Tech Entrepreneurship, Economics, Life Philosophy and much more!
Tech Entrepreneurship, Economics, Life Philosophy and much more!
I have always been a huge fan of Malcolm Gladwell’s New Yorker articles. He is the quintessential eclectic modern day intellectual. His recent article on criminal profiling is a case in point. He uses engaging anecdotes to count the history of criminal profiling, leaving little doubt by the end of the story that the process is fraught with error and misleading.
Read the article at:
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/11/12/071112fa_fact_gladwell
A recent article in the Financial Times showed that French and German schoolbooks demonize enterprise. As the article put it:
“Students learn that companies destroy jobs, while government policy creates them. Globalization is destructive, if not catastrophic. Business is a zero-sum game. If this is the belief system within which most students develop intellectually, is it any wonder French and German reformers are so easily shouted down?”
You can read the full article at:
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/3f03314e-bd3e-11dc-b7e6-0000779fd2ac.html
When I first read The Pillars of the Earth 15 years ago, I absolutely fell in love with it. I would have never imagined that the building of a cathedral in 12th century England could be fascinating, but the rich cast of characters totally enthralled me.
World Without End is a sequel of sorts: it takes place in the same setting of Kingsbridge two centuries later. The story is a bit predictable and the characters unidimensional – I often felt I was observing a nature vs nurture story with nature winning every time – but perhaps the original suffered from the same flaws and I did not notice them as I was much younger. Regardless it made for great storytelling!
Once again, I cared about the becoming of those characters and enjoyed their journey through life.
You can buy World Without End at:
http://www.amazon.com/World-Without-End-Ken-Follett/dp/0525950079/ref=bxgy_cc_b_text_a
If you have not read it, read The Pillars of the Earth (which just made Oprah’s Book Club):
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0451225244/sr=53-1/qid=1199466205/ref=tr_351531
A number of you have asked me which of my articles first time entrepreneurs should read. Here is the list as requested:
