Throughout this year, a few books have been my comfort food for my soul, assuming that I have one. These are books for which I do not have any objectives in mind prior to reading. It is an indulgence. Anthony Trollope’s the Chronicles of Barsetshire is among them. Whether it is pure pleasure or purposeful … Continue reading The Chronicles of Barsetshire
Author: dpz
Crucial Conversations
My book of this week is Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High. It is coauthored by Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan and Al Switzler. I first browsed this book some years ago, either in the Waterstones branch I frequented or the Imperial College London Central Library. My memory fails me on … Continue reading Crucial Conversations
The Art of Scalability
The second edition of the Art of Scalability is my book this week. It is coauthored by Martin Abbott and Michael Fisher. As its subtitle suggests, the book is about building scalable web architecture, processes and organisations for the modern enterprise. In this book, the authors argue that the three key components of that … Continue reading The Art of Scalability
The Art of Possibility
A great lecturer and mentor of mine, John Steinhart, recently recommended the book The Art of Possibility. John specifically mentioned its audio recording. Although I have a reasonably lengthy list of books to read already, a recommendation from John no doubt sets me into motion to check both the audiobook and paperback out. The Art … Continue reading The Art of Possibility
Information Retrieval
My book of this week is Information Retrieval: Implementing and Evaluating Search Engines, by Stefan Büttcher, Charles L. A. Clarke and Gordon V. Cormack, published in February 2016. This appeared to be the latest and most comprehensive book on information retrieval and search engines that I found back in August when I wanted to learn … Continue reading Information Retrieval
The Startup Owner’s Manual
My book of this week is The Startup Owner’s Manual: the Step-by-Step Guide for Building a Great Company, by Steve Blank and Bob Dorf. Thanks to Jim Terranova for recommending this book to me. Jim has been an awesome mentor, not only for his generosity of sharing his own vast knowledge about the startup world, … Continue reading The Startup Owner’s Manual
Getting to Yes
Getting to Yes - Negotiating an Agreement without Giving in is written by Roger Fisher, William Ury, and Bruce Patton. This is another book that I borrowed from John Steinhart. It is one of John’s many recommended books on leadership and conflict management. I enjoyed reading the paperback tremendously, but had a lesser experience listening to … Continue reading Getting to Yes
The Five Dysfunctions of A Team
This week, I read The Five Dysfunctions of A Team by Patrick Lencioni. It is a fascinating read. After this week’s Leadership and Conflict Management class with John Steinhart concluded, I stood by the desk where John laid out a collection of recommended books, picked this book up, started reading and became completely hooked … Continue reading The Five Dysfunctions of A Team
Speaking Up Without Freaking Out
Speaking Up Without Freaking Out by Matt Abrahams is the required reading for the Public Speaking course here at Stanford. We are fortunate to have the author as the instructor for this very interactive course. If it were not for the fact that this book is a required reading, I might not have … Continue reading Speaking Up Without Freaking Out
Free to Choose: A Personal Statement
I have been reading Free to Choose: A Personal Statement by Milton and Rose D. Friedman on and off last a couple weeks. To read this book, we need to know first that this book was published in 1980. The global environment was very different then. That said, much of the content I find convincing … Continue reading Free to Choose: A Personal Statement