US Guys: The True and Twisted Mind of the American Man – Charlie LeDuff (Charlie feels like Hunter S Thompson and Philalawyer mixed together. good book)

Wasted: A Memoir of Anorexia and Bulimia – Marya Hornbacher (very rarely do you read someone with the ability to write about themselves with this kind of self-awareness. it’s almost as if she’s able to step outside herself and write from a perspective hovering above.)

The Myth of the Robber Barons – Burton W. Folsom (sort of cheesy self-published vibe but has a ton of great anecdotes)

The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder – Vincent Bugliosi (bought this at the airport because I forgot my books and finished it four hours later. Amazing. It’s his Swan Song. A retired 73 year old man absolutely eviscerates the most powerful person in the world.)

The Wisdom of Whores: Bureaucrats, Brothels, and the Business of AIDS – Elizabeth Pisani (thought this was going to be a little bit more about economics but it confirms what smart people already know about AIDS. each culture has its own unique cocktail for the spread of the disease and only by addressing those specifically will you be able to do anything about it. the author is honest and practical and entertaining.)

-My friend Shawn started a site. He’s the one that helped me come up with Fight Club Moments

-Kevin Kelly posted “Books that Changed My Life“. I want my library to look like his. At the bottom, he asks people to send in lists of people they respect. I’d really appreciate anyone who would send him mine.

-Valleywag has a nice example of exactly how NOT to do guerrilla PR. If you have a site or deal with the press at all, you know that horrible emails are the curse of the industry. And because most people can’t step outside their own head and look at things from someone else’s perspective, they are laughably bad at cold contact emails. If you can craft something decent -and it really is a craft – you can open up all the right doors.

-I’ve had two brothers email me off and on for the last few months. Together they’ve sent me emails addressed to the wrong person, hit me with the obnoxious Tim Ferriss autoresponder, invited me to join a FB group one of them created about himself, tagged me the same blog from like four different accounts and asked me to look at a quote list they didn’t bother to give me credit for.

Its funny because as ridiculous as all those things are, at least they’ve shown some initiative. That’s great. I know who they are. I just have a sneaking suspicious that they might be retarded.

-Tim did a great post on this a few weeks ago but he’s missing one thing: Humanness. For young people, your emails need to have life. Spirit. Use the word “really” or “thank you” or “hope” or anything that makes you real. Because you are real When I see “I am grateful for your consideration” I think this isn’t someone I have going to bother giving anything back to.

-Everyone has their own their own style. There is not right or wrong way to navigate new media emails. But if I had to offer some advice…

* Be human

* Be brief

* Be personal

* Offer something in exchange

* Create a reason for a response (“getting an answer” implies something)

* If you’re going to go covert, be untraceable

Again, emails, questions, comments, views – all of those incur a cost upon the person you want something from. It’s your job to make those as low as possible.

I turn 21 in the next few days. Friday was the day I was supposed to graduate from college. Writers live interesting lives, I remember Tucker saying a couple years ago. That’s what I’ve been trying to do since.

It’s funny how stuff comes together. Nature’s inadvertence. How it all lines up. You get lucky. You get fucked. Get so worked up about something and it just fades away. In two or three days, it goes a direction you couldn’t even have even considered. When you space that over a year, the distance you can travel is almost incomprehensible. If you can just have a little faith in yourself and the ability to get lost a little in the present.

I’ve been fired. Twice. Promoted. An Executive. I wouldn’t even want to check public records for my name, who knows what will turn up now. Thought about going back to school. Met some celebrities, cashed a big check. Been humbled, a little. Tried to listen more than I talk – failed. Started to know what I need to be happy.

But if I were a start up, my valuation would just be starting to accelerate. I haven’t turned Pro yet, but I’m starting to know what that means.

Which, by the way, is exactly how I’m starting to look at developing yourself. Like a start up. You are start up. Don’t worry about monetization. Or a safety net or health insurance or an office. Aim for critical mass and pick up support wherever you can. Woo every customer. Find something that no one else does and do it better than they ever can. Invest in yourself. Sweat equity. What are you doing? Do you love it? Start ups run on love. Read the books. Look for the angel investors. Have an exit strategy.

Most of my friends are moving home for the summer. Or they’re graduating and moving home again anyway. Apparently, that’s something to be admired. Fuck That. This is your life. All the tools and opportunities and chances that you’re supposedly waiting for, you can leverage now. And not only will you be rewarded for doing so, but people are desperately hoping that you will.

I’m in so unbelievably above my level that I can’t articulate it, but you know what – it’s working. It’s working so well that I’m having to seriously thinking about learning how to say “no.” Whatever skills I have, there are a lot of people who not only have them too, but in addition to a cadre of others that I will never be able to call mine.

Like I said, this is your life. I can only speak about mine. That’s all I really try to do here. I’ve been extremely lucky to meet people who’ve giving me the freedom to develop myself on their tab. But they’re a different breed of people and they’re only going to invest in you when you make the conscious decision to be different yourself.

So I did it. You should do.