Do you really listen to those around you? Family, friends, employers, employees, clients, acquaintances, bartenders, would you say you actually know how to and can really listen to them? I’d say that theoretically, a lot of us know how to. Everyone who had a few college classes talking about active listening, please raise your hand now! But I think we phase out our knowledge, the very same way as we tune out commercials, product placements in movies, people we’re not interested in, things that bother us. And I also believe we sometimes overlook and downright forget the benefits of opening our mind and souls to those around us by listening.

It took reading a great book, Just Listen: Discover the Secret to Getting Through to Absolutely Anyone by Dr. Mark Goulston – to remember the benefits of listening, the techniques and the investment it takes to make it all work. I know what some of you would say! All shrinks think they know how to listen and help you, but what does it have to do with business? I for one know for sure you can pretty much find valid business advice almost anywhere, so a psychiatrist that gets hired by businesses to get them to work better sounds like a sweet deal to me.

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What I think you shouldn’t have missed last week…

I’m extremely happy to welcome you to the first Monday Reading Roundup after our big move that kept me quiet for longer than I wanted . So without any other service interruption, here’s my list for today.

Have you always wanted to know what the secret formula to a successful business is? Your search has ended: Cath Lawson’s just made it public knowledge.

While so many out there have proclaimed print newspapers dead and burried, Shel Holtz has identified 10 changes that could save them.

If you have a site or a blog or both, you monitor your traffic. And admit it, higher numbers make you happier. But are you also mislead by traffic and driven to monitor the wrong metric? Dawud Miracle warns us against being tricked by the wrong numbers.

Ian Lurie is at it again and brings you a fresh and funny lesson on internet marketing. It’s about big crowds and how they don’t always have the smart solution.

We’ve all made mistakes. In business, these mistakes cost us our customers’/clients’ trust. Liz Strauss described the kind of apologies that help rebuild this lost trust.

In the end, I’ll spice up this weeks edition with Karen Swim’s reading recommendations. It’s a list of 5 wonderful blogs that I’m currently exploring (except the first one, that’s already in my reader).

Don’t forget to add your own suggestions to the comment box! See you all next week!

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Kurt Vonnegut’s novel Bluebeard, the Autobiography of Rabo Karabekian (1916-1988), is the story of an Abstract Expressionist painter searching for his soul. The lack of soul is the missing ingredient of his paintings and the search for it is not a willing one. It is just one man’s life taking him from the USA to Europe and back, in both times of war and peace.

The resemblance to the fairy tale of Bluebeard is not very strong. In his old age, Rabo Karabekian has become the guard of a significant Abstract Expressionist paintings collection that he shows to visitors from all over the world. His old studio, placed in a potato barn, is locked and he tells everyone it will only be opened after his death.

Rabo Karabekian’s is an interesting story, combining his Armenian roots and tales of old and never forgiven deceits, with art, love, the war and best friends who sometimes kill themselves or go crazy. Although he doesn’t give that impression, he is a devious character who has plotted a whole plan to get his sons who hate him to change their last name back to Karabekian.

A light yet complex read, Bluebeard is a book you should definitely put on your summer reading list.

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I had seen Haruki Murakami novels of book store shelves years before I bought my first. Quite a few of my friends had read one or more and warmly recommended his works. So I finally bought one of his novels a few months back. The title simply took me by surprise: Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World. An interesting combination of words as Joanna Young mentioned on Twitter. And you can’t imagine what a special sound it has in Romanian!

This is the story of two very different worlds: the first one, Hard-Boiled Wonderland, is what the world we know is supposed to be: modern Tokyo ruled by a war over information. Its System governs everything and sends out its Computecs (human data processor/encryption systems whose unique encryption key is their mind) in search for fresh information, while the Semiotecs, who are mostly fallen Computecs are trying to steal data from them. Incredible research and modern technology mixed with underground, human eating creatures of extraordinary and terrifying beliefs, the INKlinkgs.

The second world, the End of the World, is actually a city surrounded by a dark wall, where everyone has their given place and follow strict rules. Unicorns come inside the city every day and have to leave it at night. No one can leave the city and once you arrive there, you are separated from your shadow. The shadow dies and once it’s dead, you lose your soul. Every rule seems normal to the inhabitants, no one doubts them or even things of changing them.

Haruki Murakami creates two amazing worlds and takes readers by surprise with the twisted yet clear plot, the complex possibilities and the simple life choices characters make. I’d tell you more of this troubling book, but I’m afraid I’d allow too many important details to be guessed, when discovering them page after page is much more entertaining. If you come across this book, you should definitely read it and let me know what you’ve thought of it.

Disclaimer: I haven’t given up on the initial challenge, but as my glasses are broken and it takes three weeks to get new ones, each book might take longer than a week

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What I think you shouldn’t have missed last week…

Welcome everyone! This week’s edition of our Monday Reading Roundup if significantly affected by the holiday breeze. Meaning it’s a combination of new stuff, new finds, humor, crazy news and interesting articles. Hope you enjoy it as much as you enjoyed previous ones.

First of all, I have to tell you all that Alex of Blogsessive has released a free Wordpress theme called Simple Balance that you can download and use on your blog. It looks amazing, so consider it in your blog redesign plans.

I’ve also find an extremely cool site on tea, Ya-Ya’s Tea Bord. As I know a few of my readers are tea lovers, I’m sure you’ll enjoy it.

Speaking of crazy news, Geeks Are Sexy reported that a teen tried to sell his vote on eBay. When the police came knocking on his door, he’s excuse was it had all been a joke. Seems like everything is up for sale on eBay these days

Jonathan Fields has brought an interesting question to my (and your) attention: are smartphones actually making us dumber? It appears they are. I for one, if deprived of my phone, would be unable to contact any of my relatives or close friends.

Now that you’ve relaxed, had fun and sighed at others’ craziness, it’s time to relax. A guest post on Blissful Travel on the Thai island of Lipe. I don’t know about you, but I’d rather be there than in the office

Matt Jones of Blogging Fingers states it’s possible to make more money by blogging less. And he has also done a terrific job at explaining us how to achieve such a goal.

And instead of conclusions, I give you John Jantsch of Duct Tape Marketing explaining how cheap gas makes us lazier and how the rise in gas price comes with more physical exercises.

I hope you’ve had fun reading these fine articles and blogs. See you all next week for another round of summery readings.

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