• Books read in 2017

    Books read in 2017

    Books! Best to worst. Too many music books, as usual, but hey. Sam Lipsyte, The Fun Parts Wack. Haruki Murakami, Absolutely on Music Six extraordinary conversations about music with Seiji Ozawa. Steve Turner, Beatles, ’66: The Revolutionary Year How a boy band became a zeitgeist. Robert Irwin, The Alhambra The story of “The Red” — the only Muslim palace…

  • Imitation is the sincerest form of larceny

    Imitation is the sincerest form of larceny

    So I’ve been writing for the YMCA of Greater New York for a little over five years, helping them with fundraising in particular. I used to write for the YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago, but I haven’t done so in several years. Recently I noticed a few “echoes” — headlines or themes I had created for New…

  • When you’re looking for a ghostwriter

    When you’re looking for a ghostwriter

    For complex topics with intricately intermediated audiences, one of the most difficult things you can do is to write a compelling book. My four books I have ghostwritten four books for three different organizations with widely divergent needs. All four books feature subjects of extraordinary technical complexity, and are intended for highly intermediated audiences. The…

  • How to write a book — four steps for organizations

    How to write a book — four steps for organizations

    There are plenty of ways to write a book. Here are four steps for an organization. 1. Identify the effect you want to have: “What do we want this book to do? And to or for whom?” Before a word is written or a title is chosen or a launch date is picked, know first…

  • Marketing power through organizational memory

    Marketing power through organizational memory

    Marketing, like everything else, depends on the whims of the marketplace: trends. What was current and exciting a few years ago is hopelessly out of date today, as the momentum of technology engulfs every aspect of business. How do you achieve long-term impact? For an organization seeking to elevate its reputation and to influence its…

  • La Lengua Extraña

    La Lengua Extraña

    Sundays in Madrid are highlighted by El Rastro — an enormous flea market that dominates the area near the Metro stop La Latina. For our first El Rastro we were delighted to meet a young poet named Nuria Herrera. She sat among the vendor stalls offering to write poems on themes suggested by passers-by. When…

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