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Vol 3: 12 June 11, 2009
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Now You Can Stalk Us!
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A Free White Paper
Download Here
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The Top 50
Web Viral Videos
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More Fun Than A Barrel-Chested Monkey
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The End of Meetings (As You Know Them)
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"Meetings are indispensable when you don't want to do anything."
~ John Kenneth Galbraith
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Everyone Has Them, Everyone Hates Them
 In this issue of the Communiqué, we explore how to make meetings more effective. Countless books on effective meetings have been published, yet people's distaste for meetings only grows. Why? Probably because the meeting problem never received the sort of disciplined, industry-tested treatment that only the authors of the bestselling The Hamster Revolution could give it.
Consider the authors' list of The Five Ways to Significantly Shorten (or Completely Eliminate) Meetings (and still carry out your objectives).
What do you think of these suggestions? Do you have others? Chime in.
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The Big Hit
 Every newsletter from now on will feature an award-winning BK book (because we really do win that many awards). So guess which BK book just won the gold medal as ForeWord magazine's 2009 Book of the Year?
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In Other News
 + People turn to God in hard times, yet sales of religious books are down. An insider explains why.
+ Noted author Sherman Alexie caused a stir when he accused Amazon.com of being elitist.
+ BK community member Praveen Madan got everyone's attention at BookExpo America when he and others spoke about the "stupid things booksellers and publishers do."
+ Speaking of BookExpo America, the event remained significantly lower key this year, and even Neil Sedaka couldn't extend the parties past 8:30 p.m.
+ At first, people paid for online news content, then it was free, but now Rupert Murdoch and others think people should start paying again.
+ Everyone knows about print on demand, but do you know about audiobook on demand?
+ What's hot right now? Check out the current Amazon and New York Times bestseller lists.
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Who Were Berrett and Koehler?
 We are often asked about the origins of our publishing house's name --
specifically, who Berrett and Koehler were. Well, Wallace Berrett was a
British journalist who, in 1890, came to the United States, where he met German industrialist and diplomat Otto Koehler.
Shocked and appalled by the havoc the industrial revolution was wreaking on both people and nations alike and by the growth of greed and corruption, the two decided to -- actually, none of this story is true
For the real story of how our name came to be, click here.
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Maintain Your Sanity and Hold Good Meetings (It Is Possible!)
The Book: The Hamster Revolution for Meetings: How To Meet Less and Get More Done
 Why Read It? Did you read the subtitle? Everyone has too many meetings that last too long and generate minimal results. This book shows you how to accomplish your goals at meetings in less time with better results and your sanity intact.
Authors Mike Song, Vicki Halsey, and Tim Burress know what they're talking about. After all, they rescued tens of thousands of people from email purgatory with their previous bestseller, The Hamster Revolution.
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BK Mail Roundup: A Few Selections Deanna Zandt found a beautiful video of a elderly couple playing the piano together with a sense of showmanship that would put most younger performers to shame. See the video here. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tiffany Lee was looking through craigslist when she found a job opening that listed some truly interesting requirements of the candidates. After all, who wouldn't want to be an evil henchman?
------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lucine Kasbarian hopes all readers see Annie Leonard's incredible minidocumentary called The Story of Stuff. "It's twenty minutes well spent and instructional for young and old alike," Lucine writes. See the film here.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Joan Keyes told us about a hilarious website where everyday issues and happenings are graphed and explained using mathematics. Sort of. See what we're laughing about here.
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------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jake Jacobs was inspired by how an award-winning documentarian managed to unite musicians from all over the world to sing "Stand by Me " together -- without ever meeting each other. See how he accomplished this feat here.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Praveen Madan (otherwise known as the trouble maker at BEA) invites all Bay area to come to The Booksmith's Book Swap on June 19 to eat, drink, and meet other book-minded folks. Details and tickets here.
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Online Meeting Etiquette Thanks to advances in technology, online meetings and video conferences work almost as well as face-to-face meetings. Almost. Many people don't realize that the need for meeting etiquette and
professionalism still applies in cyberspace. Nationally syndicated
travel journalist Christopher Elliott (no stranger to Web meetings) offers five tips for proper behavior during an online meeting that will greatly improve the quality of your Web interactions. Reading Elliott's tips may also possibly spare you the embarrassment of having your work colleagues refer to you as Honey Bunny.
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Super Baby
Last time I posed the following puzzle: A survey of New York City hairdressers recently showed that they would rather cut the hair of three Canadians than the hair of one New Yorker. Why?
 This question is an experiment in verbal misdirection. The simple
fact is that New York City hairdressers would rather cut the hair of
three Canadians (or three Australians or any other nationals) because
the stylists would make three times more money than if they cut the
hair of a single New Yorker.
 The first person to answer correctly was Heather Nichols (the digital director at New Society Press), so she wins the prize. For the record, Heather lives in Canada.
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 Here is this issue's challenge: A ten-pound human baby fell out of the window of a twenty-story building, hit the pavement with nothing to cushion the fall except the thick blanket she was wrapped in, and survived with only minor bruises. What is the easiest explanation that accounts for this fortunate outcome?
Email me your answer. If you're the first to guess correctly, you win the BK book of your choice. Also, send me any comments, rants, or maybe just your thoughts on the brilliant "armed" robber who ate his weapon when the cops arrived.
Oh, and if you thought that video of a crab riding a jellyfish was strange, this site will positively hypnotize you.
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