Steve Richards: Books

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10 Secrets of Abundant Happiness

Fri, 11 Jun 2004 19:15:09 GMT

I have just finished reading this book, it's a cute little book in an easy to read format. I carried a copy in my combat trouser's pocket while I was reading it and it made it very easy to dip into it whenever I had a spare minute. In fact I enjoyed reading it so much that I made more spare minutes than were strictly necessary!

The book is very simple, and the secrets very obvious and the style a bit contrived. However the value of the book is in the bringing together of all 10 secrets, and the fairly brief but sufficiently detailed coverage of each. Some books on happiness go over the top; this one gets the level of detail just right. I liked this little book so much I am thinking of a getting all 4 of my children a copy each for Christmas. If they read it regularly it may be the best gift they ever receive, despite its limitations.

I am also planning to use it as the basis for a series of blog entries that intend to write on happiness, as I think its a mysterious and intensely interesting subject. I also plan to get a number of simillar trouser pocket sized books to carry around with me!

You can get it on Amazon

Getting things done

Sun, 30 May 2004 00:41:17 GMT

Just finished my first read of this book, (it really needs reading twice), and found it pretty good. Unfortunately it also left me being very frustrated because the methodology proposed is so well supported by the outlook Add-in, and I have to use Lotus Notes. There is a template for Notes, but so far as I can figure it only seems to be available through coaching sessions.

There are some very good blogs on how to refine the methodolgy:

http://blogs.officezealot.com/marc/archives/000582.html

http://www.shahine.com/omar/PermaLink,guid,a8bb7588-179d-4d6f-aa5e-703ea2275e57.aspx

and of course Dave's blog

http://david.davidco.com/

One of the key concepts in the book is, "A mind like water", ie emptying the mind so that it can focus on what needs to be done. The concept is sometimes misunderstood and there is a great post here that explains it very well.

Life of Pi

Thu, 27 May 2004 22:46:07 GMT

This is one of the books I am reading this month, its on the schedule of my reading group. I am only 1/4 of the way through because I am only reading it whilst the kids are in swimming lessons but its good read and thought provoking too. Its observations about animals in Zoos are quite intriguing and have got me thinking about the similarities with human happiness.

Basically it says that animals in Zoo's are happy provided they get some key essentials, stability, food, safety and their own territory and routine. Well perhaps that’s true of humans too, when you look at simple human cultures that have the above, they seem fairly happy. When you look at complex cultures dominated by advertising, excessive choice, instability, competition etc then people tend not to be too happy. There’s more to it than that of course, but it gets you thinking.

Five Quarters of the Orange

Wed, 26 May 2004 13:56:03 GMT

Just finished this book. I really enjoyed it, fewer characters and better developed, a bit dark but very well developed and with fewer tricks and magic, just good old story telling.

Coastliners

Wed, 26 May 2004 13:53:02 GMT

Not Joannes best book in my view, but a good read none the less. being a Coastliner myself though I think it appealed to me more than most other reviewers. Like many of Joannes books I tend to feel they are a bit too short given the number of interesting characters she has I would like to get to know them a bit better.

The Dalai Lama's book of transformation

Wed, 26 May 2004 13:46:24 GMT

I carry this little book around with me. It fits perfectly in the side pocket of my combats, so I can read it whenever I have a spare moment. I find its great to have something to do when you would ordinarily be waiting around in a queue for example, and the best thing is that when you are waiting around you tend to be fairly receptive to thinking through the ideas and concepts in this powerful little book.

Genius - Richard Feynman and Modern Physics

Wed, 26 May 2004 13:40:53 GMT

Just started this book, although I have had it for a while. Looks like its going to be a good read so far

Chocolat

Wed, 26 May 2004 09:52:27 GMT

A fine book, not in my view quite as good as Blackberry Wine, but then I read them in the wrong order. Still a very enjoyable read, very nicely crafted, perhaps a little too short as I would have liked to see the characters developed a little more. They were very interesting characters and I was left wanting to understand them a bit more.

Blackberry Wine

Wed, 26 May 2004 09:49:52 GMT

A really good novel, probably my favourite of all Joannes books. The only things I disliked about it was the insistence on sticking with the "clever idea" she has at the start of the book of describing things from the perspective of one of the 'special' bottles of wine. Whilst it seems clever at the start I found that the story was so strong without it that in the end it detracted from the main themes of the story.

Utopia

Wed, 26 May 2004 09:45:31 GMT

Just started this little book so I am not really sure where its taking me. This version has a lot of preample putting the book in its historical context and talks a lot about the approach taken to the translation, and compares this approach with other translations, ie its a slow start unless you are interested in that sort of thing. I am reading this book because my wife bought it to read and then left it lying on the shelf, something had to be done!

FLOW

Wed, 26 May 2004 09:42:23 GMT

An interesting book that takes 300 plus pages to describe what it probably could do in 20. The basic idea, you are happiest when you are involved or imersed in what you are doing. It then gives loads of examples of how this can happen in sports, music, work etc. Not the most practical book on the subject of happiness and it seems to neglect lots of things in pursuit of the "flow" concept. For example it does not talk at all about the effect on happiness of advertising, too much choice, not living in the moment etc.

The JOY of Working from Home

Wed, 26 May 2004 09:38:20 GMT

A little book that concentrates mainly on opportunities for working from home. If you already have a job and are looking to work from home then its not so appropriate. But it does give a few hints on issues you might face working from home like feelings of isolation etc. Not my best find on the subject. In fact I would recommend te following web site as an alternative to any of the books I have read:

http://www.flexibility.co.uk/index.htm

Radio Userland Kick Start

Wed, 26 May 2004 09:34:45 GMT

This book provides an introduction to using and programming Radio Userland. I thought I would give it a read as it seems that radio userland is quite a powerful and flexible environment. I have already played around with a few additional tools, particularly as I wanted a bit more power when entering blog entries via email. In the end I settled on using assetManager as I could not get the more powerful MailEdit to work!