Mash-up!

Mash-up! How to Use Your Multiple Skills to Give You an Edge, Make Money, and Be Happier by Ian Sanders and David Sloly, 246 pages

In this book, Sanders and Sloly argue that the way businesses run today, people need to have versatile skills, allowing them to switch gears and become experts in fields that vary widely. For example, one of the authors is a business consultant and a hypnotherapist, as well as an author and lecturer. Throughout this quick read, the authors present different ways to branch out into new fields without dropping current jobs or projects, as well as ways to market yourself as someone who specializes in multiple fields. Along the way, they introduce the reader to several "mashers" who are juggling multiple jobs at once.

This is certainly intriguing, and they're definitely right that versatile skills are important in today's business world. And maybe I'm just looking at this from a librarian's perspective (that is, from the perspective of someone who learns something new every day and gets to work on a variety of projects throughout the day, week, and year), but I think they're a bit narrow-minded to say that the best way to "mash" is to have different jobs and job titles at the same time. There's definitely a bit of a sneer when it comes to the idea of someone staying in the same job, or same type of job, for years and years; while I'm fairly new to the librarian game, I'm guessing that new projects and skills are somewhat of a requirement if you want to stay in a field for any length of time. Sanders and Sloly's ideas of "mashing" seem a bit more suited to those who simply can't settle down, or just haven't found a job they love.

That said, this book will definitely appeal to and be useful to entrepreneurs, freelancers, and others who like the idea of a hyphenate life. It also has some pretty cool ideas that can be applied to those of us who are good with just the one job title, especially their system of ranking the various qualities of a project/job (On a scale of 1-10, how much do you love it? How annoying are the people you work for and with? Are you getting enough out of it financially? etc.) Like I said before, it's a quick read, and as long as you can get past their Britishisms (Whilst? Seriously?), it's worth a skim.