I was recently reading The Twitter Book by Tim O’Reilly and Sarah Milstein, and while I didn’t learn much about Twitter that I didn’t already know, I did learn something about Shaquille O’Neal.

Did you know that before each of his basketball games, Shaq would tweet his location, and give the first follower that showed up a pair of tickets to the game that night? He calls it “Random Acts of Shaqness,” and it’s an absolutely brilliant idea.

Not one to come up with my own original ideas, I’m starting my own random acts of giving now as well. I am working with several book publishers to give away their technical books in a more unique way. Going forward, about once a week, I will be posting a message on Twitter with the phrase “Random Acts of Reading.” It will also include my specific location, and a “password.” The first person to say the password to me (in person, you cheaters) wins a book. It’s that simple. To kick it off, I will be giving away two copies of The Twitter Book this week.

So keep your eye on Twitter…I might just be right behind you.