Book Reviews
My Personal Reading List and Comments<< Newer Reviews || Older Reviews >>
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100. The man who mistook his wife for a hat. Oliver Sacks.
Synopsis Popular neurologist Oliver Sacks recounts cases from some of his patients. Comments A great starting point for the budding psychologist who wishes to learn about the usual neurological disorders. Told in an anecdotal way, this book also invites the casual reader to pick it up and read along, as the narrative is made in an easy to understand non-textbook manner. |
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99. Fear and Trembling Soren Kierkegaard.
Synopsis Soren Kierkegaard explores the biblical story of Abraham. Comments A philisophical journey into faith and the difference between persons of faith and tragic heros. |
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98. The rape of Nanking. Iris Chang.
Synopsis 'The forgotten story of one of history's most brutal massacres.' Comments A daring, shocking and brutal account of the ‘forgotten’ massacre of Nanking during WWII. Tales of umpteen war crimes accompanied with pages of notes and references. I would guess there were more undocumented crimes that happened too but sadly her information seems to be limited. Read more on my tumblr blog. Not to be read by the easily disturbed. As this book depicts real life events and acts committed by our fellow human beings, this could be disturbing even to the hardened reader. I am deeply saddened by the events and actions illustrated in this book which surpass my wildest imaginations of the evil that mankind can be capable of. Sickening. |
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97. The One Best Way. Frederick Winslow Taylor and the Enigma of Efficiency. Robert Kanigel.
Synopsis 'In the past, man has always been first. In the future, the system will always be first.' Comments (Read Full Comments Here) Robert Kanigel has done an excellent job here. It covers almost every part of Taylor's life including the nitty gritty details of his childhood, abilities, apprenticeship, patents, struggles and why his name is down as being a former US Open tennis champion. There are also some excellent stories about the unsung heros in America that would never make it to a biography, yet are responsible for the creation of people as important as Frederick Taylor. A well put together biography. The chapters are nicely presented in a succession that leads from one defining event in his life to another. Read more on my tumblr blog. Takeaways: A very detailed look into Frederick Taylor's life. |
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96. Intellectual Capital. Edvinsson & Malone.
Synopsis 'Read this book or go bankrupt in the 21st Century' Comments Despite the book being a bit dated, I decided to give this one a go. I wasn't disappointed. The book clearly demonstrates a time where the measurement of intellectual capital needed a paradigm shift (it still does, but we're getting there aren't we?). The book starts with the arguments for intellectual capital to be on the balance sheet and then spends the rest of the chapters giving guidelines and methods to measure the various elements in an organization that construct intellectual capital (ie the non tangible stuff). Takeaways: The Skandia Navigator, lists of example proxy measures. |
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95. Battle Royale. Takami and Oniki.
Synopsis As part of a military exercise, a class of Japanese school children are dropped onto an island, given various weapons and instructed to kill each other or be killed. Comments My favourite genre. A bunch of people trapped on an island and the capability of human nature being explored. A gory concept at first that the reader gets accustomed to in as much as the students have to deal with the reality of the situation. Excellent ending too. |
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94. Discourse on Method and Meditations. Rene Descartes.
Synopsis Two papers full of random musings and philosophy from Rene Descartes. Comments Quite a tough one to read, since it is directly translated from Latin and also written during the 17th century, but worthwhile anyway. Very nice that he tries to use influences and knowledge from a variety of disciplines and tries to remain impartial and humble despite being a leading academic at the time. Takaways: Cogito Ergo Sum... I think therefore I am! Regarding truth: Something is true if you have enough evidence to believe it is true, even if there is more evidence out there, which you have not yet discovered, that prove that it is not true. Nice. |
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93. The Knowledge Creating Company. Nonaka and Takeuchi.
Synopsis Nonaka and Takeuchi explore how Japanese companies create the dynamics of innovation. Comments Probably one of the best books on knowledge management out there, Nonaka and Takeuchi have filled this one to the brim with case studies, excellent frameworks and philosophy/epistemology. Takeaways: Drucker, Polanyi, Descartes, Marx, Locke, Plato, Aristole, etc on knowledge. Middle-up-down management for knowledge creation, the SECI model and spiral of organizational knowledge creation, the hypertext organizational structure and many other gems of knowledge management wisdom. |
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92. The Intelligence Edge. Friedman, G., Friedman M., Chapman C. and Baker J.S. (1997)
Synopsis The issue is not whether you will engage in business intelligence, but whether you will do it casually or meticulously, ad-hoc or systematically. Comments Although this book might seem a bit dated in parts (written in 1997) it is a good read nonetheless. It is interesting because it covers the intelligence techniques of the CIA, KGB, Mossad etc as well as the more modern techniques used in business intelligence gathering. Takeaways: Open source intelligence = great but too easily available, passive intelligence = good, semi-active intelligence = great, active intelligence = best, but only when necessary. |
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91. The Hidden Power of Social Networks. Rob Cross & Andrew Parker
Synopsis Rob Cross and Andrew Parker lay out an argument to why traditional attempts to promote collaboration between employees has yielded disappointing results. They then propose, explain and promote why social network analysis offers a great way to improve your company's productivity. Comments An excellent and comprehensive guide to social network analysis. What I love most about this book is that the authors have provided quite an extensive appendix in the forms of 1) how to conduct a social network analysis and the types of tools one might use and 2) the type of tools you might want to use to promote social network connectivity within your organization. Brilliant. |
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