It's books like "Never Eat Alone" that don't seem very expensive until you begin figuring in the cost of highlighter ink.

Chapter 4, called "Build It Before You Need It," is really about utilizing the network you've already built.

You probably know people from school, work, family members, neighbors,
the postman, and professionals in many different fields that the
activities of your life bring you in contact with.

Most of this is actually at the end of the chapter, but consider this:

"Your potential for connecting is at this moment far bigger than you
realize. All around you are golden opportunities to develop
relationships with people you know, who know people you don't know, who
know even more people."

The early part of this chapter is devoted to building your network out
before you're desperate for it...because desperation drives away
contacts.

I was at a Microsoft-sponsored conference back in 2002. TabletPC's were
a brand-new product at the time, and I ran into a fellow geek there who
had one. I expressed interest in it, and that kicked off a fun
conversation about technology and portable devices.

When I told him that I ran a small business that produced PCs, the
conversation turned. He latched on and wanted me to let him run my
business if I had to go out of town.

His proposal came from out of the blue, and the conversation never made
sense to me until now. He was desperate, and he was willing to take a
shot because he didn't have anything else.

I excused myself from that conversation as quickly as I could and I
didn't talk to him again because he made me feel uncomfortable.

I think that it's pretty clear now...with hindsight being what it is,
that he just didn't have a network built up around him, and he really
didn't know where to turn for help with his goals.

This chapter has good advice on how to avoid that.