If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you’ll know that I have a love/hate relationship with email. Actually, I mostly hate email. But that may change….

Carol, my partner, found a great book on using email. Starting with the idea that many of us are being overwhelmed with “info-glut,” the authors of The Hamster Revolution: How To Manage Email Before It Manages You contend that we have to give serious consideration to how we use email. They say that much of the time, we use email when we should be using some other communication method, and that too often we write confusing email messages. The authors give good, practical advice about writing email messages (e.g., use bullet points instead of a long-winded narrative). They give clear guidelines about how to use other forms of communication (e.g., using IM when you need immediate feedback, etc.).

I’m still reading the book, but it’s got enough good tips in it that I wanted to let you know about it right away. You can find out more about the book on their Web site: http://hamsterrevolution.com/.