influences

Influencer: The Power to Change Anything
$26.95
This book is very well documented explaining the different aspects of influencing people. The stories are from the several different studies that have been conducted to focus on effective influencing tactics. It includes stories that involve the tactics used by master influencers. Sometimes it is difficult to stay focused, but you will learn lessons that will affect different aspects of your life. Althought this book is to teach how to influence well, it also influences me to live a better life. I only wish it was easier to read.

Trust Agents: Using the Web to Build Influence, Improve Reputation, and Earn Trust
$24.95
Chris Brogan and Julien Smith's Trust Agents is a thoughtful, friendly and helpful book for anyone interested in understanding relationship building. Geared mostly for an on-line presence, the book is filled with rich examples, insight and suggestions for taking charge of your business life. If you are cubicle-bound and prefer to have someone else driving business decisions, this is probably not a book that will greatly interest you. But, if you are an entrepreneur or a small business owner trying to understand how to best utilize the internet, this well-organized book provides a game plan.

Suggesting six themes for action, Brogan and Smith, create a reasonable and rational framework. Their premise is that to become a "trust agent," a mix of strategies should be employed and hence the six themes that make up the bulk of the book:
* "Make Your Own Game" - discusses the need and value for creating a market advantage.
* "One of Us" - enumerates the value of being connected and demonstrating your interaction-ability to become accepted into new networks.
* The "Archimedes Effect" is about leverage, leverage and leverage.
* "Agent Zero" details the art and science of building networks.
* "Human Artist" - an argument for utilizing a new but important etiquette along with a solid understanding of human nature to serve all of your interactions.
* "Build Armies" - evokes the military analogy in a meaningful way to discuss reach, reputation and impact.

The book has several tips and tool recommendations to help the novice move forward. The authors' demonstrate one of their key points about being a "human artist" by using a friendly and nurturing tone throughout. By the time I finished the book, I felt like I knew these two individuals and could easily approach them and would not be re-buffed. I just might try that to see if they are good for their word!

I recommend this book for its approach to business evolution and its charge to "master tomorrow's radios" by remembering that innovation means creating a "perpetual lab" of experimentation. A good read with good ideas.

Influences: A Lexicon of Contemporary Graphic Design Practice
$50.00
Though arranged alphabetically like an encyclopedia or dictionary, this "Lexicon" is really a work to be read, not only used as a reference. For the influences on the graphic design which has come to be a major influence in postmodern culture as evidenced in advertising, web pages, and fashion, for example, are, as one comes to realize from the innumerable entries, more wide-ranging than one would conceive. The countless examples of graphic design--ones taken for granted, some surprising, and others provocative--definitely expand a reader's awareness of the design on one's environment while also educating one about its sources and features. References to magazines, individual art works (e. g., Ed Ruscha's print "1984"), fiction writers (e. g., Philip K. Dick), films, and artists from all fields from all ages, etc., convey the cultural riotousness of postmodernism and also expound graphic design which is its characteristic type of expression. Even a reference to the tennis star John McEnroe is worked in for the effects of his flamboyant, sometimes confrontational behavior on one graphic artist. The format of most of the entries is a definition or identification followed by quotes from one or more of over 150 graphic artists currently working in countries around the world. These artists are listed in the Appendix with brief biographies. Along the top of many pages, as a border, are photographs and illustrations of the times' ubiquitous graphic arts.

Influence
$35.00
I bought this book because I think the Olsens have great style, and was interested to see who they looked to for influence. This book is a collection of interviews, Polaroids, and other images from their collection. I was fascinated by the interview with Bob Colacello, who talked about his days working at Interview magazine and his interactions with Andy Warhol. Other interviews include Karl Lagerfeld, Diane von Furstenburg, and John Galliano.

I would recommend this book for someone who is looking for an introduction to the world of fashion, art's influence in the fashion world, and vice versa.