I went into the local bookstore this weekend and stumbled across the latest book by All-Top co-founder Guy Kawasaki, Reality Check: The Irreverent Guide to Outsmarting, Outmanaging, and Outmarketing Your Competition. I read a few pages, put it down, picked it up again, read some more, put it down, walked away, came back and after reading a few more pages decided to buy it. The book is available only in hardcover right now and deciding to spend $29 on a book is a difficult decision. I usually will wait for a book to come out in paperback before I buy it, but I found myself being sucked into Guy’s book.

From Guy’s Site:

If the two most popular words in your company are “partner” and “strategic,” and “partner” has become a verb, and “strategic” is used to describe decisions and activities that don’t make sense, it’s time for a reality check. Reality Check is a compilation of Guy’s best wit, wisdom, and contrarian opinions in handy book form. From competition to customer service, innovation to marketing, he shows readers how to ignore fads and foolishness while sticking to commonsense practices.

While a number of topics in the book do not apply to me (yet) I found a high number of them that currently do. The book isn’t a sit down and power through type of book, but is perfect to pick-up and read a section or two.

A few of the topics:

* How to get a standing ovation
* The art of schmoozing
* How to create a community
* The top ten lies of entrepreneurs
* Everything you wanted to know about getting a job in Silicon Valley but didn’t know who to ask

It really is a good book for seasoned and budding marketers and anyone in “business”. Highly recommended.