Bookshelf: Christiane Bördner

Date
26 February 2012

Christiane Bördner’s wonderful I Love You Magazine was born of her blog of the same name and, with its stylish design, reverent emphasis on beautiful imagery and discussion about contemporary female identity, it couldn’t have found a more welcome medium or readership. The Berlin-based editor is also art director of The Gaabs, a design studio set-up with photographer/director Marcus Gaab. “I am always afraid of wasting my time,” she tells us and is currently “obsessed with self-help and marketing literature as well as psychological books to help me establish my magazines and to expand my business” – all of which makes a very healthy Bookshelf…

Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion Robert B. Cialdini

This book actually helped me to avoid a law suit with a client who owed us a lot of money. With a psychological understanding for human beings and all the things I have learned from this book, I could convince this client to pay me all the money he owed us. Which saved us a lot of time and money we would have spent to pay the lawyers. This was a very exciting and yet nerve wrecking experience but with its success I felt like a negotiation professional. I feel like I no longer have to fight against people. It is more like I understand my opponent and his motives better and can give him what he needs to convince him. Influence is a classic book on persuasion, explains the psychology of why people say “yes” and how to apply these understandings. Dr. Robert Cialdini is the seminal expert in the rapidly expanding field of influence and persuasion.
www.amazon.co.uk/influence
www.influenceatwork.com

The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference Malcolm Gladwell

This was my favourite book in 2011 that a good friend once told me about. The “tipping point” is that magic moment when an idea, trend, or social behaviour crosses a threshold, tips, and spreads like wildfire. Just as a single sick person can start an epidemic of the flu, so too can a small but precisely targeted push cause a fashion trend, the popularity of a new product, or a drop in the crime rate. “The best way to understand the dramatic transformation of unknown books into bestsellers, or the rise of teenage smoking, or the phenomena of word of mouth or any number of the other mysterious changes that mark everyday life,” writes Malcolm Gladwell, “is to think of them as epidemics.” While I was reading it I told everybody about it. I was like a continuous record all I could think about was epidemics and that even suicides can bee seen as a cultural phenomenon and do follow trends.
www.amazon.co.uk/tipping-point-little
www.gladwell.com/tippingpoint

The Education of Millionaires: It’s Not What You Think and It’s Not Too Late Michael Elsberg

I am always up for a good coaching book and this one definitely is one of those. I am not finished with it yet but already working on the good advice, for instance, on my network. I am connecting people and throwing dinner parties like crazy now. It is not only about taking it’s more about giving and in the end it all comes back to you. I have this dream to finally live in abundance and to never have to think about money ever again.
www.amazon.co.uk/the-education-of-millionaires
www.ellsberg.com/the-education-of-millionaires

Things As They Are: Photojournalism in Context Since 1955 Christian Caujolle

Just so as not to be all theoretical and dry, here is one picture book I love. I am very much into vintage magazines and vintage layouts and since I got this from Dashwood Books in New York, it is my bible. It is a paperback edition and presents the story of photojournalism over 50 years, from 1955 until today. Photojournalism in magazines used to be very well designed, very inspiring. And for those who can’t stand the picture it has quite impressive stories in there – though I honestly try to focus on the layout because some stories are too much for me.
www.amazon.co.uk/things-as-they-are
www.aperture.org/things-as-they-are

The Rise of the Creative Class: And How It’s Transforming Work, Leisure, Community and Everyday Life Richard Florida

The first time I heard about Richard Florida was at Trendtag in Hamburg in 2008. His speech was called “Who is your city?” He mentioned that the importance of geographic location will not disappear in an increasing globalised world, but where we live is more important. Places affect our social and professional opportunities enormously, they determine our chances to live a happy and fulfilling life. So if you ever dream of living in solitude and being super creative he will teach you otherwise. Major ideas thrive when creative minds come together. He distinguishes the creative class into two categories. The “Creative Professionals” are people who work in knowledge occupations. These are employees in healthcare, finance, and education. Among the “Super Creatives” I understand scientists, researchers, engineers, artists, designers, writers and musicians. He defines this class as those whose economic function is to create new ideas, new technology, and new creative content. In general this group shares common characteristics, such as creativity, individuality, diversity, and merit. The author estimates that this group has 38 million members, constitutes more than 30 percent of the US workforce, and profoundly influences work and lifestyle issues. The purpose of this book is to examine how and why we value creativity more highly than ever and cultivate it more intensely.
www.amazon.co.uk/the-rise-of-the-creative-class
www.wikipedia.org/creative-class

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About the Author

Bryony Quinn

Bryony was It’s Nice That’s first ever intern and worked her way up to assistant online editor before moving on to pursue other interests in the summer of 2012.

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