Feineigle.com

2024-11-19

Tags: Business · Marketing

This was published in 1923 and Propaganda was published in 1928; it is extremely interesting to juxtapose these two works to see how they fit together. This 'above board' advertising versus the manipulative tactics seen in Bernay's works show an almost idealistic versus real interpretation of how people act, what they want, and what tactics work on them. Most of what is presented is almost naive versus modern standards; information and honesty are portrayed as foundational aspects of advertising whereas we see the total opposite in modern advertising. Much of what is revealed here is better said in Ogilvy's works, although this is interesting for anyone that wants a historical look at how Ogilvy came to his conclusions. Overall I would say that this book could be skipped if you've read Ogilvy and probably some Kennedy as well, but for the curious it is still worthwhile (and it is super short and easy to read at that).

Why People Buy

2024-11-16

Tags: Business · Marketing

This book generally outlines how and why you would go about collecting data to test if a product will be accepted by the audience, or sometimes even who the audience is for a potential product. When conducting this research, you can't outright ask people what they think of a product because they will tell you what they think you want to hear. They will tell you they buy a car because it is safe and dependable, but research shows that they buy the car because it is a status symbol. The same product can be placed in different packaging and receive wildly different acceptance. The simplest things like colors and shapes on a products' packaging and marketing can have large effects on the success or failure of the product.

E-Myth Revisited, The

2024-11-09

Tags: Business

It took me a few chapters to get into it, but eventually I started to actually care about the dialectic that was used to reinforce the concepts presented. The framing of the ways to look at a business - technician, manager, and entrepreneur - mapped closely to my previous understanding, but in a new and useful way. By following the franchise model, even if you aren't ever planning to franchise, hammers home the idea of systematizing your business. Onne you accept this way of thinking you can then work "on" your business instead of "in" your business; this is also the difference between the technician and the entrepreneur. Finally, there are some useful nuggets of general life advice sprinkled throughout that signals to me the author is more than a businessman or teacher, but a true student of life.

Ogilvy on Advertising

2024-10-31

Tags: Business · Marketing

If you are looking for a book on advertising techniques this is probably not what you want to read. This book is a pleasant meandering through all aspects of the advertising industry circa 1940-1980. While there are a few chapters chock-a-block full of tips, there is ten times as much "filler". I use quotes around filler because if you are looking for general commentary, some history, and maybe some information on what the advertising industry (of the era, probably reasonably applicable today) then it is well worth your time. I found the book interesting enough in its own regard, well written and a breeze to read, and was also happy with the relatively little pure technique that was presented (though I am on the lookout for a more technique oriented book).

As A Man Thinketh

2024-10-21

Tags: Motivation

While many people blame their circumstances on environment, James Allen argues that it is more accurate to say your circumstances are shaped by your thoughts, leaving only yourself to blame. My interpretation of this quite empowering because if the fault of your circumstance lies with you, the solution also lies with you. (Since I was a teenager I have said "if you don't like something, change it" in regards to life.) Some of the book is couched in an almost religious good/bad dichotomy and even has a ting of positive thinking or manifesting vibe to it. That said, you can easily ignore the language that might be off putting while still accepting the general premises; right thought (to borrow from the Greeks and the Buddhists) is more likely to lead to right action that is more likely to lead to desirable outcomes. While positive thinking is not enough to achieve your goals, it should bias you toward action that moves you closer to accomplishing your goals, whereas negative thinking will likely bias you toward inaction and languishing.

Docker Book, The

2024-10-14

Tags: Docker

The first ~40% is what I wanted, an introduction to Docker and its basic uses. The last ~60% of the book is more advanced, containing information about swarm, compose, clustering, building more complex multi-container applications, the API, and development. Overall I think docker (having barely used it) is a reasonable tool, but the fracturing of (too) many applications into "micro-services" I think leads to overall fragility within software development. In my case I am simply interesting in running docker on a small (NUC-like) server that can provide me with a simpler way to get up and running with SeaFile and maybe an internal website. For what I want, the first half of the book provided me with an understanding that allowed me to do everything I wanted to do.

Melatonin - Your Body's Natural Wonder Drug

2024-08-26

Tags: Health · Melatonin

A cheap and effective sleep aid that has a ton of other benefits; from anti-oxidant abilities to immune system boosting to lowering blood pressure. It's anti-oxidant abilities are second to none since it is both fat and water soluable as well as readily crosses the blood-brain barrier. There is such a low, almost 0, level of toxicity; mice used to test the LD50 were not able to have any more melatoinin physically injected. It should be studied more, and it has been, but since it can not be patented there is little reason for the pharmaceutical companies to study it. They have tried to create literally thousands of analogs that they can charge and arm and a leg for.

How to Win Friends and Influence People

2024-07-28

Tags: Business · Social

First of all, all of the advice here should be used from a place of honesty and truly come from your heart lest your words ring dishonest and cause even more harm than if they were un-tactfully delivered. When dealing with those you want to criticize, get them off their initial defensive posture by leading with praise and showing them you are guilty of the same mistakes that they have made. In many cases you don't need to do or say anything special to remove their guard, simply let the other person do as much talking as they want and they will disarm themselves. If you want something from them or want them to do something for you, first prime the pump by getting them to say 'yes' a number of times to little things that they would clearly agree with and then try to reframe the ask as a question, a suggestion or a challenge. The ultimate take-away is probably to spend less time focusing the conversation on yourself and more time focusing on the other person. Take a real interest in what they want, in how they feel, by simply listen to them.

Richest Man in Babylon

2024-07-12

Tags: Business

A short, entertaining, and easy read that can be finished in only a few hours while still drinking in all of its advice. Each chapter tells a story where there is a takeaway lesson in financial literacy. The stories are set millennia ago in and around a prospering Babylon, but the lessons are as at home in the modern (then 1926, now 2024) setting. The lessons are explicitly stated and often restated (spend less than you earn!) so they leave little to interpretation. The stories themselves are very entertaining and told in mostly dialog format.

Atomic Habits

2024-07-08

Tags: Habits

Habit building (or destruction) is framed in a modified stimulus/response theory as promoted by the likes of Watson and Skinner that is (1) cue, (2) craving, (3) response, and (4) reward. Trying to exercise self-control, while useful, is not a winning strategy compared to modifying your environment to include less temptation (cues) in the first place. The reward following the habit (later explained to be fix or variable interval) is not actually what motivates the behavior; it is the anticipation of the reward that moves us to action. If you want to build a certain type of habit, it is very effective to surround yourself with people that are part of that habit's culture. An extreme example of this is given where a pair of Hungarian parents trained their three daughters to be chess masters by immersing them in the habit of practicing and playing chess.

100 Million Dollar Leads

2024-07-01

Tags: Business

Overall the book focus on getting leads through various methods including warm and cold outreach, free content, and paid adds. These methods can be leveraged through customers' word of mouth, employees, agencies (tread carefully, treat this as education), and affiliates. All of these methods, channels, and tactics can be applied both to aquiring customers as well as finding employees. These employees can be then used to find both more customers or more employees as a way to scale up and "build your team". The main takeaways for me were that you should take care to not stop too soon when advertising, aim for a 3:1 return on your ads so that your ads are profitable, and if you find a better return you should ramp it to the moon until it breaks.

100 Million Dollar Offers

2024-06-20

Tags: Business

All in all it was an easy read and mostly clear with actionable advice. The first few chapters are a little rough around the edges and some of the pricing concepts are not really fleshed out and certainly not explained as well as the rest of the book. After you get past the weak pricing chapter, the other chapters are typically presented with step-by-step reasoning on how and why you would want to structure your offer one way or another. The last section on enhancing the offer you've built (by following along) is the longest and ends with a number of ways to take your offer to the next level by customizing them with scarcity, urgency, bonuses, and guarantees. The last part of the final section on naming was particularly interesting; in particular I found the section on national vs local marketing and the pros and cons of each enlightening.

Million Dollar Weekend

2024-06-13

Tags: Business

A lot of stories and inspirational filler in my opinion; that doesn't mean it is bad, but it might not be for everyone. It also assumes that you don't necessarily even have an idea for a business. There are plenty of useful tips and advice like: get started NOW, follow up and be a squeaky wheel, stick with it for 100 reps (whatever it is), and start building an e-mail list before basically anything else. The pacing and stories are at least interesting and entertaining, but I was hoping for more concrete advice (though there is still some useful information). Overall I wouldn't suggest this if you have some idea of what you want to do and have even taken a few steps (or started and failed a few businesses), but I would suggest this to someone that has never even explored starting a business.

The Millionaire Fastlane

2024-06-08

Tags: Business

The book starts out with a dissection of the roads people follow through life: the paycheck-to-paycheck sidewalk, the IRA/401K get rich slow land, and the build an asset/business fast lane (that shouldn't be confused with easy, it is not). Next it touches on consumerism and how it will keep you forever poor, chasing that next purchase that you think will bring you happiness (it won't) and how you need to learn both financial literacy (more money won't solve this problem) and how to shift from the consumer mindset to the producer mindset. Once you make that shift, you can start to disconnect the idea that you trade your time from money. Your time is far more valuable than money (you can always get more money, you can never get more time) and that the best way to reach financial freedom is by growing a 'money tree' (a business that can run on autopilot or be sold as an asset). A few final tips include: never stop learning, how to use a decision matrix when you aren't sure what to do, and that instead of trying to make money you should focus on providing value.

Game AI Pro 1

2024-03-13

Tags: Ai · Games · Programming

The first few chapters of the book talks about the human body and how neurology and signals within your body for things like reflexes are analogous to AI processes. Then the rest of the book jumps around and covers a lot of ground but never goes into the nitty-gritty details of any of the topics. This is fine and the book was a great primer on what kinds of AI is available and what the strengths, weakness, or use-cases for the different varieties of AI you might use in games. Some of the information might be a little dated - they talk about the advanced GPUs having hundreds of pipes - but the core concepts are perfectly applicable today (10 years after publication). If you are interested in general game AI and want to get a feel for the options available, then this is probably a pretty good place to start; if you are interested in a particular type of AI, there are probably better options.

Game Balance

2024-01-27

Tags: Games · Math

A long, detailed, and in depth look at every (?) facet of game balance; a one-stop-shop for all your game balance needs! The first half of the book talks about different ways a game can be/feel balance/unbalanced and how each different genre has its own balance requirements. The second half of the book offers up concrete advice on how to actually test and implement balance from a mostly mathematical perspective. At the end of the book there is a good overview of some of the more powerful spreadsheet capabilities that can assist in balancing your game. Overall, this is a great read for anyone wanting to know more about game balance (surprising I know) in general (the first half) and how to crank the numbers to make it happen (the second half).

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