Allen’s Summer Holiday Reading 2010
You: So Allen, what books did you read during your summer holidays this year? Me: Funny you should ask that. I was just going to write a blog about it. You: Where can I find this blog, which will no doubt prove a treasure-trove of weighty insights and witty repartee? Me: See below, you sycophant.
Make Your Life Great: Richard Bandler’s Guide To Trance-Formation
Yes folks, yet another concerted effort by your truly to get my head around the phenomenon that is NLP. I’ve blogged skeptically about NLP before but I still described my mindset as ‘open but cautious’. However after reading this book I’m heading more towards the ‘cautions’ end of the spectrum. I don’t trust hypnosis, anecdotal evidence dressed up as science, or the promise of a “sudden transformation that will bring about a total change in one’s fortunes, bypassing work, luck, self-sacrifice, and time in one fantastic stroke” (Robert Greene – Law 32). Actually, the book is quite readable in an L Ron Hubbard kind of way. Paul McKenna wrote the Forward. Take from that what you will.
Think Face, Black Heart: The Warrior Philosophy for Conquering the Challenges of Business and Life
Now this is a book! Its kind of an Eastern version of Greene’s superb work. (If you don’t know what I’m on about, see above). Like Greene, Chu examines and advocates an amoralist – not immoralist – approach to success. That is, she isn’t so much interested in what seems morally right, but what works in the real world. ‘Thick faced’ means thick-skinned, beyond criticism, indifferent to what others think. ‘Black hearted’ refers to a ruthless, relentless goal orientation that rejects short-term niceness. Chu illustrates them with a shield and a spear respectively. She covers topics like ‘Deception Without Deceit’ and ‘Acquiring the Killer Isntinct’. As you can tell, this is a book about business attitude rather than the details of running a business. It is therefore peppered with delightful stories from ancient history and her personal experience, woven together with philosophical insights. Ergo my kind of book. Highly recommended.
The Intelligent Warrior: Command Personal Power With Self-Defence
by Steve Jones
As you know from previous blogs, I’m interested in the martial arts (MA) and self-defence. I’ve been on the look out for a book that covers MA techniques but places them within a larger personal development framework without the whole mystical ‘grasshopper‘ type thing. This book is the closest I’m yet come to finding what I’m looking for. Yes, there is a little about the elusive chi. But the section of ‘Martial Science’ was impressive. Jones starts with how the body works in terms of leverage and momentum, and draws from this basic techniques such as side-stepping and punching correctly. He cover topics as seemingly diverse as meditation and personal security, breathing and verbal abuse, within an overall narrative that is as coherent as it is clear. Although his basic style is Wing Chun kung-fu – the school I happen to have most experience in – I think any MA practitioner would benefit from this wide-ranging and well-written book.
I teach people to communication effectively, which often means to persuade and influence others. Much emphasis is placed on the non-verbal element of communication to achieve this – what we commonly call body language – or the use of specific power words. This is fine for one-to-one dialogue. But what about the next level up – words that started out in political discourse but have now sneaked into everyday usage? Some examples of such weasel words – a ‘tragic mistake’, ‘collateral’, ‘forward not back’, ‘questioned by experts’ and (my favourites) ‘extreme/moderate’. There’s a website based on the book. Recommended particularly to those like me whose addictions run into all things political.
Any recommendations for me?
Image credit: foolstopzanet.
