How to name a book

Book titles are even more difficult than book cover designs. The name must capture the essence of the book and also evoke feelings the book seeks to generate. It must also read well on its own (when it appears in reading lists, for instance). 

The title of my book had more than 25 versions, but I will only put down the ones  that passed the first two rounds of scrutiny. Each name has a story to tell, but I would really like you to tell me if you like any of these names better than 'Decoding Communications'. 

Now that you know what this book is about, if you have any other suggestions for name, it would be welcome. 

The 25 title options

1. Black, white and Grey 
2. Crack the code
3. The word
4. Life’s script
5. Why dogs don’t sing
6. Communications Zao
7. Kill the Gene
8. Speak up
9. Getting it right!
10. The spirit of communications
11. No illusions
12. Communication Works!
13. Leading through communications
14. The music of communications
15. The universal theory of communications
16. Getting through
17. Freedom through communications
18. Liberating thought
19. Unlocking communications
20. Communicate to liberate
21. Jack of nothing
22. Living after dying

Single word titles

1. Communiscience
2. Communificence
3. Communition

That's not all. Then there's the byline too - the words which explain the book a little better. Here are some attempts at the byline of Decoding Communications. 

Some byline for Decoding Communications

• Unraveling the mystery of communications
• Making communications work
• Understanding communications
• What, how and why of communications
• Understanding the power of communications
• What, how and why of communications
• Unraveling communications

However, with my current cover design, the byline is seeming a little difficult to accommodate. Don't really know if I can do without it. What do you think?  

How my book was born

Can inertia be the reason for momentum? Are the two opposites connected? This post is about how my inertia in fact gave me the momentum to embark on writing a book.

It was early in 2008 and I had reached my extreme pendulum swing at work, a point at which there's very little movement - almost a standstill. Mechanical action takes over, and the sails of intellect are windless.

It was then that a dear and close friend, Meghna, gave a suggestion to take-off from this rut to think. Just think! Since I had never thought it necessary to take time off to think before this, the idea seemed quite bizarre. You could think anywhere, where-ever you are; its in the mind, you know. That seemed like a logical argument.

But Meghna's insistence made sure I went. To Goa, and that too in the peak of summer. Providential, I will say in retrospect, because the heat forced me to stay indoors for most of the day. The place I chose to stay, called Nirvana Hermitage, also seemed to have some sacred force in it. The hotel was ensconced atop a hillock, and my room overlooked a thick forest (or something forest-like). Something I was not quite used to in Goa, but it was enchanting. 

Thinking is not easy, especially if the goal itself is just to think. I tried hard. I took early morning walks, meditated, slept, but I could not think-about-thinking. After a few evenings, some fine wine was ordered and since my thinking began soon. (Naturally, I cannot but give some of the thinking credit to the spirit!)

I wrote down the following questions:

1. What do I really enjoy doing?
2. Why do I enjoy doing these things?
3. Does that show a pattern in what-I-want from life?
4. What do I fear in life?
5. Why do I fear them?
6. What do I feel when I overcome fear of these things?

The answers got scribbled on 10-12 paper napkins. While those answers themselves have the makings of another book, Decoding Communications evolved because I wanted to tell the story of communications to others. I thought that it would be a process I would enjoy.

Soon after I came back, I began a lecture series titled 'Communications 101 - The basics of communications'. I delivered this presentation to clients, students, my peers and colleagues. And, the presentation kept evolving and I kept delving deeper.

Once I had enough material, I took a week long holiday to pen my first chapter - just to see how it might evolve. The writing method I adopted was to just keep typing and let the words flow naturally from the inside. And it did - the pages just flowed and flowed, and every evening I would surprise myself with what I had written.

Three years later, I approximately had 50,000 words, which I ran through a few friends. Endorsement received, my search for my editor began.

My inertia gave the momentum for my book Decoding Communications. Everyone's inertia has the same potential. Scribble down your fears. Act to overcome them. If that's not life's cycle, what is?