BoP Book Discussions

"All learning integrates thinking and doing. All learning is about how we interact in the world and the types of capacities that develop from our interactions." - Presence, Peter Senge et al

A book discussion in the Amazon

One of the benefits of working in the Base of the Pyramid (BoP) has been the opportunity to take deep dives into experiences that were once totally foreign to me. Another benefit has been the long travel times between and across continents; plane flights, bus rides, and boat trips where I can immerse myself in books and articles covering a wide range of topics. [It's a sad fact that in these information-at-the-speed-of-thought days I actually have to be unplugged and forced to sit down before I pick up a good book!] Over the past several years both those benefits have twirled around my head ... like a pair of ballroom dancers continuously exchanging leading and following roles. I've never had a learning experience like my work in the BoP: this combination of thinking & doing and the knowledge that both have created.

This new section here at BRINQ is to discuss that thinking/doing interaction: interesting books and what implications and lessons they offer for someone working on-the-ground at this particular intersection of business, poverty, and innovation. Most of the time the discussion will be about books read recently, but sometimes it will be about books read long ago that new experiences in the BoP brought back to light. On the surface, not all of the books that will be discussed offer obvious connections to the BoP - and some of the books are old to the world but new to me - but these books and articles have demonstrated their relevance during several years of work with companies and communities in the BoP.

And please, if you have your own knowledge of the books discussed here, or if you have your own experiences working in the BoP, please join the discussion. The goal of this section is to generate dialogue about thinking and doing in the BoP, which would ultimately lead to new learning and action!

Book Reviews to date:

• Preserving the local soil - Tales of a Shaman's Apprentice - Mark J Plotkin - May, 2007

Old BRINQ reviews:

• Why Not? A guide for ingenuity - Barry Nalebuff and Ian Ayres - March 2005
• Capitalism at the Crossroads - Stuart L. Hart - March 2005
• The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid - CK Prahalad - February, 2005
• Poor People's Knowledge - editors J. Michael Finger, Philip Schuler - February, 2005