The Uncertain Art: Thoughts on a Life in Medicine

I enjoyed this book, as I do all of Nuland's offerings, but it wasn't riveting - it was more like meandering through a park. Most of these pieces were previously published in periodicals, and like many compilations, the necessary brevity normally demanded by magazine editors left me, in several cases, wishing for more fleshing out of the various subjects introduced. I especially missed that which Nuland has done so well in his previous books - brought the subject matter literally to life based on specific stories of his patients. This was done only in the final chapter, and not coincidentally, this chapter was by far the most interesting, compassionate, and illustrative of his central thesis. Nevertheless, considering the nonsense that passes for literature today, well worth having and reading more than once.

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The Art of Innovation: Lessons in Creativity from IDEO, America's Leading Design Firm

First, let me say what this book is not:
It's NOT a granular, specific, detailed guide to product-design best practices.
Nor is it "Give Your Shop The IDEO Makeover In Ten Easy Steps."

What it is, and what it excels at being, is a genial, fast-paced, reasonably persuasive argument in favor of companies that more closely suit the requirements of creative human beings.

Kelley's logic goes something like this:
- gather insightful, motivated human beings, regardless of disciplinary background;
- put them under intense deadline pressure, yet pamper them in ways that reinforce a sense of community;
- challenge them to do great, creative work;
- and stand back as they blow you away with sideways solutions the likes of which the world has never seen.

This might sound like a recipe for a Montessori for middle-aged hippies, except that IDEO's track record is so impressively studded with design breakthroughs that those of us in the field hold them in the highest respect. Not only that, IDEO's designs have proven to be winners in the market, winning over the hardest-nosed of quants.

Kelley successfully makes the case that design is rapidly becoming critical to success in business; that innovation and creativity are the engines of good design; and that environments like the ones IDEO provides for its workers are reasonably reliable incubators of same. If you find yourself engaged by this description, you'll probably, eventually, want more detail than the book is able to provide, but it's a grand place to start.

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The Fine Art of Small Talk

This book was a real disappointment. Although the information on the cover doesn't say so, it's aimed almost exclusively at people in business situations; almost all of Fine's examples deal with corporate conferences and other networking events. For example, her top suggested line for exiting conversations is "I need to go see the exhibits." She continually emphasizes how improving your small talk skills will win you new clients, a promotion, etc. What about just making friends? The idea that you might want to improve your conversational skills in everyday social or family situations is hardly mentioned at all.

Fine also has some peculiar ideas about what constitutes "small talk." She offers a long list of "icebreakers" for initiating conversations with people you don't know. Unfortunately nearly all of these are too personal, too serious, or just bizarre. Imagine trying to strike up a conversation with a stranger by saying, "If you could replay any moment in your life, what would it be?" The person would just think you're either nosy or a kook. She even suggests using political statements as conversation starters, which is just asking for trouble.

There are a few good suggestions in the book; she has useful advice for dealing with egocentric people who talk endlessly about themselves. However, all of Fine's good ideas could easily fit on two or three pages.

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The Art Therapy Sourcebook

If you've been through art school or worked as a professional artist, you're aware that it's difficult to create artwork without placing some value on the outcome of the piece. This book provides wonderful examples of how to free yourself from intimidation and competition in making art and how the creative process itself is valuable to the soul. I recommend this book to anyone who wants to gain more emotional satisfaction from making art and for any artist who wants to create art without the constraints of impersonal evaluation. It has helped me to strive to create more honest communication through my work, a valuable lesson worth far more than the price of this book.

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The Art of War

This special edition of Sun Tzu's "The Art of War" (The Art of War by Sun Tzu - Special Edition) is absolutely the best edition on the market. Not only is Lionel Giles' translation widely considered to be the most readable and scholarly, this particular book gives you two copies of the famous classic: one simple direct translation from the Chinese characters (which are also included in the book) and another copy which is interspersed with extensive notes and commentary by both Lionel Giles and a several native Chinese scholars.

Having two copies of the translation in one volume makes this edition a real treasure. The explanations and details, like the story of training the concubines and several other tales, are not available in the plain translations and they add immeasurably to the richness of the book. By the same token, having a plain, unadorned version in hand so you can just follow Sun Tzu's logical progression is a great plus. Having it all together in one volume is what makes this particular edition remarkable.

If you are looking for the best version of Sun Tzu's "The Art of War", then look no further. This is it.

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The Art of Raising a Puppy

My husband agreed to a Dalmation for my wedding present in spite of all the misgivings he had about the breed. I purchased many books on dog training to ensure that our dog would be a welcome member of the household all its years. In each of them, I felt that there were holes in the philosophy, problem solving that might cause injury to my dog. I wanted a well thought out, cohesive plan that addressed daily training, submission, and problem behaviour within a philosophical framework. This was the book that became our bible. It was sane, safe for both the dog & us, and it showed immediate results. We got our puppy at 8 weeks, by 12 weeks she would sit, lie down and stay on command for up to 15 minutes whether we were in sight or not. The techniques in the book were so effective that we were able to implement them easily, with just a little time set aside every day. When we began puppy classes at 6 mos., we were immediately promoted to the advanced obedience class and worked with dogs that were showing successfully in obedience with two of the top trainers. They owned and showed the #1 and #2 obedience dogs in the country. Our dog is now 7 yrs old, because of how good she is, we can take her everywhere. She is welcome at our friends, neighborhood children come to play with her, there are even restaurants that insist she come in. Our dog owes the fact that her life is full and happy to this book. She has never had to be tied up, left behind or locked in a room. The quality of her life is so much better,because these monks shared their knowledge in this book. People always ask how we trained her, we go to your website, print out the page and give it to them, because we do not want them to think any training book will do. Ideally, people would read this book before choosing a puppy and then be completely prepared for the sustained effort needed in raising and training a dog.

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Mistress of the Art of Death

I have a thorough dislike of sloppy anachronisms. In fact, I have been known to fume for chapters and write scathing things about sloppy research when I encounter anachronisms. I knew going into reading this book that there were a few howlers. Cholera in 12th century England anyone? A room lined with books in the age of Henry II? A body farm in Salerno? I have to admit that the Author's note at the end helped reconcile me a bit when I started thinking about some of the things in the book that are improbable to say the least.

However, I have to say that this story grabbed me by the arm and dragged me in and would not let me go until the last page. And the author really did use Henry II as an effective character and an important object lesson. Who does remember a Henry aside from his domestic imbolgios and his fight with Thomas a Becket? Eleanor of Aquitaine had much better press.

And whether or not the romance was an afterthought to please an editor as suggested by another reviewer-- I think it was intrinsic given the role it plays in the development of various stings of the plot-- there is much about it to make genre romance fans weep and gnash their teeth.

For the interesting characters, for the different view of the 12th century, for lots of good reasons, pick this book up.

A little investigation turns up that this is a pseudonym for Diana Norman. I'm going to pick up a few of her other historical novels under that name.

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The Art of the Start

What does it take to turn ideas into action? What are the elements of a perfect pitch? How do you win the war for talent? How do you establish a brand without bucks? These are some of the issues everyone faces when starting or revitalizing any undertaking, and Guy Kawasaki, former marketing maven of Apple Computer, provides the answers. The Art of the Start will give you the essential steps to launch great products, services, and companies -- whether you are dreaming of starting the next Microsoft or a not-for-profit that's going to change the world. It also shows managers how to unleash entrepreneurial thinking at established companies, helping them foster the pluck and creativity that their businesses need to stay ahead of the pack. Kawasaki provides readers with GIST -- Great Ideas for Starting Things--including his field-tested insider's techniques for bootstrapping, branding, networking, recruiting, pitching, rainmaking, and, most important in this fickle consumer climate, building buzz. At Apple, Kawasaki helped turn ordinary customers into fanatics. As founder and CEO of Garage Technology Ventures, he has tested his iconoclastic ideas on real-world start-ups. And as an irrepressible columnist for Forbes, he has honed his best thinking about The Art of the Start.

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The Art of Learning

Josh Waitzkin is familiar to most us as the subject of the movie "Searching for Bobby Fischer," a dramatized but factual portrait of him as a child prodigy in chess. In real life, he collected several national age-group championships plus the title of International Master. As a young man, when the fame associated with the movie became too burdensome a distraction from his chess career, he found refuge in the practice of Tai Chi. From there he went on to martial forms of the Eastern practice, and - consistent with his incredible talent and personality - began to accumulate national and international titles in that, too.

This book is a an account of the personal, spiritual, mental, and physical challenges that he overcame on his way to excelling in two such (outwardly) different disciplines. For me it succeeds on three levels. First it is an incredible a human interest story. Most people never achieve such heights in a single field, let alone two, and it's fascinating to get his view of how he did it. Second, it is a deeply thoughtful and insightful how-to book for the rest of us. It contains a richly detailed set of tools that the reader can apply to any field of endeavor. Not to give away the secrets, I'll just mention some of the descriptive phrases: entity vs. incremental theories of learning; the Soft Zone; Losing to Win; Numbers to Leave Numbers; Making Smaller Circles; Building Your Trigger. Yes, I really think he's on to something there; everything ties into solid science from the psychology of learning and performance. Lastly, I find this book to be inspirational and motivational. Some of the ideas are not really new, but he infuses them with such life and immediacy that the reader cannot help but be persuaded, if not swept away. For hours after after putting the book down, I wondered about applying his techniques to my own humble little projects.
I read this book in a single (long) sitting. The writing itself is animated, flowing and colorful; only occasionally it leans toward cliches. There is an disarming sense of humility in his voice, and we get glimpses into his soul. And truly, he has the heart and spirit of a noble warrior. I initially had a bit of discomfort about the apparent reliance on Eastern mysticism which weaves in and out of his discourse (only because I am completely ignorant of these subjects), but fortunately he grounds it in familiar Western rationalism. There is no need at all to be familiar with chess or the martial arts in particular; the book's message is universal; indeed, this book could easily have been about golf and brain surgery. Perhaps these will be the subjects of his next book.

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The Art of War and other Laws of Power from MobileReference

The Art of War was compiled more than two and a half thousand years ago by a mysterious warrior-philosopher, Sun Tzu. The Art of War is still the most influential book of strategy in the world, studied by modern politicians, executives, and military leaders. The book had possibly influenced Napoleon, and even the planning of Operation Desert Storm. Leaders as diverse as Mao Zedong, General Pervez Musharraf, General Vo Nguyen Giap, and General Douglas MacArthur have claimed to have drawn inspiration from the work. The Art of War has been applied, with much success, to business and managerial strategies.

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The Art of Seduction

I have been waiting for this book for almost 2 years. It did not disappoint me. I found it to be a profound book, although not necessarily a pleasant book. It caused me to re-think my relationships, perhaps even re-think myself. The 48 Laws of Power is the "bible of power". This is less general but more profound, which may be why it is unnerving. I have stopped reading the Joost Elffers sidebars, although I might in the future when I want a more light-hearted experience. I read a lot of books. My library is embarrassingly large. However, I do have a mental list of the few books that I would take to the proverbial desert island. This is one of them, and it is ironic that I would do this even though there would be no one else on the island to seduce. This book is a synthesis of philosophy and psychology, and is paradigm breaking. Freud must have had a similar unnerving effect on his contemporaries when he discussed premises for behavior that were perviously not part of social discourse.

I did not find the book to be amoral or manipulative. I found it to have a different morality than that which is instilled in us by convention. The book celebrates non-possessive intimacy, and describes the mindset that is the prerequisite to such an experience. I am struggling for words to express this, but it is as if there were more than one dimension to a relationship, a human bonding. We are used to relationships that are symetrical in time and depth: they are either shallow and brief, or they are deep and eternal. Greene describes a variation that is brief and deep. This is what differentiates this book from the tawdry.

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Art of Racing in the Rain, The (Kindle Edition)

Enzo knows he is different from other dogs: a philosopher with a nearly human soul (and an obsession with opposable thumbs), he has educated himself by watching television extensively, and by listening very closely to the words of his master, Denny Swift, an up-and-coming race car driver. Through Denny, Enzo has gained tremendous insight into the human condition, and he sees that life, like racing, isn't simply about going fast. Using the techniques needed on the race track, one can successfully navigate all of life's ordeals. On the eve of his death, Enzo takes stock of his life, recalling all that he and his family have been through: the sacrifices Denny has made to succeed professionally; the unexpected loss of Eve, Denny's wife; the three-year battle over their daughter, Zoe, whose maternal grandparents pulled every string to gain custody. In the end, despite what he sees as his own limitations, Enzo comes through heroically to preserve the Swift family, holding in his heart the dream that Denny will become a racing champion with Zoe at his side. Having learned what it takes to be a compassionate and successful person, the wise canine can barely wait until his next lifetime, when he is sure he will return as a man.

A heart-wrenching but deeply funny and ultimately uplifting story of family, love, loyalty, and hope, The Art of Racing in the Rain is a beautifully crafted and captivating look at the wonders and absurdities of human life . . . as only a dog could tell it.

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