The Whole Pie: How to take back more than a piece

Knowing your fondness for biblical metaphors, I was thinking something like “Wandering In The Corporate Desert.” As in, we are the Israelites trying to flee bondage from the people responsible for the pyramid(scheme)s.

I don’t know how married you are to the concept of ‘Life’ but it could be that it creates confusion in the minds of some thinking that it’s somehow related to the ancient oversized magazine by the same name. It may be good to consider an alternative altogether. If this is the case, my suggestion is as follows:

Citizen Inc.
How Corporate Personhood Undermines Capitalism, Democracy & Humanity

It’s something of a play on ‘Citizen Kane’ but also hints at the recent Supreme Court decision in which the (as of yet not fully fleshed out) “citizenship” status of corporations was used as a justification to enable them unlimited access to sway perceptions of otherwise ‘unincorporated citizens’.

This is to say that it’s not literally “life” that has become corporatized…but that corporations have been given LIFE…and with it, certain powers….aka Frankenstein monster.

The funny thing is that the description you use for the book as is can easily follow on the proposed title/subtitle suggestion (with the proposed addition of the word “human” before “value creation”):

The book is about the way human value creation and exchange has been legally monopolized by corporations and central banks – as well as how this dehumanizes us. It concludes with ways to take back peer to peer value exchange, and collapse this corporotacracy in the process.

I know my title suggestion may not be as ‘sexy’ or ‘controversial’ as something like “F*cked Inc.”…..but then again, maybe you & the publisher want something more steamy.

All the best,

Raymond

Mono! (how to break a corporate controlled culture)

how about: “Slaves to the Grind”

I don’t think you’d have to stretch the current title far… the problem to me is ‘Inc.’ It makes Life seem like a company, rather than portraying the idea that Corpratism encircled Life. Too noun, not enough verb. Using the full Incorporated fixes that:

“Life Incorporated: Why we must transcend the bottom line, and how we’re already doing it”

plus, by sticking with a form of Life Inc, the meme stays in tact, in fact http://www.google.com/search?q=Life+Incorporated already finds your site

How about “Übercapitalism” and any of the deks/subheds that Raymond Pirouz mentioned in his post?

I like Citizen Inc., but I don’t think it influences people from the business sector enough.

I’ve been meaning to buy this book, but I have such a long list, and I keep getting distracted, though I did think I got the gist at your talk a couple of years ago. I’ve heard rave reviews about it too. Good luck.

You Can’t Kiss a Company: How the world became a corporation and how to take it back

How about just “Life, Unincorporated” or “Life, Disincorporated”. Except those words look awkward… add hyphens? “Life, beyond Corporatism” perhaps.

Regardless, great book (as was Frontline). Thanks for all the work!

Rob Walsh

I’ll give it a shot. A few that came to mind:

Open Currency: An Alternative To The Corporate Monopoly on Value Creation

The Artificial Economy

Living At Interest

What is money anyway? – Learn the story of money and how banks use it to control our lives

Hi Douglas,

How about:

“Live your life in Main Street not Wall Street” – how the world became a corporation and how to take it back

With kind regards,

Oliver

Death, Inc. How corporations extract life.

I worked at a bookstore for almost 5 years, and the titles that could be remembered and laughed at seemed to catch the most notice. I’d recommend:

WHY MONEY SUCKS

I tried to come up with a bunch of other things, but that stuck in my head, so there you go.

Also, is there a way for those of us who already have the book to get the stuff in the “resources” part of the soft cover?

Titles:

1. The Corporatocracy: … (the obvious)

2. Corporate Feudalism: … (ref to origins of corporation)

3. The World According to Money: … (play on Irving, ref to central currency)

4. Life According to Money: … (play on 4 and “Life Inc.”)

5. A Corporate History of the World: … (play on Zinn’s People’s History of the U.S.)

Yay! Three days ago you some students heard a paperback option may not happen.

I haven’t read it all yet, but “Rehumanomics” comes to mind.

Thanks for sounding the message of the book, whatever the new cover says. Good luck.

Your Life, Inc.
How corporations took it over and how to take it back.
(Format = give the Inc. a giant red stikethrough or a big red X )

or (my favorite)
Reset, Remix, Regroup

ReThink – Get Rid of the Inc.
(Format = give the Inc. a giant red strikethrough or big red X)

My first suggestions:
Your money and your life.
Why being a good consumer is not good for you.
Your life, do you have shares?
Corporations vs Community

Titles:

1. A Natural History of Money: … (ironical)

2. The Invention of Money: …

3. The Investor’s Guide to Reality: …

Some thoughts (of varying seriousness):

OWNED: How the world became a corporation and how to take it back.

OWNED: When price equals worth, the priceless becomes worthless.

OWNED: When everything is for sale, nothing is priceless.

OWNED: Only the priceless is affordable.

OWNED: For a world that values the priceless.

OWNED: From selling out to holding out.

OWNED: Priceless means never selling out.

OWNED: Priceless is non-negotiable.

OWNED: At what price not priceless?

OWNED: The state of the ward for the wards of the state.

OWNED: Reclaim by rejecting corporatism, and rediscovering cooperation.

Hope I’ve helped.

BTW, saw you on Dateline – I’m still creeped out a bit by that lifeless avatar

Cheers-

Jason Gordon
Pondside, Jamaica Plain

For the record I really like your original title and sub-title. It caught my attention in a crowded bookstore before I had even realized you had written the book. Given the economic recession I believe it’s more relevant now than ever before. Why change a good thing?

some of these are good.
I guess the idea of changing it is that Food Inc the movie did well, and the Blank Inc. construction is a bit tired.

I am glad you found it – but you were among the few, apparently.

One of my own alternate titles back when was Your Money or Your Life, but it seemed confusing to the powers that be.

The main alternative considered was Corporatism, and the other was Corporatized – but most felt that the last sounded too much like a Michael Moore film…

The resource section will be online, for sure, where it can be added to.

Titles:

1. Community vs. Corporations: …

2. The Corporate War on Freedom: … (sounds like a very righty title)

3. Why Corporations Hate Freedom: … (ditto)

4. What’s Good for the Corporation is Not Good for the People

I like the “Owned: …” concept. It’s simple. Reminds me of Pwned.

Do you really need to change it?

I read your book when it first came out and thought the whole thing was brilliant. “Life Inc” is perfect in it’s elegance and simplicity, plus the subtitle is direct and explains exactly what your book is about.

No disrespect intended to the posters above (I certainly couldn’t have done any better) but their suggestions either make the contents of the book unclear or sound sort of gimmicky/cliche.

Unless the title doesn’t work at all (and in your case, I really do believe it does) I don’t get why publishers like to create this type of confusion. Either way, I plan to buy copies of your paperback book for friends who I’ve told must read your book. I’ll do it no matter what the title is, but it would be nice if it stayed as is.

Congrats on all your success and best wishes!

The jacket and title didn’t have enough pop-out effect to catch my attention. I found the book through the blog via Google after the Colbert interview. I bought the book mainly off of the expectation that the book would have an in-depth discussion of the resources section of the blog.

One honest way to get a pop-out effect from the title is to have it reflect the distinguishing characteristics of the book. You could index the selling points for various readers as a guide, which should be easy, because you’ve got all of this forum content.

For me, the selling points were the concepts that an economy can operate on more than one kind of currency, that development of alternative currencies could enable me to divest in human exploitation, that one can literally invest in community, that the corporate economy is an artifact, and that the project of rewriting the rules of the economy might be possible from within the current rules (we need not defer to politicians and the ultra-wealthy). We can “…build the structure of the new society from within the shell of the old…”.

Eddie, JTG, Anthony, good stuff! My riff:
“Owned: Your money and your life”

Jaybushman you are on to something! My riff:
“Paths out of the corporate wasteland”

After reading all these excellent posts, i hear:
“Out from Corporate Bondage in Good Company”

-mason

Sorry, bu I had to:

ReTitled: How corporate publishing repackages to sell more copies.

1. The False Exchange

2. Sucking Our Value Dry

3.Corporate Money Vs Community Value

4. I want my money back bitch!

5. Do you know where your money comes from?

Thanks for letting us participate.

Vampire Inc.: How Corporations Bleed You and Your Community Dry

You had mentioned the original title had something to do with fascism, so why not something like “Fascism Won” or “Fascism Inc”.

Small profile as it may be, you must already have some brand recognition with the title “Life, Inc”. If you must change the title to avoid similarity with other “Inc” products, why not go the simple route and just make it “Life, Incorporated”, with the same subtitle as before? With the right cover art, it would still convey the tone you’re looking for– e.g. not be mistaken for a self-help book or something.

And this way, it wouldn’t confuse or alienate those people who are already familiar with your book’s name, and might have been waiting for the softcover version to buy it (like myself).

Extracted Values: The Money Trail when Life is for Sale

Darn. I like “Life Inc.” short and sweet, to the point. Oh well…

Reality Inc.

I like the ones that expand Inc. so perhaps

Reality Incorporated
Realities Incorporated
The Reality Market
Reality Traders
Corporeal
Corp-O-Real

Individed
Individends
Divisible Individuals
Individually Divided
Divided Individuals
They’re Individually Delicious! (Oh, wait…)

Looking forward:
Cooperation Corporation
Co-op Corp.

Lifecorp.

Buy or die?

Serf’s up! (thank you Uncle BOB!)
Self-sufficiency and community growth
A Survival guide.

How about: “A Corporation Made Me Change the Title of this Book”?

Extracted: what happened to value and how to get it back

The corporate transmutation

Corporate Alchemy

Where corporate came from and where we can take it.

Life with Corporate

We are from Earth Corporate is from Mind.

Assimilating the corporation

Integrating the corporation

Integrating our corporation

I think I’m most moved and delighted by the mere fact that people want to help figure this out.

There’s definitely something to be said for sticking with a title to minimize confusion – especially if someone who has one version tells someone else to check it out. In that case, the simple change from Life Inc. to Life Incorporated solves a few problems without creating more. Many people thought the original book was simply called LIFE. And that didn’t help matters.

My trusted elders think I should tie the title more directly to the recent court actions, and use something like

Lost in the Corporatocracy,
Corporatism,
or Corporatocracy

as the main title, and then something like:

How it happened, Why it’s failing, and What we can do about it now.

As I posted before, I do think expanding Inc. to Incorporated really increases the meaning and punch of the short title, while maintaining the meme.

And to incorporate the references to the Corporation as Person court decision, how about putting it in the subtitle:

“Life Incorporated: How Corporatism emerged, Why it’s failing, and What we can do about it now”

I got back on to suggest expanding the ‘Inc’ to Life Incorporated, so I agree with everyone who’s suggested that.
I like binaryseed’s suggestion above, maybe…
“Life Incorporated: How Corporatism emerged, Why it’s failing, and How to put love back in to your community.”
Still not perfct tho.

I know it’s long: A New Way to be Human

and work it from both angles, I mean now that coporations are given free speech, it redefines being human, and perhaps causes us to reasses our relation to one another as humans in search of what it means to be human in the age of Corporatocracy

Go get em

Sorry for the double post, what about…

Life Incorporated: Removing your white collar.

or Life Incorporated:
How corporatism conquered commerce and culture, and how we can take them back.

I always thought the original title was too long. They didn’t call Food Inc, Food Inc: Where your food comes from and how to eat better.
Maybe you’re trying to get a little message out to anyone who just reads the title, but it also comes across (to me) a bit like the book is so complicated and niche that it needs an explanation on the cover.
I think a shorter title, even just Life Incorporated would make it seem more friendly and less like you need a degree to understand it (which you don’t).

I’m on the last chapter of the book and am finding it a great read. For titles, I’ve always liked playing off of the chapter titles. I’d keep the sub-title the way it is, with the title being:

Wrapped in Money
Life Unplugged
The Currency of Life

Looking forward to your next book.

Life after Corporatism
Recovering from Corporatism
From Corporatism to Humanity
Corporatism to Community
Recovering from Corporate Culture
Reclaiming our Communities from Corporations
Rescuing Humanity from Corporate Culture

I have made this letter longer, because I have not had the time to make it shorter.
- Blaise Pascal

Hi Douglas,

A couple more ideas:

(1)

me inc.

Corporatism has brainwashed us to think that what is important is this “me” and its relationship with brands, money, status and consumption. We have forgotten how to relate to one another outside corporatism and that has made our lives inc – incomplete.

(2)

Encroach-porated!

Corporatism has encroached on every aspect of our lives. It’s now time to reclaim space for our price-less un-branded lives .

Hey Doug,

Since the book is about how the development of the corporation since the 1600s, how about “400 years notice: How the world became a corporation.. (or whatever subtitle you see fit)?

“Life For The Corpoor”

“From Corporation to Corporate Nation” might make a good secondary title.

what about “Gimme Gimme”?

Hi Douglas,

This popped up in my mind:

‘Recapulating Corporatism’

Eddie, you are rolling!
I love: “Recovering from Corporate Culture”

But since Doug’s elders or publishers want Corporation, Corporatism or Corporatocracy as the lead, maybe:

Corporatism: New Charters Forward

No doubt we need to *Recover* in so many ways!

-mason

All Your Value Are Belong to Us

I love that one.

Living for Corporations

Corporate America: How to Sell Your Life

Corporatism: How to Surrender Freedom and Acquire Debt

Corporate Culture: How Humans Became Second-Class Citizens

Corporatacracy: Majority Ruled (<a weak play on "Democracy: Majority Rule")

Try substituting Corporatism/ Corporate/ Corporations/ Corporatacracy in any of those titles.

or just “Corporate Life”

lol, yeah, nice one Thomas

“Your Life for Sale: How the world became a corporation and how to take it back.”

Simply expanding “inc” to “incorporated” is almost certainly your best bet, IMO: repackaging things is always weird (special K and Crispix come to mind) and it would damage people’s “buy Rushkoff’s stuff without thinking” reflex to end up with the same book twice. “Lost in the Corporatocracy” could just go on the cover as regular text or part of the subtitle.

With that said

Mall Planet

Food Court Planet

Exponential growth of our planetwide food court

Money is Fake: sticking with what doesn’t work

Fake Money – the real history

Why Money? The Persistence of Poor Design

Fake Economy: we made it and we can unmake it

Jerry Rigged Economy

Reverse engineering the economy

Broken Economy: questioning the rules of what we take for granted

Money: Who Says?

Mug’s Game

Rigged Game: why monarchs from the late middle ages still run the world

Just Business

Steering the boulder you’re tied to: why economic “decisions” are irrelevant when the fallible human constructions underlying them are taken for granted

So yeah, I’d go with that last one.

buzzwords!

Rebuilding America Without Corporate Bleakonomics

The Scent of Money: Why Our Economy Stinks and How to Refresh America

Against Creeponomics

Hacking the Economy
Hacker’s Guide to Money
Bottom-Up Bailout
A People’s History Of Money
Corporate Money or People’s Money?
Rebuilding America Without Corporate Money
Greenspan’s Curse and How to Fix His Flawed Model
Their Money Is Your Life
The Corporate Takeover of Money and The Grassroots Solution
You Are Not A Corporation (So Stop Acting Like One)
The Curse of Money

A follow up on my first post and correction of a spelling error

what about:

Life Incorporated,

‘Recapitulating Corporatism’

How about:

@CHOWN: Changing ownership of the monetary method.
@CHOWN: how to decode the myths of money.
CHOWN: The new owners of E-conomy.

Can you tell I was into MUD / MUCKing? (Shout out to Pegasus Muck 125.255.21.25 (good god, I remember that!? 1989?)

or #CHOWN if that is the correct code *blush

“Money≠Life”

Don’t Feed the Pigeons

It’d be cool if producer Adam Freeland would let you use “We Want Your Soul” for the retitle…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvwK-3cQ6gE

Hi Douglas, probably many ways to go. Here’s the favorite of the few ideas I’ve just kicked around in my head:

-An Economy of Our Own: How Corporations Came To Own the World and How to Take it Back.

I hope you list Shareable Magazine (shareable.net) in the resource section of the new edition. Shareable is a magazine dedicated to covering the emergence of an economy and culture based on sharing, the commons, and peer exchange.

Thanks for your book, which we included in our top books of 2009 list:

http://bit.ly/5YIcLE

Neal

wow, well spoken sir!

i really hope that your book finds the traction to make us reflect on the desiccation that has overwhelmed human culture in the developed world (and quickly heading toward conquering the rest).

a few years ago, i started playing with the idea that a fundamental, recursive inflection point had been reached. i never thought about it this way at the time, but i think it corresponds with your concept of the end of corporatism in a kind of final parasitic consumption that is killing the host (er, us).

i was calling this concept “the commodification of commodification” — the idea being that all real value had been sucked out of commerce, leaving behind only an endless mechanical refinement of the marketing-driven, value-less, promotion of transactions for the sake of the parasitic profit that inhuman entities (whether human or corporate) could skim off the transaction itself.

[phew, sorry about that...]

anyway, i think that the commodification of commodification is too long and twisted and inaccessible, but i still like the idea of commodification or commodity, with the implication of a cheapening or siphoning away of value…

so what about:

the commodification of man

commodity culture

the commodification society

the human commodity

humanity commodified

life commodified (i guess that sounds a bit like a biotech exposé)

[i think my favorite so far is #55 above -- bravo thomas]

Hi Douglas,
My suggestion book title is…

Corporations Are People, Too!

Of course, that exhuberant exclamation point is intended to denote heavy sarcasm. I made up that title a few weeks ago for my LinkedIn profile as the name of an imaginary PR firm with a client roster that included Monsanto, Dow Chemical, Halliburton and a bunch of other charmers. Please feel free to recycle it if it fits. Becky

PS: I think this title could benefit from a subhead, but I’m too drowsy to come up with one right now.

Nice list Neal! I tweeted it to my legion of followers! I really like “-An Economy of Our Own”

Regular Reader is right about the simple change “Life INC” —–> “Life incorporated” for the Main Title.

Hence (perhaps) “From One Life Incorporated to Economies of Our Own: Paths out of a Chartered Wasteland”

– or -

“Life Incorporated: Paths out of the Chartered Waste.”

-mason

How about:

“Hire Me: because this book isn’t going to make me any money”

or

“This book isn’t going to make me any money and here’s why!”

Tell it like it is!

Here’s my suggestion for your book title, Doug, which I’ve also been floating for an imaginary PR firm that represents Monsanto, Dow Chemical, Enron, Halliburton and a host of other delightful clients…

Corporations Are People, Too!

First – had a really hard laugh at post #28! Well done.
Next – “An Economy of Our Own” comes closer than many posts here. The book is informational and indeed a ‘terrific contribution to an urgent debate’ – but it is more than that. The book catalyzed a change in me – after wrestling with freeing my mind of 400 years of programming – I deeply sought an answer to the question “then who is the Real Me?” only my heart knew. And I found it, or rather it found me.
In letting go of corporate programming we are free to follow our heart, intuition, and limitless creativity. We are free to transform, we are free to be real.

Economy from the Heart: How the world became…
Real People: How the world became…
Get Real: How the world became…
The Game of Life is not Real Life: How the world became…

The Corporation: The First Media Virus

Brick by Trick: How we became captives of corporatism, and how to break the bonds.

I love the Life Inc and it speaks to me and agree with whoever wrote on your Blog “Life Incorporated” -
which led me to:

Life Ltd. (Life Limited

But then came up with this just now and really like it -
Buy You: How They’re Trading You On Wall St

with variations around Buy You and also
- How They’re Selling You on Wall St.
- How They’re Buying You On Wall St.
- They’re Selling You on Wall St

Not sure if you need the ‘Buy You’ but know that in this world people quite like short titles…

hope you a title that works!

Here are 10 titles for your consideration

Company of One

Corporation Earth

Earth Unincorporated

The Post Corporate World

Megacorporate Devolution

Disenfranchising the Planet

Unincorporated: The Death of Corporate America

Personal Takeover: The End of Megacorporations

Singularities: Man vs. the Megacorporation

Some ideas for titles:

Corporate Overlords: How they Overtook The World and How We Can Take It Back

Corporatitis: How We Live Like Corporations And How Not To

A Corporation Is A Person In Your Neighborhood

Mere Mortals: How To Live with our Corporate Overlords

Taming the Behemoths: How Mere Mortals Can Take Back the World from Corporations

Supreme Beings: How Corporations Became Unpleasant Citizens

Other ones that came to mind:

You, In a Leveraged Buyout
Your Life, In a Leveraged Buyout
Buyout: How Corporate Citizens Bought Control of Your Life

Thanks Mason!

Being an old T. S. Eliot fan, can help but like the use of wasteland in the title. Gives me another idea:

Blight Inc.

Life Speak: How to live and die in a world that has been Corporatized

upbeat and mysterious

Kill Corp. Inc….and Save Your Own Life

Buy Live Sell Die – How The Corporate World Has Taken Over Our Lives and How To Win It Back

Life After The Corporation: How Corporations Are Killing Our Lives and How We Can Kill The Corporation And Save Ourselves (yeah, that’s looong!)

Killing The Modern Corporation and Reinventing Our Lives

RIP Corporate Life: How to Kill the Corporation and Save Our Lives

I want all your books signed too. Keep up the **outstanding work** Douglas!

So Doug, have you made any progress with your decision?

It’s easy to see why you picked Life Inc but, if you don’t know you or the book, Life is not very specific and Inc is too obscure.

Mason said your publishers “want Corporation, Corporatism or Corporatocracy as the lead”. Out of those I’d go with Corporatism.

There are many good titles here that could go after that. Personally I like the theory that any good idea can be summed up in three words nice and concise.

That said, some more suggestions..

Corporatism: Slavery enforced legally
Corporatism: A way out
Corporatism: An alternative
Corporatism: We almost bought it (I like this one)
Corporatism: Buying back your community
Corporatism: Love or money

Doug!
What are the current most promising formulations? We all want the book to sell & (most importantly) be read!

-mason

i’d recommend ’600 years in a wrong lane’ or smth like that while keeping the original subtitle
having the ’600 years’ tag in the title looks like a nice catch-phrase for a casual ‘got-it-at-the-airport-bookshop’ reader whom the paperback edition presumably targets
sorry, i’m starting to speak like an nasty marketeer

Corporatism: We almost bought it.
Corporatism: Are you buying it?
Corporatism: I don’t buy it.
Corporatism: Don’t buy it!
Corporatism: Have we been sold?
Corporatism: Don’t sell the/your farm.

Eddie,
lol

http://ubu.artmob.ca/sound/airwaves/Airwaves_18_NONAS_WHAT-DO-YOU-KNOW.mp3

Consumer Revolt: When Revolution Goes Global

Yeah, thinking about it, “Don’t buy it!” probably isn’t the best thing to write on the front of a book you’re trying to sell, lol.

This exercise has been very interesting.

It is very hard to name/re name this book for a number of reasons

Money Rules!
Choose How or Loose Now

vickie.redmond {at} yahoo(.)com

Corporate Extremism: Why It Doesn’t Work For You and What Can.

You could call it:

‘The war on corporations’

BROKEN PEOPLE
BROKEN LANDS
Stitching Again Our Best Patterns Of Life Locally

I found great affinity in reading the book as our childhood neighborhood was taken for a stadium through home rule. Since 1997 I have taken control of my savings to compound my ira about 30% per year. Investing in small co’s that I try to follow for ethical and socially valuable potential. So anything I could add to the book I would love to contribute.
Thanks
Bill Wilson cecelia123 {at} peoplepc(.)com

Repo Life

Repo Life: Foreclosing on the Corporation

There are great great names here, but I’m starting to agree with Mason @90: this is a hard book to rename, for a number of reasons.

From a purely “marketing” perspective, even if a new title states the issue better, I am starting to believe that without a push at least equal to what I did when the hardcover came out (which managed to include many NPR shows, even Colbert and my own little movie) to change the name in a significant way would be to waste all that effort to get the word out, and start again.

Sure, if there was going to be a supported media blitz of some kind to relaunch the whole thing, that would be one thing. But I’m beginning to feel like there is already a community of people who “got” this book, and another community of people who would read it on their recommendation if it were cheap enough to own easily. Which is what the paperback does.

The Corporate Mind Trap

Thinking the wrong way an where it got us this far.

upbeat and mysterious

Life Speak: Live and die amid the corporate mind trance

Honestly, I never found the original title exciting from the get go; encouraging a darker order of thinking on the surface, of course once you see the design of the book, and know the author who is going to want for any more exciting reading material?

Let us know your final conclusions

Ciao!

I’m a little late entering into the discussion, but I’d like to add something. I like Life, Inc. but… aren’t you talking about enclosure of the commons? My mentor Chet Bowers (http://www.cabowers.net/) coined the term “cultural commons” as a focal point for describing the “shared” culture versus the privatized one. I suggest, then, something like:

Corporatacracy: Ending the Enclosure (fencing?) of the Cultural Commons

Maybe this is too wordy, but something along these lines.

Thanks! Antonio

Death, Inc.: Moving Toward Sustainable Selection in the 21st Century

Here it is, ready?

“The Revolution will be Digitized”

I dont need royalties, just some recognition!

“Life Inc: discover the paranoid recluse within you!”

joking, Im a big fan…im just riffing on this trend of books being released, about the global economic house-of-cards, and how we’ve been weaved into this enormously complex system of commodification. The scary thing is a concept called, “Mind Share”…instead of market share, companies are now aiming at commodifying our minds to gain a piece of our brain activity/thoughts…

Vanillatino!

The bound outward/expansive id wrestles/vies with the paranoid recluse/rampant ego wondering, to what extent does this mystery weave, or is being little more than an artificial construct woven into a synthetic cloth completely alien? Am i mind or market, sharing or shorn(e)*?

Is man the commoditising animal? The self observes the mind-stuff churning, senses the impossibility of non-action and the suffering engendered, produced or experienced by wrong action. Self turns within and without, desiring and pointing – to what?

non attachment?
non attachment to the fruits of action?

you shall not make of/for yourself an idol?

he that believeth in the light shall not perish, but have everlasting life?

Shorne: no modern trace, although there are unnamed church remains NNW of New Romney near Chapel Land Farm.

Your share is as good as my guess, Vanillatino!
Your questions have been on my mind lately.
Let’s hope Doug can share the new title soon!

-mason

Antonio!
I believe you have busted through the paradigmatic /
through the :
between signified and sign
into title and sub

Life Incorporated, the Paperback!
The Commons Strike Back

or

Life Incorporated and the Re-emergent Commons

or (for Doug again)

Life Incorporated: The Paperback!

There are at the very least a dozen excellent titles in this amazing thread. Maybe we should go with “Life Incorporated: The Paperback!” But consider an excellent *graphic* for the whole cover. Interlaced within or actual elements of the graphic might be some of these these titles. The medium would be the message!

-mason

Corp U!- the history of how corporations universally high jacked society and how why we need to take it back

Corp U!- the history of how corporations universally high jacked society and how why we need to take it back

or Corp off!

Something inflamatory would probably help the media blitz

Cold CASH: how money has made us stand by silently while corporations rape society of its whealth

RETURN TO VALUE

I’m tempted to suggest a word I made up some time ago: Vamperialism, but I’ve been using it for a while, and have a website on the subject.

Another idea: Life, Ltd. , or Life, Limited.
Or is that too British?

I’ve got it. It’s an amazing title and will sell a huge quantity of books. People will connect with the title. It resonates with today’s reality yet acknowledges that we all share a common history all the while charting new frontiers for individual fulfillment.

As my contribution to “taking back the world” from corporations such as Bertelsmann/Random House/Amazon/Rushkoff.com, please send me a check for $3,600.00 and I will send you the new title. If you’re concerned about whether or not you can trust me, there are two things you should keep in mind. First of all, I too have a corporation. Secondly, I have several blog entries about how and why you can trust both me and my corporation at http://www.tradewithdave.com.

Unlike any of the other companies that you have dealt with in your book publishing endeavors, I am willing to offer you three things. First of all, you don’t have to give me credit for the title – you get the credit. Secondly, you don’t have to send me any free books – I’ll buy one. Thirdly, if the title is not a huge success and your friends, neighbors and publishers don’t rave about the genius of the title, I will give your money back.

Trust me,

Dave

But what if *i* don’t like the title and don’t want to use it?
I am willing to take you up on the deal and pay 3600 to use your title, with money-back guarantee. But you must also trust me that I won’t go ahead and use your title without paying you.

Dave, your either joking (I sincerely hope you are) or totally missing the spirit of these comments. Write your title here like everyone else and stop being so conceited.
May I also suggest that you read Doug’s book before suggesting a title for it.

Douglas is doing a intellectual property performance piece, if i am correct?

-mason

SOLD:

Leave the subtitle alone or modify to shorten.

I “got it” when I stood in the bookstore seeing the title for the first time. Some of the honchos who want to retitle do not realize that the cover design detracted: LIFE was not bold enough on the cover because it was a bleedthrough image that should have been a night scene, recognizable skyline (NYC, SF pyramid etc) to make LIFE darker (hmm…so it is LOL).

SOLD: conveys the message we are being sold to ourselves by the honchos which (if I’m reading you right) is a whole lot of the point. So … how our vision of ourselves is sold to us, to control us. Yeah?

Great work btw. Just brillig!

Hey, newguy up there is onto something LOL …

UP YOURS, INC.
UP OURS, INC.

nah

I agree with many others that LIFE, Incorporated (sp out) would go a long way.

How about merging some of the above title suggestions to:

Reality Inc…. Lost in the Corporatocracy

I think that title captures quite a lot.

Book sounds great. Looking forward to reading it. Would happily accept an ebook copy, if that’s convenient for you, though I am sure you are fed up with requests by now. If not no worries. Would have bought it by now but $20.00 is a bit higher than I was expecting ($10-12). Will check out the full list of ebook sites and see how I get on.

Thanks for sharing your ideas.

Why rebrand? It’s already neat and has a following that can grow further – I’ve just read a paperback version in the UK.
Inc. is a must anything longer is indigestible.

However, how about:

42: And now for soemthing completely different

might – (not!) work!!

After reading Life Inc., for some reason i kept envisioning the central banks and corporations like a black hole, or a giant pit in the desert (not unlike the desert monster in star wars… yes, i know, that’s nerdy) slowly but steadily gobbling up all of the value we’re creating on the periphery.

What if you were to pair a visual like that with a cautionary title like: “Don’t fall in,” or “Don’t feed the monster.”

I know that’s a very visual solution, but i guess i’m a visual thinker.

Anyway, it’s the best book i’ve read in years, so i hope you find a title that brings it to more people!

Life has been mediated for a very long time. Corporations were just the latest contagion. Strange how i thought this book was such a departure for Doug. But the truth is corporatism is a virus and our persisting inability to get our minds around that fact is why we can’t articulate a title.

The book is really two books.
I suggest the publisher publish 2 paperbacks out of one book.

-mason “koheleth the marketer” mckibben

Greed is the virus. Communism didn’t work because the leaders got greedy. Capitalism isn’t working for exactly the same reason, it’s just that with capitalism they can hide it better and have more effective propaganda at their disposal.

Naked Transparency

and maybe i think subtitle like:

Death to the Corporate

Put it in a box and sell it – The death of the free citizen

or

Social life on auction – How corporations made you buy the things you already own

What distinctive niche does this have among David Korten, Joel Bakan, Lee Drutman, Marjorie Kelly Thom Hartman, etc?
One old trick, which you probably know, is to look for inspiration in the chapter headings of similar books. Thanks to the magic of crowdsharing, you don’t have to. Here’s what I found/adapted:

Corporate Conquest
Corporations Unlimited
The Corporate Life-form
Corporations Anonymous
Incorporate This!
So you Want to be a Corporation [no kidding]
Reinventing the Corporation
Restraining Corporate Power
Life and Real Wealth
No Wealth but Life
Life on Loan
The Business of Life
Corporate Recovery

My conclusion: you’ve probably already got a good title.

With negative backlash from all the bank bailouts and the dysfunction of money as a central theme, I’d pull the banks into the mix too.

RIGGED: How banks & corporations stole your money and your life.

I suspect the cover is being printed, but one more in the dominant spirit of the thread!

Corporatised: R U B It?

-mason

“Making your Marx on the 21st Century: The Fruition of a Philosophy”

Douglas,

I just finished reading your book yesterday. I loved it. I had to stop reading it at one point because it disturbed me sto much, but I became happier and happier as I kept reading because I was learning so much about how our world really works. I learned so many new things from your book. I was already familiar with the end from having read Thomas. H. Greco’s book “The End of Money”.

There’s some great titles people have come up with. I love these:

Corporatism: We almost bought it.
Corporatism: Are you buying it?
Corporatism: I don’t buy it.
Corporatism: Don’t buy it!
Corporatism: Have we been sold?
Repo Life
Foreclosing on the Corporate World
Branded
Me, Inc.
Corporatitis
Death of Corporate America
You, Limited
SOLD

Here’s some more: From Corporatocracy to Humanity
Earth, Inc.
World, Inc.
The World, Inc.

But, like your last thought, I think the original title is good and it good damage selling the paperback if you change the title.

I was very drawn into the original title and got it immediately. I also liked the read on white and the picture in the background of “Life”.

I think if you made the “Inc.” as equal size and right next to “Life” people would clearly see what the title was, and not mistake it for just “Life”.

I also think the subtitle is a good summary of the entire book, but I do see how just “Life, Inc.” could provide more punch.

My opinion is to stick with “Life, Inc.” and the subtitle, though maybe change the second part of the subtitle to ” . . . and how we are taking it back” – and then add in your book more on how we are taking it back (along with all the resources you plan on including. I felt your book was only lacking in how we can and are taking it back. I would add more punch to the end part too really inspire and motivate your readers to getting involved in taking it back. There are examples like the Mondragon cooperative in Spain that Greco talks about in his book. I live in Asheville, North Carolina where there is a project to create a local currency, and we have a LETS system going on here. I’m sure there’s much more going on, and much more to do.

I also feel that you could talk more on what kind of communities we could create, and the love and freedom and equality and abundance that would follow. That creates movement toward something! Something true and good and beautiful! Yes!

I have an idea for a cover change. Keep the title and subtitle, make “Life” and “Inc.” equal sizes, and then add a hologram of the earth. Turn it slightly and you see a gray and black image of the earth covered in corporate symbols and chains, turn it slightly more, and you see the beautiful globe with two big hands embracing, or the earth encircled by a paper cut out of humans holding hands, or something other of that sort.

With the earth in the darkness of corporate symbols, you see the subtitle, “How the World Became A Corporation”. With the image of the beautiful earth and humanity united, you see the second part of the subtitle, “And How We Are Taking It Back”. You could even have the glowing light of the sun shining behind it.

I know a holographic image would add to the cost of production, but it could help make it an eye catcher, and give a visually striking image of where we are, and where we want to go, and ARE going.

Hope the paperback is successful, and let’s all take back our world, our humanity and our community.

Hello Douglas,

It’s a great book. Here are my suggestions:

“Sold? The value of life

A way back. From corporatism to interaction”

or

“Life brand

How we got incorporated”

Best wishes

Volker

pltidwell! Top in it’s class!
Cheers All!
-mason

Douglas,

I enjoyed the book but the title is very close to a similar book titled “Greed, Inc. : why corporations rule our world and how we let it happen” written by Wade Rowland in 2005.

Perhaps something along the lines of “TILT: How Our World Came to Favour Corporations over People” or “OWNED: How Your Life was Assimilated into the Corporate Agenda”

YOUR SOUL: Bought, Sold, and Paid For; A critique on our current (un)human economic conditions.

A working title for sure, but somthing along those lines.

BTW, continue your fantastic example of personal civic accounability. Remember whose world we live in…………….OURS!!!!!.

If people are still reading this one, I’m thinking of either

Life Inc or Life Incorporated for the title (or new title)
and
How Corporatism Conquered the World, and How to Take it Back.

Doug, per the above comment: I like the name Life Inc. just fine but I see the point of trying to differentiate it from the other various “inc.’s” floating around popular culture now….sort of like “(fill in the blank with noun of choice ala Prozac) Nation”; how many more of those do we need? But if the publishers go for “Life Incorporated” as a viable alternative, that seems fine to me.

But, I was going to offer something along the lines of “To Commune or Consume”, any variation of that. It’s to be the name of a piece I’m writing for my org’s blog, or something like it anyway, but if it suits you please feel free.

One more question: when does it look like the paperback might be available? I found this blog entry because I was google searching for an answer to that!

Douglas,

I just finished your book and I have to say I am a little bit disappointed at all the people wanting to give so much importance to the word “corporation” as part of the title (if you are still planning on changing anything)

To me, anything that sounds too scholar will sujects your book is a business book whenever it is not. It is definitely about life, how we are human and how we lost all connection with our natural aspects. Corporations have become better human beings than us it seems…

The challenge here is definitely to have as many people as possible read your book and I would definitely encourage you to exploit the whole Blank Inc template to be honest… If not, I would actually keep the same title which was spot on from the very beginning, but written this way:
Life, Inc.
Like on my own corporation’s Article of Incorporation… All on one line with the oh so important comma.

Cheers!
Emilie