by Rupe | May 5, 2010 | Not So Recent Reads
Title: The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work by Alain De Botton
Publisher’s Summary
We spend most of our waking lives at work – in occupations often chosen by our unthinking younger selves. And yet we rarely ask ourselves how we got there or what our occupations mean to us.
The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work is an exploration of the joys and perils of the modern workplace, beautifully evoking what other people wake up to do each day – and night – to make the frenzied contemporary world function.
With a philosophical eye and his signature combination of wit and wisdom, Alain de Botton leads us on a journey around a deliberately eclectic range of occupations, from rocket science to biscuit manufacture, accountancy to art – in search of what makes jobs either fulfilling or soul-destroying.
Along the way, he tries to answer some of the most urgent questions we can ask about work: Why do we do it? What makes it pleasurable? What is its meaning? And why do we daily exhaust not only ourselves but also the planet?
Characteristically lucid, clever, and inventive, de Botton’s “song for occupations” is a celebration and exploration of an aspect of life that is all too often ignored and a book that shines a revealing light on the essential meaning of work in our lives.
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by Rupe | Apr 5, 2010 | Not So Recent Reads
Title: World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks
Publisher’s Summary
The Zombie War came unthinkably close to eradicating humanity. Max Brooks, driven by the urgency of preserving the acid-etched first-hand experiences of the survivors from those apocalyptic years, traveled across the United States of America and throughout the world, from decimated cities that once teemed with upwards of 30 million souls, to the most remote and inhospitable areas of the planet.
He recorded the testimony of men, women, and sometimes children who came face-to-face with the living, or at least the undead, hell of that dreadful time. World War Z is the result. Never before have we had access to a document that so powerfully conveys the depth of fear and horror, and also the ineradicable spirit of resistance, that gripped human society through the plague years.
Ranging from the now infamous village of New Dachang in the United Federation of China, where the epidemiological trail began with the 12-year-old Patient Zero, to the unnamed northern forests where untold numbers sought a terrible and temporary refuge in the cold, to the United States of Southern Africa, where the Redeker Plan provided hope for humanity at an unspeakable price, to the west-of-the-Rockies redoubt where the North American tide finally started to turn, this invaluable chronicle reflects the full scope and duration of the Zombie War.
Note: Some of the numerical and factual material contained in this edition was previously published under the auspices of the United Nations Postwar Commission.
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by Rupe | Mar 5, 2010 | Not So Recent Reads
Title: The Talent Code: Unlocking the Secret of Skill in Sports, Art, Music, Math, and Just About Anything by Daniel Coyle
Publisher’s Summary
A New York Times best-selling author explores cutting-edge brain science to learn where talent comes from, how it grows, and how we can make ourselves smarter.
How does a penniless Russian tennis club with one indoor court create more top 20 women players than the entire United States? How did a small town in rural Italy produce the dozens of painters and sculptors who ignited the Italian Renaissance? Why are so many great soccer players from Brazil?
Where does talent come from, and how does it grow?
New research has revealed that myelin, once considered an inert form of insulation for brain cells, may be the holy grail of acquiring skill. Journalist Daniel Coyle spent years investigating talent hotbeds, interviewing world-class practitioners (top soccer players, violinists, fighter, pilots, artists, and bank robbers) and neuroscientists. In clear, accessible language, he presents a solid strategy for skill acquisition – in athletics, fine arts, languages, science or math – that can be successfully applied through a person’s entire lifespan.
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by Rupe | Mar 5, 2010 | Not So Recent Reads
Title: The Top 10 Distinctions Between Millionaires and the Middle Class by Keith Cameron Smith 3
Publisher’s Summary
If you’re ready to take the journey to wealth and personal fulfillment, here’s your ticket. In this life-changing audiobook, entrepreneur and inspirational speaker Keith Cameron Smith tells you how to think like a millionaire and reap the benefits of a millionaire mindset. The key to moving beyond the middle class and up the economic ladder is mastering 10 vital principles, including:
Millionaires think long-term. The middle class thinks short-term. Create a clear vision of the life you desire, and focus on it.
Millionaires talk about ideas. The middle class talks about things and other people. Ask some positive “what if” questions every day, and bounce ideas off successful people who will be honest with you.
Millionaires work for profits. The middle class works for wages. Take calculated risks and learn to take advantage of good opportunities.
We all want to improve our financial position. In this inspirational and practical guide filled with savvy and sensible advice, Smith upgrades you from coach to first class. If you follow these principles, you can transform your life, and realize your dreams.
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by Rupe | Mar 5, 2010 | Not So Recent Reads
Title: Poor People by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Publisher’s Summary
As both a masterpiece of Russian populist writing and a parody of the entire genre, Poor People is an early example of Dostoevsky’s genius.
Written as a series of letters, Poor People tells the tragic tale of a petty clerk and his impossible love for a young girl. Longing to help her and her family, he sells everything he can, but his kindness leads him only into more desperate poverty, and ultimately into debauchery. As a typical “man of the underground”, he serves as the embodiment of the belief that happiness can only be achieved with riches.
This work is remarkable for its vivid characterizations, especially of Dievushkin, the clerk, solely by means of his letters to the young girl and her answers to him.
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