to Your Weekly Staff Meeting, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing. Learn more about Typepad.com’s privacy policy here.

How to Work a Room (25th Anniv. Ed.): The Ultimate Guide to Making Lasting Connections—in Person and Online

PIC No. 15: 
• Title: How to Work a Room (25th Anniv. Ed.): The Ultimate Guide to Making Lasting Connections—in Person and Online
• Author: Susan RoAne
• Publisher: William Morrow (Dec. 31, 2013, 400 pages)
• Management Bucket #19 of 20: The Printing Bucket (aka The Communication Bucket)



 Welcome to Issue No. 15 of PAILS IN COMPARISON, the value-added sidekick of John Pearson’s Buckets Blog. This blog features my “PICs”—short reviews of helpful books—with comparisons to other books in my 20 management buckets (core competencies) filing system."

Hello! My name is…

Wow! How did I miss this stunningly practical book? While I was dithering and missing important connections (in person and online), more than a million others bought this book and have learned How to Work a Room!

As Guy Kawasaki recommends:
• “Buy this book if you want to be a savvy socializer.
• Buy a second one for a shy friend.
• Buy a third one as an e-book, so you’re never without it.”

In my early years as CEO of a national association, I began collecting name badges from every event I attended. I soon realized five years into my 25+ years of meetings (with three associations) that this hobby would overwhelm my office! (I stopped!) So—get this! Author Susan Roane has a fascinating section in her book on “Name Tags That Pull.” (Have you ever thought strategically about your name tag?) Example:

A colleague told the author “…that when he put the designation ‘Financial Planner’ on his name tag at a business mixer, no one looked twice. But when he wrote ‘Money’ beneath his name, he was approached by many interesting people who wanted to know what he did.” (Others have also used humor—like the guy who wrote “Name Tag” on his name tag!) Oh…and did you know that you should “Always, always place the name tag on your right-hand side.” (Read why on page 149.)

The updated 2013 edition of How to Work a Room is subtitled “The Ultimate Guide to Making Lasting Connections—in Person and Online” and includes new chapters on “How to Work the Virtual Room” and “The Social Media Mélange” with cyber savvy insights on hashtags, live chats, texting, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and more.

The practical tricks and tactics ooze out—and with 400 pages—start with the 11-page table of contents (why doesn’t every author provide this level of detail at the front end?). Oh, my. What to read first?
   • Five roadblocks and five remedies when working a room
   • Prepare Your Small Talk
   • Name Tags That Pull
   • Great Opening Lines
   • Five Fundamental Laws of Casual Conversation
   • Fatal Flaws of Casual Conversation
   • The Ten Commandments of Connecting
   • Working the World: Trains and Boats and Planes
   • Plus: check out the author’s recommended reading and listening list

Bonus Chuckles! The author has fun with the book and includes some very funny cartoons and comic strips, including the precocious five-year-old girl in her party dress at an adult mixer. Her comment to a gentlemen she’s speaking to, “I’d love to chat longer, but I’m working the room.” LOL!

PAILS IN COMPARISON: Reading this book reminded me of several other must-read books in the Printing Bucket (aka The Communications Bucket), plus other buckets/core competencies:

• The Unspoken Rules: Secrets to Starting Your Career Off Right, by Gorick Ng - (Read my review.)

• Public Speaking Laws of Success: For Everyone and Every Occasion, by Richard J. Goossen. See the section, “Introducing Yourself.” Goossen writes, “When asked to ‘Please introduce yourself and share something interesting about yourself,’—most people are not ready, and they’re boring. Be prepared and ‘treat it like a mini-speech.’” (Read my review.)

• Social Style: The Ah Ha's of Effective Relationships, by Gerald L. Prince and John R. Myers (Read my review.) – Note: This review also features other books on the four social styles. Each style tends to “work a room differently” based on their comfort zone. What’s your style: Analytical, Driving, Amiable, or Expressive?

To order from Amazon, click on the title for How to Work a Room, 25th Anniversary Edition: The Ultimate Guide to Making Lasting Connections—in Person and Online, by Susan RoAne. Listen on Libro.fm (8 hours, 3 minutes). For more book reviews, visit John Pearson’s Buckets Blog and subscribe to Your Weekly Staff Meeting. (And thanks to Jim Canning for sending me this wonderful book!)

© 2022 John Pearson Associates, Inc. All rights reserved.
Pails in Comparison is posted every once in a while. We do not accept any form of compensation from authors or publishers for book reviews. As an Amazon Associate, we earn Amazon gift cards from qualifying purchases. As a Libro.fm Affiliate, we earn credits. By subscribing to Your Weekly Staff Meeting, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing. Learn more about Typepad.com’s privacy policy here.