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Poke the Box Hardcover – March 1, 2011

by Seth Godin (Author)

369 customer reviews

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If you're stuck at the starting line, you don't need more time or permission. You don’t need to wait for a boss’s okay or to be told to push the button; you just need to poke.

Poke the Box is a manifesto by bestselling author Seth Godin that just might make you uncomfortable. It’s a call to action about the initiative you’re taking-–in your job or in your life. Godin knows that one of our scarcest resources is the spark of initiative in most organizations (and most careers)-–the person with the guts to say, “I want to start stuff.”

Poke the Box just may be the kick in the pants you need to shake up your life.

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Product Details

Hardcover: 96 pages
Publisher: The Domino Project; 1 edition (March 1, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1936719002
ISBN-13: 978-1936719006
Product Dimensions: 7.3 x 5.3 x 0.8 inches
Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (369 customer reviews)
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #37,140 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #68 in Books > Business & Money > Skills > Time Management
- #378 in Books > Business & Money > Business Culture > Motivation & Self-Improvement
- #419 in Books > Business & Money > Management & Leadership > Motivational

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Customer Reviews

369

4.2 out of 5 stars

5 star		54%
4 star		24%
3 star		10%
2 star		7%
1 star		5%

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147 of 167 people found the following review helpful

Go Poke that Box! Go Launch that Dream! And Do it NOW!

By Fr. Charles Erlandson on March 1, 2011

Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase

Not too long ago, I read and reviewed Seth Godin's "Tribes." While it was very thought-provoking and filled with an incredible array of ideas, it was also wrong- headed in many ways, I felt.

So I ordered "Poke the Box" with some trepidation. What I've learned is to re-calibrate my expectations from Seth Godin. While I might want a well-thought-out and researched treatise proving the latest idea to me, Seth Godin overwhelms me with his passion and force. Rather than resisting and arguing with Seth (I do this especially as I read what he writes!) I decided this time to listen carefully and take away from the book what I could. Besides, for one dollar as a Kindle book, how could I go wrong! This, by the way, is part of Seth's exciting new strategy for getting books out to people through non-traditional means. "Poke the Box" is the first book being marketed by Seth using the Domino Project and its strategies. It is, in fact, the first is a series of manifestoes.

If "Poke the Box" communicates nothing else, it presents this one message with a megaphone voice: "Go!" "Start now." "The worst thing you can do is nothing." Already, I find myself arguing, since I know that just doing things without careful planning first has led to many disasters. But I keep reading because Seth is so insistent, and he has such a large tribe following him, telling me that maybe he's worth listening to.

But I think I know what Seth means: he means that you've got to be out there trying and risking failure, or you'll be irrelevant. There are too many people out there and too many tribes so that if you do nothing or are too cautious, thinking that you can control the whole process, the chances are you'll end up marginalizing yourself.Read more ›

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

I can't believe I got Godin-ed again

By Jim Tenuto VINE VOICE on June 3, 2014

Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase

You've got to hand it to Seth Godin.

He's a master of self-promotion and marketing and once again I found myself paying for his table scraps. This time it is POKE THE BOX, which essentially tells you that be successful you have to taken your idea and actually...start. This is another in his well-designed, nicely packaged little books. And I do mean little, 84 pages.

The book reads like a random collection of blogs weaved together with the slimmest of threads.

The book is three years old, but the world hasn't changed that much to forgive Godin's supercilious disparagement of factories, and especially factory workers. This is the worst kind of techie snobbery, looking down a Silicon Valley nose at working men and women. Perhaps Godin should spend time in factories and manufacturing facilities. News flash, manufacturing in the United States is making a comeback, primarily due to the complexity of the goods being produced. Modern factories are tributes to the integration of technology and good old-fashioned manpower.

Where I find myself agreeing with Godin is his indictment of the education system. Yes, it is a stifling experience designed to keep everyone coloring inside the lines. Initiative and energy in schools is often medicated out of our young students.

Fortunately this was a $1.99 Kindle purchase. No trees died and I spend more for a cup of coffee. A couple of good quotes, a great story or two--especially about an enterprising Canadian band--and that's about it.

Godin is one of a legion of business writers who offer pronouncements and advice devoid of any rigorous data or case studies. I would never run my company based on anecdotes.

I swear...my last Seth Godin "book."

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166 of 183 people found the following review helpful

Tribes: The Remix

By Guy L. Gonzalez on March 15, 2011

Format: Kindle Edition Verified Purchase

Poke the Box should have been titled Tribes: The Remix as Godin brings nothing new to the table other than a relationship with Amazon and some promotional pricing gimmicks. It's his usual mix of paper-thin insights and exhortations to be bold! to lead! to ship! -- but with notably less energy or conviction than usual, as if he wrote it in between blog posts over a rare quiet weekend.

I pre-ordered the Kindle version and read it in a total of about 2 hours, and would still rather pay full price for the hardcover version of Tribes, a far superior book that I not only devoured and raved about 2.5 years ago, but bought copies for my entire staff at the time, and still recommend to people on a regular basis.

Perhaps the most interesting idea in the book gets buried in his Stuart Smalley-esque shtick:

"One reason organizations get stuck is that they stick with their 'A' players so long that they lose their bench. In a world that's changing, a team with no bench strength and a rigid outlook on the game will always end up losing."

It's a concept worth exploring further, and one that fits perfectly under Tribes' philosophical umbrella, but in Poke it's an odd aside that gets glossed over.

One of Godin's running themes throughout Poke is to be an initiator, and that risking failure is the best road to achieving success, and by making Poke the Box the first offering from The Domino Project, he's practicing what he preaches. He initiated, he shipped, and he pretty much failed to deliver a good book.

Now the question will be whether or not "Powered by Amazon" and his marketing gimmicks have introduced him to a wider audience than Portfolio, his previous publisher, could have, and whether or not The Domino Project's bench is deep enough to give this publishing experiment real legs.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

Love it!

totally fits a gemini's personality. Love it!!!

Published 1 month ago by Mile High Livin

Insightful. Simple. Inspiring. Just what I needed

My first book from Seth Godin. I don't read books often, but once I got started, I had to finish.

Published 1 month ago by Lucas Blancas

Excellent and unconventional

I strongly recommend this book for individuals who just need to know that life has so much to offer and that by taking initiative you seize control over your future and destiny. Read more

Published 1 month ago by Ernest Hale

Great challenge!

Godin challenges his readers beyond the status quo to the promised land of innovation and creativity. You can't afford to not read this book.

Published 1 month ago by RevC2

Ready to shake things up? This is the book for you!

Seth Godin is skilled at asking the uncomfortable questions, at demolishing our excuses, at getting us to look at age-old things in a new light. Read more

Published 1 month ago by Craig T. Owens

... confidence in yourself to be an entrepreneur or a better employee,...

If you want to change the way you think about yourself and build confidence in yourself to be an entrepreneur or a better employee, this is the book to read

Published 2 months ago by robbin henry

Riveting and inspiring

This book made me realize how many more ways I can poke the box. I am officially in the tribe of starters! Thank you Seth Godin.

Published 3 months ago by Selorm Edor

Great advice on starting

I read this book a couple of years ago when I was thinking about starting my own business. I got scared and didn't venture out on my own. Read more

Published 3 months ago by Todd Versteeg

A complete waste of money

A complete waste of money. The audiobook is about as deep and profound as the three word slogan for Nike. There is not one iota of practical information contained within. Read more

Published 5 months ago by Amazon Customer

Not very inspiring at all

I'm one of the most "positive reviewers" out here...because I'm a very positive person. But this book did not impress nor inspire me much. Read more

Published 5 months ago by Andy L.