He was there at the height of the dot-com explosion, and he was there when reality hit. In his first book, Delivering Happiness, you can read about the untold story of how Tony Hsieh (pronounced “Shay)” poured his heart, soul and his early fortunes to risk it all for a start-up called Zappos.com, which back then was considered to be odd and sounded ridiculous. I mean, come on, who would have thought that people wanted to buy shoes online?

But that was then, because today Tony can proudly show that with persistence, focus and integrity, you can turn your business into a success. And that’s exactly what Tony did with Zappos.com, now a multi-billion-dollar business that was acquired by Amazon in 2009.

Delivering Happiness – a path to profits, passion and purpose goes on sale in June 2010 and tells the story behind Tony’s success starting with his early endeavours as a child selling stickers. Shortly after graduating from Harvard, he started a short-lived career at Oracle and eventually went on to apply his entrepreneurial talent to the web. Tony struck gold with one of his first ventures with his online service LinkExchange, which was eventually bought out by Microsoft for a whopping $265 million – not a bad start for a graduate still in his 20′s. Hungry for more, he starts his own venture fund which would eventually lead him to becoming CEO of the most popular online retailers.

Whilst the book covers some of Tony’s early adventures and experiments, the focus is mostly on Zappos’ early days and the lessons learned in managing a fledgling business. One of the interesting aspects of his story is despite its early and continued success, the problems that were encountered ranged from logistical issues to cash-flow and staffing complications which threatened to bring Zappos to the brink of death.

Delivering Happiness is an interesting read that colourfully describes the timeline of events that Tony has led. You can pre-order this book on Amazon today.

ReWork is the latest book by 37signals founders Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson – developers of world-renowned online project management tool Basecamp and creators of Ruby on Rails. These guys have been there and experienced the trials and tribulations of running and managing a business with its employees scattered across the globe.

Whether you find yourself in similar circumstances or not, the concepts discussed in ReWork can be applied to many scenarios that we all come across in the workplace. If you’ve read 37signals first book, ‘Getting Real’ (available in hardcopy or for free online at http://gettingreal.37signals.com/), then you will be familiar with the often blunt yet logical reasoning behind some of the most common issues that plague the workplace such as workaholism and productivity.

Although ReWork is 1/100th the size of your typical business management book, what its authors have done exceptionally well is condensed the issues that they’ve experienced first-hand which had the most impact on getting 37signals from being a group of designers to setting the gold standard in online apps such as Basecamp and Highrise.

Considering the condensed nature of ReWork, it’s entirely possible to read through the book by ploughing through each of the short chapters. Because of this approach to the formatting, I found it easy to take onboard and remember the tips that I pick up.

For some, ReWork will be a massive wake up call – scratch that – it will be a slap in the face to everything that’s ever been understood about being an entrepreneur or just work in general. For others, it provides peace of mind to those who’ve always preferred the approach taken by 37signals to business.

Prix Prictet is an internationally recognised award for the use of photography to deliver powerful messages on the the most pressing issues facing the planet. The 2009 award focused on the theme of global warming and the effects of pollution on our planet. Over 300 photographers were nominated, with 12 of the best artists shortlisted for the award.

This coffee-table sized book comes with a stunning collection of photographs with jaw-dropping visual impact. From war, to famine to natural disasters, each and every image is a stark contrast to the natural beauty of the planet we live on. Earth succeeds in reflecting on the issues that plague some of the poorest and richest nations on earth.

Foreword by Honorary President of Prix Pictet, Kofi Annan:
“This book contains a collection of stunning images from some of the world’s best and most original photographers. Together, these photographs by the artists shortlisted for the Prix Pictet highlight the beauty of the earth we share. But they also expose the damage, deliberately or carelessly, we are inflicting on our own environment.”

2009 was a year of social networking explosion with everyone from unborn babies to major corporations trying to get in on the act. In 2010, we will continue to see this trend and even more adoption of social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook becoming more mainstream.

Whilst all this happening, jobs are being created across all sectors whose roles are to define the new media strategy. I found myself in a similar situation towards the end of last year. And to help back up some of the thoughts I had and the things I was saying, I looked to Paul Chaney’s book, the Digital Handshake (ISBN: 978-0470499276).

Paul Chaney co-founded Blogging Systems which had a big impact on the real estate industry by encouraging estate agents to adopt blogging as a marketing strategy. This proved to be successful for those who listened and he’s back again with his top tips for a world that is just starting to get used to social networking.

The Digital Handshake provides insight into what a successful social media strategy looks like and gives examples of how various organisations have taken advantage, but not exploited, social networking tools to reach new audiences and convert those audiences into customers. He also gives perspective on why social networking is important, with ‘conversation’ underlying the justification.

Expect Amazon to be flooded with ‘social media experts’ all pitching their ideas and thoughts, experience or no experience, as to how social networking can work for you. Paul Chaney isn’t new to this game, his job is to know this stuff and he has extensive experience in making these online tools work for businesses. Still sceptical? Click through the Amazon link and get a preview of the first chapter for free.

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We’ve all heard them before. Those fabled design rules that have been used in everything from business to art, including: Good designers copy, great designers steal; Less Is More and Keep It Simple. These are just as appropriate for print design as they are for the web – which is what brought me to feature the latest book from Anneloes van Gallen titled, “Never Use White Type on a Black Background and 50 Other Ridiculous Design Rules”.

Find 51 design rules that are just as relevant but are just as ridiculous as the book sums up with its last rule of “Break the rules”. Whilst this book is aimed at designers, a lot of these rules can bring inspiration to your work whether it be with business or web design with each of the 51 famous and unknown sayings accompanied by an image that either supports or tears the rule apart.

Having read through the book, I have identified several examples where they apply not only to design but to other aspects of life and work, including one of my favourites, “Trust no-one. All clients are bastards. Eat more fish” and “Helvetica always works.”

If anything, this book represents an entertaining read with 51 unique and contrasting images to accompany each of the design rules. But if you want to know the secret to good design? Well, ultimately, rules in design are as ridiculous as the idea that design can follow rules.

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It’s one of the world’s most talked-about website and it’s made its founder a an overnight multi-millionaire with no sign of slowing. The Accidental Billionaires by Ben Mezrich is a book about how the creator of the world’s largest social networking website came to be.

Whilst most would presume that such a geeky venture could only have taken place in the college bedroom of a socially reclusive kid, it appears that there is much more to the story than late night programming sessions and drinking copious amounts of coffee.

Each chapter unfolds the story of how life before, during and after Facebook included sex, betrayal and money. There are a few surprise discoveries along the way.

Accidental Billionaires uncovers a unique part of history in the creation of the then titled, theFacebook.com. A social network with one purpose in mind – to meet girls. Combining elements of Zuckerberg’s previous work and the new idea of socialising online without the awkwardness and without pre-conceptions, theFacebook was an instant success on the Harvard campus and not long after, across the world.

Ben Mezrich has put together a compelling story that tells the un-boring story of Facebook. The story behind this online revolution may also be appearing on the big screen with talks of a movie being created.

Whatever you presume to know about Facebook or the Mark Zuckerberg of today, is entirely different to that of the picture painted by Ben Mezrich. One thing’s for sure though, there’s not a line of code talked about in this book, and that’s the way it should be.

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The intriguingly titled book by David Levy explores humankind’s fascination with technology and the often-seen fantasies that revolve around relationships between human and machine.

Love & Sex with Robots takes a deep dive into a not-too-distant future where physical intimacy with machines is socially accepted and can eventually develop into full-blown relationships. Levy goes as far as saying that acceptance of virtual pets and robotic pets today show that it can be possible for humans to develop strong emotions for machines.

Levy also explores the options that some people are taking today for relief of the non-human kind. Some Korean hotels now offer ‘doll experience rooms’ for as little as £15 per hour.

All of this may seem really far out and into the future, but Levy predicts that within the next five years, humans will be having sex with robots. Within 40 years, Levy believes that it will be possible to have relationships and go as far as falling in love with a robot.

It’s a difficult one to accept, but is it so hard to believe that even in the next five years, we will be seeing technological advances that we can’t even imagine today – the promise of 40 years of technological revolution certainly fits the picture.

Love & Sex with Robots is an interesting read that poses some controversial ideas. David Levy outlines the reasons why he believes this will happen in our lifetime using well researched materials and logically justifying the acceptance that one day we may find ourselves falling head over heels for a non-human.

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I’ve always been one for working hard and playing hard. It’s about balance and getting that balance right can be tough. But don’t despair, because Tim Ferriss is here to help with his book titled “The 4-Hour Workweek”.

A quick glance at the back comes with a warning. The message reads, “Do not read this book unless you want to quit your job”. And that’s where it all begins. It’s about empowering yourself to maximising the effectiveness of your income. Rather than putting in 60-hour weeks and not being able to enjoy any of the benefits, Tim Ferriss encourages you to take another look at how you spend your time and your money and how you can ‘trim the fat’.

The incredible story of Tim Ferriss is that he went from earning $40,000 per year workng 80 hours a week in a dead-end job, serving the needs and wealth of his superiors. He was able to change all that and figured out a path that led him to $40,000 per month and a work week of just four hours. Believable? It’s certainly hard to swallow, but some of the tips do make sense and have in fact helped TechCast Network boost its ad revenues over the last few months.

Tim talks about how to outsource some of the time consuming and less important tasks to virtual assistants. A virtual assistant is very much the same as hiring a real assistant. They take care of your appointments, they can take of your bills, administrative tasks, get you in touch with people or even just help you pick out gifts for birthdays. He provides some interesting insights into efficiency versus effectiveness. Is what we do the most efficient way of doing it or is it the most effective?

Another thought-provoking idea that this book introduces is the concept of mini-retirements. Doing frequent but short holidays as opposed to saving up thousands to splash out on one long holiday that comes around maybe once every couple of years.

The 4-Hour Workweek at the very least is a very interesting read. Some of the claims will feel exaggerated but it’s up to you whether you want to believe in any of it. People that I’ve run this book by have dismissed it as another get rich quick scheme. Personally, having read through the book, I’m not convinced that if I follow everything that the book says, I will get instant success and in some cases it’s not possible to do some of the things he mentions. However, if I can just take one thing away from this book that either helps me reduce my workload or earn a bit more income or just enjoy life a bit more, then I’m onboard.

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