The Digital Radish Book Club: June’s top picks
Creativity is important to us at Digital Radish. We’re always hungry for new ideas. And we think one of the best sources of them – aside from our blog, of course! – is books.
In fact, we’re constantly pinging book recommendations across our Slack channels. So in the spirit of sharing, we thought it was about time to launch a regular series where we highlight our favourite reads.
Each month we’ll pull together three books we love in the hope that it starts conversations, gives you lots of inspiration and gets the challenger within you really excited.
You’ll notice that they’re not all B2B related – we’ve sprinkled in a few unconventional suggestions to really get your heart pumping.
What’s the book about?
“The Metaverse” by Matthew Ball explores the concept of, well, the metaverse – what it is, where it all began, its current state and its potential to change the world as we know it.
How does the author sum it up?
“The Metaverse” is the final evolution of our collective interest in connectivity and immersion… [and] the clearest expression of what we want from technology and each other… It’s the successor to the mobile internet—one in which we are not just spectators, but active participants.”
Why we love it
“This already feels like the definitive primer on the metaverse. As brands seek out more meaningful connections with their customers, we’re only beginning to see all the exciting potential that the metaverse has to bring them closer together – and we definitely want to continue being at the forefront of that.” – Lorna Charlish
What we learned
Though we’re already using our Oculus headsets for team meetings and really pushing the boundaries for our clients in the metaverse, Matthew makes clear that there’s so much more to come. We’re particularly excited by the possibilities for nurturing brand loyalty, and how we can help our clients create a deeper sense of community in virtual space.
What’s the book about?
“The Elements Of Style” is a classic guidebook for writers, first written more than a century ago by William Strunk, Jr, and revised and expanded decades later by one of his students, E B White. It’s famous for rules that emphasise the importance of clear and concise writing.
How does the author sum it up?
“Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts. ”
Why we love it
“There are loads of great books on writing well, but my favourite one is “Elements Of Style.” It won’t take you long to get through it, and a lot of its rules really stick. I’d recommend it to anyone who writes for a living, even if that writing is just emailing a lot.” – Ray Philp
What we learned
“The Elements Of Style” is a great reminder that the nuts and bolts of great writing is all about getting your message across clearly. It also gives us fewer excuses for mistakes, so it keeps us honest!
What’s the book about?
“Thinking in Systems” by Donella Meadows champions an approach to problem-solving that encourages big-picture thinking. It’s especially relevant for people and organisations in the business of tackling complex problems with lots of moving, interconnected parts.
How does the author sum it up?
“A system is a set of things – people, cells, molecules, or whatever – interconnected in such a way that they produce their own pattern of behaviour over time. The system may be buffeted, constricted, triggered, or driven by outside forces. But the system’s response to these forces is characteristic of itself, and that response is seldom simple in the real world.”
Why we love it
“We all like to think we’re joined-up thinkers at Digital Radish, but the truth is there’s always room for improvement – and that’s why I found this book so energising. Donella outlines the dimensions of complex problems really clearly and offers straightforward advice for navigating them successfully. It’s great!” – Charlie Boon
What we learned
We’re already leveraging a lot of the ideas Donella describes, including positive feedback loops (e.g. when happy customers lead to more referrals, which leads to yet more happy customers). But it’s a useful reminder to keep plugging away!
Share your favourite books with us
Do you love these books as much as we do? Or do you have other recommendations for us? Either way, we’d love to hear from you – email us at hello@digitalradish.co.uk