Monday, September 24, 2012

Wait by Frank Partnoy

I found this book at Indigo in their big store at the Manulife Center. They have a Starbucks in this store and I often get coffee there and browse their books. Indigo is a great store to get best sellers at because they often are discounted. I got this one at 30% off.

The full title of this book is Wait, The Art and Science of Delay. It is published by Public Affairs is an independent, non-fiction book publisher in New York City that is part of the Perseus Book Group. They have a web site.

One of the interesting things he talks about is Zimbardo's survey tests called Time Perspective Inventory (ZTPI) which you can fine here. Another interesting thing was John Boyd, was a military strategist who came up the OODA (observe, orient, decide and act) loop. Wikipedia has an entry on this concept.

If you really want to read a print review, there is a book review see by Harry Ritchie in the Daily Mail. There is another great one at the Wall Street Journal by Christopher F. Chabris.

However, I feel a multi-media approach is much better in understanding a book. There is a cute short video on this book on YouTube. There is a great interview with Frank Partnoy also on YouTube that is a bit longer at just over 5 minutes. Frank Partnoy gives a lecture on his book at The RSA org . This is just over 15 minutes.

On GWorks, you can find an interview with questions and then answers from Frank Partnoy. See video. This one is longer at just over an hour.

On my website is how to find this book on Amazon if you care to purchase it. See Partnoy. Also, this book review and other books I have reviewed are on my website at Book Reviews.

Friday, September 7, 2012

Mystery of the Ancient Seafarers by Robert Ballard

I got this book from Book City on Bloor Street (I also very much like the one on Danforth too). What I like about this book store is the great variety of interesting books you can find. This National Geographic book called Mystery of the Ancient Seafarers; Early Maritime Civilizations is one such book.

All the ancient seafarers this book talks about come from the Mediterranean or Black Sea, the Phoenicians, Egyptians, Minoans, Greeks and Romans. (We do not seem to have a name for the people of the Black Sea.) I have always found archeology fascinating. So it probably is not surprising I find it quite fascinating about explorations in the Mediterranean and Black Sea for old sailing ships. This could help us learn a great deal about the ancient peoples who lived around these two seas.

The book is beautifully illustrated. The story is well presented and they include maps so that you can see what specific areas are being talked about. If you have any fascination for trading in ancient times on these seas, you will enjoy this book.

You can see and hear from Robert Ballard on TED. I know this video is from 2008, but it is a great one. There is a National Geographic presentation of Restore the Titanic on YouTube. There is a very short (3 minute) video called Perfect Byzantine Ship that is interesting. See the full video of 48 minutes called Ghosts of the Black Sea.

There is a video in three parts on Dr. Robert Ballard Rob ship researching the Titanic and antique ships. This is Part 1 then Part 2 and Part 3.

BBC reported on one Genographic (DNA) study that was trying to trace the Phoenicians. See their news item. This is a very interesting and related video.

On my website is how to find this book on Amazon if you care to purchase it. See Ballard. Also, this book review and other books I have reviewed are on my website at Book Reviews.

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

The End of Illness by David Agus

I found this great book when browsing in one of my favourite book shops of Book City on Bloor Street.

His book is all about preventing illness, not curing it. He feels we need to prevent illness because we are not good at curing illnesses. The thing I like about this book is that at the end of each chapter he says what it is that he was trying to get across. He calls this section Health Rules and they nicely sum up what he has been talking.

We need to eat real food. We need to get our vitamins from our food, not supplements. Do not juice vegetables and fruit and do not take vitamin pills. There has been no study that shows they do any good and they can do harm.

Do your body a favour and have regular habits. You should eat at the same time every day, go to sleep and wake up at the same time every day. He quotes Michael Pollan's In Defense of Food, eat real food, not too much and mostly plants.

There is a great interview with David Agus on produced by DLD about this book, The End of Illness. See interview. This is a 20 minute video. There is also another great interview by Aspen Institute of David Agus. This second one is longer, coming in at just over one hour.

There is also a one minute video that says it all uploaded by solveweightloss. He gives a great talk at Google. This is longish video at 55 minutes, but well worth the time.

Macleans has a great book review by Brian Bethune. The Globe and Mail also has a great book reviews by Jessica Warner.

On my website is how to find this book on Amazon if you care to purchase it. See Agus. Also, this book review and other books I have reviewed are on my website at Book Reviews.