| Title | : | Poke the Box |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 1936719002 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9781936719006 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Hardcover |
| Number of Pages | : | 85 |
| Publication | : | First published January 17, 2011 |
| Awards | : | Goodreads Choice Award Nonfiction (2011) |
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Poke the Box Reviews
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Half way through the book, I had decided that this book merits only a one sentence review: Seth Godin, surprisingly, turns out to be Mr. Obvious.
After finishing the book, I have realized that this would not be fair. I particularly liked the section on Intellectual Integrity and Seth's point that anyone not putting his ideas into the world is actually stealing them from the world and should be treated as such. Yes, every section in the book is repetitive and makes the same exhortation again an again - Start Innovating. And maybe, just maybe, even the obvious facts need to be drilled in.
The book is mildly inspirational and some anecdotes are nice but all in all, his succinct blog entries would be a better investment for an interested reader's time than going through this book. The book does not poke the box; it is not stimulating and original enough but the central idea is worth restating: If the only reason you are not initiating your quest is that you are afraid to start, perhaps you ought to think about what is at stake. Have you fully understood the cost of not starting? -
Hey look, I started a negative review! Look at me poking the box! In fact let me take even more initiative and tell you in one sentence what he wrings torturously into a 'book': successful people are the ones that aren't afraid to try something new and fail, repeatedly, so you should get off your ass and take initiative in all aspects of your life.
While I don't disagree with his thesis, Godin's book is dreadful to read. It's not a lengthy book by any stripe, but still ends up being way too long. It's like bad 90's techno - endless variations on a single theme, stretch far past its value. And the elitism that coats every treacly entreaty to action, ugh. We get it Seth, you're better than the poor befuddled masses, and you're talking to a crowd of your insufferable peers.
In the end this becomes an object lesson in risking failure: if he can write like this and still be a famous best-selling author, you can pretty much do anything if you try new things enough times.
This probably would have been better as a motivational poster with an eagle on it. -
It's difficult to argue with Seth Godin's logic. He is incredibly quotable, yet when you read him you have the nagging impression that he isn't saying anything you don't already know. This seems truer in this short, quick read than in any of his other books.
I don't think he would argue the point. In fact in Poke the Box, he basically says that very thing when encouraging the reader to do what you see needs to be done. We shouldn't have to say it. But if everyone knows it, then why aren't they doing it?
Loosely, this is the same principle as "why do I always have to refill the toilet tissue holder, paper towel dispenser, etc.?” Except in place of laziness the answer is fear... Or perhaps the two aren't so very different after all...
I had the feeling, despite all the quotables in Poke the Box, that Seth Godin had just pumped out another best seller of re-hashed material that would still sell because the author is, after all, Seth Godin.
In the end, the most original idea of this book seems to be the cover design--a picture only with no title.
If you're new to Seth Godin, you will probably love this book. It's a quick, easy read. If you have read several of his writings you may enjoy this book as a sort of quick refresher. If you have read a lot of Seth Godin, you'll probably find this latest offering a bit thin.
But, if you're a hard core Seth Godin junkie, you'll probably rave about how, bold, and original Poke the Box is, and praise him for "shipping" once again. -
I've worked out what Seth Godin does, and it's very simple. He takes one valid and interesting thought, and writes it in lots of different ways to fill a book.
What Seth has done in this book, I discover, is that he's had one good idea, and expanded on it, repeatedly, to make a book out of it.
Seth's a clever man, because essentially this book is full of one concept, which he's phrased and paraphrased, over and over again, to comfortably fill quite a lot of pages.
What's kind of happened here, you'll discover, is that Mr Godin has suddenly woken up and thought "Goodness, if I just write the same thing over and over again, but slightly differently, for a number of different chapters, then I'll manage to complete a book and then I can sell it."
As a concept of a book, this is pretty clever - Seth Godin has come up with one central tenent and discussed it, in quite a circumlocutory way, over a considerable amount of paragraphs.
etc -
My brain is bursting with ideas I want to share with the world on my YouTube channel!
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Um, pretty empty...
Hm. I'll agree it's a rant. It has a manifesto feeling to it, but jeez, it really doesn't say much. I'll summarize:
* Let's adopt an inappropriate metaphor: a friend made a black box with switches and buzzers and such and gave it to his son, who poked at it. Poking the box = doing stuff even if you might fail. Uh, what?
* Okay, now let's encourage everyone to try stuff, embrace the possibility of failure, because otherwise, great things won't happen. Okay, cool.
* But that's about it. He just keeps repeating it over and over. Go. Ship. Do. Try. Fail. Fail again. Poke, poke, poke (not the facebook kind)
* There's no organization, no building up, just endless repetition in short bursts so that you feel like he's just spewing words on the page
* At least it's really short.
* Really, don't bother
UPDATE: I don't know why I gave this a 2.0 originally. Correcting. -
Poke the Box by Seth Godin is the kick in the butt everyone may need. Poke the Box encourages all minds to start up and go. It's good to have ideas, and it's even better to set those ideas into fruition. Godin mentions that one of the largest contributors to holding people back from great things is FEAR. Fear to offend others. Fear of being uncomfortable. Fear of failure. Fear of rejection. He makes a compelling point that this may happen, and the better you are, the more it will happen. Not necessarily a feel good moment. However, Godin states that most successful people have failed a considerable amount in their life yet their contributions overshadow their failures. As an example, I've included a separate video that proves this phenomena.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8Rw7D...
Godin doesn't stop there. In fact, he encourages us to keep poking the box. Don't just stop when something good happens. Don't stop when you finally sold your product. Don't stop when you've met your quota in sales. However, "keep poking the box," continue to innovate. An example he gave was Google. This example resonated with me due to its overwhelming obviousness. Google became great at searching millions of internet pages and coming up with the best websites, in order, that are most relevant to your needs. This is what made it thrive. This is what put Google on the map. Yet, if that had been all that Google did, Google wouldn't be known as well as it is today. In fact, once Google became great at internet searches, it became great at map searches. "Poke." It also became great at hosting email. "Poke." It now allows you to create documents and slide presentations online. "Poke." I'm sure by the time you're done reading this review, Google will have poked the box once more.
This book has inspired me to begin projects and breakaway from the fear that grips me. It has inspired me to be creative and innovative, but most importantly, it gave me a swift kick in the rear end. -
Not bad.Summarized all the motivational phrases we have heard from now and then.
When feel blue ,read it .It's worth it .
3 stars and not more: because it was too typical in some points.
3 stars and not less : It's a cool reminder of what we should do at moments when we doubt ourselves the most. -
Are you the box needing a poke?
Wow. Seth Godin’s newest book Poke the Box has been out for a mere 3 days, and I notice there are already 14 reviews on Goodreads and 46 more at Amazon.com. Blogger buzz was singing high notes in my feed reader.
As an author it’s easy to feel the green monster of envy breathing down your neck, for Godin has quite a tribe of sneezers (as he calls his vocal audience of idea spreaders). However I’m someone who’s feeling mighty grateful for the energy he’s stirring up.
Seth Godin enjoyed picking on managers in Tribes, We Need You To Lead Us, and he doesn’t let up in this book either:“So the new manager says to herself, ‘I better not tell my staff that pickles are the trendy new appetizer, or they’ll be on the menu within days— and if they flop, the buck will stop with me.’”
However this time my reaction was different. I see his rant (which he admits PTB is, both rant and manifesto) as a welcome challenge to managers everywhere, one which asks, Have you been part of the problem?
For if you have been (or heaven forbid, still are), here’s a guy giving you a golden opportunity: Evangelize new projects. Support their leaders. Turn into a new breed of manager, and prove that a lot of what Godin has said about you in both Tribes and Poke the Box is wrong — at least on your turf, in your workplace, and in your life.“The company policy manual has an answer for your situation, and it only takes a few vice presidents to make it clear.”
Poke the Box is written for your employees, and/or you as an employee, and Godin has written it for just one reason: To convince them (and you) that they MUST have more initiative and be a self-starter in everything they do. Not should, must. And work is a great place to make your magical turnaround happen:“If there’s no clear right answer, perhaps the thing you ought to do is something new. Something new is often the right path when the world is complicated [as it often is.]”
Godin’s coaching, and the sneezing of his über excited audience, is FANTASTIC news for managers — unless they’re the old schoolers he describes who much prefer employees who are “cogs” and excel at compliance, not creativity. However you… Are you ready to break some rules?
Poke the Box is a quick read: Just 96 pages long. At $4.99 on Kindle and other e-readers, it’ll be a much better wake-up for managers than their morning coffee if they take Godin’s advice to heart and “Go, go, go.”
I really enjoyed the book, for Seth’s trademark pithiness shines through in several spots (there aren’t chapters, just short sections). He has a talent for making contrarian thinking seem so obvious and reasonable:“Only in systems where quality is a given do we care about attempts [which might not work]. I’m not sure Yoda was right when he said, ‘Do or do not, there is no try.’ Yes, there is a try. Try is the opposite of hiding.”
If your employees read this book, you’d best not be hiding either. They’re likely to need your help, for as I tell you in my own writing, over and over again, managers matter. I don’t care what Seth or anyone else says about you: To be an Alaka‘i Manager is to answer a nobler calling.
Yes, I like Seth Godin and admit to being a fan.
However if you’re a manager, I want you to prove him wrong. Wrong about your role, your spirit, and your demeanor.
For he’s right about you in so many other ways:
“You already have good ideas, already have something to say, already have a vivid internal dialogue about what you could do and how it might make things better. If you don’t, if there’s just static inside, I think it’s really unlikely you read this far�� The reasons for lying low are clear and obvious and stupid. The opportunity is to adopt a new practice, one where you find low-risk, low-cost ways to find out just how smart and intuitive and generous you actually are.”
At the end of Poke the Box Godin asks us to share it, his m.o. since he wrote Unleashing the Ideavirus.
I hesitated after reading Tribes but this one is a win for all of us. -
This book was a bit boring . Seth Godin said nothing new this time, nothing special, just the same idea again and again, during the whole book: "just poke that freaking box, goddamnit" :D
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While it had only one main message and you'll find this rehashed in almost every page, I still find it rather insightful. This was a much better read than Godin's more famous "The Dip", but sadly I could only afford to give it a 3-star rating.
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POKE THE BOX is mainly for entrepreneurs (both social and business), but since the author claims: "This is a Manifesto about Starting," it could also be a book about Life. It features Seth Godin's hallmark style of taking every day things and helping you see them from a fresh and motivating perspective. The title comes from thinking about a child with a buzzer box (the kind with switches, some lights, and other controls that result in lights blinking, buzzers buzzing, etc.). A child will start poking at the box, trying one switch and then another. From doing different things, he learns. So Seth Godin says, "Life is a buzzer box. Poke it." He's begging us to just "Start Stuff." And if we're running a company, he submits we need to encourage and empower our employees to Start Stuff.
He touches on Leadership: "Human nature is to need a map. If you're brave enough to draw one, people will follow...Please stop waiting for a map. We reward those who draw maps, not those who follow them."
He touches on the relationship between doing and failing: "The more you do, the more you fail...The person who fails the most usually wins," ...and then the failures will have been just stepping stones. "Of course, the challenge of being the initiator is that you'll be wrong. You'll pick the wrong thing, you'll waste time, you'll be blamed...This is why being an initiator is valuable." "Failure is an event, though, and with rare exceptions, is not fatal."
He ties his theme in with the theme of a previous book (LINCHPIN) in which he refers to our "lizard brain" that is always holding us back. "For many of us, the resistance is always chattering away, frequently sabotaging our best opportunities and ruining our best chance to do great work. Naming it helps you befriend it, and befriending it helps you ignore it...The purpose of this manifesto is not to magically extinguish your fear. It's to call its bluff."
He has an interesting take on ego: "Somewhere along the way, ego became a nasty word. It's not...It's okay. Let your ego push you to be the initiator."
One of Godin's important points: you can be an initiator wherever you are in your organization's hierarchy. He has some great examples of what this "looks like."
Another gem sprinkled in: "Reject the tyranny of picked [e.g.picked by an investor, picked for a promotion, picked to lead a project)]. Pick yourself."
Godin asks, "When can you start?" And he believes "Soon is not as good as now."
This book may not be for everyone, but I needed and appreciated it. -
Life is a buzzer box. Poke it and see what happens? Fail, succeed, fail, fail, fail, succeed—you get the idea. The box reveals itself through your poking, and as you get better at it, you not only get smarter but also gain ownership. Mathematicians call this a function. Put in one variable, get a result. Call and response.
The essence of being human is to initiate. But we’re not left to our own devices. We are smothered by parents, snubbed by peers, scolded by teachers, organized by authorities, hired by factories, and brainwashed, relentlessly brainwashed to cease any troublesome behavior. So we do (most of us). Except for those who don’t.
The ones who don’t—the troublemakers, starters, instigators, questioners, and innovators are still busy starting things, big and small. Learn to be curious like a child, initiate, create situations, start ruckuses, change in a world that is constantly changing and stop waiting for a map. The world rewards those who draw maps, not those who follow them.
“There are two mistakes one can make along the road to truth. Not going all the way, and not starting.” Siddhartha Gautama -
A nearly empty book of 84 pages. Godin comes up with an obtuse metaphor for starting (Poke the Box!) and then twists it 15 different ways. He never settles on a solid thesis. Along the way he mangles the language, puts way too much emphasis on failure and way too little emphasis on quality. I've liked Godin books in the past, but this one read like a rushed series of blog posts mashed together. Some fault falls on the editing since ideas contradict each other within a few pages. Laying out the contradictions 20-30 pages apart would have pulled the wool over the eyes a lot more effectively.
To get my full review, find the book I wrote in as part of The Domino Project. A simple review does no justice to my dislike of this book. My inline comments capture the mood as I was reading it. -
This is a quick read, but the ideas might not quickly digest. You have to think again and again. You will get an idea once and another next time. The gist is to show courage to begin. You are not going to lose anything but can ensure gain.
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Another book I'll be reading and listening to over and over.
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Good for a kick in the ass on a lazy day, but otherwise this is a lot of reiteration of a simple point. Have an idea? Do something with it. Then do it some more. Don't be afraid.
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Seth (csak így hetykén a keresztnevén szólítva) alapvetően marketing és motivációs könyveket ír. Ez a könyv az utóbbi kategóriába tartozik. Most nem mond semmi újat, ezt ő is többször leírja, egyszerűen elmondja újra, mert rendszeresen súlykolni kell, kezdj bele velemi újba, ne a kifogást keresd. Jobb lesz neked is és a környezetednek is.
A panaszkodás nem visz előre, ha már azt eltudod mondani hogy mi nem jó, akkor miért nem teszel ellene?
Idézetek:
- A rosszat könnyű kijavítani, a középszerű megváltoztatásához azonban igazi elszántság és akartra va szükség.
- Az irányítát csak akkor tarthatjuk kézben, ha folyton kezdeményezünk, kérdezünk, változtatunk és ,,nyomkodjuk a gombokat".
- Csak rövid távra megoldás, ha a csapat legerősebb embere irányít, aki már korábban is csinált ilyet, és ismeri szabályokat. bizonyos szervezetek éppen azért nem jutnak előbbre, mert mindig a "sztár játékosaikat" futtatják, a többieket pedig a kispadra ültetik.
- Kérjünk engedélyt egyszer, de kezdeményezzünk sokszor. -
In Poke the Box, Godin writes about the importance of starting projects and not worrying about failures, roadblocks, acceptance, or permission. He argues the need for more self-starters in the world, regardless of what position you occupy. He argues there are benefits from taking the initiative and getting projects off the ground starting from an idea moving to basic implementation provides massive return, even if those particular projects end up going nowhere because they provide the confidence to start more things. Nothing big that exists today could exist without someone to start it and most of those big successes are the result of a number of "failures" in those founder's backgrounds. The style of this book felt like a hundred small blog articles were combined together to form the book. It lacked a strong cohesive narrative other than saying the same information in about a hundred different ways over the course of 84 pages. The material could have been covered in one comprehensive blog post, but I suppose that wasn't the point, the point was to write a book on this topic and in that aspect he started and finished it.
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Bir tren yolculuğunda görmüştüm aylar öncesinde birinin elinde. Kitap siparişi vermem gerekti geçenlerde ve notlarımda gördüm almak istediğim kitaplar listesinde. Hızlı okunan bir kitap, bana bir heyecan katmadı, birkaç afili cümle dışında tat vermedi.
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start. That's all.
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Start poking!
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Repetitiveness of the this book makes it slight irritating at points. The good thing is that it's short otherwise would have left it unfinished.
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It's.Godin. Nothing more to.say
Caution: Do not read if you can't tolerate a swift and blunt kick in the butt, or appreciate the value of failure. -
Seth Godin became my one of the favorite authors right after the book "Purple Cow". "Poke the box" ("Пробуй, не зупиняйся", "Poke the box - original book title) is also quite interesting and useful. This little book about innovation, about doing something new over and over again. Do not be afraid of changes, and on the contrary, make these changes yourself. No need to be afraid of mistakes. Mistakes are good, you need to learn about them, and become smarter and stronger. (English)
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Сет Годін став моїм одним з улюбленних авторів одразу після книги "Фіолетова корова". "Пробуй, не зупиняйся" теж досить цікава та корисна. Ця малесенька книжечка про новаторство, про те, щоб робити щось нове знову і знову. Не боятися змін, а навпаки, самому робити ці зміни. Не потрібно боятися помилок. Помилки - це добре, потрібно вчитись на них, та ставати розумнішими та сильнішими. (Українська) -
Якщо коротко - не бійтесь проявляти ініціативу)
Ось і увесь зміст книжки. -
Outstanding, Seth Godin is a marketing genius and gets it.
Challenge the status quo and poke the box.
I highly recommend this book and will listen to it again. -
If you ever want to read a book and get pumped to start something immediately, this is it. All this book does is say, in myriad ways, why it's valuable to be an initiator and how initiative is the most important quality any person can possess.
There is a right time and right way to read this book. Read it early in the morning or in the middle of the day. Not at night. Read it when you're alone at home, around other books and a notebook. Where you have things you can make use of to get going. For example, you should not read it when you're on a flight (like I was). Read a few pages, ponder and think about what you want to begin. Not tomorrow, not later. Now. And do it. Now. As you read this review too, what would you like to begin? It could be anything. But whatever it is, stop reading this and go do step 1 of it. Now.
This is a nice book to keep revisiting or have a copy of in your reach - so that you can keep going back to it to get some momentum to move forward. -
Книга, которая работает как пинок, как знак судьбы, как супер-мотиватор, как заряд энергии!!..
Для тех, кто очень хочет, но никак не решается что-то начать - must read.
