Today I began reading a new book I’ve been thinking about for several months now. It’s called “The Art of Community” and it’s written by Jono Bacon – the community leader for Ubuntu.

I’m only up to Chapter 2 but already the book has not let me down – it’s as good as I had imagined it to be. While it’s written by a Tech Community guy – it is universally applicable to anyone managing and growing a community. If you’re a leader regardless of where (business, church, charity, or other) you must read this book.

Jono has distilled his experiences in a concise format which aims to illustrate what successful communities are and why and then lays the foundation for how you can create one too.

Oh, did I mention it’s Free? Well, you can buy it from O’Reilly but the book is licensed under Creative Commons so you can download it for free. I’ve already identified three people I want to buy the book for – so giving it away sounds like a pretty lucrative venture for O’Reilly.