MyBookReview

I’m sure many have watched the movie 300, the story of 300 Spartans defending their homeland at a narrow gorge called Thermopylae or Hell’s Gate.  The story of the 300 brave spartans is just one many heroic stories featured in this book.  There are even stories from the bible such as the fight between David and Goliath, a classic example of how the underdog won.  True courage is one of the most highly attributes of humanity.  Throughout history we have heard and read about the accounts of extraordinary people conquering overwhelming odds. There over 70 accounts of heroism in this book, men, women showed real courage with most the time with their lives on the line.

About the book:

You are probably wondering how much more you need to know about pissing beyond pointing and flushing. Yes this book is all about pissing or urinating. The science, the art and everything you can imagine that’s connected to pissing. It was written by Prof. Jimmy Riddle who has a Phd in Pissology. I enjoy reading this book because it is about a simple basic idea conveyed in a witty and humorous way with some academic aspects. There are also funny illustrations to stress the points.

The chapters include:

• Toilet Training
• Advanced Pissing Skills
• the Finer Piss Arts
• Tales of Urination
• Damn the Dick or Take the Stick
• Urine and Sex
• Jimmy Riddle’s Inventions
• Pissing Problems
• Urine, the Elixir of Life
• Motion Piss Tours
• Laws Regarding Pissing in Public

About the book:

The Joy of Pissing
By Jimmy Riddle
Published by Crombie Jardine Publishing Limited, 2006
ISBN 1905102879, 9781905102877
192 pages

I’m sure any one who had the experience of leading a team, wished that he or she could do everything?  Normally team members give you more headache than the task itself.  In this book, it shows you how to build a team.  Building a great team means that together, you can accomplish the task.

The book provides you with the skills to choose the right people for the right roles, complementing each other and combining skills to create a winning team spirit. The book will tell you how to identify and therefore avoid problematic people to be in the team.  Problem people such as the daydreamer, the loner, the sulker, the secretive person, the uncommunicative person and many more.  You will learn to inspire and to motivate members with the appropriate rewards.

Building team spirit includes the following techniques:

• Enourage team members to support each other.
• Train the team together.
• Put different people in charge of different projects.
• Give your team confidential information.
• Treat everyone as part of the team.

This is a great book to have if you are managing project teams.

About the book:

This is a book I bought to prepare myself for a talk I delivered on web 2.0. It is interesting and thought provoking. To some aspect I do agree with the book. The book talks about how amateurism is taking over conventional and professionals content providers. Take for example YouTube. Yes it has taken the world by storm by providing a community driven video clip database. But it also spurned amateurs to put up non-quality content that are not relevant to the masses. What the internet is driving at is more quantity rather than quality.

Another example is blogs. According to the book, blogs has taken over mainstream writing ie newspapers for news. Yes that’s true. Also the book contends that majority of the writings may not be factually validated. That is a problem.

How does the internet affect the economy? In recent years, we see sites the likes of Napster, which provided free MP3 downloads. Of course, the music industry was not happy, resulting in legal action taken agains Napster.

However in my opinion, although the book talks about the darker side of the internet and how it spurs the cult of amateur, but it cannot deny the fact that through the internet, millions have benefitted and affected. It’s digital democracy, the conventional and the mainstream needs to adapt themselves to this revolution.

About the book:

The Cult of the Amateur: How Today’s Internet is Killing Our Culture and Assaulting Our Economy
By Andrew Keen
Published by Nicholas Brealey, 2007
ISBN 1857883934, 9781857883930
228 pages

Consider this book the “ten commandments” of work.  In this book you will encounter ten rules.  Each rule is futher subdivided into ten explanation or sections.  The ten rules are:

1. Walk your talk
2. Know that you’re being judged at all times
3. Have a plan
4. If you can’t say anything nice - shut up
5. Look after yourself
6. Blend in
7. Act one step ahead
8. Cultivate diplomacy
9. Know the system - and milk it
10. Handle the opposition

Rule 4 is an easy rule to understand but a tough one to follow.  We all like to gossip, to bitch, to talk about our boss behind their back.  The rule, however is - don’t do it.  Learn to say only positive things, nice things, complimentary things.  In reality, this rule is broken all time.  Even at my organisation, we all talked about our boss….not necessarily in positive tone.  Nevertheless…our boss is still our boss and we still need tor respect him or her.

I would recommend this book for those who want to know about the principles of work.  It will give lots of insights in dealing with the realities of your job.

About the book: