Brain Food: Worthwhile reading on business and other topic

The Magic Marketing Question: Did you know that there is one issue that dramatically affects your ability to boost both your customer retention and your growth? If you ask your customers this one magic question and then make smart use of the answer, you can take your business to a whole new level.

	Read The One Number You Need to Grow by Frederick F. Reicheld in the December 2003 issue of the Harvard Business Review.
	Then try his book Loyalty Rules: How Today's Leaders Build Lasting Relationships.

Here are some other business titles we've found valuable:

	Building Strong Brands by David Aaker
	Don't Make Me Think: A Commonsense Approach to Website Usability by Steve Krug
	The Brand Gap by Marty Neumeier
	The New Strategic Selling by Stephen E. Heiman and Diane Sanchez

For fun, we always like Dilbert:

All Dressed Down and Nowhere To Go by Scott Adams (see bottom of page 201 for world's best marketing cartoon). Or any of the other Dilbert books.

Since Vnca works with schools, which tend to be full of children and people who enjoy their company, we have some recommendations for childrens' books and websites. If you're looking for a great picture book for a child, try:

	Dear Mrs. Larue: Letters From Obedience School by Mark Teague
	The Adventures of Taxi Dog by Debra and Sal Barracca and Mark Buehner
	And any one of the many charming, honest tales of the hippo friends George and Martha. These titles by James Marshall include:
	-	George and Martha: The Complete Stories of Two Best Friends
	-	George and Martha One Fine Day
	-	George and Martha Encore
	-	George and Martha Rise and Shine

Great websites for children include:

	www.dosomething.org: Kids (and adults too) can learn about finance…support a good cause…and have fun in the bargain.
	www.wordcentral.com: It's got wordplay, learning, wacky poems the site writes for you and more.