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Widely seen as a pioneer of the Internet in Canada, Ken has tirelessly promoted the Net as a significant force in business and culture. Today, he is VP, Marketing & Product Management for Tucows and a contributor to One Degree, Canada's leading web site for Internet marketing professionals.
Ken Schafer's favorite books
Recent Non-fiction
- The Wisdom Of Crowds: Why The Many Are Smarter Than The Few by James Surowiecki
(business books)
"I can't believe how long it too me to get to this "must read" for the social media cognoscenti but it didn't disappoint." - Made To Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive And Others Die by Dan Heath
(management / leadership, business books, health)
"A fantastic resource for anyone who needs to clearly communicate anything. Probably my top business book of 2007. A must read." - The Future Of Management by Gary Hamel
(business books, management, management / leadership)
"I found this very inspiring. We're working through a lot of these issues at Tucows and a few of us have now read this book. Really thought provoking and more pragmatic than I was expecting." - Einstein: His Life And Universe by Walter Isaacson
(history, science)
"Isaacson provides a comprehensive study of the great man, intertwining his personal and scientific lives effortlessly." - The Black Swan by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
(management, management / leadership, business books, IT books, nonfiction)
"While Taleb's ideas are VERY important I have a hard time recommending the book to the average reader as it does delve pretty heavily into statistical and probabilistic thinking at times. If you don't mind a bit of hard work in the later chapters this will reward with some great insights into how much we are ruled by randomness." - The Stuff Of Thought by Steven Pinker
(health, nonfiction, science)
"Getting through the grammar lessons in the early chapters was a bit of a challenge but the sections on why we swear where absolutely worth it!"
Recent Fiction
- The Road by Cormac McCarthy
(literature and fiction, sci-fi)
"Incredibly powerful - probably one of my all-time favourite books despite the relentless bleakness." - To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee
(literature and fiction, mystery and thrillers)
"Just wonderful. I've seen the movie many times but reading the book was a revelation." - A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
(literature and fiction)
"The history of Kabul Afghanistan disguised as the harrowing stories of two women as they deal with oppression and injustice while finding time to love and learn." - Spook Country by William Gibson
(literature and fiction, sci-fi)
"I enjoyed this far more than I was expecting. I tried Neuromancer ages ago and couldn't get into it, but Spook Country was very much a page turner - heavy on plot, set in a futuristic "near past" (2006). Highly recommended." - The Catcher In The Rye by J.D. Salinger
(literature and fiction, classics)
"Getting around to reading classics I should have read much earlier in life is a big goal for 2008. Finally meeting Holden Caufield was a great start.
You can see why the book was radical in its time - in content and style, but it seems pretty darn quaint these days. Is it still banned anywhere?" - All The Pretty Horses By Cormac Mccarthy
(literature and fiction, mystery and thrillers)
"A cowboy gothic starting and ending with a funeral. In between we get minimalist dialogue, pages of apocalyptic odes to equines and Mexican desert landscapes. Brilliant."
Source:
http://www.schafer.com
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Why should you listen to him?
Ken is the founder of One Degree, Canada's leading web site for Internet marketing professionals. Widely seen as a pioneer of the Internet in Canada, Ken has tirelessly promoted the Net as a significant force in business and culture.
Ken conceived and oversaw Sony Music Canada's early online initiatives. From their first site in 1995, Ken's team built a global web presence for 25 Canadian artists, by pioneering viral and e-mail marketing, rich media, and community building long before they had become buzzwords.
In 1996 he co-founded (AIMS) where as President he helped it become Canada's largest organization for Internet decision-makers. In 1997 he co-authored the online portion of the Canadian Marketing Association's Code of Ethics.
Ken's volunteer work was recognized in 2002 when he was named a finalist for "Volunteer of the Year" at the Canadian New Media Awards.
More recently, Ken developed the curriculum and now teaches the 14-week CMA's Certificate in E-marketing program.
Today, he is VP, Marketing for Tucows Inc.
Ken received his degree in Mathematics from the University of Waterloo and lives outside Toronto with his wife, parenting expert Alyson Schafer, and their two children.
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