October 29th, 2009 § § permalink
Gustave Flaubert (Illustration: Corbis)
“Do not read, as children do, to amuse yourself, or like the ambitious, for the purpose of instruction. No, read in order to live.”
Gustave Flaubert (December 12, 1821 – May 8, 1880) was a French writer who is counted among the greatest Western novelists. He is known especially for his first published novel, Madame Bovary (1857), and for his scrupulous devotion to his art and style.
In September 1849, Flaubert completed the first version of a novel, The Temptation of Saint Anthony. He read the novel aloud to Louis Bouilhet and Maxime du Camp over the course of four days, not allowing them to interrupt or give any opinions. At the end of the reading, his friends told him to throw the manuscript in the fire, suggesting instead that he focus on day to day life rather than on fantastic subjects.In 1850, after returning from Egypt, Flaubert began work on Madame Bovary. The novel, which took five years to write, was serialized in the Revue de Paris in 1856. The government brought an action against the publisher and author on the charge of immorality, which was heard during the following year, but both were acquitted. When Madame Bovary appeared in book form, it met with a warm reception.
In 1858, Flaubert traveled to Carthage to gather material for his next novel, Salammbô. The novel was completed in 1862 after four years of work.
Drawing on his childhood experiences, Flaubert next wrote L’Éducation sentimentale (Sentimental Education), an effort that took seven years. L’Éducation sentimentale, his last complete novel, was published in 1869.
(Wikipedia)
October 27th, 2009 § § permalink
ISBN 9780071638005
Title: The Drucker Difference
Authors: Craig L. Pearce, Joseph A. Maciariello, and Hideki Yamamwaki
ISBN: 9780071638005
Peter F. Drucker was one of the most influential business thinkers in history. Considered the father of modern management, he was concerned not only with the human side of management, but also with the larger societal roles played by both companies and the individuals within them.
If there has ever been a time when such thinkers are relevant, it is now.
The Drucker Difference casts new light on Drucker’s business philosophy, analyzing his most important ideas in the context of today’s business world. Through individual contributions by professors from The Peter F. Drucker and Masatoshi Ito Graduate School of Management, it combines expert insight and current scholarship to reveal how organizations and executives can interpret and apply Drucker’s timeless ideas.
Today’s top business thinkers provide sixteen chapters analyzing Drucker’s views on the most critical issues of our time, including:
- Government, business, and civil society (Ira Jackson)
- The interplay of values and power within companies (Karen E. Linkletter and Joseph A. Maciariello)
- Applying collaboration to “knowledge work” (Craig L. Pearce)
- Drucker’s management vision (Richard Smith)
- Economic environment, innovation, and industry dynamics (Hideki Yamawaki)
Each contributor explains a single, classic aspect of Drucker’s work, examines its implications in today’s business environment, and applies an up-to-date and contemporary interpretation of Drucker’s wisdom.
Covering everything from marketing and leadership to strategy and governance, The Drucker Difference is both a timely new assessment and a valuable addition to the canon of Drucker literature.
About the Authors
Craig L. Pearce is Professor of Management at The Drucker School of Management. His research on shared leadership has been featured in The Wall Street Journal. Pearce’s most recent book is Shared Leadership, and his forthcoming book is Share the Lead.
Joseph A. Maciariello is the Horton Professor of Management at The Drucker School of Management. He coauthored The Daily Drucker and The Effective Executive in Action with Peter F. Drucker and recently carried on Drucker’s legacy by revising two existing Drucker books: Management and Management Cases.
Hideki Yamawaki is Professor of Management and Associate Dean at The Drucker School of Management. His most recent book is Japanese Exports and Foreign Direct Investment: Imperfect Competition in International Markets.
Awards
Peter Drucker (Nov 1909 - Nov 2005)
Drucker was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by U.S. President George W. Bush on July 9, 2002. He also received honors from the governments of Japan and Austria. He was the Honorary Chairman of the Peter F. Drucker Foundation for Nonprofit Management, now the Leader to Leader Institute, from 1990 through 2002. In 1969 he was awarded New York University’s highest honor, the NYU Presidential Citation. Harvard Business Review honored Drucker in the spring of 2005 with his seventh McKinsey Award for his article, “What Makes an Effective Executive”, the most awarded to one person. Drucker was inducted into the Junior Achievement U.S. Business Hall of Fame in 1996. Additionally he holds 25 honorary doctorates from American, Belgian, Czech, English, Spanish and Swiss Universities. (Wikipedia)
The Drucker Centennial Week Celebration
‘The Drucker Centennial Week Celebration’ will kick- off in the month of November, Nov. 2-8, 2009. These celebrations are managed by ‘The Drucker Society’ and ‘The Drucker Academy’ globally. Hence, there will definitely be news about Drucker in major newspaper as these events are supported by lead authors like C.K. Prahalad, Charles Handy, Philip Kotler, Fredmund Malik, Hermann Simon etc. More information about the celebrations could be found in the following website:
http://drucker100.com/
Writings by Drucker include:
Writings about Drucker include:
Living in More Than One World: How Peter Drucker’s Wisdom Can Inspire and Transform Your Life
October 22nd, 2009 § § permalink
This Diary will Change your Life 2009, ISBN 9780752226682
16th October 2009
This Diary Will Change Your Life is guaranteed to make the year 2009 stand out.
Where previous Diaries have emphasized social change with tasks such as “Try making the Dalai Lama lose his temper”, or “Spy on MI5 employees as they leave the office”, the latest edition insists on setting everyone’s mental outlook to ‘rosy’, with a range of brilliantly inventive tasks that are accessible to all.
This Diary Will Change Your Life 2009 brings out the creative impulse in everyone, and channels it into healthy artistic self-expression, rather than into cut-your-own-ear-off neurosis.
October 21st, 2009 § § permalink
Read Doris Lessing’s The Golden Notebook online and note the conversations by seven women on the side margins at The Golden Notebook Project. Lessing won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2007.
The Golden Notebook
Here are answers to some common questions:
What is this?
It’s an experiment in close-reading in which seven women are reading the book and conducting a conversation in the margins. The project went live on Monday 10 November 2008.
Why are you doing it?
It’s part of a long-term effort to encourage and enable a culture of collaborative learning.
What do you hope to learn?
We don’t yet understand how to model a complex conversation in the web’s two-dimensional environment and we’re hoping this experiment will help us learn some of what we need to do to make this sort of collaboration as successful as possible.
How come only the seven women can comment in the margins?
Good conversations are messy, non-linear and complicated. The comment area, a chronological scrolling field just isn’t robust enough to follow a conversation among an infinite number of participants. Seven may even be too many. [Note: the forums are open to everyone and we do hope that readers beyond the initial seven will join the fray there both as regards the text and the process. We really want to know what you think works and what doesn’t.
List of book available by Doris Lessing:
October 19th, 2009 § § permalink
Asterix, the Gaul
Although he does not have the impressive muscle-bound physique of the heroes Albert Uderzo drew at first, Asterix is the only anti-hero to boast such a collection of success stories and heroic feats.
Throughout his adventures, where his legendary wile and the precious magic potion concocted by the druid Getafix allow him to escape from the direst situations, often covered with glory, Asterix has made off with Caesar’s laurel crown, won a gold metal at the Olympic Games (without the benefit of the magic potion, if you please!) and completed with honours the 12 tasks as decreed by Caesar one day when he was foolish enough to risk a bet with our incorrigible Gauls.
Thanks to our hero, the Britons discovered tea and the Belgians were inspired to make French fries! As for the Asterix comic book series, it has been the sensation of the publishing world for over 45 years while the character Asterix has become a mythical figure, a symbol throughout the world for all who resist the influence of Empires trying to impose their will and law on others. René Goscinny explained that his hero’s name, with its initial «A», was a clear advantage with regard to alphabetic classification in any future comic book encyclopaedia, but did he ever imagine that his tiny Gaul would also change comic book history?
And what more can be said about the success of Asterix in the film industry? Despite all his success, Asterix has remained down to earth and all he needs to keep him (and his readers) happy is the chance to ridicule the Romans and savour a delicious banquet with his friends.
Meet Asterix and the gang at Asterix: The Magic Web Portion!
List of comics available:
October 18th, 2009 § § permalink
Nelson Mandela by Sue Dickinson
15th Oct 2009
“Virtually every major territory” was bidding for the hottest book in Frankfurt, Nelson Mandela’s private diaries. US rights were sold on Wednesday afternoon (14th) to Jonathan Galassi at Macmillan US’ Farrar, Straus and Giroux via Sloan Harris at ICM, with deals also in Portugal, France and Denmark, auctions in Brazil, Sweden and Holland and offers in from Germany, Israel and Italy.
“What is so amazing is that he wrote virtually every day of his life and kept all his notes,” said Geller. “The book shows the personal side of this icon, his amazing humanity and wisdom.” Geller is handling worldwide rights to the book on behalf of New Zealand-based packager PQ Blackwell, a previous publisher of Mandela, who approached Geller to agent the book after Mandela bestowed his entire archive to the Nelson Mandela Foundation.
(Extracted and adapted from The Bookseller)
In his famous autobiography The Long Walk to Freedom which won the Alan Paton Award in 1995, Nelson Mandela describes his 27 years in prison. From Mandela’s private diaries we can expect further details of his tenure there. The book The Long Walk to Freedom will be adapted to a movie directed by Tom Hooper this year.
List of book available by Nelson Mandela:
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