Blog - Pasquale Mellone

Hi and Happy New Year (yes, in Ireland you can say it probably until the end of February).

I hope everyone had a safe and relaxing Christmas break.

I am writing a quick post to share some news about two new projects that I have launched in 2021.

WordPress Italy

wordpressitaly.com in my intentions is a go-to website, in Italian, for all things WordPress.

From doing a quick research, I noticed there was no website in Italian focusing on the WordPress world.

This is my attempt of filling that gap.

La casa delle patate

This is one of the things I feel proud of and you can find it at lacasadellepatate.com.

The idea started shortly after the death of my beloved grandfather, Antonino Bellantonio (‘Nino’ for everybody who knew him).

I realised that with the death of my grandfather, a world full of stories, proverbs, songs, in brief a world had died as well.

I am talking about the Calabrian dialect I grew up with and which was the very first language I learned (even before learning Italian).

La casa delle patate is my attempt to share and preserve the fascinating and beautiful world and culture of the Calabrian dialect.

I used to love doing end of the year lists. I remember going back to my childhood, spending hours and days selecting the best videogames of the year, by genre!

For a few years, when I was involved with writing articles for music webzines, I would also spend a lot of time trying to come up with the lists of best songs and best albums of the year.

So I am very happy to go back to this tradition and list the top 10 books of the year.

I am also very happy that so far I have ready 14 books (nearly 15), comparing to 4 in 2019.

This is a big improvement for me as for years I struggled with reading and couldn’t read anything longer than a newspaper article.

The disclaimer for this list is that I haven’t read any fiction and that the books chosen are about business and self-development.

The Practice, Seth Godin – Because every book by Seth fills me up with motivation and inspiration about what I do
The Lean Startup, Eric Ries – Because it changed my way of looking at my business
Blitzscaling, Reid Hoffmann – Because it made me understand the concept of fast growth and scaling
The Art of Possibility, Benjamin Zander & Rosamund Stone Zander – Because it helped me in my relationship with my wife and people in general
Black Box Thinking, Matthew Syed – Because it made me understand what measuring and gradual improvement are
Talking to Strangers, Malcom Gladwell – Because any book by Gladwell surprises me in many ways
Small Data, Martin Lindstrom – Because it made me understand that big data don’t always give you the insights you need
To Sell is Human, Daniel H. Pink – Because it made me understand that the concept of selling applies in every profession and environment
Invent & Wander, Jeff Bezos – Because it made me understand how such an inspired leader thinks
Limitless, Jim Kwik – Because it helped me tweak my memorising skills