Review -- Poke the Box

Poke the Box
Seth Godin

Yay for Poke the Box.  I know sometimes Godin gets criticized for simply taking existing ideas and packaging them up.  But I think that's unfair - I think he reaches into the muck and the mud and pulls out the pearls.  I think if the ideas didn't need his deft touch to make them more accessible and actionable, then he wouldn't be where he is today.

And yet, this is not what he does with Poke the Box.  Poke the Box is, in his words, a rant.  Poke the Box is a call to arms for anyone who feels creative, who feels the need to rise up, the need to break free from the drudgery of the assembly line and truly shine.  And perhaps you don't feel like that.  But perhaps you do feel that there's something a little off, something's missing.  Godin freely admits that his book isn't telling you how to get over your fear, but that he's calling your bluff.

And that's where the elegant simplicity comes through and I'll share two ideas:
(1) You can't start succeed if you never start.
(2) You won't always succeed every time you start, but you fail if you never start.

I recommend this book.  It's a quick and easy read and you can even borrow it from BookLending.com if you don't want to buy a copy.