A Communicator’s Bookshelf

Originally published Feb. 11, 2016

I recently attended a local conference for professional communicators and came away with nice list of books referenced by the experts.

I found it intriguing that the books reflected a broad range of topics — mythology, history, psychology, literature, science fiction. It was, I decided, a good way to show what communications is really all about.

So, here is the list of books I noted from our speakers at the  Business Communicators Summit, sponsored by the Kansas City chapter of the International Association of Business Communicators (KC IABC). By way of full disclosure, I’m proud to be a member of the board.

• The Art of Social Media: Power Tips for Power Users, by Guy Kawasaki and Peg Fitzpatrick (Peg was our keynote speaker, too.)

• Daring Greatly by Brene Brown; recommended by Julie Edge of Creelio. (You can also find Brene Brown on TED Talks: The Power of Vulnerability)

• The Hero’s Journey by Joseph Campbell

• 2016 Edelman Trust Barometer (OK, it’s not exactly a book but it is a great reference)

• Start With Why by Simon Sinek. You might also want to watch his TED talks on The Golden Circle and The Power of Why (also recommended by Julie Edge)

• From Kanon Cozad of TranSystems, his top five “business” books — warning: don’t expect traditional business books:

  • Catch-22 by Joseph Heller

  • Faust by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  • Animal Farm by George Orwell

  • Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut

  • The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli

• Good to Great by Jim Collins and Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Steven Covey — mentioned in passing as examples of traditional business books

• The Yahoo Style Guide as a reference for online writing, with special attention to formatting and user experience considerations. Can’t mention “style” without including the The AP Stylebook and The Chicago Manual of Style — references for writers and editors

• Content Everywhere: Strategy and Structure for Future-Ready Content by Sara Wachter-Boettcher, a recommendation by Marjie Goodman of DEG

• Content Strategy for the Web by Kristina Halvorson and Melissa Rach

Now, this is a “partial” list because it wasn’t possible to attend all of the breakout sessions. There may be a dozen more, and I welcome comments to round out my list.

I also thought about my go-to books, sources of inspiration and guidance. I’d have to add:  Envisioning Information (or anything by Edward R. Tufte), The Storytelling Animalby Jonathan Gottschall, and for breaking out with new ideas, thought experiments in Sum: Forty Tales From the Afterlives by David Eagleman.

I’m stopping here. The pile of books by my desk is now dangerous and I’m going to take a break to read some new ones and revisit some favorites.