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Mindfire: Big Ideas for Curious Minds [Paperback]

Scott Berkun (Author)
4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (69 customer reviews) |
List Price: $14.95
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Book Description

Publication Date: October 26, 2011
This definitive best-of collection of one of the web's best young writers is packed with provocations and entertainments, guaranteed to make you think and smile. You'll learn to find passion, think free, manage time, pay attention and more. Fast paced, inspiring and memorable, you'll find new ideas and inspirations on every page.

Essays include famous missives such as:

- How to be a free thinker
- The Cult of busy
- Why smart people defend bad ideas
- Street smarts vs. Book smarts
- Hating vs. loving
- Why the world is a mess
- How to make a difference
- How to be passionate
- The secret motivation of death
- Creative Thinking Hacks
- How to detect BS
- Why you must lead or follow

and nearly 20 more provocations that will get you motivated to create, think and enjoy your life.

Frequently Bought Together

Customers buy this book with Confessions of a Public Speaker (English and English Edition) by Scott Berkun Paperback $11.55

Mindfire: Big Ideas for Curious Minds + Confessions of a Public Speaker (English and English Edition)
Price For Both: $21.72

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  • This item: Mindfire: Big Ideas for Curious Minds by Scott Berkun Paperback

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  • Confessions of a Public Speaker (English and English Edition) by Scott Berkun Paperback

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Editorial Reviews

Review

"You are smart enough to buy books for better reasons than a famous person you don't know saying you should. And if you're not, you will be after you read this" - Scott Berkun

About the Author

Scott Berkun is the bestselling author of Making Things Happen, The Myths of Innovation and Confessions of a Public Speaker. His work has appeared on CNBC, MSNBC, NPR and in The New York Times, Forbes, The Economist, The Washington Post, Wired, and other media. His famous lectures and popular blog can be found for free online at scottberkun.com. 

Product Details

  • Paperback: 196 pages
  • Publisher: Berkun Media (October 26, 2011)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0983873100
  • ISBN-13: 978-0983873105
  • Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.4 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 9.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (69 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #31,309 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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More About the Author

› Visit Amazon's Scott Berkun Page
Scott Berkun
Scott Berkun (@berkun) is the best selling author of Making Things Happen, The Myths of Innovation and Confessions of a Public Speaker. His work has appeared in the The Washington Post, The New York Times, Wired Magazine, Fast Company, The Economist, Forbes Magazine, and other media. He has taught creative thinking at the University of Washington and has been a regular commentator on CNBC, MSNBC and National Public Radio. His many popular essays and entertaining lectures can be found for free on his blog at http://www.scottberkun.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
What's unusual about this book is the incredible directness of the author's ideas. Reading most books, you need to work to translate the author's text into your internal voice. Scott Berkun in this book manages the art of speaking directly into my brain: no need to work hard to translate what he means: it's crystal clear.

Example: the opening line of "How to Detect Bull****" is: "Everyone lies: it's just a question of how, when, and why."

That's not to say these essays don't make your brain work. The author is mostly tackling tough issues, and rips away the veneer and the nice stories we tell ourselves to rapidly get to the core of the issue. These are ideas you can use, if you're willing to go along and break your normal patterns. And, these essays are short enough that you can go back and reread them. Yes, he really did say that. Hmmm, interesting!
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Un-put-downable!! November 6, 2011
Format:Paperback
Just finished reading the free ebook (the author offered a free download from his site for a limited period). I haven't read any of his other titles, nor his blogs. But this book was so interesting that I read it in a single sitting. Many times during the book I found myself mentally agreeing with him, specifically when he talks about the role of effort in innovation, or the fact that innovation is really a combination of other innovations that preceded it, or the distinction between "work creative" and "personal creative". It also contains very useful gems such as how to offer criticism and how to take it, and many other things to improve the quality of one's life at both work and personal life. The writing is fast-paced, witty and from the heart. If you are in a field that requires innovation, this book has many useful insights that you can use right now.

Thank you, Scott Berkun, for compiling your essays into this great book, and offering it free (otherwise I would never have read it and never known what I was missing). I plan on reading your other books as well now.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is the most provocative book I've read in months. The ideas contained in the essays are persuasive and it's a fun, well focused read. Ideally, I'd like the book to be longer than 30 relatively short essays (hence 4 stars, not 5) but the quality bar is super-high and everything is well written in Scott's energetic and personal style, and a does a great job of making you take a step back and think/reflect. The essays are short enough that even if one of them isn't your thing, you're pretty quickly on to the next one.

To give examples of essays they include topics like "How to give and receive criticism", which describes how criticism isn't just about your own views and a perspective and a single correct answer, but also about thinking how different people will interpret the thing that's being criticized. Many of the essays tend to be motivational such as "The surprise inspiration of death" or "How to be passionate".

As the author discloses, the essays in this book can also be found on his blog, but either because of the editorial work that's gone into the book or because of simply reading it on my Kindle rather than a webpage I found it a much more engaging experience than hunting around on the web.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it. If you're into the writing style of Malcom Gladwell or Michael Lewis then it's a reasonable bet that you'll enjoy this, and it's sufficiently short and focused that it's a very easy book to get through.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Great book.
This one stays on the shelf as a reference. Most books don't do that. I love the recommendation on the cover.
Published 9 days ago by David E Macpherson
A quick book to refresh mind
The book is a collection of posts drawn from Scott's blog, revised and re-issued that cover a wide range of topics: leadership, inspiration, time management, creative... Read more
Published 24 days ago by Antonio De Bellis
Makes you think
Many years ago one of my best friends told me I have "a restless mind." As soon as he said this it rang true, and it's one of the greatest compliments I've ever received. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Bachbest
Provocative, insightful, and clever
Full disclosure: I got a freebie Kindle version of this book via a giveaway on the author's blog.

After reading Berkun's book on public speaking, Confessions of a Public... Read more
Published 1 month ago by George
Excellence in Essay form
It's not a terribly long book in word, but it goes for miles in thought. I enjoyed reading this book immensely, and I was constantly annoying my wife with excerpts from the book... Read more
Published 1 month ago by GTRyanA
Loves to hear himself talk
This is as bland and white bread as imaginable. As tiresome and mind-numbing as his "myths' talk. The many 5-star reviews here seem suspect. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Gilbert G. Ortale
Buy this book. Read this book. Practice what you learn and share it.
If you're familiar with Scott Berkun's work, then you know that he is skilled in writing and speaking about creativity with concise language with no fluff or jargon. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Xanthe Matychak
A gem of a book on group dynamics
Scott Berkun has done an excellent job of synthesising his ideas on culturing productive interpersonal relationships, thinking, and creativity in this little gem of a book. Read more
Published 2 months ago by David W. Wheeler
Thought Provoking and Engaging
Like I said above - this book is thought provoking and engaging. A great quick read with a lasting impact. Read more
Published 2 months ago by dontburnthegarlicdotcom
A Quick Lesson in Baloney Detection...
I find it rather curious--and telling--that the majority of this book's reviews contain five stars. Indeed, even the greatest works of literature do not have such a high... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Steve Thomas
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