Soden, Garrett

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SODEN, Garrett

PERSONAL:

Born in California; married Kate Shein (a writer/performer).

ADDRESSES:

Home—Pasadena, CA. Agent—c/o Author Mail, Norton, 500 Fifth Ave., New York, NY 10110-0017. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Writer and graphic designer. Occidental College, Los Angeles, CA, graphic designer; works as corporate communications executive.

WRITINGS:

The One-Minute Maniac, Andrews, McMeel & Parker (Kansas City, MO), 1987.

I Went to College for This?: True Stuff about Life in the Business World—And How to Make Your Way through It, Peterson's (Princeton, NJ), 1994.

Looking Good on Paper: How to Create Eye-Catching Reports, Proposals, Memos, and Other Business Documents, American Management Association (New York, NY), 1995.

Hook Spin Buzz: How to Command Attention, Change Minds, and Influence People, Peterson's/Pacesetter Books (Princeton, NJ), 1996.

Falling: How Our Greatest Fear Became Our Greatest Thrill: A History, Norton (New York, NY), 2003.

SIDELIGHTS:

Before becoming an author, Garrett Soden was a lead guitarist and songwriter for the California-based band Central. After leaving Central, Soden, a college dropout, launched a career in communications as a writer and graphic designer. However, his youthful career as a musician was not totally behind him: Soden's experiences with Central prompted his first book, The One-Minute Maniac. Published in 1987, The One-Minute Maniac was successful enough to inspire its author to tackle more writing projects, and I Went to College for This?: True Stuff about Life in the Business World—And How to Make Your Way through It and Hook Spin Buzz: How to Command Attention, Change Minds, and Influence People are among the results.

I Went to College for This? presents a humorous glimpse of the office-cubicle lifestyle and its target audience in recent college graduates who are contemplating a corporate career. Soden discusses the constant power struggles of corporate life and encourages readers to think hard about the costs of independence. Hook Spin Buzz presents Soden's three-pronged approach to becoming a more powerful communicator, the "hook" being the ability to attract an audience, the "spin," being presenting your idea, and the "buzz" being inspiring listeners to action. While all three together might not always be required, Soden argues that thinking in terms of these steps assures successful communications in business and elsewhere. While a Publishers Weekly reviewer felt that "more developed examples of both effective and less successful conversations would have made this practical guide even more useful," the critic praised Hook Spin Buzz as a book that "should help readers who struggle with effective office presentations."

In Falling: How Our Greatest Fear Became Our Greatest Thrill—A History. Soden explores the human fascination and phobia of falling as it has become an element in popular sports. Tracing the human fascination with scaling heights back through time, Soden acquaints readers with individuals who have made falling-related activities either their hobby or career. Particularly with the technological advances of the late twentieth century, sports involving heights have increased in popularity, as Soden can himself attest. He admits his own fascination with individuals who engage in death-defying sports or activities in total disregard for any potential financial gain, such as Sam Patch, who jumped from immense heights into water, and the athletes who engage in surfing, skateboarding, and parachute jumping. In preparing to write the book, Soden spent nearly a decade researching his topic: he attended the X-Games, visited science libraries, and conducted numerous interviews with individuals such as extreme sports stars Mat Hoffman and Andy Macdonald, stuntwomen Nancy Thurston and Jeannie Epper, and rock climber Mike Pont. Jonathan Yardley, reviewing Falling for the Washington Post, called Soden's book a "provocative, well-researched" read, while a contributor to Kirkus Reviews added that Soden successfully "takes readers into the strange world of the thrill gene and the chemistry of the urge."