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Vol 3: 15 July 23, 2009
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Why Join Anything Else?
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The Graph-ic Truth
...because stats never lie
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Click Here
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The Top 50
Web Viral Videos
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Bitter? Twitter!
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"Company cultures are like country cultures. Never try to change one. Try, instead, to work with what you've got."
~ Peter F. Drucker
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Living and Working in Different Worlds
 In this issue of the Communiqué, we explore how lessons learned in one world can be applied to another, whether that other world is physical or psychological.
Bruce Rosenstein worked with Peter Drucker enough to learn not just about Drucker's attitudes towards business, but life as well. Few people know that Drucker's work applies just as well to our everyday lives. Until now. As an exclusive to our readers, Bruce compiled this list of Five Nuggets of Life Wisdom from Peter Drucker.
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The Big Hit
 So, can you guess which BK book won the bronze medal at the 2009 Independent Publisher Book Awards and was a finalist in Foreword magazine's 2009 Book of the Year Awards? This book!
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In Other News
+ Amazon acted in a very, well, Orwellian way by sneaking into people's Kindles and erasing their George Orwell titles.
+ BusinessWeek's future remains in question as advertising income slumps further. Read more here.
+ Proof of beauty in the most unlikely places? Boston's book club for the homeless.
+ Too many errors and typos in Kindle editions? Seems to be a growing problem.
+ Find this week's best tweets for writers and publishers here.
+ What book is big right now? Check out the current Amazon and New York Times bestseller lists.
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"The 10 Awful Truths About Book Publishing," second edition
 Some years back, our publisher, Steven Piersanti, wrote a memo titled "The 10 Awful Truths About Book Publishing." This memo served as a reality check for authors and others. Actually, the memo was more like a bucket of black, icy rain poured on their preconceptions, but you get the idea.
Now, two years later, Steve is back with a revised, updated, and even more brutally honest list of the awful truths. Download it here.
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Two Books that Bridge Worlds
The Book: Cultural Intelligence: Living and Working Globally, second edition
 Why Read It? Most books on cross-cultural communications focus on a particular country's customs, practices, and cultural observations. Noted authors and academics David Thomas and Kerr Inkson argue that it's impossible to learn the customs and traits of every culture you encounter. Cultural Intelligence teaches a universal set of techniques and people skills that will allow you to adapt quickly to, and thrive in, any cultural environment.
This revised second edition features updated content and also addresses the crucial interplay of race and gender with culture factors.
Read an excerpt here and buy the book for 50% off (in combination with our Summer Sale coupon)
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The Book: Living in More Than One World: How Peter Drucker's Wisdom Can Inspire and Transform Your Life Why Read It? Drucker's teachings on personal growth are every bit as insightful as his views on management. This wisdom had, until now, remained scattered throughout numerous books, articles, and interviews. In this work, author Bruce Rosenstein reveals Peter Drucker's life lessons and prescription for "a total life." Based on research, writings, and personal interviews with the man himself, Rosenstein's book brings Drucker's ideas on personal improvement together into a straightforward guide to building a multifaceted life and career.
Read an excerpt here and buy the book for 50% off (in combination with our Summer Sale coupon)
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BK Mail Roundup: A Few Selections Maria Jesus Aguilo has finally encountered a politician worth voting for because of his raw honesty. Listen to what the man who wants to be Japan's next prime minister has to say.
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Dianne Platner thinks it's about time people see the important work being performed by BK's production and design staff. Click here to see what the team did last week.
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John Kador has found some hilarious high-level wordplay in the latest issue of the Smithsonian -- a unique essay made up of nothing unique. See what we mean here.
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João Paulo Riff writes to us from Brazil about an interview with soccer coach Joel Santana, who can't seem to speak Portuguese or English -- and neither can the person providing the subtitles. See it here.
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Gary Brumback wonders if there's anyone anywhere who has not seen Snowball, the dancing cockatoo. See the video here.
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 You can't help but notice the sudden overabundance of Chinese or Japanese characters as tattoos. However, it seems that people are more interested in how these characters look than what they really mean. This has lead to some unfortunate translations. Even the New York Times featured a story on Asian-character tattoos people got that turned out to say something quite different from what was intended.
Before you permanently ink yourself with something you'll regret, verify your character(s) using the official Chinese Symbols page. It's free, it's accurate, and it will help avoid a lifetime of regret.
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The Letter(s) E
Last time I posed the following puzzle: You are in a freezing cabin in the dark with no electricity and have only a single match. You can just make out a wood-burning stove with three to four pieces of wood, a half-full kerosene lamp, and a fireplace with kindling. Which do you light first and why?
 The answer? You light the match first. Without lighting the match, you can't light anything else. Ah, semantics. Jules Sieburgh was the first to guess correctly and won the free book of his choice.
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Here is this issue's challenge: What begins with an e and ends with an e but usually contains only a single letter?
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 about the  mystery can game.
Oh, and if you found that last site to be mysterious, I challenge you to find a way into this portal.
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