Book Review: "Chasing Cool"

I didn't want to sit in traffic yesterday evening so I pulled off the highway and went into a nearby Border's (and paid the book tax). I decided to do a "random look around" though naturally I gravitated over to the business section. I avoided the usual suspects ("Investing"; "Management"; "Small Business") and instead read something new in "Marketing".

I settled on Chasing Cool, a new book about marketing and "coolness". The book was small, which in this case appealed to me because I wanted to flip through something in one quick session rather than spend a lot of time on a long, tedious book (see the previous book review).

Chasing Cool didn't teach me anything mind blowing but reaffirmed some key messages:

- In business, and life, you just can't force things. In this case, you can't force your way towards coolness and you definitely can't chase it; being "cool" has to be more of a natural fit. In that sense, it's something you develop over time by being authentic.

- When everyone is getting on a new trend's bandwagon, it's already too late.

- Oftentimes you've got to get out there and risk failing to get the big reward - in this case, coolness.

- You might have all the research in the world, but sometimes you just have to trust your gut instinct.

So was the book worth the money? Well, you'd be better served "allocating your capital" elsewhere, perhaps by getting a recently published good book I'll be reviewing called Discover Your Inner Economist from blog and Facebook friend Tyler Cowen.