Short books

I have decided that short books are my favorites. Ones you can read in an afternoon, day or evening. I don't know of any idea or topic that can't be explained in a day, and so it should be with books. It's 2005, the information age is running at full steam (no pun intended) and things should be as brief as possible.

Here are my favorite short books, off the top of my head (most of my books are in Madison; I am not):

• The Old Man and The Sea, Ernest Hemingway. A classic story of struggle and heartbreak, delivered in a beautiful 128 pages. A nice evening read.


• The Brand Gap, Marty Neumeier. This book totally altered my outlook on how to persuade using sounds, words and images. A must read for anyone in marketing, advertising, design, publishing, management or... branding.


• Interface Culture, Steven Johnson. Compelling analysis of the interface metaphor, and how it dominates not only modern technology but much of our culture. Not quite "short" at 250 pages, but still manageable in a day.


• Don't Make Me Think, Steve Krug. Subtitled "A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability," this book gracefully covers the major points of web usability (and spares us Jakob Nielsen's condescending tone). Since I have two copies, I share this book with nearly everyone I work with.


• In Our Time, Ernest Hemingway. Sorry for the Hemingway overload, but this is great short fiction. It's actually a collection of stories, but it's thematically consistent so it makes for a great afternoon read. Sad, desolate and personal, delivered with uncompromising effectiveness.

If anyone is reading this, what are your favorite short books?