Daniel Goleman - the originator of the Emotional Intelligence and author of teh book of teh same name, here applies his concepts specifically in the working arena.
Strongly rooted in empirical study of what makes successful leaders different, and even more important, what lessons we can all learn from them, the book is a good solid grounding in the techniques that can make you a better leader.
A reasonably dense book it certainly isn't a light read but worth it in the end.
Friday 1 July 2005
Wednesday 1 June 2005
The Millennium Problems
In May 2000, the Clay Mathematics Institute in Paris announced that $1m prizes were being offered for solutions to each of seven unresolved problems of mathematics.
This book doesn't explain the problems in detail but rather aims to give the background that a lay reader can understand and more important why the problems themselves are considered important.
The Riemann Hypothesis - about the pattern of primes
Yang-Mills Theory - quantum physics behaviour of particles
P vs NP problem - proof that certain equations are unsolvable by computation
Navier-Stokes equations - familiar to engineers of fluid dynamics but there is no formal solution to them
The Poincare conjecture - how do you tell the difference between an apple and a doughnut?
The Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer Conjecture that builds on Fermat's Last Theorem and points to possible solutions
The Hodge Conjecture - about an obscure issue deep within abstract topology.
This book doesn't explain the problems in detail but rather aims to give the background that a lay reader can understand and more important why the problems themselves are considered important.
The Riemann Hypothesis - about the pattern of primes
Yang-Mills Theory - quantum physics behaviour of particles
P vs NP problem - proof that certain equations are unsolvable by computation
Navier-Stokes equations - familiar to engineers of fluid dynamics but there is no formal solution to them
The Poincare conjecture - how do you tell the difference between an apple and a doughnut?
The Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer Conjecture that builds on Fermat's Last Theorem and points to possible solutions
The Hodge Conjecture - about an obscure issue deep within abstract topology.
The Agile Gene
Matt Ridley follows on from his earlier work 'Genome' to explore the nature vs nurture debate. In the end he describes it as a false dichotomy with nurture favouring certain individuals and hence the genes that will continue their lineage, in turn defining the personality of those who will nurture the next generation.
The Ancestors Tale - A Pilgrimage to the Dawn of Life
Richard Dawkins travels back over the human family tree to the dawn of life and introduces us to the other life forms that branched out along the way (including who there descendants are today, or were in the fossil record)
I must admit I lost interest before the end of the book. Once you get the idea it is more of a review of the taxonomy of life than a deeply philosophical study that many of his other books are. I would recommend it to anyone interested in biology or taxonomy though.
I must admit I lost interest before the end of the book. Once you get the idea it is more of a review of the taxonomy of life than a deeply philosophical study that many of his other books are. I would recommend it to anyone interested in biology or taxonomy though.
The Gold Mine
An explanation of lean manufacturing written as a novel (similar to The Goal several years before). If you, or someone you know, wants to leanr about the subject but doesn't get on with conventional text books - then this could be the book for you.
Published by the Lean Enterprise Institute - who have many more conventional books on the subject if you are interested.
Published by the Lean Enterprise Institute - who have many more conventional books on the subject if you are interested.
The Definitive Book of Body Language
From Allan & Barbara Pease (grandmasters in the art) comes a truly definitive guide to reading other people and hence improving your depth and effectiveness of communications with them.
Much more than just a guide to body signals, the book also explores the underlying psychology and physiology behind the body language signals.
A very readable book whether you are a complete novice or an expert in the craft.
The book has been reprinted many times in slightly different versions but they all contain the same material.
Much more than just a guide to body signals, the book also explores the underlying psychology and physiology behind the body language signals.
A very readable book whether you are a complete novice or an expert in the craft.
The book has been reprinted many times in slightly different versions but they all contain the same material.
Friday 8 April 2005
Creating a Learning Culture
A rather detailed, technical book that leaders of organisations that are trying to develop their staff for tomorrow's challenges should attempt to read (or at least get someone in their organisation to read).
A snippet from the book: Delphi found that 42% of corporate knowledge is in their employee's brains, 26 in paper documents and only 20% in electronic form.
A snippet from the book: Delphi found that 42% of corporate knowledge is in their employee's brains, 26 in paper documents and only 20% in electronic form.
Wednesday 5 January 2005
On Intelligence
From the man who invented the PalmPilot, a book about how the brain works from the perspective of pattern recognition and heirarchical feedback loops.
As in several other books I have enjoyed on the same subject it captures the idea that brain functions such as what we call 'intelligence' are not coded to specific operations in the brain but are more akin to meta descriptions of such operations. I like the analogy that a water molecule isn't wet - but a collection of them do exhibit this property.
As in several other books I have enjoyed on the same subject it captures the idea that brain functions such as what we call 'intelligence' are not coded to specific operations in the brain but are more akin to meta descriptions of such operations. I like the analogy that a water molecule isn't wet - but a collection of them do exhibit this property.
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