On The Margins

Tuesday May 26, 2009

[ Business ] The Mind of the Strategist

Yesterday, I completed my reading of Kenichi Ohmae's The Mind of the Strategist: The Art of Japanese Business.

Originally written in Japanese in 1977 and later translated into English, this is a quintessential book on business strategy.

Reading it makes one wonder whether the many strategy scholars of the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s have produced thoughts that flow directly from principles already laid out by Ohmae.

The book contains many vivid examples from the Japanese business scene.

I'll try to extract some useful quotes and comments in the coming weeks.

2009-05-26 00:03:49.0 -- Comments [1] ; Permalink ; Trackback.
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Tuesday January 29, 2008

[ Java ] Next Generation Java Testing

At Java.Net, I have written a short review of a Java testing (TestNG) book.

2008-01-29 18:18:48.0 -- ; Permalink ; Trackback.
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Friday July 13, 2007

[ Art (هنر) ] Young Readers, the Apprentice and the Potter

In the last stretch of our drive back to Silicon Valley this past week, we had a chance to listen to the audio version of The Midwife's Apprentice by Karen Cushman, and the story ended, very conveniently, as we drove back onto our garage way.

Cushman's book reads not only like a wonderful novella but also as a meticulous work of historical analysis. It certainly has a very good potential for becoming a great movie---I would imagine, much better than any Harry Potter.

Perhaps, someone has already made such a movie, and not being much of a movie-goer, I just don't know about it.

I think the main premise of Cushman's book is that only through pain, suffering and persistence can one disclose new worlds and give birth to what is worthy of being.

Fear, in particularly fear of failure in its various forms, remains the greatest sin.

Harry Potter deals with fear as a hero among idols would but the midwife's apprentice awakens to the sinfulness of fear in its very opposition to the greatest gift given to everyone---life itself.

2007-07-13 00:55:08.0 -- Comments [1] ; Permalink ; Trackback.
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Sunday January 14, 2007

[ Art (هنر) ] Light on Character

If you'd like some light but insightful reading on character with plenty of literary illustrations, consider Lajos Egri's The Art of Dramatic Writing. I ran into Egri's book in an independent bookstore quite accidentally. Egri's book reads as crisply as it must have read back in 1942 when it was first published as How to Write a Play. The first Touchstone edition, which I have in my hands came out in 2004. In this day and age, if a book survives past 60 years, let it be named a modern classic!

Prior to plunging into Egri's writing, you may want to consider reading A Doll's House or Tartuffe or something more modern, perhaps Betrayal.

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Thursday January 04, 2007

[ Technology ] Novels on the Small Screen

Not only films and haiku but novels are made and consumed on the cell phone. In a recent competition sponsored by NTT DoCoMo and D2 Communications, "most of the 2,400 entries were romance novels written by women in their teens and early 20s, other popular genres included horror, sci-fi and fantasy." However, The Outstanding Achievement Award "went to a man pushing 40 who told an apocalyptic tale of the last 24 hours on Earth," writes Lisa Katayama for Wired.

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Tuesday December 12, 2006

[ Business ] Marsh's Harsh Review

Rob Marsh writes a harsh review of Paul Arden's Whatever You Think, Think the Opposite. I did read the book last week and found it had some redeeming qualities. Marsh may be expecting too much, and Arden may be delivering on something other than what Marsh seems to be expecting.

2006-12-12 15:06:38.0 -- ; Permalink ; Trackback.
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