I just finished the book Trust Agents: Using the Web to Build Influence, Improve Reputation, and Earn Trust by Julien Smith and Chris Brogan. It is not being released until August 24, but I was able to get my paws on an advance copy last week at Affiliate Summit East 2009.

I’ve got to tell you… I loved Trust Agents.

While Julien and Chris were at Affiliate Summit, they had a book signing. And while I did go to the book signing, I ended up leaving my copy of Trust Agents in my hotel room. That was an exercise in fail.

But I got some pictures of the action, and lots of other people have signed copies of the future best seller. Foiled again!

Anyhow, it’s a quick read with lots of gems in there about leveraging social networks and social media overall, increasing your sphere of influence, and that sort of thing.

It’s a step by step guide on how to do it all. And I know – you’re as cynical as me. There are a lot of books that promise to teach you how to do it.

But they’re typically by pretenders. People that pretend to do and know the stuff that Brogan and Smith have experienced themselves.

Long story short – read Trust Agents. If you were lucky enough to snag a copy at Affiliate Summit, just reach into your still unpacked bag from the show. Otherwise, it’s available online and soon in your local store.

When Chris and Julien spoke at Affiliate Summit, they shared a topline view of the book with the crowd.

Check out their presentation: attention wars and the rise of the TRUST AGENT.

The presentation was a good primer, maybe even a study guide for the book. But it’s heavy on images, so you’re not going to get all of the concepts by the slides alone. In the very near future, I’ll be posting video of the who keynote (soon as I get it from our production company).

If you happen to be in the position where you have a need for a bulk order of Trust Agents, I just saw a post on Chris Brogan’s blog with a unique opportunity where you can get him to come to your office.

I’ll limit this to five total offers and you’ll have to show a screen cap of the confirmed order to prove it: If you purchase 200 copies of Trust Agents, I’ll fly out and spend a half day with your organization for free. I’ll let you know right now that my consulting rate is far more than the price of 200 books, so it’s a pretty darned good deal, so this might be the chance for a two-fer. You can give your group some books, and you can get specific consultation about how your organization can use online tools to be human at a distance and deliver business value.

Either way, I’d highly recommend the book, and I’m pretty picky about business books.

Video: Trust Agents

Steve Krug changed my life when he published his book called Don’t Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability.

Up until I read that book, I was floundering with my html and web design business, trying to figure out how to best connect and engage my readers.

This book changed all that for me. It has become my usability bible. With mind-altering statements like “people don’t read, they scan”, Krug’s book transformed my work and energized me into becoming a top expert in my industry.

It’s common sense; what’s in the this book. From its easy and fun to read pages, Don’t Make Me Think digs deeps into the reasons why people surf websites and click on things.

It takes you into the depths of usability in a way that will educate and illuminate your thoughts on how people really think.

Also providing insights on you can perform your own usability studies with a six pack of beer and your next door neighbor!

I highly recommend this book, and I believe it is required reading for anyone in the business of online design or web production.

I love shopping on Amazon.com. I do the majority of my online shopping there for books, shoes, magazines, and music – pretty much everything.

If you also shop a lot at Amazon, you should check out Amazon Prime. It’s a membership club on Amazon that enables you to get free or discounted shipping on your orders.

The price is $79.99 per year, but you can sample it for a month for free.

Features of Amazon Prime include…

• FREE Two-Day Shipping on over a million in-stock items
• $3.99 Overnight Shipping
• No Minimum Order
• Share Your Benefits

Here is an example where I used Amazon Prime and it paid for itself. I sent out books to dozens of colleagues as a Christmas gift last year.

Each book was $10 or $15 each, so it wouldn’t qualify for the Amazon Super Saver shipping deal. But since I had Amazon Prime, I got free two-day shipping for each order.

If you even shop a moderate amount on Amazon, you should try the Amazon Prime trial.

More details at http://www.weviews.tv/prime.

Between work, kids, the gym and social obligations, these days, I find it difficult to set time aside to read. But for multi-taskers like me, listening to audio books works out terrific. In fact, I couldn’t imagine going out on a walk, cleaning up the house, or sitting on a plane without listening to one.

Audible offers the ability for customers to download audio to their PC’s or Macs and then transfer to their listening devices, such as MP3 players or their PDA’s. You can also burn the audio books to a CD or you can stream it right from their site.

Audible.com offers over 25,000 audio books to choose from featuring all the best sellers and new releases. They also have audio editions of periodicals like the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. Audible offers a pay-per-download option or monthly and yearly memberships. I am an Audible Platinum member which means for $21.95 per month, I receive two credits enabling me to download two books in most cases. The price for new members on this program is $22.95.

While on my vacation in Aruba this month, I listened to “We are Smarter than Me”, by Barry Libert and Jon Spector, which is a great book that talks about how you can profit from the wisdom of crowds. I also listened to “Stone Cold”, by David Baldacci, which was the next book in his Camel Club series. If I were to buy the books in a retail store, the list price would total $48.98. I saved over $27.00 downloading the audio versions from Audible.com. It’s really a great deal.

At the time of filming this video, Audible.com had a great promotion running for the Audible Listener Gold program which gives you 1 credit per month. The normal price for that is $14.95 per month, but during this promotion, you can get your first 3 months for $7.49 per month – a 50% savings.

So if you’re an overloaded, multi-tasking, book-reading junkie like me, take a look at Audible.com. I’m certain you’ll love it.

Leadership, by former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani, is a very interesting book on a business level, as well as a historical level.

As you might imagine, the first chapter covers Giuliani’s leadership on 9/11 and the days and months that followed.

The proceeding chapters go on to cover Rudy’s two terms as NYC mayor, as he sought to run the city as a business, and ended up with impressive results.

Leadership has some really helpful lessons in business, or even for heading a family or coaching a ball team.

The advice from Rudy is summarized in basic ideas for the chapter titles, and then he goes into detail for each premise and how he applied it in real life.

I lived in the New York City area throughout Rudy Giuliani’s terms as mayors, so I was very familiar with a lot of the examples cited throughout the 1990’s. I think the content will be very instructive and interesting to folks from all over who might not be aware of the details of problems Rudy encountered and his solutions.

One item that struck me was how lots of leaders have little plaques on their desks with inspirational sayings, and his was more to the point: “I’m Responsible.”

Whether he received accolades or criticisms, he took rightful responsibility.

My favorite piece of advice, which can certainly be used in personal and professional life, is “Weddings Discretionary, Funerals Mandatory.”

I think anybody who has ever experienced loss can relate to the significance of that practice, especially in the wake of 9/11 when Rudy Giuliani placed a priority on honoring the victims.

Other parts of Rudy’s Leadership that particularly resonated with me were chapter 5 (“Surround Yourself with Great People”) and chapter 12 (“Stand Up to Bullies”) – two very important things for a successful leader, and another dozen detailed in this book.

Also, Leadership is particularly illuminating and important for anybody tracking the 2008 U.S. Presidential race.

I just read Be Unreasonable, by Paul Lemberg, and I wanted to share it, because it’s catapulted up to be one of my favorite non-fiction and business books.

The sub-title of the book is “The Unconventional Way to Extraordinary Business Results”, and it’s full of examples and ideas on how to go about business in ways that aren’t considered to be “right” or conventional.

It’s not just another manuscript of going outside the box; because that presumes that you’re allowing the box to be the basis of your ideas.

Rather, Be Unreasonable is about doing something totally unique and original, and going a different route to achieve success.

I found the mini case studies to be very informative and enlightening. Paul Lemberg’s approach to various challenges is fresh, and his book really resonated with me and reinforced ideas about endeavoring to do great things.

Whether you are an entrepreneur or working at a company, I think this book would be an asset to you. It will help to open your mind with different perspectives and to devise new approaches to old problems.