Continuing the theme of identifying useful books to tech startups, this blog post by Chris Brogan caught my eye. He writes on community and social media. Lots of ideas on building an audience.  My comments on the book list:  I read Paul Gillin's book, The New Influencers, early on in this job. Great introduction to many concepts in social media with a practical focus.  I just picked up Groundswell and look forward to reading it. And have heard David Meerman Scott talk at Software 2007 -- again, good ideas to really use.

For the Bookshelf: Five Social Media Books Worth Reading - by Chris Brogan

First, let me tell you that I'm a HUGE fan of public libraries. You can get most of these books through your greater library system. But, if you want easy access to links to read more about the books, I've provided Amazon links to these books that I think rock. [Note from Kris: the Amazon links got stripped when I posted this so I am supporting a wonderful, long-time local bookstore in Silicon Valley, Kepler's Books, with links to their site. My small stand against the inevitable. I,too, still love bookstores and libraries.]

• Now Is Gone - If you want a fast, easy, useful, effective book that you can hand the senior team and share what social media can do for you, get this gem from Livingston and Solis.
• The New Rules of Marketing and PR - David Meerman Scott has a pretty solid book here, with lots of great advice. My only ding is that it was published before Facebook got big, so that one little part feels like it's lacking. He's got 2 new books coming out over the next several months, so that'll fix that. But check this out.
• Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies - Though I disagree with a few points here and there (mostly the Forrester speak), Li and Bernoff did a good job of discussing how the "crowd" part of the wisdom of crowds is impacted by social media.
• Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions - Whitney Hoffman referred this book to me, and she's now 2 for 2 with her great book suggestions lately. It's not exactly a social media book, but Predictably Irrational is really useful in understanding how to use social media tools to build influence.
• The New Influencers - Paul Gillin has a lot of great advice and starting points for getting your feet wet with social media.

Again, if you have other books that you think will help entrepreneurs build successful companies, please send them along!