Book Notes, Please... "People have lost patience, endurance, tolerance for the lengthy, possibly even the leisurely, presentation of culture, teaching, entertainment and much else." That's Joseph Epstein writing in the Wall Street Journal ("Read This, It's Short") last Wednesday, June 23, 2004, about our "shortened national attention span."

Ironically, the WSJ's "Property Report" section that same day featured an advertisement recommending three real estate books for summer reading from the ULI Bookstore -- Better Places, Better Lives (a biography of James Rouse), Halfway to Everywhere (about American suburbs) and Professional Real Estate Development by Harvard's Richard Peiser. Total page count: 1,249. That's a lot of attention.

Remember the Dispatch about "The Attention Economy" (Making a Presentation? Bring a Snake, July 3, 2001)? Attention is today's most valuable business currency. Hey, that's why the Dispatch is short!

But I personally love to read books, and I suspect that other Dispatch readers do, too. So what books have developed your real estate knowledge? What do you recommend and why? Send me your ideas, and I'll report in a future Dispatch.

Tell the World... You'll notice the Announcement above (and below) for RE3W, which aims to "smoothly move transactions from origination through closing" and encourages you to pre-register for its official launch soon. Many thanks to Founder Richard Frost at RE3W for advertising this week. If you want to announce your product or service to the commercial real estate industry, send e-mail or call 415-461-4703.

--Peter Pike