November 7th, 2010 § § permalink
Tony Hsieh | Photo By Jim Laurie
Tony Hsieh is the CEO of online shoe and clothing shop Zappos.com. Prior to joining Zappos, Hsieh co-founded and sold the internet advertising network LinkExchange to Microsoft in 1999 for $265 million. Hsieh graduated from Harvard University with a BA in Computer Science.
On July 22, 2009 Amazon.com announced the acquisition of Zappos.com in a deal valued at approximately 1.2 billion. He is said to have made at least $214 million from the sale not including money made through his former investment firm Venture Frogs.
In June 2010, Hsieh released Delivering Happiness, a book about his entrepreneurial endeavors.
(credits: Wikipedia.org)
Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion and Purpose
November 6th, 2010 § § permalink
Seth Godin | Photo by John Abbott
Seth Godin (born July 10, 1960) is an American entrepreneur, author and public speaker. Godin popularized the topic of permission marketing.
Godin graduated from Tufts University in 1989 with a degree in computer science and philosophy. Godin earned his MBA in marketing from Stanford Business School. From 1983 to 1986, he worked as a brand manager at Spinnaker Software. For a time Godin commuted every week between California and Boston both to do his new job and to complete his MBA.
After leaving Spinnaker Software in 1986, Godin became a book packager. It was in the same offices that Godin met Mark Hurst and founded Yoyodyne. After a few years Godin sold the book packaging business to his employees and focused his efforts on Yoyodyne, one of the first online marketing companies. It was with Yoyodyne that Godin came up with the concept of permission marketing. For a period of time, Godin served as a columnist for Fast Company. Godin and his wife Helene now live in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York.
Godin believes that the end of the “TV-Industrial complex” means that marketers no longer have the power to command the attention of anyone they choose, whenever they choose. Second, in a marketplace in which consumers have more power, he thinks marketers must show more respect; this means no spam, no deceit and a bias for keeping promises. Finally, Godin asserts that the only way to spread the word about an idea is for that idea to earn the buzz by being remarkable. Godin refers to those who spread these ideas as “Sneezers”, and to the spreading idea as an “IdeaVirus.” He calls a remarkable product or service a purple cow. Yahoo! currently has a model of a purple cow in the lobby of its Sunnyvale campus.
Advertisements on television and radio are classified as ‘interruption marketing’ which interrupt the customer while they are doing something of their preference. Godin introduced the concept of “permission marketing” where the business provides something “anticipated, personal, and relevant”.
Godin’s blog, is ranked in the AdAge Power 150 as the #1 marketing blog out of 976 tracked.
(credits: Wikipedia.org)
Linchpin: Are You Indispensable? (2010)
Books by Seth Godin (and available on MPHOnline)
June 18th, 2010 § § permalink
Dan Simmons
Dan Simmons (born April 4, 1948 in Peoria, Illinois) is an American author most widely known for his Hugo Award-winning science fiction series, known as the Hyperion Cantos, and for his Locus-winning Ilium/Olympos cycle.
Song of Kali by Dan Simmons
He spans genres such as science fiction, horror and fantasy, sometimes within the same novel: a typical example of Simmons’ ability to intermingle genres is Song of Kali (1985), winner of World Fantasy Award. He is also a respected author of mysteries and thrillers, some of which feature the continuing character Joe Kurtz.
Other Books by Dan Simmons
Other Books by Dan Simmons
May 16th, 2010 § § permalink
Robert Raymer
Named as one of the “50 Expats You Should Know” in Malaysia by Expatriate Lifestyle (January 2010), profiled in an upcoming edition of International Living, and featured on the talk show Kuppa Kopi (31 May 2010), Robert Raymer is an American writer and writing facilitator living in Sarawak on the island of Borneo. Until recently, he has taught Creative Writing for 13 years in Malaysia (ten years at Universiti Sains Malaysia and three and a half years at Universiti Malaysia Sarawak).
His short stories and articles have been published nearly 500 times; they’ve appeared in The Literary Review, Thema, Descant, London Magazine, Off the Edge, Reader’s Digest and The Writer (his latest in their May 2010 issue). Lovers and Strangers Revisited (MPH 2008), a collection of 17 short stories set in Malaysia have been published 65 times in 10 countries, taught in several universities, and won the 2009 Popular-The Star Readers Choice Awards.
His most recent book, Tropical Affairs: Episodes from an Expat’s Life in Malaysia (MPH 2009), is a collection of creative nonfiction about his experiences of living in Malaysia for over twenty years, including being an extra in three Hollywood films (Anna and the King, Paradise Road, Beyond Rangoon) and the French film, Indochine, which won an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film.
One of his novels was a “short-listed finalist” in the 2009 Faulkner-Wisdom novel contest and another was “almost finalist” for their 2008 contest. He lives with his wife Jenny, (a Bidayuh from Sarawak) and their two children, Jason and Justin. He also has a son Zaini, featured in Tropical Affairs since he was a baby, but now studying in Kuala Lumpur.
His interviews and book reviews can be accessed from his website: http://www.borneoexpatwriter.com/
His blog on writing: http://borneoexpatwriter.blogspot.com/
His blog series on the short stories from Lovers and Strangers Revisited: http://thestorybehindthestoryoflsr.blogspot.com/
Books by Robert Raymer
Lovers and Strangers Revisited
Lovers and Strangers Revisited
Lovers and Strangers Revisited by MPH Publishing, us the winner of 2009 Popular-The Star Reader’s Choice Award. In this collection of 17 stories, Robert Raymer portrays the traditional in modernity, the unexpected in relationships both familiar and strange, the recurring theme of race even as contemporary Malaysia finds ways to understand its multicultural milieu.
In the title story, a selfish writer gets more than he bargained for when former lovers haunt him in more ways than one. In another story, a man’s loneliness turns into obsession when he shares a taxi ride with a Malay woman. A Clark Gable lookalike is a barrister wannabe with a shocking secret and gossipy neighbours reveal more about themselves than the man who commits suicide. Elsewhere, expats cross the border to Had Yai to experience a good bargain in the Thai flesh trade before going home to their wives in America.
In this republished edition of Lovers and Strangers Revisited, Raymer’s snapshots of scenes from various walks of life provide an insider-outsider view on love, family and culture, and urges a second look at ourselves in the mirror of self-awareness.
Tropical Affairs: Episodes from an Expat’s Life in Malaysia
Tropical Affairs: Episodes from an Expat’s Life in Malaysia
In Tropical Affairs: Episodes from an Expat’s Life in Malaysia by MPH Publishing, Robert Raymer has had the pleasure of chasing after a mad woman who stuffed his letter down her blouse, being trapped by a monitor lizard inside his own house, and being frisked by three men wearing pincushions.
He’s had close encounters with several Emmy- and Oscar-winning directors and actresses, including Bruce Beresford, John Boorman, Glenn Close, Catherine Deneuve, and Jodie Foster. He’s been arm-twisted into playing Santa Claus, misled on a night hike, and stood up on Valentine’s Day! He’s held a live crocodile in his arms and survived two operations with two of his sons, who naturally got all the attention. He’s been an extra in five movie scenes, written four books, fathered three sons, taught at two universities, and has, on more than one occasion, been completely out of luck!
In Tropical Affairs, a collection of creative nonfiction, the author gives a lush, multi-layered rendition of the Malaysian way of life, colored and influenced by his own experiences living in Malaysia.
May 13th, 2010 § § permalink
Barry Wain
Barry Wain, author of Malaysian Maverick: Mahathir Mohamad in Turbulent Times is an Australian journalist who is a Writer-in-Residence at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore. A former editor of the Asian Wall Street Journal, Wain has written many well known popular books and one of them is ‘The Refused’ which is an account of the refugee outflow from Indochina after the Vietnam War.
He spent 37 years of his life in Asia and wrote one of the most controversial articles ‘New Philippine Revolution’ which created waves all around. Barry Wain is a writer with his own realistic form of writing which is clear in facts i.e. unbiased. Wain in his latest book on the Malaysian Maverick Mahathir Mohamad presents various aspects of his character and the situation that he dealt with very straightforwardly and thus crediting Mahathir for engineering the country’s economic transformation, deepening industrialization and expanding Malaysia’s middle class.
(Source: MaverickMalaysia.com)
Malaysian Maverick: Mahathir Mohamad in Turbulent Times
Malaysian Maverick by Barry Wain
The book Malaysian Maverick: Mahathir Mohamad in Turbulent Times is about the Malaysian Prime minister Mahathir Mohamad and his political journey in times of disturbance. The author Barry Wain talks tries to explore various aspects of Mahathir Mohamad’s personality.
According to Wain Mahathir one hand being a Malayan Heroic figure was a fiercely tireless campaigner on the other who advocated against the domination by the Western economy. The author expounds the unknown persona of Mahathir by this book by the series of exhaustive interviews he had with him.
The author says that there is much more yet to be known in his personality rather than just what he has always presented himself in the outer world and the entire world’s perceives about him.
The issue that catches attention in this book is about the assertion that around RM100 billion may have been wasted like water on huge projects undertaken by Mahathir in order to engineer the modern Malaysia we see today by revolutionizing industries and underneath these projects also accompanied corruption.
Wain also writes that Malaysia was left handicapped due to its national car policy thus making Thailand the major center for car manufacturing.
The author portrays a very balanced description by throwing light on the fact that though the Malaysian Maverick directed all his plans towards the notion of modern, industrialized and globally respected nation of Malaysia for which he even directed the ruling party into business but this accelerated corruption as party’s nature and goals changed. Consequently this led to massive financial scandals. Though involvement of Mahathir in any of this corruption is not confirmed anywhere yet all these disturbances left him unapologetic.
The author concludes in the final chapters of his book that despite of these turbulences and confusions Mahathir created the very nation that he dreamt about that is the modern industrialized Malaysia with its iconic twin towers. Although the corruption that accompanied the process of transformation of Malaysia has much to blame on Mahathir only due to his dissolution of independent judiciary but still he proved to be true to the title given to him as The Malaysian Maverick.
Mahathir, as he himself confessed to the author says that even today he has resentment towards the west, the British in particular. The author writes about this exhaustively that this very antagonism against the British has been a hallmark of his career.
This book thus captures Mahathir Mohamad, the PM of Malaysia for 22 years in true unbiased light, highlighting his true personality and the political situations that Malaysia went through to be what it is today. For all those who would like to explore this Malaysian Maverick and his nation must get started as this is an appreciable piece of work.
(Source: MaverickMalaysia.com)
May 12th, 2010 § § permalink
Fluent in Thai and Khamen, New Zealander Warren Olson worked the bars and back alleys of Bangkok, going where other private eyes feared to tread. Although Olson has since retired from the PI scene and has returned to his native Auckland, where he was recently awarded a Masters in Strategic Studies, the company he founded in Bangkok, Thai Private Eye, is still open for business (www.thaiprivateeye.com).
Thai Private Eye
Thai Private Eye by Warren Olson
For more than a decade, intrepid Kiwi Warren Olson trawled the mean streets of Bangkok and the lesser-known corners of the Land of Smiles. His brief? To uncover unsavoury truths about Thai bargirl lovers, philandering spouses, insurance fraud and scam artists of various stripes. He was a private eye prying into nooks and crannies few dared to explore and, along the way, he uncovered fascinating secrets of Thais and foreigners engaged in no good.
This volume – the follow-up to Olson’s bestselling Confessions of a Bangkok Private Eye – serves up more juicy portions of what goes on under the veneer in Thailand and includes stories deemed too hot to include in the first book for fear of repercussions. It also includes recent cases, where state-of-the-art surveillance devices and other advances in the dark arts of private investigation have made it easier to uncover dirt deep below the surface. This is a book that reads like exciting fiction, with one big difference: every story is true. Only the names and related identifying details have been changed to protect the innocent along with the guilty. These chronicles of a decade lived dangerously in the Land of Crooked Smiles will, by turns, entertain, shock, inflame and inform you.
Confessions of a Bangkok Private Eye
Confessions of a Bangkok Private Eye by Warren Olson
Two-timing bargirls, suspicious spouses and lesbian lovers, it was all in a day’s work for Bangkok Private Eye Warren Olson.
For more than a decade Olson walked the mean streets of the Big Mango. Fluent in Thai and Khmer, he was able to go where other Private Eyes feared to tread.
His clients included Westerners who had lost their hearts and life savings to money-hungry bargirls. But he had more than his fair share of Thai clients, too, including a sweet old lady who was ripped off by a Christian conman and a Thai girl blackmailed by a former lover.
The stories are based on Olson’s case files, fictionalised (to protect the innocent, and the guilty) by bestselling author Stephen Leather. Olson has now relocated to his native New Zealand with his Thai wife and daughter, but the agency that he founded is still open for business at www.thaiprivateeye.com.
(Sources: Warren Olson and Pan Macmillan Australia)
April 26th, 2010 § § permalink
Peter V. Brett
Peter V. Brett
Raised on a steady diet of fantasy novels, comic books, and Dungeons & Dragons, Peter V. Brett has been writing fantasy stories for as long as he can remember. He received a bachelor of arts degree in English literature and art history from the University at Buffalo in 1995, then worked for a decade in pharmaceutical publishing before returning to his bliss. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife, Danielle, their daughter, and two cats, Jinx and Max Powers. This is his first novel.
The Warded Man
The Warded Man by Peter V. Brett
In his debut novel, Brett catapults readers into a world in which demons rise at night and the human population lives in fear and seclusion. Only those who brave the unsheltered night and survive see what lies beyond their birth town or city. The setting itself is spare and underdeveloped with the focus instead being on the flawed heroes of the tale. Brett spends a majority of the novel-the first of a series-establishing the backstories of the main characters, three humans who come from different towns and backgrounds and are thrown into the battle at a young age. Readers are held in suspense until the three finally meet. Brett uses the demons and magic to examine issues prevalent in our own society, such as religion versus science. The book is captivating and well written, quickly drawing readers in. The Warded Man is a must-read for anyone looking for a new fantasy world to explore.
The Painted Man
The Painted Man by Peter V. Brett
The stunning debut fantasy novel from author Peter V. Brett. The Painted Man, book one of the Demon trilogy, is a captivating and thrilling fantasy adventure, pulling the reader into a world of demons, darkness and heroes. Sometimes there is very good reason to be afraid of the dark! Arlen lives with his parents on their small farmstead, half a day’s ride from the isolated hamlet of Tibbet’s Brook. As dusk falls each evening, a mist rises from the ground promising death to any foolish enough to brave the coming darkness. For hungry demons materialize from the vapours to feed, and as the shadows lengthen, all of humanity is forced to take shelter behind magical wards and pray that their protection holds until the dawn. But when Arlen’s world is shattered by the demon plague, he realizes that it is fear, rather than the monsters, which truly cripples humanity. Only by conquering their own terror can they ever hope to defeat the demons. Now Arlen must risk leaving the safety of his wards to discover a different path, and offer humanity a last, fleeting chance of survival.
April 25th, 2010 § § permalink
Robert Harris
Robert Harris is the author of Pompeii, Enigma, and Fatherland. He has been a television correspondent with the BBC and a newspaper columnist for the London Sunday Times and The Daily Telegraph. His novels have sold more than ten million copies and been translated into thirty languages. He lives in Berkshire, England, with his wife and four children.
The Ghost Writer
The Ghost Writer by Robert Harris
Don’t miss the major motion picture staring Ewan McGregor and Pierce Brosnan. The Ghost Writer is an eerily timely thriller of power, politics, corruption, and murder from bestselling author Robert Harris.
“The moment I heard how McAra died, I should have walked away. I can see that now. . . .”
The role of a ghostwriter is to make his client look good, not to uncover the truth. But what happens when the client is a major political figure, and the truth could change the course of history? Adam Lang, the controversial former prime minister of Britain, is writing his memoirs. But his first ghostwriter dies under shocking circumstances, and his replacement—whose experience lies in portraying aging rock stars and film idols—knows little about Lang’s inner circle. Flown to join Lang in a secure house on the remote shores of Martha’s Vineyard in the depths of winter, cut off from everyone and everything he knows, he comes to realize he should never have taken the job.
It’s not just his predecessor’s mysterious death that haunts him, but Adam Lang himself. Deep in Lang’s past are buried shocking secrets . . . secrets with the power to alter world politics . . . secrets with the power to kill.
Lustrum
Lustrum by Robert Harris
Lustrum is a stunning trilogy about the Roman Empire by Robert Harris, author of the acclaimed bestsellers Fatherland, Enigma, Archangel, Pompeii, Imperium and The Ghost.
63 BC, the year when Cicero is consul. Most of his time in office is devoted to uncovering and thwarting a violent conspiracy to overthrow the state, ostensibly led by Crassus and a group of disaffected senators. Underlying this is the great rivalry between Cicero and Caesar, who represent two different types of ambition: one orthodox, the other revolutionary. As Caesar’s power grows Cicero must face the inevitable compromises that come from holding power – is it justifiable to use illegal methods in order to save the Republic?
Robert Harris yet again proves himself a master of historical fiction as he takes the reader to the heart of republican Rome with a novel that is at once brilliantly researched and utterly gripping.
April 19th, 2010 § § permalink
Jack Canfield
Jack Canfield (born August 19, 1944) is an American motivational speaker and author. He is best known as the co-creator of the Chicken Soup for the Soul book series, which currently has nearly 200 titles and 112 million copies in print in over 40 languages. According to USA Today, Chicken Soup for the Soul and several of the series titles by Canfield and his writing partner, Mark Victor Hansen, were among the top 150 best-selling books of the last 15 years (October 28, 1993 through October 23, 2008).
In July 2004, The Jack Canfield founded the Transformational Leadership Council, a group of thought leaders, speakers, authors, coaches, trainers, researchers, consultants, and other leaders in the fields of personal and professional development. The members of TLC meet semi-annually to network, connect, and learn from each other, to enhance members’ effectiveness and contribution in the world. As of January 2009, membership numbered 99.
Canfield has worked as a teacher, a workshop facilitator, and a psychotherapist. He is a Democrat and a follower of “the secret” and the Law of Attraction, and his hobbies include tennis, travel, skiing, running, billiards, reading, and guitar. In 1962, he graduated from high school at Linsly Military Institute in Wheeling, West Virginia and he received a BA in Chinese History in 1966 from Harvard University and an MEd at University of Massachusetts Amherst in 1973. In 1971 he married Judith Ohlbaum, with whom he had two children. In 1978 he was named Outstanding Young Man of America by the U.S. Jaycees. On September 9, 1978, he married Georgia Lee Noble, with whom he had a son. They divorced in December 1999. On July 4, 2001, Canfield married for a third time to Inga Marie Mahoney. In the recently released Long Past Stopping Canfield’s first son, Oran, details a troubled childhood with a distant father, as well as his skepticism of the entire self-help genre in which his father became famous.
In 1990, Canfield shared with Mark Victor Hansen the idea for the Chicken Soup for the Soul series and after three years, the two had compiled sixty-eight stories. Canfield has appeared on numerous television shows, including Good Morning America, 20/20, Eye to Eye, CNN’s Talk Back Live, PBS, The Oprah Winfrey Show, The Montel Williams Show, Larry King Live, and the BBC.
Canfield is the founder of “Self Esteem Seminars” in Santa Barbara, and “The Foundation for Self Esteem” in Culver City, California. One of Canfield’s most recent books, The Success Principles (2005), shares 64 principles that he claims can make people more successful. In 2008, he wrote The Success Principles for Teens with Kent Healy, as a result of the success of his original book. In 2006, he appeared in the DVD, “The Secret”, and shared his insights on the Law of Attraction and tips for achieving success in personal and professional life. In the summer of 2004 Canfield founded The Transformational Leadership Council (TLC), a closed membership, invitation only members’ club.
Chicken Soup for the Soul
Chicken Soup for the Soul is a series of books, usually featuring a collection of short and dense inspirational stories and motivational essays. The 101 stories in the first book of the series were compiled by motivational speakers Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen.
There have been numerous volumes of Chicken Soup issued. As of January 2006, there were over 105 titles. Many of the books are directed at specific groups of people, e.g. Chicken Soup for the Mother’s Soul, Chicken Soup for the Preteen Soul, Chicken Soup for the Prisoner’s Soul, Chicken Soup for the Volunteer’s Soul, Chicken Soup for the Grandparent’s Soul, Chicken Soup for the Ocean Lover’s Soul, Chicken Soup for the Horse Lover’s Soul, etc.
The first book sold over 2 million copies and launched the series. There are now over 100 million copies in print and in 54 languages worldwide. The Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul series, consisting of over over 14 titles, is one of the first series of non-fiction books which have sold directly to teens in the US, Canada, the UK and Australia.
The series has spawned a number of imitators and parodies including Chicken Soup for the Vegetarian’s Soul and MTV’s Beavis and Butt-Head: Chicken Soup for the Butt, as well as a line of licensed products, including greeting cards, calendars, gift products, pet food, CDs, DVDs, and nutritional supplements. A parody can also be found within the PC game A Vampyre Story; a book titled Chicken Soup For Those Without A Soul can be found in the library.
The name “Chicken Soup” was chosen for this series because of the use of chicken soup as a home remedy for the sick.
From 1993 to 2008, Chicken Soup for the Soul was published by Health Communications, Inc.
April 15th, 2010 § § permalink
Robin Sharma
Robin Sharma is the author of 11 international bestselling books, and a globally respected leadership expert. In an independent ranking of leadership gurus, Sharma ranked #2 (source: leadershipgurus.net). His best known books include the multi-million copy bestseller “The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari” (75 languages) and “The Greatness Guide“. His latest book is “The Leader Who Had No Title: A Modern Fable On Real Success in Business and in Life” (Simon & Schuster). Sharma is one of the most widely read authors in the world.
Sharma holds two law degrees, including a Masters of Law, and has had a distinguished career as a litigation lawyer. He is the founder of Sharma Leadership International Inc., a global training firm whose clients include many of the FORTUNE 500 such as GE, Nike, FedEx, NASA, Unilever, Microsoft, BP, IBM and The Young Presidents Organization and Yale University.
Sharma is also a dedicated philanthropist and has created The Robin Sharma Foundation for Children, a not for profit organization that helps children in need become leaders.
More information including Sharma’s popular blog, podcasts and media reviews appears at www.robinsharma.com also view www.theleaderwhohadnotitle.com
Popular Books by Robin Sharma
Popular Books by Robin Sharma
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