The Awesome Book Giveaway »

A lot of my friends, colleagues, and flat-out heros have released some excellent books recently. I’ve mentioned a few of them, but I think it would be fun to run a giveaway and help spread some of this fine knowledge around the community. Here are the books I am giving away:

Building iPhone Apps with HTML, CSS, and Javascript, Jonathan Stark
An excellent introduction to creating web applications on the iPhone. I’ve watched this book grow over the past few months and I can say with confidence that it’s ready to become a definitive reference for creating iPhone web apps. In addition to covering the basics, the book also includes a full chapter on jQTouch, my jQuery plugin for iPhone development.
Designing With Web Standards, Jeffrey Zeldman
For anyone getting into web development, Zeldman’s DWWS continues to serve as the ultimate introduction to web standards and best practices. I’ve trained a fair amount of budding designers, and this book is always first on my “required reading” list. Now in it’s third edition, the book continues to stay fresh and relevant.
Mobile Design and Development, Brian Fling
Brian’s a good friend of mine and colleague at pinch/zoom. His presentations on mobile design are beautiful, informative, and comprehensive. This book promises to be a wealth of insight into mobile design practices and industry trends.
Crush It, Gary Vaynerchuk
For anyone who hasn’t had the benefit of seeing Gary speak live, he is the creator of Wine Library TV and one of the most inspirational speakers on social media around. Crush It is not just about doing what you love and making great money while doing it, but shows just how accessible success is in today’s web culture.
Rework, 37Signals
Readers of this blog will note: 37Signals is one of my favorite companies around—it is an overwhelming business success built on principles like communicating clearly and charging for value. Their previous book, Getting Real, remains the authoritative guide on building web apps. This one, set to release early next year, will speak purely to business management—and will doubtlessly be full of exceptional advice.

To participate, just leave a reply below with the number corresponding to the book you want most, a quick note about what type of content you’d like to see more of on this blog, and your Twitter username. I’ll select winners randomly at the end of the week. Also, make sure you’re following me on Twitter so I can DM the details to the winners.

So, which book would you like?

“If you build a simpler, more affordable alternative to what’s out there already, you can bring new people into the fold. You don’t have to grab a piece of someone else’s pie — just bake a new one.”

Matt Linderman, Don’t just try to steal a share of the existing market, create a new one

“
“Because it sucks” is not a reason to redesign. “It sucks” leaves the scope wide open with no measure of success. It’s a sure way to scrap the good decisions you made along with the mistakes.

Instead, start the redesign with a question: “What is right about this design?” Use that perspective to identify specific problems and then target those exact problems.
”

Ryan Singer

“Would you take your next paycheck in page views? or users? or followers? or visitors? or eyeballs (remember that one from the 90s)? Go down to the corner store and plunk down a million impressions for a gum ball. They’ll probably call the cops.”

Jason Fried, The bar for success in our industry is too low

“Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted.”

Albert Einstein (via 37signals)

The back cover of Rework, 37signals soon-to-be-released book on business. I intensely admire 37signals company — they continuously demonstrate the power of small and simple in everything they do.

I’m excited to say that it looks like I’ll soon be passing 1,000 followers on Tumblr—and not so far on Twitter, either. I’m planning a little giveaway to celebrate both, for each of the thousandth subscribers. However, Outpost is too niche, and an iTunes gift card seems too dull.

How about a free copy of one of my favorite books, Getting Real? Other suggestions?

“If you’re a designer who doesn’t do any writing, you’re going to hit a brick wall in your career at some point.”

Ryan Singer, lead designer at 37signals

“The lesson: Once your user base has grown beyond a certain point, you cannot take features away from them. They will freak out. Whether the feature is good or bad, once you launch it you’ve married it. This changes the economics of feature additions. If you can’t destroy what you build, each addition holds the threat of clutter. Empty pixels and free space where a new feature could be added are the most valuable real estate on your app. Don’t be quick to sell it, because you can never get it back.”

Ryan Singer, Features are a one-way street

This was posted on SvN almost a year ago, but I think it really speaks to the heart of the current discontent on Twitter.

9-bits by David Kaneda

November 11th 2009

The Awesome Book Giveaway »

Also noted: