Read more: books you need to communicate

By ALLEN PIERLEONI

I recently overheard a 20-something woman say to her Gen Y friend, “I just couldn’t live without my BlackBerry!”

Yes, we’ve come a long way from communicating by smoke signal and drumbeat — though some say text messaging is a step backward in those directions.

This thought-provoking melange of titles looks at communication in different ways. And, yes, there are lessons to be learned by all.

U“The Art of the Personal Letter” by Margaret Shepherd (Broadway, $16): Noted calligrapher Shepherd takes readers by the hand to lead them through the process of a fading art. In the chapter “How to Find the Right Words,” she lists do’s and don’ts for writing love letters, holiday letters, congratulatory letters, letters of condolence and the like. Neatness counts, as do type of stationery and choice of pen.

U“Send: Why People Email So Badly and How to Do It Better” by David Shipley and Will Schwalbe (Knopf, $19.95): As e-mailing is a relatively new form of communication, not many guidelines have been established — until now. “Think before you send” is the message here, and the authors spell out many useful scenarios for senders as well as recipients. Here’s a tip: “When a conversation is over, you don’t need to reply.”

U“Convergence Culture” by Henry Jenkins (NYU, $18.95): New media won’t replace old media but will merge with it in ways that will affect our culture, Jenkins contends. His essays on reality TV, movie spoilers, the Harry Potter “nation,” YouTube and Photoshop will make you think. Jenkins is director of the Comparative Media Studies Program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

U“The Numerati” by Stephen Baker (Houghton Mifflin, $26): With computer power in a networked world comes risk, writes journalist Baker. The “numerati,” he says, are “members of a global elite of computer scientists and mathematicians who are busy analyzing our every move.” Bits of our personal data are collected each time we use a credit card, make a cell phone call or surf the Web, he writes, and that information is being used to manipulate us.

U“The Big Switch” by Nicholas Carr (W.W. Norton, $16.95): Changes in the digital age are the focus here. The author predicts a future in which businesses and individuals will “abandon their traditional computer systems” and “subscribe to simple services provided by [companies such as] salesforce.com, Amazon Web Services and Google.” Carr cautions that the domino effect will lead to “corporations and governments becoming ever more adept at manipulating our behavior.”

’09 READING, CHAPTER 1

No doubt your New Year’s resolutions include reading more. Here’s a list to get you going:

U“Dream It ... List It ... Do It!” by the “Life List” experts at 43things.com (a “goal-setting community”), with Lia Steakley (Workman, $9.95): Concise, witty, useful — this could be the perfect self-help book for the new year, if you’re determined to accomplish things as yet undone. The 43 chapters include “Travel More,” “Find Love” and “Make a Difference,” and offer checklists and testimonials on how to accomplish those goals. Here’s one: “Wake up happy.”

U“Best-Loved Chinese Proverbs,” compiled by Theodora Lau (Collins, $12.95): Much wisdom and inspiration reside in these pages, such as: “To be unhappy over what one lacks is to waste what one already possesses.” And: “Reticence builds a fortress in the mind.”

U“The Book Lover” by Ali Smith (Anchor, $15.95): Using memoir and excerpts from works by her favorite authors, Smith shares her lifelong delight of reading well-known and obscure writers. A discovery for serious readers.

U“Nemesis: The Final Case of Eliot Ness” by Eliot Bernhardt (Ballantine, $26; now on sale): In real-life 1930s Chicago, you will recall, federal agent Eliot Ness and his band of “Untouchables” put a big dent in organized crime. This novel has Ness in Cleveland, tracking a serial killer who wants nothing more than to destroy him and his spotless reputation.

U“Daemon” by Daniel Suarez (Dutton, $26.95): This is a rare case of a self-published novel being picked up by a traditional publishing house. When a young gaming pioneer dies, he leaves the legacy of a “computer process” intent on world domination. The Daemon program is aided in its intent by a group of super-smart true believers.

U“Lost River” by David Fulmer (Houghton Mifflin, $25): This is the fourth outing for Fulmer’s Creole detective, Valentin St. Cyr, who works the mean streets of New Orleans’ red-light district, Storyville, in the early 1900s. When a body turns up in a bordello — and several more follow — St. Cyr reluctantly takes the case. The twist is that he’s been set up to become the prime suspect.

U“Border Moonlight” by Amanda Scott (Forever, $6.99): The latest in the Folsom-based historical romance writer’s “Border” series features her trademarks: strong-willed women and warrior men, mystery and intrigue, dashes of humor and wit, deep characterization, complex plots, and, above all, historical and geographic accuracy in the days of ancient Scotland.

U“Three Weeks to Say Goodbye” by C.J. Box (St. Martin’s, $24.95): Box is best known for his nine-book Joe Pickett series, starring a Wyoming game warden who solves mysteries. This stand-alone thriller tracks a couple who have adopted an infant daughter. Now the biological father wants the baby back, a maneuver that’s part of a bigger and more sinister picture, as the couple discover.

U“Tooth and Claw” by Jo Walton (Orb, $15.95): This World Fantasy Award winner tells a story of a dysfunctional family whose problems are compounded by the death of the patriarch. Intrigue, politics, class conflict, true love and tragedy merge for a good tale. Oh, did I mention that all the characters are dragons?