Reading list for Aug'08

Last month, I chose a rather heavy set of books and this brought in some discipline of daily reading. Here is my reading plan for this month.

Made to Stick: Why some ideas take hold and others come unstuck

I first read about this book in Guy Kawasaki's blog and immediately got interested. The authors talk about six principles ("SUCCES") that link sticky ideas of all kinds - Simple, Unexpected, Concrete, Credible, Emotional and Story. You may also want to watch a video clip of the authors (Dan and Chip Heath) talking about this book.



The Answer to How is Yes: Acting on what matters

I'm not sure how I ran into this book by Peter Block. The review of the book was very interesting and I got this book. This particular comment on the book triggered my interest "We too often ask "How?" which focuses too closely on the practical way of getting something done and is actually a subconscious expression of society's emphasis on control of people, time, and cost. Instead, our concentration should be focused on "Why?" In other words, we need to pay attention to what really matters to us personally, from heart-felt commitments in our private lives to the creation of projects in the workplace".


Branching Streams flow in the darkness: Zen talks on the Sandokai

I became a big fan of Zen Master Shunryu Suzuki after reading one of his celebrated books "Zen Mind, Begginer's Mind". Shunryu Suzuki also formed the San Francisco Zen Center. The Sandokai is a poem and this book is a collection of lectures by Shunryu Suzuki on Sandokai. Sandokai addresses the question of how the oneness of things and the multiplicity of things coexist.

Thank you very much,


RamP!