Sunday Jumpstart for December 13th, 2009

For the weekend, I'll recommend a few books. Instead of bombarding you with links, I'll choose the 5 Best from this past week, but first...

INFOGRAPHICS | US UNEMPLOYMENT BY COUNTY



BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS

There was an excellent list posted this week on the new blog Realty Infusion: 5 Mind-Blowing Business Books, and I would agree with their recommendations. In addition, here's three of my own:

1. Finite and Infinite Games,by James P. Carse. For "mind-blowing" this title would be quite hard to beat. It's a very simple philosophical approach that gets explained completely in the first chapter. Most people I've given this book to have said it was life-changing, and I agree. It's also very relevant to business, balancing the depth of focus and lightness of spirit necessary to succeed in this life.

2. The Works: Anatomy of a City,by Kate Asher. This is like a grown-ups version of "How Things Work" that lays out, with pictures, the entire system of urban civilization. It is an amazing book. It is also a total guide to the business of infrastructure, from GE to UPS to DHS, all through the lens of New York City. If you're in business, you need to understand the ecosystem you're inside and this is the quickest, simplest way to do that.

3. The Velvet Monkey Wrench,by John Muir. This book has dated slightly, but it remains a remarkably odd and powerful vision of a Better Civilization. It had a huge effect on my young business mind, and the principles here probably guide me to this day. Pro Tip: buy an older used version, which does a better job reproducing the illustrations, which are a book unto themselves, amazingly intricate and symbolic cartoon work.

5 BEST LINKS | From Dec 7th - 11th

1. Edward Pinto in the WSJ: Saving More Homes for Less Money, a detailed and constructive critique of the housing stimulus plan.

2. From the Bigger Pockets blog, an important question: Is 2009 The Year Home Prices Stabilized?

3. Zero Hedge analyzes the Deutsche Bank analysis of 4 Scenarios for 2010. A great summary of our current global economic status.

4. Time Magazine offers an unusually good economic thinkpiece: 5 Things the US Can Learn From China.

5. The best headline of 2009, by any standard: Obama Sends SWAT Teams into Mortgage Servicing Offices.