in adam sandler’s lates film, entitled “Click”, he played a role of an architect who was given the ability to fast forward, freeze or rewind his life. What do people learn when they understood better the past and have seen their future? Just like the classic dickens book, a christmas carol where mr scrooge saw his future and past, For adam sandler, it was a decision to spend more time with his family. Shouldn’t all of us?

I am one of probably thousands of parents who are enjoying the latest Harry Potter book, The Half Blood Prince with their children.  We took turns reading, and discussing various aspects of the book.  The story continues to spin its magic.

 I particularly liked great quotes which came out of J.K. Rowling’s masterful pen.  First is the quote of Albus Dumbledore - ‘ naturally, I make mistakes, like the next man.  IN fact, being, forgive me - rather clever than most men, my mistakes tend to be corresponding huger.’  This is an insight.  The more intelligent and deep a person is, the less mistakes he will make, but some of his mistakes can actually also be more bizarre and stupid than dumb people can ever make.  To paraphrase Benjamin Franklin, which is also one of my favorite quotes expressing the same thing, ‘ the most exquisite folly is made of wisdom spun too fine.”

The other gem was discussed by the teacher during apparition class.  This is what he announced.

Last month, I finished a book by David Baldacci called Wish You Well. He is a great author who spins stories with characterizations that are realistic. This book invokes to you not only the story of rural America, but also how potentially, corporations can abuse power when allowed to. He delivers this in sharp contrast to what rural folks really aspire for in a good life.

It is a great book which brought me to another book of his, Absolute Power which was his first novel back in 1996 which has since become a movie starring Gene Hackman and Clint Eastwood ( thought the movie’s plot was slightly different from the novel). The plot is a little bit far out, casting the US President as a crazed villain, but then again, it delivers in the realization that people who have too much wealth and power, and whose ambitions spawns in them to get more, may become a little bit ( or maybe not a little bit, but very much) divorced from the basic values on what is important in life - something which David has consistently been able to conjure and debate in his novels.

In many parts of his novels, you see debate on basic values, and salient observations like, ” People like to talk about other people’s misery. It probably makes them feel their own life is somehow better when it usually isn’t…”

Both novels: 4 stars out of 5.

I am now reading Pearl Buck’s The Good Earth, a novel written in the 1930s about China, which talks about the life of a rural Chinese farmer amidst the upheavels of early 20th century China. Pearl Buck won the Pulitzer prize for this story, and eventually also the Nobel Prize for Literature.

Great story, great characterization. I am of Chinese lineage, but this book poignantly points out the inner thoughts of an ordinary farmer in early 20th century China, which amazingly is still relevant today. It will give a new look at Chinese culture and practices, many of which shows that popular conceptions and characterizations are probably somewhat ‘inaccurate’. A lot of this knowledge will be vital in understanding better the world’s most populous nation as it gears towards being a major force in the 21st century.

Much of the story of Wang Lung the farmer, also reads like a basic entrepreneur book ( although I am sure that it was furthest from the mind of Pearl when she wrote the story) — the main characters’ rise and fortunes was predominantly not only dependent on the ‘weather’ and ’social’ conditions, but on his ability to manage his family finances, adjust with the times, as well as manage his family.

Last night, I went with the kids to watch “Ice Age 2: The Meltdown“. Great movie.

It was quite entertaining, and while the film focused on the impending ice meltdown which is probably the best information drive anybody could do on educating people the issues on global warming, but the characters were really well developed.

Each had his own story line. The mammoth is faced with his responsibility as being the last of his species, and his discovery of his affection for another mammoth who thinks she is an opposum ( which effectively portrayed people who don’t understand themselves). The Sabre tooth tiger faces his fear of water, while the sloth (Sid) explores his own self as a role model, and what is really important to him in life, while the 2 opposums and 1 squirrel ( in search of his fabled acorn) provided comic relief and an interesting sideshow.

My five year old son who normally fidgets and moves around halfway to the movie sat through the whole movie. Five stars out of five!

This is a book by Thomas Watson Jr., IBMs CEO from 1956 to 1971, and son of TJ Watson, the founder. He wrote the book, which full title is “A Business and Its Beliefs: The Ideas that Helped Build IBM” in 1963.

According to the IBM biography,

” During his leadership, IBM grew from a medium-sized business to one of the dozen largest Read the rest of this entry »

This book is an inspirational book about how to get things done by well known author, Brian Tracy. The full title is Eat That Frog!: 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time.

It has a less than palatable title, but it totally agrees with the basic premise of the book, which is that Eating a frog is a metaphor that Read the rest of this entry »

Here are some Books on Project Management that I would like to rcommend during the course of my learning ( and also still trying to write a proj. management handbook of which some initial chapters are here) and my rating ( 1 to 5 stars - 5 stars being best):

1.) Thomsett, Michael ( 2002), The Little Black Book of Project Management, New York: Amacom
– **** Excellent entry level project management book containing a collection of basic Read the rest of this entry »

Here are some of the list of some of the best business sellers books I have been reading over the last 10 years. It emphasizes importance of staying on your feet, proper utilization of information that will aide in the planning and eventual execution designed to preserve the company’s competitiveness during the ever-changing business environment.

1.) Gerstner, Louis ( 2002), Who Says Elephants Can’t Dance, New York: Harper Business
- **** Gerstner, IBM’s CEO from 1992 to 2002 shares the insights Read the rest of this entry »

The movie, starring Samuel Jackson, is based on a real life story of a basketball coach, who believes that life is more than winning basketball, and it is about winning in life.  He advocates being tough, and espouses discipline and education as central to success.

It does have some good parallelisms in a workplace.  As a coach, he is also a manager, and a teacher, one who is responsible on training and motivating people how to move up in life.  And nothing is harder a job than to convince people about your principles of success and the means to get there than when they don’t agree with you on what success is.  Coach Carter had difficulty when initially, the players already become bull headed after a small success, and also increasingly with parents and teachers who believed that dumbing down standards is the way to go. 

Read the rest of this entry »