We All Need Heroes: Stories of the Brave and Foolish

by Simon Zingerman

Are your ideas stupid? Unreasonable? Or maybe just non-existing? If that is the case, We All Need Heroes is a book for you. Simon Zingerman, with his fantastic collection of anecdotes about the believable, unbelievable and always winning ideas, inspires even the most uninspired couch potato to get up and DO SOMETHING! - Elin Hermanson, Kulturellan.

We All Need Heroes is the quite astonishing result of author Simon Zingerman's last project as a university student. As his thesis he compiled his favorite inspirational stories that he'd been gathering for almost three years and turned them into a book. Packed with 120 short-stories from all around the world, and from many different decades, We All Need Heroes celebrates people with brave and innovative ideas. Simon believes that the stories will convert the skeptical into believers, make heroes out of cowards and turn dull entrepreneurs and directors into trendsetters. Learn the importance of making enemies, why one should not strive to win awards and how you can practice to be in the right place at the right time. Read about impressive guerrilla marketing campaigns and stupid business ideas that made homeless people into millionaires. Learn to see things with new perspective and to step out of your comfort zone. Get encouraged to create something different. Start that business you've dreamed about but never had the guts to turn into reality. There is simply no limit on what you will gain by reading We All Need Heroes. The stories might be told about a completely different line of business than the one you're in, but the main idea behind them and the essence of finding new ways to tackle problems - are universal.

"By showing the greatness of others I strengthen myself in my profession. These projects and people have encouraged me to follow my crazy dreams and pursue my chosen career. I give examples of possible moral, lessons to be learned from each story, but of course they're free for you to interpret. I truly hope that my chosen favorites will continue to inspire others to dare take the step, and get the courage to do something different. Reading about other people's success stories will hopefully help you create your own!" - Simon Zingerman, Skyborn Works.

Genres: Business, Leadership, Nonfiction, Personal Development, Inspirational, Self Help

276 pages, Paperback

First published December 8, 2012

About the author

Simon Zingerman is a newly graduated graphic design student from Stockholm, Sweden. His first book We All Need Heroes is the quite astonishing result of his thesis for his last year studying Media Design at Luleå University of Technology. As school finished Simon started up his own business Skyborn Works, with strong intention to finish and self-publish the book as his very first professional project. Although he spent many months writing this book Simon chooses not to label himself as an author. In his own words: "I'm simply a young and hungry entrepreneur retelling stories in a fun and exciting way, hoping that the result of my hard work in putting it all together will convert the skeptical into believers, make heroes out of cowards and turn dull entrepreneurs and directors into trendsetters". Simon is a graphic designer at heart and writing and designing this book has been a great learning process for him. Follow the unstoppable creative force at: skybornworks.com.

Reviews

[Julian Loo · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed most of the stories in this book, they were definitely inspiring and nice to read. There was a lot of originality and fun in most of them and it opened my mind to various things. Some of the stories, I previously knew already (which made me feel more connected to the book) but not enough to bore me, the perfect balance. This concept of compilation of little stories is just great, it's easy and quick to read with the author going straight to the point. I wouldn't mind reading a volume two in the same kind. Putting aside the stories, I fully appreciated the "possible moral" section since it allowed us -as readers- to have some kind of interaction with the author; it also put the stories in contemporary perspectives. The other section with the "rating" of each story was amusing and accurate. In short, I find the concept of this book amazing. Especially since its main goal is to make you realize how extraordinary things can happen to any of us, and that you have the capacity to make anything happens with a bit of foolhardiness and originality.

[Riri · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is the kind of book that you can put down whenever you want because with each flip of the page is a new story... The reason why it took me weeks to finish, I was busy with university.

I would like to recommended this book to everyone who wants to read and know more about people. It has a lot of stories that can inspire you too. Although, it seems to be just a summary of their story, but then that is when research comes, teaches you to do research and know more about the person.

[Shanu · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a collection of stories about how little acts and thoughts from the ordinary men in their ordinary life can have big effects around.

I really liked some of the stories (they were truly inspiring and nice to read) and the concept is just great. I wouldn't mind reading a volume 2. There was a lot of originality and fun in most of the stories and it opened my mind to a lot of things. It was also nice to notice that i already knew some of the stories (which made me feel somehow connected to the book) but not enough for me to feel bored, the perfect balance.

Putting aside the stories, i liked to have some kind of interaction with the author in the "possible moral" section, it also put the stories in contemporary perspectives. The "rating" of each story was amusing and accurate.

Now, two things that really put me off:
- lack of diversity : there were not enough stories about women, and not enough countries were displayed, also not enough domains were treated (it was mostly big turn points in marketing history and that bored me.)
- lack of heroism : i understand that this book is about brave and FOOLISH but i wish at least one solid third of the book was about heroic acts (even small ones) instead of being about marketing and people who suddenly made a lot of money. {Edit : I've done my "research" on the book and it seems that it was more about motivating one to get up and do something and be creative rather than a book inspiring to altruism. I unfortunately mislead myself prior to reading the book so my second remark can't really apply to the book.}

I think that this project could be completed by a phone application, daily updated, since i do find the concept really smart and worthy.

[Jim Razinha · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wouldn't normally read a book about "heroes", but the author found me on Goodreads and asked for comments.

We All Need Heroes is a collection of mostly feel-good anecdotes on the normal and odd things at work in the world; stories about people who make a difference, who invent things that make a difference, companies who do things that have an impact. Overall, it's an easy read, as Zingerman has packaged his stories in two page vignettes. With each, he tells the back story, offers a possible moral, has a box of fun statistics on the entertainment / intlelligence/ riskiness/etc. value (his subjective assessment fior now) of the story and lists three associated search terms for the reader to jump off and find his/her threads to pull. A fair portion of the book relates Swedish and other Scandinavian stories likely unfamiliar to reader on this side of the pond, but that shouldn't be a surprise when one looks into the author's background. Americans could do with a little shift in world-view. The book might fare well on the bestseller list...or might not...those lists are fickle.

I liked the format. I like that many of the stories were new to me (I was already familiar with several). I didn't spend a lot of time contemplating the possible morals, but did mark a few pages (mostly book references) to follow up on. Best wishes to Zingerman for a successful deployment of this book and I hope he'll let me know when the next volume comes out.

[Ivana Kovacevic · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful, fun and simply inspiring! LOVE IT!

[Todd Mitchell · Rating 4 out of 5]

We All Need Heroes might be best described as an independent book project under the ongoing coordination of Simon Zingerman. The resulting product is a compilation of stories everyone should know about, in addition to a helping of social and philosophical commentary by the author. While the book itself might fit into categories most closely associated with well-known titles like Good to Great, Tipping Point, and Freakonomics (with a hint of Chicken Soup?), I believe We All Need Heroes strayed enough from the established formulas to have its own voice.

If you do any amount of browsing news outlets, surfing blogs, etc., you will have heard some of these stories before. I was a little concerned when the big opener was about the man that inspired Tom Hanks' role in The Terminal, but I was drawn right back in when I learned new details about the man's time in the airport and how he ended up since the time portrayed in the film. I have no idea how some of the stories flew under my radar (Real human echolocation?!? That's just like Daredevil son!) The ultimate goal of the book is to get you used to distilling the things that really stand out in the world, extracting the special ingredients, and applying them to whatever journey you're on.

What really stands out to me about this book is the experimentation in its presentation. From the QR Code method of updated content delivery to the stat breakdowns after each story, not everything the author tries necessarily works (after a few stories I'll admit I was skipping the stats completely), but I admired that he was trying new things. The ideas presented are usually strong ones, even where they're not delivered perfectly. I'd personally love to see a dedicated editor working with this book and the note up front apologizing for any grammatical errors removed. All in all I like Zingerman's vision and style. All his work is missing is a little polish.

Overall I really like the idea behind a book like this. Not every detail was on target and there might be a few kinks to work out. I still feel there's a lot of room in the world for books from younger and newer professionals who have something to say before they've been pulled out of the game for years to write and give presentations. Zingerman is definitely relevant and I'll happily tune in to see what's next.

[Gita Madhu · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received Simon Zingerman's We All Need Heroes: Stories of the Brave and Foolish by requesting it on Goodread's Giveaways.

And it arrived in my life at a most appropriate time. I had just embarked on a phase of extensive traveling with my partner and would carry a couple of books for us to read on-flight, at airports and as bedtime "stories". This book fitted the bill to a T.

Simon has crafted a small compendium of enchanting real life stories which sets itself apart from the plethora of samples of this genre. It is inspirational in a most unusual way as his heroes are drawn from almost all walks of life, are really global.

Much like one of the stories in the book, he has been a gold digger who used his pan outside the usual river beds and such. It is both most enlightening and entertaining to wind your way through this smörgåsbord of trivia, of which, although some are ones with which most of us are quite familiar, a great many are new to the reader and guaranteed to captivate the most blase of readers.

Form and content conspire to make this a book you will dip into at random moments in the course of the mundane day, returning not in any orderly way for you do not step twice into the same river. Yet, there is a method in all this: the author has so deftly and skilfully crafted your insight into the contents that you can choose where you want to re-enter the stream.

Particularly adorable although it can also be a tad bewildering is the little box where he analyses the story for its value under diverse headings.

And it is precisely because of all the above that I cannot say I have finished the book. I am hoarding it for future journeys where I can gaze at cloudscapes after a refreshing dip into this most extraordinary little pond.

As I received 2 copies I presented one to my daughter-in-law and son and was most gratified that both of them are now official addicts of this book which is not just a piece of writing but more a veritable phenomenon.

Simon is definitely a prime example of the heroes whose stories his book showcases.

[Dimitris Hall · Rating 4 out of 5]

One day, maybe a month or so ago, Simon Zingerman contacted me here on Goodreads and asked me to review a .pdf edition of his new book in exchange for a paperback copy of it. I had a look at it and it seemed interesting so I accepted.

In hindsight, his sending the book to me for free was a purposeful move: We All Need Heroes is basically a very optimistic collection of around 120 stories of people who made it or became famous either through extreme luck, fantastic ideas, dedication to their beliefs or pure, simple "stupidity" (quoting because their supposed stupidity ultimately worked to their advantage). Some of these accounts are exactly about how you can create buzz about your work in the very same "guerilla" way the author contacted me and many other users of Goodreads also. Apart from that, the stories themselves were in general quite interesting and my picks -the ones I felt could be significant for me personally- made up a good chunk of the book. That said, I can see how the next time I read it my favourites will have changed along with me, just like Simon Zingerman predicts -and even hopes- will happen in his introduction to the book.

The work unfortunately has its little problems. I didn't particularly care for the "happy ending", "risky/illegal", "disturbed/crazy" etc. 0-100% statistics at the bottom of every story. By what standard is one story a 50% and another an 80%? The assessment would make sense if there was a "Top 10 happiest endings" chart at the end of the book or something similar, but there was nothing of the sort. After the first few pages, I started hungrily devouring one story after another, skipping these gauges entirely. The keywords under the title of each story were met with the same fate. Zingerman's graphic design touches seem to have worked well in many aspects but not so much in others.

But I won't be too critical of the details. This book has given me food for thought and inspiration and I will be sure to read it again, this time taking notes.

[Jamie Belanger · Rating 4 out of 5]

First, as a disclosure, the author of this book contacted me directly and offered a free copy in exchange for this review. I just wanted to say that up front. And getting a free copy in no way influenced me to say anything positive or negative. What follows is my usual honest opinion:

This book is a collection of stories -- some inspiring, some fascinating, some just plain crazy. Some stories were familiar while others were new to me. Each story is no more that two pages, and many are smaller than that. This makes the entire book perfect for reading when you have a lot of small time chunks. We all definitely do need heroes to look up to, to learn from, to emulate, and (sometimes) to laugh at.

The PDF I read had statistics after each story that seemed arbitrary. Granted, individual perceptions differ. I found the inclusion of these statistics was interesting at first, then I soon started scrolling past them. For example, a story of Joshua Bell (one of the top musicians in the world) playing in a subway during rush hour, for free, brought a huge smile to my face. I read the story twice since it was so interesting. The author of this collection gave that story a "Happy Reading" rating of 15% and an "Entertaining" rating of 30%. I can't agree with either of those ratings... rather than get upset or confused with ratings that I didn't agree with, I just stopped reading those statistics.

It's interesting to note that these story statistics (and all graphics except for the cover) are absent from the EPUB I was sent. I glanced at the EPUB version once and then went back to the PDF. Even without reading the statistics section, I still liked seeing the occasional amusing graphic after a story.

Overall, I found this to be an enjoyable collection of real-life stories, easily worth a 3 to 4 star rating.

[Angeli · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gotta say that what really left an impression on me when I got a copy of the book are the illustratrions. I like colorful books. ;)

We All Need Heroes is like an anthology of stories from anywhere and everywhere. It's a collection of interesting short reads lined up to inspire you or provoke you to get out of your comfort zone and make your own stuff happen (no matter how stupid, silly, or impossible they might seem).

I honestly liked a lot of stories in it. My favorites involve the author's story about listening and the crazy love letters sent out to people for advertising purposes that broke up a couple. That was totally wicked (in both sense of the word). Oh! I was also surprised that my country was mentioned in this book! The Philippines! I also liked that story, it's kind of cool to get featured in an independent release like this. ;)

Anyway, I find myself looking back into reading more of the short stories when I'm not occupied with anything. This book isn't supposed to be read continuously--not very much like a novel. Although you can read it both ways. But for me it's like eating a nugget a day at a time. You can read it when you're on the way to work, or you're at work and have nothing to do, or you're at home and looking for some light read or inspiration.

You can call this a reference book with all the stories about success in random fields of human interest. I think the author did a pretty swell job into collecting stories just for the heck of completing a book for everyone to read--FOR FREE! ;)

[Simon Zingerman · Rating 5 out of 5]

By Elin Hermanson (kulturellan.com)

- Inspiring, creative and innovative book in an easily digested format

Are your ideas stupid? Unreasonable? Or maybe just non-existing? If that is the case, We All Need Heroes is a book for you. Simon Zingerman, with his fantastic collection of anecdotes about the believable, unbelievable and always winning ideas, inspires even the most uninspired couch potato to get up and DO SOMETHING! If your creativity is on a standstill, or if you're just stuck in a project, small or big, this book can be the key to you getting back in business. With these stories you get the feeling that everyone can succeed, if it's about getting a prosperous career, earning a fortune in an innovative way, or just become an emotionally richer individual. You can read about clever solutions to big problems, intelligent inventions or accomplished marketing. Or about people who never give up despite hopeless failures, but whose dreams eventually come true because of stubbornness and a never-ending storage of optimism. This is a great feel-good book that you can either gorge all in one go for more than a mouthful of motivation, or pick up every now and then for a sporadic reliance when hope is slipping away. If anything, it's a lightsome collection of both heart-warming and brain-tickling tales that everyone should take part of.

[Sol González · Rating 4 out of 5]

Personalmente el libro me gustó bastante.

Es uno de esos que pondría a la mano en casa para que cualquiera pudiera tener contacto con él en cuanto haya un minuto, e incluso podríamos sacar temas de conversación del mismo.

El libro es un compendio de anécdotas, algunas conocidas, la mayoría no tanto, de personas comunes alrededor del mundo. El autor bien dice, se dio la tarea de reunir en un libro todas aquellas historias y anécdotas que cayeron en sus manos y que le gustaba leer una y otra vez. Historias inspiradoras y retadoras que no te dejan insensible.

Algo así como un libro de superación del que ya conoces algunas de las historias y que otras tal vez las viste en las noticias. Esos detalles lo hacen parecer un poco más cercano a uno. Si llegaba a leer una historia de la que supe en otro medio, me emocionaba y trataba de recordar en qué momento de mi vida estaba cuando leí eso. Aunque para ser honesta, la mayoría de las historias fueron nuevas para mí.

En serio un buen libro.

Pueden conseguir el libro aquí de forma gratuita: http://www.skybornworks.com/weallneed...

[Mela · Rating 4 out of 5]

Received free from Goodreads First Reads.

Based solely off the cover and 5 minutes of skimming through the book, I was pretty sure I was going to love it. And I was right!

I'm not sure what I was expecting from this book, but it took me by surprise.

We All Need Heroes is a collection of short narratives about real people who have done amazing things in surprising ways. And some people who were just crazy.

Altogether, this stories are inspirational and help to think outside the box. I thoroughly enjoyed it and I would recommend to anyone (I'm passing it to several of my friends next).

[Nawel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Serendipity, is the word describing how I discovered this book. Most of the stories it contains are amazing and very inspiring. I was very impressed by the Arimus story, the Million Dollar Homepage, GameToAid and toothpaste (which actually made me laugh). This book simply teaches us how someone who wants to change the world, should give attention to little things rather than big ones to make this change, and how a simple foolish idea can make you rich, or at least makes an impact.

PS: It feels good to read such a book between two novels haha

[Cindy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I just could not finish this book, sorry to say. I was asked to review this book, as many others have been. I thought I would enjoy it, and get something out of it, since I read many entrepreneur-inspired stories. This one failed to impress.
It "reads" much like a college term paper; it doesn't come to any conclusive information, and I gained nothing new from it.
I think a rewrite, or use of a ghost writer might improve the text.

[Giulia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really like this book, the stories are amazing! There are some of them very funny, others are interesting and I have to say that I learn some useful things. And then there are stories that manage to charm you, that make you believe everything is possible...I just couldn't stop reading, I kept saying to myself: "Just another one..."
Furthermore it is well written,so I really recommend you to read it, wheter if you want to learn something or to amuse yourself.

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

This isn't a book I would typically read so I was pleasantly surprised when I found myself enjoying it. Since the book is filled with one and two page stories, I found myself reading it during commercials and while cooking. I was already familiar with some of the stories but most were completely new. These stories are great for repeating during "water cooler" conversations at work or random conversation fillers. Hope you find it as entertaining as I did.

[Jay Arcy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Inspiring, yet humorous and informative!! Great book for the rainy season. I love the illustrations because it makes for an easy read.


I also love the "statistics of the story" at the end of each story. This one was really well-thought of.

Thank you to Mr. Zingerman for the pdf file!

I assure you friends, that the free copy I got did not influence me from giving this honest review about the book.

[Mahmoud Khoder · Rating 5 out of 5]

Buy this book now not because I said so, it is because the book is worth it!!!
Why I loved reading this book? Because it is one of those very rare books tend to inspire you to move forward in life and become your own hero by telling little stories about successful heroes.

Story Telling is the best writing method to write a book for readers to enjoy and understand without getting bored.

[Edward Jackson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great source of inspiration! Lovely stories and beautiful design. Lots of fun reading for everyone, especially if you are working on project and need a new perspective on things.

[Darren · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good book to read. It had a lot of interesting facts in it. I would recommend it,for sure.

[Damián · Rating 4 out of 5]

we all need heroes is really entertaining book with a lot of good stories in it.

[Sara Datsova · Rating 5 out of 5]

Idea into practice!

[Greg · Rating 3 out of 5]

In the interests of openness, let me state up front that the author of We All Need Heroes, Simon Zingerman, sought me out on Goodreads and invited to review his book, and promised a free copy of the paperback for my unbiased review. I believe he has made the same offer to otherson Goodreads. It is not the sort of book I would normally read, but I thought I might get some good material for my classes. Besides, who among us can refuse a free book!?!

Essentially, this is a collection of quirky, occasionally inspiring, and sometimes surprising, and stories of various sorts. Some have to do with values-based decisions and actions and leadership, which I found most interesting. Others were just quirky and defied categorization (An iFart app? Really?). Some of the stories are well-known, others less so, but most were interesting. For each of them, Zingerman provided a commentary of some sort. Occasionally these were insightful, with some original observation, but mostly they seemed simply to point the reader toward an obvious line of thought brought out by the story. The book would have held my interest better if the stories were collected around a theme (or categorized within the book in that way) with insightful, extended commentary by the author. At present, it feels more like a random collection of stories collected by the author over a period of years as they caught his attention…for whatever reason. In fact, in his introduction, I believe he says that is exactly what he did. It need more work to help it “hang together” in a coherent and useful fashion.

On a more basic level, I should also poin out hat the version of the book hat I read was a pd ile convered to Kindle ormat. Wheher it was hat process or somehing else, I don’t know, but requently hroughout the book, the leers “f” and “t” were simply missing, and less oten, oher letters. hat made or very disracting reading, as is easy to see from his paragraph! Hopefully, that was simply a result of the conversion process, though I have not ever seen that problem before in the numerous documents and articles I have had converted by Amazon.

Despite these flaws, as I had hoped I did indeed find a few stories that exemplify principles I try to teach in my classes on teamwork, leadership, and management. To that extent, it was a good read.

[Carrie Kellenberger · Rating 3 out of 5]

I too was offered this book for free in exchange for a review. The PDF version that I received was filled with the same errors that have been mentioned here by previous reviewers. Letters were missing throughout the book and this detracted from my overall reading experience. I'm assuming this happened because of the file conversion process.

We All Need Heroes is a self published ebook and the author has done a commendable job of putting it together. I think it could be a much better read with a good editor though. This is not to say that We All Need Heroes was poorly written. It wasn't. In fact, I found it to be a really interesting compilation of 120 stories that exemplify the promises of ideas and creativity; showing the reader how ideas can be re-invented, and how certain individuals and companies have been inspired, sparked ideas, and found perspective or a different point of view entirely.

I didn't care much for the percentage factors that were used for each story, but that might have a lot to do with how the book was formatted. I can see where the author was going with it. Perhaps he used a reader poll on his blog when the stories were published to see what percentage of readers thought the story was entertaining, disturbed, risky or pertaining to a moral value. I just didn't think it contributed much to the book and I ended up glossing over these sections after the first few chapters.

The author does a nice job of providing his own thoughts and comments about how he interpreted each story. I would've liked to have read more of Zingerman's thoughts on the stories he chose to share, and this is where I think an editor might come in handy for the author. He has done a great job of putting this book together, but it still reads a bit like a college thesis. I'd love to see him take it a few steps further, because I really do believe that this is a book that will be enjoyed and read with interest, especially for readers that are interested in marketing and advertising.

[Nimra · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is basically mediocre journalism. The writer does not have any original stories to tell, just extremely short versions of other's popular stories and those too without much depth. The book is also presented in a somewhat childish manner.. sounds like the writer is trying way too hard to convince the readers of it's greatness and motivation. Headlining the "possible moral" and showing "statistics" are a few examples of that.

[Bernadette · Rating 4 out of 5]

Inspiring stories centered on design and innovation.

[Agustín Fest · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a small book, but it was warm enough.