I Feel Just Like a Certain Prize-Fighter…

Yes, folks, it’s been 25 years since Roger von Oech wrote A Whack on the Side of the Head. I’m going to confess now, so you don’t go back through every one of my posts trying to find the one where I mentioned my age, do the math, and then pin me down to whether I really read it at that age…

Nevermind. Go back and read every single one of my posts. First one to find the post where I mention refer to* my age, and leave a comment here quoting that post, gets a copy of the 25th Anniversary Edition. Really. My age will only be mentioned in that post for one week, and then I’m taking the mention out, so after you read this, get going! You have to quote it—just knowing how old I am ‘cause I talk elsewhere doesn’t count.

… so I confess. The side of my head has only been sore for about twenty years. From the moment Roger von Oech’s deceptively simple book came into my life, I have been whacking myself on the side of the head whenever I get stuck, in any sphere of my life. On the list of life-transforming books, this is easily in my top ten. His quirky creative-thinking vocabulary is so much a part of my life, that it wasn’t until reading the 25th Anniversary Edition of A Whack on the Side of the Head that I even realized how many of his ideas are part of how I approach life every day.

What’s A Whack to you?

  • Permission to let go of conventions
  • Hundreds of new ways to look at your same-old stuff
  • Brilliant sillyness, delivered fresh every time you crack open a page

This is a book you can not read the same way twice. With a fresh problem on your mind, you will find a whole new book in your hands.

If you own the 1983 classic or a revised edition, fear not. I dug out my old copy and found delightful updates, timely additions, and revisions that made me smile, like the wonderful random-word page.

Working on your company’s Experience Design? Give yourself a Whack. New ways to look at your Vision, your direction, and at reaching your Ideal Customer, are already rattling around in your head. This will shake those ideas free. (And if not, give VisionPoints a call. We’re already Whacked.) Stuck on a personal problem? Another Whack. Can’t imagine what to write for tomorrow’s blog post? I dare you, put your finger down anywhere on that random-word page in chapter eight.

I sold A Whack to my mother two weeks ago. She sat down with my copy and fell for it instantly, made me tell her about my love for all things Roger von Oech, and told my father to order her a copy on amazon as we continued talking. By the time they got home from their visit to Delaware, the book was waiting for her. I’m not making this up. I’m just that good.  :)

Dear Reader, I won’t leave you hanging. Why is Kelly telling me about this book? you ask. Well, I’m a big fan of Cam Beck’s and I read his posts devotedly. When he did a smart review of the new Whack at Chaos Scenario, I dropped him a line to say that his photo looked like my entire library, including my very well-worn Whack. If a book’s worth keeping, it’s worth dogearing beyond all reason, to me (and to Cam, apparently). To my unending surprise, Mr. von Oech read that comment and wrote a lovely email, asking if I’d like a review copy of the 25th Anniversary Edition.

Kelly does not say no to free books. Especially to new editions of books she already loves by people who’ve changed her life.

Your intrepid author wants your small business and your life to be changed by her suggestions. That’s what I’m here for at the Maximum Customer Experience Blog, and that’s what we do at VisionPoints. Lofty, I know, but it’s me. I’ve loved this book for half my life, and you will, too.

Oh, there is that one trick: First one to find the post where I mention refer to* my age, and leave a comment here quoting that post, gets a copy of the 25th Anniversary Edition of A Whack on the Side of the Head, straight from me to you. Because I love my readers.

Grow Whacky and be well,

Kelly Erickson

 

*I don’t think I’m being too difficult, here, but just in case: there is only one direct reference to my age in all the posts here at MCE. Maybe that clarifies, or maybe y’all need to think a little more creatively. If you think you’ve found it you’ll quote it here, right, and not worry about looking silly? ‘Cause I’m itching to give this book away…

 

Buy it now on amazon:

A Whack on the Side of the Head: How You Can Be More Creative

25th Anniversary Edition (2008)

by Roger von Oech

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