Category: books

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: Die Wahlverwandtschaften

meh. Die Prämisse war schon zu Goethe’s Zeit nicht belegbar, und obwohl der Author dies wusste, kritzelte er ein Werk, welches viel Raum zur Interpretation lässt. Die Geschichten innerhalb des Handlungsstranges sind (wohl absichtlich) zu kurz gefasst, um dem Publikum Denkanstösse zu geben… liest sich alles ein bisschen als fishing-for-fame-and-controversy.

Spannend am Werk ist eigentlich nur die sich wandelnde Interpretation über die Jahrzehnte, und deren Versuche, es immer wieder im Kontext des Zeitgeistes als Meisterwerk zu feiern.

Oder ich versteh’s einfach nicht 🙂

Published
Categorized as books, ouch

Ayn Rand: The Fountainhead

Probably the best book I’ve read so far.

The creator lives for his work. He needs no other men. His primary goal is within himself.

Howard Roark

This had been recommended to me several times, and while I tried to start a couple of times, I never made it past the first few pages. Then I picked it up (when I found it somewhere buried on my kindle) and without any knowledge of the author, the book,.. and no research done beforehand, read it. It’s amazing.

Karen Pryor: Don’t Shoot the Dog

I’ve recently re-read this book on positive reinforcement and am glad I did. Not only is it a profoundly educational read, it’s also light weight and to the point enough to not get boring. Highly recommended.

Don’t Shoot the Dog: The Art of Teaching and Training

Jun’ichirō Tanizaki: In Praise of Shadows

Beautiful glimpse into the world of an individual observing the small details and how they interconnect. Short read, and certainly worth the time – if only to read something which is quite off the beaten path of mainstream.

Published
Categorized as art, books

Aldous Huxley: Brave New World

Finished reading Brave New World, which I picked up after hearing about it in relation to Orson Welles’ 1984. – The setting is scarily accurate, and the notion of ‘hiding in plain sight’ is something I hadn’t considered in the larger context of… well… population/mind/opinion control? – The writing itself goes from excellent to rather bad, the story telling is so thin at times, it gets really boring (which I take Mr Huxley also figured as shown in his post-factum foreword (1947)). Overall worth the read, because thought provoking.

Alan Weisman: The World Without Us

The book explores how the world would change if humanity would disappear from one moment to the next. It does so from various angles, using different narratives/story telling. While a great book, and interesting read (and I’ve learned quite a lot), I would have preferred a single approach to the story – basically continuing how it starts, with specific pillars (forest,..) and how quickly they would recover. Still, entertaining and thoughtful book.

Alan Weisman: The World Without Us

Michael E. Gerber: The E-Myth Revisited

a re-read as well – and I’m fascinated by how many of the principles outlined I’ve used sine I first read it. A great book, or, rather, ~3 books, when going by writing style (from modern, to literary, to plain old business book). I still wish the world of business was as simple as applying a blueprint to it… but some foundational elements hardly harm success 🙂 Therefore, recommended for those of us who delegate half-heartedly, or those of us who let go without control.

Michael E. Gerber – The E-Myth Revisited

John Michael Morgan: Brand Against the Machine

re-read, and added to list of books to re-read regularly, given the inspirational nature. Not the greatest fan of how it’s written – would prefer more data, especially considering how much the author speaks about measuring – and language used feels egocentric and unreflected (‘what she said’ jokes in a book that hopes their audience would take its contents seriously? come on..). Still, even though content is outdated in many places, the overarching aspects around the personality of a business hold true.

John Michael Morgan – Brand Against the Machine