Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable by Seth Godin

The world has changed. There are far more choices, but there is less and less time to sort them out.” pg 13

Seth Godin, prolific author of business blogs and books, shares his insights about why a product must be remarkable to cut through the noise and get an audience’s attention. He opines that this remarkable “Purple Cow” quality is the only way a business can succeed in the modern world, as the old methods of mass marketing through expensive television ads is going the way of the dodo.

“Something remarkable is worth talking about. Worth noticing. Exceptional. New. Interesting. It’s a Purple Cow. Boring stuff is invisible. It’s a brown cow.” pg 3

The trouble with this remarkable stuff is that there is no clear method to create it. It is a “I’ll-know-it-when-I-see-it” type situation. For businesses looking to up their Purple Cow-factor, there are very few directions in this book, other than, it’s important to be a purple cow. I could see that unclear quality being frustrating for some readers.

“The old rule was this: Create safe, ordinary products and combine them with great marketing. The new rule is: Create remarkable products that the right people seek out.” pg 21

The “right people” being the influencers or the early adoptors of whatever type of product it is that you’re selling. Marketing to the niche, rather than mass marketing to the crowd, is, according to Godin, the best strategy for the new world of marketing.

Take Goodreads, for example. Publishers want to get their advance reader copies into the hands of those who talk to their friends about what they’re reading and are passionate about books, the readers who exhibit “otaku”. Godin defines “otaku”: “Otaku describes something that’s more than a hobby but a little less than an obsession.” pg 94

The obsessed, passionate readers talk about what they’re reading to the extent that they start an “ideavirus”, which Godin talks about in another book. In this way, Godin says, you build momentum for whatever remarkable product you’re selling. They can’t help but talk about it because of its fascinating qualities. As this movement builds, the books end up on readers’ favorite shelves, eventually becomes a Reader’s Choice pick, and then the book sells itself.

The products that aim for the largest audience are bland and have had their remarkable edges filed off. And, that’s bad, according to Godin.

“The system is pretty simple: Go for the edges. Challenge yourself and your team to describe what those edges are (not that you’d actually go there), and then test which edge is most likely to deliver the marketing and financial results you seek.” pg 101

Photo by Christina Morillo on Pexels.com

There are definitely dated portions of this book and, as I said, it is nebulous. To get meaning out of it, readers need to distill the underlying ideas and apply them to your unique business. But, I still learned things.

The reason I read Godin is he encourages readers to think differently. He gets my creative circuits firing. I like that.

Recommended for readers who may need a creative jump-start for whatever remarkable product they’re creating. This book isn’t a road map, but it could be a compass.

Thanks for reading!

Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden

An engrossing historical fiction novel about a girl with extraordinary eyes named Chiyo and how she became a celebrated geisha named Sayuri. The path of her life was not always easy, but like water flowing over bumpy rocks, she braves the rapids and, eventually, reaches the ocean of her dreams.

“But the truth is the afternoon when I met Mr. Tanaka Ichiro really was the best and the worst of my life. He seemed so fascinating to me, even the fish smell on his hands was a kind of perfume. If I had never known him, I’m sure I would not have become a geisha.” pg 13, ebook

It is a coming-of-age story but also a romance. Some have compared this book to the fairy tale of Cinderella. I see the comparison, but feel as if this historical fiction is better than Cinderella. Unlike the made-up fairy tale, the land and closed world of the geisha actually existed.

“After a block or two I worked up my courage and said to Mr. Bekku, “Won’t you please tell us where we’re going?” He didn’t look as if he would reply, but after a moment he said, “To your new home.” pg 41, ebook.

To be a geisha was to excel at the arts. It was to demonstrate excellence in dance, music and the art of conversation. It was a way of being, and dressing. As a geisha, Sayuri transports the men she is with to another world, the world of “Flowers and Willows”.

I did some research into the history of the geisha and what I found was fascinating. From what I read, the history portrayed in Memoirs of a Geisha was rather close to the truth, minus the made-up characters.

“Because, you see, when a geisha wakes up in the morning she is just like any other woman. … Only when she sits before her mirror to apply her makeup with care does she become a geisha. And I don’t mean that this is when she begins to look like one. This is when she begins to think like one too.” pg 67, ebook

The whole culture seems so exotic to me. This book is truly an escape into a different world. I, of course, adored the main character, Sayuri.

Years ago, I saw the film version of this book and remember enjoying it very much. Fortunately, I forgot most of it except for one critical moment towards the end. That, however, didn’t ruin my enjoyment of the book. It is better, much better.

There’s more character development, more battles with Hatsumomo, more to the conclusion. Sayuri’s life completes a circle in the written version of the story — I seem to remember that the story felt a bit stunted in the film. I think I’ll watch it again to see if I’m remembering it right.

“We lead our lives like water flowing down a hill, going more or less in one direction until we splash into something that forces us to find a new course. If I’d never met Mr. Tanaka, my life would have been a simple stream flowing from our tipsy house to the ocean.” pg 112, ebook

There’s also the development of the theme of water. The characters in the story attribute Sayuri’s startling blue eyes to an abundance of water in her soul. Throughout the book, she’s alluding to water — how it flows, bends and can wear down rocks. You really begin to view her life through this lens of watery inevitability.

“Here you are… a beautiful girl with nothing on earth to be ashamed of,” he said. “And yet you’re afraid to look at me. Someone has been cruel to you.. or perhaps life has been cruel.” “I don’t know, sir,” I said, though of course I knew perfectly well. pg 119, ebook.

Highly recommended for fans of historical fiction. Memoirs of a Geisha is a surprising treat, like a sudden rainbow glinting off the water into your eyes. Blink once, and it’s gone.

Thanks for reading!

The Secret Place (Dublin Murder Squad #5) by Tana French

Tana French writes another suspenseful mystery about a school full of girls, a murder and, of course, the Dublin Murder Squad.

“Detective Moran, there’s someone to see you,” pen pointing at the sofa. “Miss Holly Mackey.” pg 15, ebook.

We’re reintroduced to Stephen Moran and Holly Mackey, whom readers of the series will remember from Faithful Place. I highly suggest reading that book before this. The context is part of what makes The Secret Place so powerful.

Like in her previous books, French builds the suspense through in-depth characters and internal monologues. They carry an intensity that I’ve come to expect from her novels. Reading her stories straight through honestly gives me a bit of a headache. They’re so complex and she brings in small details that give you these “aha” moments.

Despite those potential headaches, I love it.

I said, “You came here because there’s something you want me to know. I’m not going to play guessing games I can’t win. If you’re not sure you want to tell me, then go away and have a think till you are. If you’re sure now, then spit it out.” Holly approved of that. Almost smiled again; nodded instead. pg 18, ebook

She’s also a master at building relationships, not just between the investigating detectives, but between the readers and the story. There’s a trust there — that she’s not just leading you down this path to distract you. There’s something important you’re supposed to realize.

In The Secret Place, readers are asked to contemplate the unknowable reality of young adult friendships. We wade right in to passionate, explosive moments that aren’t that big of a deal, if you’re not the right age. The feeling, no the knowing, that magic is real is a large part of this story. Also, that friendships define you somehow and are more real than your grades or your family or your name even.

Friends delineate the boundaries of your world at that age. And, together, you can literally make magic happen, if they’re the right kind of friends and if you do the right mystical things together like, for example, sneaking outside of a locked, private school to sit in a wooded glade and gaze at the stars.

“Girls need a safety valve, Detective Conway. Do you recall, a week or so after the incident” — small snort of laughter from Conway: incident —”a group of students claimed to have seen Christopher Harper’s ghost? pg 59

As much as I loved this book, I understand readers who didn’t. It is self indulgent in the sense that you get to know almost everything about everyone and when you’re dealing with a dozen main characters, that’s a lot.

I got the feeling, when Moran was on his eighth interview, that there had been a lot of talk about editing that section down, but it wasn’t. As I said, this story hinges on the characters, why they feel the way they feel and why they acted the way they did. If you don’t get to know those minutiae, then the story isn’t as intense.

But, admittedly, it does slow the pace waaaaay down.

There’s also the “living in a teenager wasteland” feeling of the story. Who cares about who’s dating who and who’s wearing what. To get through some of it, I put myself into the mindset of the detectives. It was important to understand because murder was on the line. Someone killed someone else and was walking around like nothing happened, while his victim was forever buried in the ground. There’s your motivation.

Photo by Du01b0u01a1ng Nhu00e2n on Pexels.com

I think I could listen to a lot of gum-chewing nonsense to solve something that important.

My favorite character? Detective Stephen Moran. He has so much to lose and so much to prove. All he wants is to do a good job on this case. And that seems so impossible at times. I was cheering for him all the way.

“For the first time, she smiled. Little crunch of a grin, the same one I remembered. It had had something pathetic in it, back then, it had caught at me every time. It did again.” pg 17, ebook.

Recommended for readers who have enjoyed French’s work in the past. This murder-mystery may not appeal to everybody, but it did to me.

Thanks for reading!

Ladycastle by Delilah S. Dawson

Aeve, a princess of Mancastle, is locked in a tower by her father, King Mancastle, for her refusal to chose a husband. Aeve’s younger sister, Gwyneff, is free to roam the castle, until she turns twelve and is subjected to the same fate as Aeve.

But Gwyneff doesn’t understand her sister’s choice and blames her for their father’s time-consuming efforts to find a new husband for Aeve and his absence.

“Aeve ruins everything. If she’d married, father wouldn’t go out hunting new princes. He’d be here. All the men would.”

When King Mancastle and his men venture out to find a more suitable groom, and meet a foe they cannot overcome. One of the men returns to report to the women left behind — a curse has been laid on the castle and monsters will “be drawn as to a beacon”.

“For not only was King Mancastle cursed, but so was his domain. This castle shall be a beacon to terrifying monsters until the wizard’s curse is lifted.”

The blacksmith’s wife, Merinor, takes up the Lady of the Lake’s sword and becomes king. She and the women begin preparations to defend themselves from the approaching monsters. And thus our tale begins…

The artwork in Ladycastle is beautifully drawn with bright colors. I enjoyed the premise of the story. But Ladycastle doesn’t quite fulfill its promise in this volume.

Photo by Felix Mittermeier on Pexels.com

In the beginning of each section, the ladies’ inner monologue reads like a Disney or classic Broadway song, purposefully so. It’s distracting and derivative. I get that this work was attempting to point out the inherent bias of the other works, but I feel it takes away from the originality of this one.

The dark ages were brutal on women. I get it. Each lady in Ladycastle has a backstory of abuse or neglect from the man who ran her life, except for Gwyneff who hadn’t yet attained an age to be given away by her father for political purposes.

I liked how this comic flips that gender-issue on its head, the women rule the roost now. But the delivery of the lesson is heavy-handed, especially in the first two sections of the book.

As other readers have noted, there is a stab at diversity in this book, but no inclusion of LGBTQ characters. I can’t see any reason for this over-sight.

Recommended for readers who enjoy graphic novels, but with the reservations listed above. I felt like this topic was handled more deftly in the graphic novel for children, Princeless, Vol. 1: Save Yourself.

Thanks for reading!

Very Good Lives: The Fringe Benefits of Failure and the Importance of Imagination by J.K. Rowling

“It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all – in which case, you fail by default.”

J.K. Rowling gave the commencement speech at Harvard in 2008 and the result was a mini-masterpiece about life, the power of imagination, and failure.

Though we all know now what a mammoth success she would go on to be, at one time, she was experiencing failure and poverty.

“Now, I am not going to stand here and tell you that failure is fun. That period of my life was a dark one, and I had no idea that there was going to be what the press has since represented as a kind of fairy tale resolution.”

I’ve had my own handful of rock bottom moments and, she’s right, it is no fun. But I too have found resilience and creativity that emerged from that darkness. It’s strange, when you’re pushed to your limits, you suddenly discover that there’s more to yourself than you ever realized.

“One of the many things I learned at the end of that Classics corridor down which I ventured at the age of 18, in search of something I could not then define, was this, written by the Greek author Plutarch: What we achieve inwardly will change outer reality.”

Like Rowling, I studied the Classics because something about it spoke to me. When I told my dad that I was adding that course of study to my degree, he laughed and said, “Well, at least it will look impressive on your resume.” Even though I knew he was right in that there were very few jobs where I could use it, having a background in the Classics has taught me a lot about modern life.

I learned that people in antiquity, though they lacked the technology and lifestyle we enjoy today, still had the intensity of emotions and civilizations struggles that persist in the modern era. There were those who had and those who had not. There were crimes of passion, acts of kindness, politicians both corrupt and extraordinary.

Struggle, stress and failure is not something mankind invented when we produced the first smart phone. Classics gives you a long view on humanity and how far, or not far, we’ve come since.

“We do not need magic to change the world, we carry all the power we need inside ourselves already: we have the power to imagine better.“

Brilliant. I recommend this small book as a graduation gift or for anyone who is having a bad day. It can act as a reminder that anyone can succeed at whatever their heart tells them is their path, despite any evidence to the contrary. And don’t be afraid of failure. Everyone will experience it at one time or another, but what matters most is what you chose to do next.

Thanks for reading!

Man Up!: Tales of My Delusional Self-Confidence by Ross Mathews

Ross Mathews is perhaps best known for how he got started in the entertainment business — as “Ross the Intern” on “The Tonight Show” with Jay Leno. If you’ve never seen any of his segments, I think you can catch some of them on YouTube. I think they’re worth a few minutes of your time as I found him funny.

This book is a little slice of Mathews’ personality. Nothing deep or earth-shattering, but bit after bit of light and amusing self deprecation.

Sometimes after reading a bunch of serious books, I need a bit of fluff. I’d venture to say that there are very few books as fluffy as this one. 🙂 It’s one silly thing after another and could be just what you need to make you smile.

Mathews skates across deeper issues a couple of times. For example, he mentions that he lost his father at a young age but he doesn’t go into depth about his feelings of loss. Instead, he talks about overdosing on THC while his father was dying in the hospital.

Though there are no great introspective moments in Man Up!, it could be perfect for reading next to a pool, on a plane, or while you’re sitting in a doctor’s office.

Between the laughs, he does have a good message about self acceptance and living your dreams. It’s not a subtle delivery, but that’s not who Mathews is. And, I think he’s just fine with that.

If you enjoyed this book, you might want to try Sleepwalk With Me and Other Painfully True Stories or It’s All Relative: Two Families, Three Dogs, 34 Holidays, and 50 Boxes of Wine.

Thanks for reading!

The Accidental Masterpiece: On the Art of Life and Vice Versa by Michael Kimmelman

Michael Kimmelman, art critic for the New York Times, gives art trivia and philosophic insights in The Accidental Masterpiece.

… I have come to feel that everything, even the most ordinary daily affair, is enriched by the lessons that can be gleaned from art: that beauty is often where you don’t expect to find it; that it is something we may discover and also invent, then reinvent, for ourselves; that the most important things in the world are never as simple as they seem but that the world is also richer when it declines to abide by comforting formulas.” pg 5

Though, at times, I felt as if he was getting too deep into the art “appreciation” portions, I learned a great deal about not just unconventional forms of art, but how art can be found in your every day life. It is all a matter of adjusting how you view reality.

There were some historical tidbits I particularly enjoyed. For example, did you know that when Kodak film was invented and made the art of photography available to the general public, that some professional photographers believed the medium was doomed?

“The placing in the hands of the general public a means of making pictures with but little labor and requiring less knowledge has of necessity been followed by the production of millions of photographs,” wrote Alfred Stieglitz in 1899. “It is due to this fatal facility that photography as a picture-making medium has fallen into disrepute.” pg 32

Wonder what Stieglitz would have made of Instagram.

Or this other bit of trivia, which seemed particularly apropos with the news reporting today that so many people are climbing Mount Everest that they’ve become a danger to themselves and others: humankind didn’t always find mountains beautiful or worthy of appreciation. The Romans hated the mountains — they were difficult to maneuver armies across and also enemies had a nasty habit of popping out of them. (Think Hannibal.)

Here’s a young Thomas Hobbes’ view of mountains:

“Behind a ruin’d mountain does appear
Swelling into two parts, which turgent are
As when we bend our bodies to the ground,
The buttocks amply sticking out are found.” pg 55

Hilarious. And now we highly value mountain views and the sublime feeling of ascending a mountain’s peak.

“The evolution of the whole modern worldview, including the notion of beauty, you might even say, is exemplified by the evolution of our feelings toward mountains.” pg 56

Photo by eberhard grossgasteiger on Pexels.com

I also enjoyed Kimmelman’s thoughts on the art of collecting objects, every day and otherwise. I live with someone who has serious collecting tendencies — notably a large military hat collection. It made me appreciate my husband even more when I found out there are people in the world who collect things like light bulbs to the extent where they’ve set up light bulb-themed museums. In their own homes.

We’ve agreed (so far) to keep the collection in one room. So, comparably, I’m doing pretty well. 🙂

Recommended for readers who enjoy non-fiction reads about art, philosophy and a curious mix of the two.

The Last Pirate of New York: A Ghost Ship, a Killer, and the Birth of a Gangster Nation by Rich Cohen

A fantastic and non-fiction account of Albert Hicks, the last man to be publicly executed in New York City and also one of the last to be tried and convicted for piracy. For fans of history, this is a must-read.

“Albert Hicks is the closest thing the New York underworld has to a Cain, the first killer and the first banished man, carrying that dread mark: MURDER. He operated so long ago, in a city so similar to and yet so different from our own, the word gangster had not yet been coined. He was called a pirate.”

Beyond the fascinating true crime story about Hicks, Rich Cohen, the author, has brought New York City, mere years before the Civil War, to life. You get to learn about the streets, the notable people, the attitudes, the newspapers and more. It is a fun and, occasionally serious, romp through the past.

“New York Harbor is a network of islands and coves, seabirds and arsenical green marshland, the sort that looks solid until you step on it. … In the old days, every road on the island ended at the water, the sun rose at the foot of every street. Even now, when the fog rolls in, the waterfront is a sailor’s dream.”

Cohen doesn’t tell his story through the dry recitation of facts and figures. He has a storyteller’s way of weaving the details into the larger narrative. This is history as it was meant to be told.

“An 1850 police report estimated the presence of between four hundred and five hundred pirates in New York City. To the police, a pirate was any criminal who made his living on the water, attacking and robbing ships beyond the jurisdiction of the landlocked coppers…”

Four and five hundred pirates! In New York City! This book changed my view of “The City So Nice They Named It Twice.” I suppose everybody and everything comes from somewhere. The early years of the city had more story to it than I imagined it could.

“Why had he killed everyone on the ship if money was his object? Because, he later explained, “Dead men tell no tales.”

Part of the reason why Albert Hicks may have been so forgotten is because of the extraordinary events that occurred just a short time later, the Civil War. It overshadowed everything that came before it, and, also, time moves on. I think about what was in the news last week and how our attention will already have moved on by next week.

As much as Cohen was able to discover about Hicks, his trial and what came next, I wish more had existed in the historical record about Hicks’ wife. I get that, beyond a few details, she basically disappeared from the record and that’s such a shame.

It made me wonder if Hicks has any descendants out there and if they know the story of one of their most notorious ancestors… I have relatives a few generations back who were adopted in New York City. Hicks’ history could belong to any of us who have question marks in our family tree.

As Cohen points out in his book, Hicks’ history, as shocking as it is, is also the early history of our country. Any shining point of light casts a shadow. This is one of those stories that took place in the shadows — a nightmarish memory from early New York City.

Photo by TheUknownPhotographer on Pexels.com

Recommended for readers of history and true crime. The Last Pirate of New York is brilliant.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a free digital, advance reader copy of this book. Please note that the brief quotations I cited in this review may change in the final printed version. The estimated date for publication is June 2019.

Thanks for reading! #TheLastPirateOfNewYork #NetGalley

Update June 21, 2019: The Last Pirate of New York is on sale now. The History Guy made an episode about Albert Hicks, the subject of this book. You can see the short documentary-style YouTube video here:

Who Put the Rainbow in The Wizard of Oz?: Yip Harburg, Lyricist by Harold Meyerson

An informative non-fiction biography about Yip Harburg, the little-remembered lyricist, who is responsible for, among other notable works, writing the lyrics to “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”.

Similar to Malcolm Gladwell’s “successful hockey players who were born in January” thesis, Yip was among an extraordinary group of lyricists, all born within a short time of each other, who wrote for Broadway and Hollywood. It wasn’t just talent, of which Yip had a great deal, it was also opportunity.

A myriad of different factors came into play in just the right way at the perfect time to create musical theater and a chance for lyricists to make a huge impact on the national consciousness. Prior to this time period, that type of entertainment, musical theater, didn’t even exist.

Yip grew up in poverty but claimed that didn’t affect him all that much. Children are surprisingly resilient.

“You lived from month to month. But youngsters didn’t feel the sting of it because everyone else was poor, too. We knew no other way of life, and it didn’t mean much to a kid who turned the street into an exciting playground.” pg 9

The Great Depression hit Yip hard and he lost everything. He decided, when the chips were down, to try his hand at a new career. And so, he began writing lyrics for composers. It’s a curiously difficult profession.

Photo by Joshua Woroniecki on Pexels.com

“The challenge of becoming a lyricist involves not only perfecting individual writing skills but also learning to be an effective collaborator, one of the most demanding of human relationships. … The theater lyricist must also be collaborating with the book writer of a musical, as well as directors, actors, designers, and producers who impact the lyric-writing process.” pg 32

Beyond the life of Yip Harburg, this book gives the ins-and-outs of the lyric writing business. It is a tricky art, limited by not only the written music but also the demands of the show or song in which the words are appearing.

“The word rainbow never appears in L. Frank Baum’s book, “The Wizard of Oz”. It was lyricist Yip Harburg who put it in the film.”From the introduction.

“Somewhere Over the Rainbow” is arguably one of the most recognizable Hollywood songs of all time and most people don’t remember the man who made it possible. Yip was also responsible for the almost “operatic” flow of the music during Dorothy’s time in Oz. In fact, Judy Garland wanted Yip to write the lyrics for her turn in “A Star is Born” but her husband, the producer, was unable to get Yip under contract because of his blacklisting during the McCarthy-era.

Photo by Evgeny Tchebotarev on Pexels.com

But Yip didn’t let it get him down. He kept writing even though some of his friends completely fell apart when they couldn’t get a contract.

I enjoyed learning about not just the difficulties of lyric writing, including the plot lines and back stories of some of Yip Harburg’s most popular works, but also learning about the life of this man who affected so many people by putting thoughts into words. He encapsulated dreams. And that’s not an easy thing.

“I think everybody, not only every artist, but every person who thinks, is confronted with… — his drive to be related to the universe, but that’s a hard thing because there are so many stars and it’s very hard to grasp that relationship. … But, if he can identify himself, and relate really with one other person, he will relate with all of humanity and he will relate with all the universe.” pg 69

Thank you, Yip, for giving Dorothy rainbows. The world would have been a darker place without you.

Recommended for fans of Broadway shows and musicals, but also for readers who enjoy learning forgotten history about people who deserve to be remembered.

Thanks for reading!

Here’s The History Guy episode about Yip Harburg:

The Help Desk Book Blog

Sharing reviews and deep thoughts about life.

Author: Heidi

Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable by Seth Godin

Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden

The Secret Place (Dublin Murder Squad #5) by Tana French

Ladycastle by Delilah S. Dawson

Very Good Lives: The Fringe Benefits of Failure and the Importance of Imagination by J.K. Rowling

Man Up!: Tales of My Delusional Self-Confidence by Ross Mathews

The Accidental Masterpiece: On the Art of Life and Vice Versa by Michael Kimmelman

The Last Pirate of New York: A Ghost Ship, a Killer, and the Birth of a Gangster Nation by Rich Cohen

Who Put the Rainbow in The Wizard of Oz?: Yip Harburg, Lyricist by Harold Meyerson

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