Two of the very best books - should be on every change agents agenda!

Hidden Persuaders by Vance Packard is the book that I always cite as the one that got me started in this field.  Read it too many years ago to mention in my teens and was blown away.  Got it again a few years ago but held of reading it (just in case it didn't live up to expectations!) for a couple of years but when I did get round to re-reading it it was just as good.

 Influence: science and practice ny Robert Cialdini (and its follow up Yes!) is a brilliant book.  Easily read, well written and very informative - top of my recommendation list - if you only read one book a year ...

One of the biggest criticisms I have about most, if not all, change management books is that they ignore the individual and focus on the organisation.  What they all seem to miss is that organisations don't change Individuals do!!!  So I can't really recommend anything on change management - you pays yer money and you takes yer chance!

I've enjoyed reading Wordweaving (Vol I and II) by Trevour Silvester, both good, probably vol I is the more enjoyable read and covers how we use language (NLP influenced) to persuade etc., well worth seeking out.

 

Another must read book - Dr Michael Nicholls - The Lost Art of Listening - absolutly tremendous!  Some very good examples of how we can all improve our listening skills.  Some sections less relevant than others but overall up there with the best books I've read!

I'm a big fan of autobiography, I suppose for the same reason as the top two books - they give an insight into how people tick and what motivates.  Most of the non "star" autobiography books I have are of Rugby (League and Union) players with a couple of cricketers and cyclists thrown in for good measure.

 

On the non sporting front, some of the best are Waylon Jennings' autobiography (if you've read other pages here you won't be suprised at that), Erc Clapton and the world's greates comedian W C Fields! plus Marty Feldmans new biography.

Favourite fiction authors (in no particular order) are :-

Robert Crais, Val McDermid, Kathy Reichs (is there a trend here?), Walter Mosley, Michael and John Connolley. 

Angela Carter also wrote some suberbly surreal and slightly off kilter books as did Phillip K Dick whose dystopian view of the world is still being mined by Hollywood.

Jasper Fforde is, simply, THE funniest writer in fiction!, his work appeals to my sense of fun (and pun) and his word play is brilliant.  Catch any of the Tuesday Next series or the Nursery Crime Division books for a surreal take on the blurred border between reality and fairy tale (shades of Angela Carter?).