Category Archives: Culture

Book Review: “Scrawl,” a terrific YA novel by Mark Shulman

Posted on January 11, 2011 by bradberens

Here’s the executive summary of this post: “Scrawl” reveals the inner life of a junior high school bully, a huge, violent, lower class, shambling boy named Tod Munn who is secretly brilliant but plays being an oaf to conceal his … Continue reading →

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Short Post: Stupid Business Advice, NOT from Shakespeare

Posted on November 9, 2010 by Brad Berens

If you want good business advice you should look carefully at William Shakespeare’s career. Yes, read the plays, but don’t just take greeting-card snippets from famous passages. Instead, look at their deep structure and how they’re embedded in the early modern London economy. Continue reading →

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And the Geek Shall Inherit the Earth, or Why to See “The Social Network”

Posted on October 6, 2010 by Brad Berens

[Cross posted with the iMedia Connection blogs.] This isn’t a movie review, although I will talk about the movie “The Social Network” that came out last weekend. Instead, in this short post I argue that everybody reading this post – … Continue reading →

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FOUND! That childhood book I couldn't remember…

Posted on November 21, 2009 by Brad Berens

For any of you interested in my quest to find a childhood book that I couldn’t identify, my sanity has been saved by the father/son team of Jerry and David Daniel. Jerry spied my plea for help on Facebook and … Continue reading →

Posted in Community, Culture, Internet, Media, Personal | 2 Comments

The lack of persistence of childhood memories

Posted on November 19, 2009 by Brad Berens

As a parent, watching my kids grow bumps into memories of my own childhood, sometimes with stark clarity and sometimes like when you forget about that top step when walking up a staircase in a dream. Now that my eight … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Internet, Media, Personal | 1 Comment

Open Letter to Jeff Bezos: Please Create an Amazon.com Tip Jar

Posted on October 6, 2009 by Brad Berens

In which the blogger begs Amazon.com CEO Jeff Bezos to help keep independent bookstores alive by creating an Amazon.com Tip Jar. Continue reading →

Posted in Community, Culture, Internet, Marketing, Media, Social Media | 5 Comments

On the Pleasures of Re-Reading vs. Blogging

Posted on August 12, 2009 by Brad Berens

On a recent road-trip with my eight-year-old daughter, H, we visited with a favorite former student of mine, Y, who is now a high-test corporate attorney. We met at the Emeryville Barnes & Noble and as we wandered, picking up … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Internet, Media, Online Writing, Personal | 3 Comments

15 Books

Posted on July 22, 2009 by Brad Berens

[Cross-posted from Facebook because ultimately I realized that there was nothing TOO personal here... with the possible exception of #5...] I saw my old friend Debbie Ginsberg get tagged with this and read her list with fascination. Coincidentally, I’d been … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Personal, Social Media | 1 Comment

The Problem with Micropayments, and an Alternative

Posted on July 15, 2009 by Brad Berens

Many years ago I lived in Ireland for my junior college year and stayed in a dorm where they kept the rooms crisp. I could stick a 25 pence coin into a little toaster in my room that would blast … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Internet, Media | 1 Comment

Do All Business Strategy Books Suck? (#5) Guest Post by Northwestern's Don E. Schultz

Posted on May 5, 2009 by Brad Berens

The story so far (skip this paragraph if you already know): Last week, Brian Reich threw down a challenge about all business strategy books sucking, to which I replied, set up the Twitter hashtag #bizstratbooks, and additionally asked a few … Continue reading →

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