Seth Godin recently released his new book, Poke the Box (Amazon affiliate link), as part of the Domino Project. As an avid reader of Seth’s, both his books and his blog, I was excited to read it. What I’ve always appreciated about Seth Godin books is that they’re so easily consumable but pack a punch that serves as a good set of reminders, motivate you and resonate for a while after finishing the book.

That last point is really important to me as a reader. As someone who consumes a lot of information and is consistently juggling multiple projects that demand my time, unfortunately even when I have the best intentions, I don’t ever get back to the book I highlighted, the magazine article I ripped out or the blog post that I starred in Google Reader. This is never the case with Seth’s books. I read them as soon as I get my hands on them, highlight or write all over them and continually look back at them. And Poke the Box followed that same pattern.

I downloaded it on Kindle as soon as it launched and on my flight down to Austin, TX for SXSW 2011 I was able to read the book in about an hour or so. At 83 pages with a lot of spacing on the pages, the book is a short, quick read. I think this is because the book then takes you another 2 hours to fully digest as you quickly scribble down thoughts, make plans and focus on shipping something. For me, after I was done reading and taking some notes from the book, I immediately opened up Evernote and wrote another 1,000 words for the next edition of Facebook Marketing, drafted the initial thoughts for my next newsletter (are you subscribed yet?) and began writing a couple blog posts.

The official book description explains it all:

If you’re stuck at the starting line, you don’t need more time or permission. You don’t need to wait for a boss’s okay or to be told to push the button; you just need to poke.

Poke the Box is a manifesto by bestselling author Seth Godin that just might make you uncomfortable. It’s a call to action about the initiative you’re taking-– in your job or in your life. Godin knows that one of our scarcest resources is the spark of initiative in most organizations (and most careers)-– the person with the guts to say, “I want to start stuff.”

Poke the Box just may be the kick in the pants you need to shake up your life.

I highly recommend that you pick up a copy of Seth’s new book.

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Photo Credit: Jeff Hester