Much of this book dishes out information that I already knew and I found myself rushing through it to find things I didn't. And eventually the book did dish out some things I didn't know. I also found that someone else had already implemented some product ideas I had planned to follow up on, so I saved myself some development and research time.So will you find the book worth spending any time on?
[amazon.com][amazon.co.uk]
The blog Web Worker Daily formed the basis for the text in this book so if you already subscribe to their rss and read it regularly then you probably already have a good grasp of the content items and may get little from the book. If you have only just started reading the blog then you may find more value.
I already subscribed to the blog's rss feed prior to reading the book.
I found much of the early chapters as useless padding - if you don't know anything about online interaction e.g. facebook or blogging or instant messaging then you might learn something.
I think the first few chapters try to set the scene and explain why today's worker works in a different way and uses more socially connected tools than yesterday's worker.
I think it also tries to convince you to try these new social connection tools. I don't use them all - I don't use the full power of social networking sites, I don't twitter, I don't, and the book did not really present a convincing case as to why I should. Which I find unfortunate because I haven't grasped 'why' I should use micro blogging tools or engage in on line social networking and I hoped this book would help me understand.
I think I received the advice "try it and you'll get it" but that didn't kickstart a microblogging habit in me.
So the relevant advice started in "Chapter 3 - Burst Your Productivity". Here I read a list of online productivity tools - some of which I did not know about: Gubb, stikkit, hassleme. And a whole genre of tools I had not encountered before, Personal Relationship Management: highrise, bigcontacts. Although I use LinkedIn I hadn't thought of it as a Personal Relationship Management tool.
This chapter really focuses on 'doing stuff' and tracking your tasks, ideas, projects and productivity. I guess I could have read much of this chapter as a set of useful hints and tips but it all seemed a little basic and sometimes patronising.
Chapter 4 provides email hints and tips. Chapter 5 provides hints on web surfing and on expanding the scope of your research. Chapter 6 deals with social networking.
Chapter 7 covers 'going mobile' and provides helpful hints on how to choose a bag, and how to pick a phone. Chapter 8 deals with personal branding and building (and changing) your online presence.
Chapter 9 deals with managing your money. Chapter 10 deals with work life balance.
I have skipped over most of the chapters in the book because I simply did not get anything of value from them.
The book reads like a lot of 'stuff' thrown together - and given this came from a blog then that might act as an explanation but it didn't work for me.
You can read a 'bonus' chapter online to get a feel for the writing style and 'hints and tips' feel. If you get value from this chapter then the book will probably work for you. Also read the chapter summary.
I personally think your best course of action would consist of subscribing to the rss feed and reading the archives.
Incredibly, to me, the book has 5 stars on Amazon [.com], no ratings on [.co.uk] yet so maybe a cultural thing?
I just didn't get it, maybe you will?
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