You are on your own. Just do it. Better

If someone lends you a book, they're also lending you a little piece of themselves. Not just because there might be a hair or a fingernail trapped between the pages but because they're bridging a gap for you: they're saying, "Here, I have something that I think you need". I'm touched as much by the act of lending as by the item itself, the fact that the lender has rummaged through boxes and bookshelves with me in mind.

So Suzanne at work lent me a little manual with a big title. I've reproduced the cover here (Ju's Reviews-style), partly because I haven't put enough pictures in this blog, and partly because it sums up the book - audacious, clever, subversive. The self-consciously retro style continues throughout, so that I was surprised to find the book was first published in 2003 rather than the 1973 that the typeface and page layout suggests.

But that's just it - that and the outrageous subtitle, "The world's best-selling book" combine to summarise its contents - how to get ahead in advertising (yourself). Be different ("It's wrong to be right"), be generous ("Do not covet your own ideas"), be creative ("If you get stuck, draw with a different pen"), be brave ("Getting fired can be a positive career move" - that's good to hear). Yes, it is a book of platitudes but they are presented with such an arrogant self-confidence that becomes the epitomy of inspiration for the cynical - use that cynicism to make a difference by being different. That's my sort of advice... now, how can I put it into practice?