My new book should be on the shelves of your favorite bookstore by Tuesday so, in celebration, here’s a final “Thought Virus” from Get Back in the Box. It’s from early on in the Preface, when I’m trying to get the reader to open up to some new possibilities. You might recognize a bit of Maslow in here, but with a twist.
After this, it’s back to more normal blogging. I’ve found the excerpt is a great way to give away some book - but that text doesnt’ really translate properly from one medium to another. Writing for a blog is really different than writing in a book. The arguments I make in the book are written in a form that generally demands the reader approach reading with greater precision, and with the benefit of a greater context. Here, I’m finding that people tend to read the proper nouns, and then project what they already think are the most probable arguments or polarities onto them. I mean, in the Ben & Jerry’s Syndrome post, many blog readers thought I was arguing that the public doesn’t have the wisdom to make its own dietary decisions - and even the NYTimes critic thought I was referring to a corporate branding strategy! (Ben & Jerry’s wasn’t meant as just a brand identity, but as a socially responsible company; I was asking whether the core enterprise of a socially responsible company could be its expression of social responsiblity.)
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