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General Thinker
Serial founder Remo Giuffré (REMO General Store, General Thinking and TEDxSydney) has taken his skills as a merchant and communicator and applied them with trademark candour to his own life as an entrepreneur and brand builder. This visual memoir of 90 interwoven stories examines the experiences – both great successes and brilliant failures – that have guided and shaped him along the way. It's a book about work. It's a book about love. It’s about him, but also about all of us.
This is the hero version of the book offset printed in full colour and on a nice 115gsm coated matt stock. We have opted for a trade book format (228mm tall by 152mm wide) with a flexibound cover and printed end papers. The 192 pages are stitched and section sewn. And there’s a black ribbon marker to boot. It is a gorgeous thing. Nice to hold.
This is the hero version of the book offset printed in full colour and on a nice 115gsm coated matt stock. We have opted for a trade book format (228mm tall by 152mm wide) with a flexibound cover and printed end papers. The 192 pages are stitched and section sewn. And there’s a black ribbon marker to boot. It is a gorgeous thing. Nice to hold.
192 pages, Paperback
First published November 1, 2014
2 people are currently reading
9 people want to read
About the author
Remo Giuffre
2 books5 followersRemo Giuffré is a thinker and creative strategist with a long track record as an entrepreneur, retail merchant and brand builder. He founded the iconic REMO General Store in 1988; and co-founded the General Thinking network in 2001. He also enjoys a long and ongoing association with the TED Conferences in New York, and, since 2009, has been Licensee & Director for TEDxSydney, an annual flagship TEDx event at the Sydney Opera House which has become the leading platform for the propagation of Australian ideas, innovation and creativity to the rest of the world.
Prior to founding REMO, he worked as a lawyer in Sydney with the global firm Baker & McKenzie and then as a consultant to a number of communications businesses located in both Australia and the US. He was the Director of Branding & Strategy at frog design in Silicon Valley from 1997, and later the resident Brand Strategist at pioneering online developer Organic in New York.
Remo earned combined Commerce and Law degrees from the University of New South Wales, and an MBA with top honours from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Business in New York; majoring in marketing, organisational behaviour and communications management.
Although not formally trained as a creative director; he has been dreaming, designing and doodling for much of his life, best exemplified by his “RemoGram” visualisations.
Remo lives in Bondi very near the beach with his wife Melanie, two children: Lola and Roman, and a small black dog named Pearl. He has a sauna and swims every day at the Bondi Icebergs pool.
http://remogiuffre.com
http://generalthinking.com/remo
Prior to founding REMO, he worked as a lawyer in Sydney with the global firm Baker & McKenzie and then as a consultant to a number of communications businesses located in both Australia and the US. He was the Director of Branding & Strategy at frog design in Silicon Valley from 1997, and later the resident Brand Strategist at pioneering online developer Organic in New York.
Remo earned combined Commerce and Law degrees from the University of New South Wales, and an MBA with top honours from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Business in New York; majoring in marketing, organisational behaviour and communications management.
Although not formally trained as a creative director; he has been dreaming, designing and doodling for much of his life, best exemplified by his “RemoGram” visualisations.
Remo lives in Bondi very near the beach with his wife Melanie, two children: Lola and Roman, and a small black dog named Pearl. He has a sauna and swims every day at the Bondi Icebergs pool.
http://remogiuffre.com
http://generalthinking.com/remo
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
January 23, 2026
Remo Giuffre can write, but this is not a novel, nonfiction, or autobiography; it is a hard-covered magazine, which would have benefited from the employment of an editor.
If I were a psychologist, I would be making notes all over this book about the possible disorders of Remo Giuffre, from narcissism, to anxiety, OCD control/ obsession, with a side serving of sexism thrown in.
Between anecdotes about himself and his extended family, all geniuses, of course, Giuffre includes articles about good design, not his own, and frequently doesn't credit the inventors or designers of these said objects. Having worked for years in music and theatre, where theft of intellectual property is rife, this is a pet peeve of mine. Any editor would pick up on this lack of attribution.
Despite owning a car and a licence, Giuffre tells us all that he had a panic attack on the Sydney Harbour Bridge, so afterwards, he made his wife drive him everywhere. Rather than seeing a psychiatrist, like most normal people would do. I feel sorry for his wife. And I think that that brief story tells us everything we need to know about this particular "genius".
This book reeks of the kind of anti-intellectualism which the US Republican party, and our own One Nation party, are famous for. Giuffre did study at various universities, both in Australia and the USA, but I fear that he did not learn much about the basic, accepted forms of literature.
This could have been an autobiography, or a nonfiction book about design, or even a book of short stories, given a lot more work, research and editing. Instead, we get a very slick, glossy, well laid out, bunch of boasting and disconnected information. Even the internal picture of Giuffre's Bondi home, which he uses no less than three times, shows the clutter of a hoarder, everywhere, including six surfboards on the narrow hall floor. Like, how many surfboards do an old couple need?
This book is like a notebook of a famous artist, except that it is mostly not Giuffre's art, and he is not famous outside of his own mind. Most serial business owners can admit to making mistakes, and having to pivot to a new business. But Giuffre always has a great excuse why his various businesses folded, and is clearly incapable of admitting to personal failure in any way. Yes, he has had many good and profitable ideas, but writing this book without an editor was not one of them.
For the love of God, Remo, employ an editor before your next book. They can help you to make it make sense. Being famous in the advertising industry is not actually being famous in the real world. Most readers don't really care about every ad campaign you ever worked on.
And go get some therapy, instead of leaving all the work to your wife, and us, your long suffering readers.
Virginia Giuffre's book is a lot better than Remo's- it actually has a plot, and a message.
With hundreds of photographs, many of literal scribbles, this book is a mess.
If I were a psychologist, I would be making notes all over this book about the possible disorders of Remo Giuffre, from narcissism, to anxiety, OCD control/ obsession, with a side serving of sexism thrown in.
Between anecdotes about himself and his extended family, all geniuses, of course, Giuffre includes articles about good design, not his own, and frequently doesn't credit the inventors or designers of these said objects. Having worked for years in music and theatre, where theft of intellectual property is rife, this is a pet peeve of mine. Any editor would pick up on this lack of attribution.
Despite owning a car and a licence, Giuffre tells us all that he had a panic attack on the Sydney Harbour Bridge, so afterwards, he made his wife drive him everywhere. Rather than seeing a psychiatrist, like most normal people would do. I feel sorry for his wife. And I think that that brief story tells us everything we need to know about this particular "genius".
This book reeks of the kind of anti-intellectualism which the US Republican party, and our own One Nation party, are famous for. Giuffre did study at various universities, both in Australia and the USA, but I fear that he did not learn much about the basic, accepted forms of literature.
This could have been an autobiography, or a nonfiction book about design, or even a book of short stories, given a lot more work, research and editing. Instead, we get a very slick, glossy, well laid out, bunch of boasting and disconnected information. Even the internal picture of Giuffre's Bondi home, which he uses no less than three times, shows the clutter of a hoarder, everywhere, including six surfboards on the narrow hall floor. Like, how many surfboards do an old couple need?
This book is like a notebook of a famous artist, except that it is mostly not Giuffre's art, and he is not famous outside of his own mind. Most serial business owners can admit to making mistakes, and having to pivot to a new business. But Giuffre always has a great excuse why his various businesses folded, and is clearly incapable of admitting to personal failure in any way. Yes, he has had many good and profitable ideas, but writing this book without an editor was not one of them.
For the love of God, Remo, employ an editor before your next book. They can help you to make it make sense. Being famous in the advertising industry is not actually being famous in the real world. Most readers don't really care about every ad campaign you ever worked on.
And go get some therapy, instead of leaving all the work to your wife, and us, your long suffering readers.
Virginia Giuffre's book is a lot better than Remo's- it actually has a plot, and a message.
With hundreds of photographs, many of literal scribbles, this book is a mess.
Displaying 1 of 1 review