Monday, March 29, 2010

Easter : Its History, Celebration, Spirit, and Significance as Related in Prose and Verse

By Susan Tracy Rice; edited by Robert Haven Schauffler
online access to the title
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Of all the festivals of the Christian year, Easter is the most important and most joyful. From of old it has been known as “the happiest of days,” “the bright day,” “the Sunday of joy” and “the festival of festivals.” The early fathers used to speak of it as “the feast of feasts,” “the queen of days,” “the desirable festival of our salvation.” And Pope Leo I called it “the day alone great.”
The names Easter and Ostern, the English and German names for the feast of the resurrection, were once thought to be derived from Ostara (Eostre), an ancient teutonic goddess mentioned by the historian Bede in the seventh century. She was the personification of the Spring, of the rising sun, of all things new and fresh and full of hope. To her the month corresponding to our April, Eostur-monath, was supposed to be dedicated.
This is all very romantic and beautiful; but it is not true. Recent research has shown that Ostara, the goddess of the vernal equinox, originated nowhere but in the brain of the venerable Bede; …
(From the Introduction of the book)

一生要去的60個地方

張玉斌 編著
online access from iRead eBook


古代西方哲學家聖奧古斯丁曾說過:「世界就像一本書,不去旅行的人唯讀到了其中的一頁。」雖然為世俗所羈,我們不能走遍世界的每一個角落,但我們可以做出一種個性化的、富有魅力的選擇,讓每一次出行都成為一次心靈的歷險、一次文化的探索、一次對歷史的追尋。在我們身居的世界中,有許多地方,靜靜地豎立在遠方地平線上,如美麗與哀愁共存的耶路撒冷、普度性靈的聖地拉薩、濃縮了印度古文化的「愛情豐碑」泰姬陵、美麗的童話王國哥本哈根、見證華夏古國所走過非凡歷程的長江、黃河……這些地方的價值不在於其物質的豐盈,而在於其厚重的文化蘊涵。走近這些一生至少應去一次的人間勝地,我們可以感受到靈魂的顫慄,被現代生活節奏所壓抑的心靈也會得到撫慰、安寧和滿足。
每個人的生命中都有一種本能的渴望,既尋找物質的豐裕,也尋找精神的樂土。有鑒於此,美國《國家地理雜誌》曾歷時兩年的時間進行調查,在廣泛徵詢了社會各界人士的意見後,選出了60個「一生中必須看一次」的地方,其中以文明和大自然的和諧結合、最後的伊甸園、優美寧靜的人間天堂等景觀類型分類。本書在此基礎上,在全世界範圍內精心遴選了60個生命里程中不容錯過的地方。……
(摘錄自序言"尋找你的香格理拉")

Monday, March 22, 2010

Influencer : The Power to Change Anything

By Kerry Patterson, et al.
online access from McGraw-Hill Ebook Library
online access from McGraw-Hill Education Ebook Collection (Chinese)
check holdings in CityU LibraryFind

• An INFLUENCER motivates others to change.
• An INFLUENCER replaces bad behaviors with powerful new skills.
• An INFLUENCER makes things happen.
This is what it takes to be an INFLUENCER.
Whether you're a CEO, a parent, or merely a person who wants to make a difference, you probably wish you had more influence with the people in your life. But most of us stop trying to make change happen because we believe it is too difficult, if not impossible. We develop complicated coping strategies when we should be learning the tools and techniques of the world's most influential people.
You'll learn how to:
• Identify a handful of high-leverage behaviors that lead to rapid and profound change.
• Apply strategies for changing both thoughts and actions.
• Marshall six sources of influence to make change inevitable.
Influencer takes you on a fascinating journey from San Francisco to Thailand where you'll see how seemingly “insignificant” people are making incredibly significant improvements in solving problems others would think impossible. You'll learn how savvy folks make change not only achievable and sustainable, but inevitable. You'll discover why some managers have increased productivity repeatedly and significantly-while others have failed miserably.
(From the Overview of the book)

九型人格:成就自我與他人的竅門

孫天倫, 黃俊華 著
online access from Apabi
online access from SuperStar Digital Library
check holdings in CityU LibraryFind

我是誰?
我有我的標準——我公平正直、講究原則,做事嚴謹認真,有條有理,井然有序,凡事力求完美,但別人却說我吹毛求疵、愛挑毛病。
我要幫助所有的人——我富有愛心、善解人意、熱情付出、總是優先滿足他人的需求,可別人却常常忽略我的存在。
我要出人頭地——我追求個人成就,渴望比他人更成功,喜歡成為別人關注的焦點,希望被人尊重、肯定和羨慕,很多人却說我是個“工作狂”。
我是獨一無二的——我注重感覺,敏感而多夢,我渴望別人能夠了解我的內心感受,注意到我的獨特與非凡之處,但是這個世界好像沒有人能夠真正明白我。……
你到底是一個甚麼樣的人?
主宰你人生的力量是甚麼?
(摘錄自書中的“開篇有語”)

Monday, March 15, 2010

The Art of Creative Thinking: How to Be Innovative and Develop Great Ideas

By John Adair
online access from ProQuest Ebook Central
online access from Books24x7
check holdings in CityU LibraryFind

There have been many books on creativity and creative thinking. What is distinctive about this one? My new concept is that of Depth Mind. Of course, the reality behind it — the creative activity of the unconscious mind — is not by any means new. My contribution, however, is to present that reality in a fresh way. I have also put it into context within a simple framework of mental activity: the analysing, synthesizing and valuing functions of the mind when it is thinking to some purpose.
This is not simply a book about creative thinking. Its aim is to help you in practical ways to become a more creative thinker …
Among other things, these pages will help you to: develop your understanding of the creative process; overcome barriers or blocks to having new ideas; enlarge your parameters of vision; learn to build on ideas as well as criticize them; increase your tolerance for uncertainty and doubt; listen, look and read with a creative attitude; make time to think; become more confident in yourself as a creative person.
(From the Introduction of the book)

情緒管理的第一堂課

林大有 著
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我們的情緒每天都在陪伴著我們,影響著我們,但卻很少會有人真正研究過情緒對我們的影響。英國學者倫布朗認為情緒是「人類所有活動背後最直接 的動力」;哈佛大學教授邁克爾.波特認為「最偉大的管理者是那些善於管理情緒的人」。

本書將告訴您:
◎什麼是情緒?它是怎樣產生的?
◎影響一個人情緒的因素有哪些?
◎情緒對我們有什麼影響?
◎我們應當如何判斷自己以及周圍人的情緒指數?
◎如何控制和利用自己的情緒?
◎如何利用周圍人的情緒?

(摘錄自博客來網路書店)

Monday, March 8, 2010

Taking Ourselves Seriously and Getting it Right

By Harry G. Frankfurt; edited by Debra Satz
online access from ProQuest Ebook Central
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Harry G. Frankfurt begins his inquiry by asking, “What is it about human beings that makes it possible for us to take ourselves seriously?” Based on The Tanner Lectures in Moral Philosophy, Taking Ourselves Seriously and Getting It Right delves into this provocative and original question.

The author maintains that taking ourselves seriously presupposes an inward-directed, reflexive oversight that enables us to focus our attention directly upon ourselves, and “[it] means that we are not prepared to accept ourselves just as we come. We want our thoughts, our feelings, our choices, and our behavior to make sense. We are not satisfied to think that our ideas are formed haphazardly, or that our actions are driven by transient and opaque impulses or by mindless decisions. We need to direct ourselves—or at any rate to believe that we are directing ourselves—in thoughtful conformity to stable and appropriate norms. We want to get things right.”

The essays delineate two features that have a critical role to play in this: our rationality, and our ability to love …

(From the back of the front cover)

In his Tanner lectures, Harry Frankfurt continues his exploration of the nature of human agency and practical reasoning. Love, and other “volitional necessities”—things about which we cannot help caring—anchor us in the world and provide us with ends for our actions. Without love, or other kinds of volitionally necessary caring, we would not have an answer to the fundamental question of how we should live. This is a very important essay, written by a first-class philosophical mind, and animated by a humane outlook. It will be of interest not only to philosophers, but also to all those who look to understand the springs of human action.

(From the back cover by Debra Satz)


靈山

高行健 著
online access from iRead eBook
check holdings in CityU LibraryFind

《靈山》以人稱替代人物,以心理感受替代情節,以情緒變化調整文體,無意講述故事又隨意編造故事,類似遊記又近乎獨白。第一人稱“我”同第二人稱“你”實為一體,後者乃是前者的投射或精神異化。第三人稱“他”則又是對第一人稱“我”的靜觀與思考。這種奇特的新鮮的結構以及敘述中的語言流,使具有傳統閱讀習慣的讀者很難進入其中,然而,一旦進入並沉浸其中,就會跟著作家進行奧德賽式的流浪與神遊,並發現文字間所深藏的、極為豐富的、神秘的文化意蘊。 …… 高行健雖有天才的活力,但他所仰仗的還是堅韌的毅力。他從八歲開始,就每天寫一則日記,從外部日記寫到內心日記,一直寫到文化大革命時為止。文革開始後,為了避免危險,他燒掉幾十公斤的手稿,除了劇本、小說、論文、長詩的手稿外也燒掉日記的手稿。還有一些手稿則藏在他自己挖掘的地洞裡,上邊蓋上泥土,放上水缸。去年他寫作過於勞累,病危以至送入醫院搶救,但一出院便又進入寫作。 《靈山》中有幾段散文詩式的表述,他寫了數十遍。他的成功,完全是五十年來一直沉浸於審美狀態與寫作狀態的結果,這種長期的沉浸,使他確立了一種高品質與高視野,這是任何庸俗評論者用政治語言解釋不了的品質與視野。

(摘錄自"最有活力的靈魂"——《靈山》序,劉再復)

Monday, March 1, 2010

The Chrysanthemum and the Sword: Patterns of Japanese Culture

By Ruth Benedict
online access from EBSCOhost Ebooks
online access from iRead eBook (Chinese)
online access from SuperStar Digital Library (Chinese)
check holdings in CityU LibraryFind

A recognized classic of cultural anthropology, The Chrysanthemum and the Sword paints an illuminating contrast between the civilization of Japan and that of the United States. Exploring the political, religious and economic life of Japan from the seventh century through the mid-twentieth, it shows how the ideology of the Japanese has developed and how it is reflected in the daily manners and customs of their life. It traces the main outlines of Japanese society — their systems of practical ethics, their ideas of good and evil, and the structured disciplines that enable them to live according to their code...
Ruth Benedict was professor of anthropology at Columbia University and one of the most eminent anthropologists of the twentieth century.
(From the back cover, 1989)

愛的藝術 (The Art of Loving)

佛洛姆 著 (By Erich Fromm)
Online Access from SuperStar Digital Library
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「愛」--是天性,是每個人都需要的--需要給予愛和接受愛。惟有通過彼此的愛和諒解,人類才能緊緊結合在一起,以渡過目前世界性的危機。為什麼我們需要愛?愛是不是為了接受才給予?愛的基本條件是什麼?為什麼當今愛情與婚姻失敗的例子那麼多?當代心理分析學家E.佛洛姆從人的生存本性,以新的人類論來討論這些問題,並向我們提供愛的方向。這本書中所談的內容關係著每個人的內心生活和實際日常生活,因為佛洛姆談的是我們最關心的問題--「愛」,是一本現代人必讀的書。


(摘錄至博客來網路書店)