THE STARTUP GARDEN by Tom Ehrenfeld

The Book: Tom Ehrenfeld, THE STARTUP GARDEN: How Growing a Business Grows You. McGraw Hill trade paperback, 2002 (first edition).
First read: 2001 (I think)
Owned since: 2002

I own three copies of this book, and not one of them is signed. How is this possible? I read much of this book in manuscript, provided research and suggestions on the text, and helped out with the launch party; why aren't any of my copies signed?

The book is, as its title suggests, an exploration of the intersection between entrepreneurship and personal growth. Through interviews and case histories, Tom looks at how successful business owners rose to work-related challenges by overcoming their personal demons, and how some were able to apply the lessons of their businesses to their private lives. The book is also a valuable how-to guide for anyone thinking about starting a business of their own.

It's lazy of me to pick this book today. It's also shameless logrolling and sucking-up, because I'm going to see Tom at Kate's Mystery Books' holiday party tonight. I missed last year's because of the weather; the weather's turning ominous again today, but with luck I'll be out the door before the snow begins.

For anyone in the Boston area, the party starts at 5:30 and goes to at least 8:00 p.m. See you there!

What I Read This Week

Jules Verne, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. I read this book for a client, and was sure I'd read it as a child -- but what I read must have been the Classics Illustrated version or some other abridgment, because this was not the book I remembered. Professor Aronnax, his assistant Conseil and Canadian whaler Ned Land are involuntary guests of the mysterious Captain Nemo, who takes them on a journey around the world at the depths of the ocean. Originally published in serial form, the book is more a string of encounters with the marvels of the deep than a real adventure novel. It's remarkably prescient, though, and I wish it had come with photographs.

George D. Shuman, 18 Seconds. The premise of Shuman's series -- a blind psychic who can "see" the last 18 seconds of a dead person's life -- is fantastic, but we don't see enough of the protagonist, Sherry Moore, in this second novel. Moore's blindness limits her ability to do much investigation; Shuman overcame this in his first novel by partnering her with a police detective, but this time around the detectives are operating independently, and it's hard to keep track of everyone. They're all on the trail of a serial killer who kills women by hanging them, in an attempt to replicate his own mother's death.