Monday, February 22, 2021

Built: The Hidden Stories Behind Our Structures

Roma Agrawal
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Winner of the AAAS/Subaru SB&F Prize for Excellence in Science Books

The wonders of engineering revealed--by the inspirational female engineer behind the Shard, Western Europe's tallest building.


While our cities are full of incredible engineering feats, most of us live with little idea of what goes into creating the built environment, let alone how a new building goes up, what it is constructed upon, or how it remains standing.

In Built, star structural engineer Roma Agrawal explains how construction has evolved from the mud huts of our ancestors to skyscrapers of steel that reach into the sky. She unearths how humans have tunneled through solid mountains; how we've walked across the widest of rivers, and tamed nature's precious water resources. She tells vivid tales of the visionaries who created the groundbreaking materials used to build the Pantheon and the Eiffel Tower; and explains how careful engineering can minimize tragedies like the collapse of the Quebec Bridge. Interweaving science, history, illustrations, and personal stories, Built offers a fascinating window into a subject that makes up the foundation of our everyday lives.

“Conveys insight into the built environment in an unusually accessible style-the kind of insight that will help lay readers look differently at the world around them.” ―Wall Street Journal

“Interweaving science, history, illustrations, and personal stories, Built offers a simply fascinating and impressively informative history of architecture, a subject that makes up the foundation of our everyday lives.” ―Midwest Book Review

“Makes engineering concepts easy to understand . . . [Agrawal] asks to reader to dream with her, look at the world before a problem is solved, then rejoice in the solution and all that it has meant to us as heirs of earlier genius. In short, she does the almost impossible; she makes engineering fun.” ―Manhattan Book Review

(Excerpt from amazon.com)

說故事的力量: 解決問題、發揮影響力的最佳工具, 微軟、NASA、華府智庫爭相學習 (The Story Factor)

安奈特.西蒙斯 (Annette Simmons)
online access from HyRead ebook
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第一本將故事運用在商業場域的作品
世界級故事大師安奈特.西蒙斯成名作
微軟、NASA、花旗銀行、時代雜誌、華府智庫爭相學習
一本你需要的書,也是一本全世界迫切需要的書!


很多商業書都告訴我們,只要有具體的事實、數據,就能說服別人。
但其實不然。
不相信嗎?
看看賈伯斯怎麼說:「世上最強大的人,是說故事的人。」

──道理只能贏得辯論,故事卻能收服人心!──

本書作者安奈特.西蒙斯,是首位將「故事」概念運用於商務世界的先鋒,告訴我們如果想成功激勵、說服、影響他人,解決問題,有件很重要卻一直被忽略的事:說故事。

說故事是一種思維,也是一種技巧。

◎為何「說故事」是解決問題、發揮影響力的最佳工具?
故事是人類歷史上最古老的影響力工具,也是最有說服力的溝通技術。
一個好故事,打動的是人心,分享的是經驗,讓人不自覺被牽動。
這是任何數據或具體事情無法取代的,
更重要的是,它是每個人都學得會的技能!

◎怎麼「說」故事?
作者認為,任何尋求影響他人的人,首先都必須找到屬於自己的故事,然後學會如何成功的說出故事。她開創性的提出商界溝通中常用的六種故事,並詳細闡述在何種情況下、
如何講述這些故事。

說服別人之前,必須先設想別人怎麼看你!人們會想,「你是誰?」「你為什麼在這裡跟我說話?」
如果要影響初次見面的人,你必須學會說關於這兩個問題的故事:

「你是誰?」故事:告訴聽眾,哪些經歷造就今天的你。
「我為什麼在這裡」故事:開誠布公,向聽眾坦承自己的意圖。

這兩個故事,重點在於「取得信任」。要影響陌生人,你需要說「取得信任」的故事。

如果你想影響身邊的人,例如同事或下屬或朋友,另外四種故事:

「願景」故事:激發人們對未來的憧憬,克服當下的挫折和沮喪。
「教誨」故事:啟發他人思考如何以最佳方式做一件事。
「現行價值」故事:展現你的價值觀,而不是告訴他人應該怎麼做。
「我知道你在想什麼」故事:消除疑慮,取得信任。

以上四種故事,重點在於「激勵、啟發與引發共鳴」。要影響周遭的人,你需要說「引發共鳴」的故事。

◎你的六種故事在哪裡?
某種意義上,故事就在你的生活之中。你每天都在講故事。
這本書舉出超過一百個包括商界和政界的成功影響人心的故事案例,無論你是一個尋求創投資金的新創業者,試圖談成一筆生意的業務,主持公司改組方案的專案經理,或是為
公共議題發聲的主導人,你都必須說出一個好故事。透過這些案例,搭配你的生活或工作,找出屬於自己的六種故事。

最後作者提醒……
說故事,但不是假故事,為說好故事而捏造事實,最終會失去人心。

把故事說好,將讓你的聽眾與你的訴求、觀念、情感產生共鳴,最後得到任何你想達成的結果。
透過故事,我們不僅可以影響別人,你也將成為一位更有效率的溝通者。
最終,最好的故事取勝。

(摘錄自博客來網路書店)


Monday, February 15, 2021

The Elements of Style

William Strunk
online access from ProQuest Ebook Central Perpetual Titles
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The original edition of the concise classic, with essential advice for aspiring writers like "omit needless words."

With simple principles and helpful tips on usage and composition, as well as lists of common errors to avoid, The Elements of Style was first published during World War I by Cornell University professor William Strunk Jr. Originally intended for Cornell students, it would become widely renowned as a memorable short guide for those who want to write clear, correct, and effective prose. A staple in countless classrooms and a touchstone for generations, it is still relevant and useful a century later.

(Excerpt from vitalsource.com)

寫好聯,過好年

魏寧, 路曉紅
online access from HyRead eBook
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除舊布新,從自書新春聯做起,
吉言吉聯,給你新年好運連連!


對聯有很多種,但從實用的角度講,春聯的使用面最廣。如何將最精華、最實用、最有韻味的春聯及壽聯呈現給廣大對聯愛好者,是我們編寫本書的初衷。

天下名聯取精華,世間豪對選厚味。為了達到這個目標,我們對大量的自創春聯、壽聯和現實社會中流傳最廣的春聯、壽聯進行了篩選, 並在本書的編寫過程中,將常用的一些文書知識進行了簡單介紹,如請柬的寫法、對聯的貼法等,增強了本書的實用性。

(摘錄自博客來網路書店)

Monday, February 8, 2021

Broad Band: The Untold Story of the Women Who Made the Internet

Claire L. Evans
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Celebrate the International Day of Women and Girls in Science (11 February) with Broad Band.

"This is a radically important, timely work," says Miranda July, filmmaker and author of The First Bad Man. The history of technology you probably know is one of men and machines, garages and riches, alpha nerds and brogrammers--but from Ada Lovelace, who wrote the first computer program in the Victorian Age, to the cyberpunk Web designers of the 1990s, female visionaries have always been at the vanguard of technology and innovation.

In fact, women turn up at the very beginning of every important wave in technology. They may have been hidden in plain sight, their inventions and contributions touching our lives in ways we don't even realize, but they have always been part of the story.

VICE reporter and YACHT lead singer Claire L. Evans finally gives these unsung female heroes their due with her insightful social history of the Broad Band, the women who made the internet what it is today.

Seek inspiration from Grace Hopper, the tenacious mathematician who democratized computing by leading the charge for machine-independent programming languages after World War II. Meet Elizabeth "Jake" Feinler, the one-woman Google who kept the earliest version of the Internet online, and Stacy Horn, who ran one of the first-ever social networks on a shoestring out of her New York City apartment in the 1980s.

Join the ranks of the pioneers who defied social convention to become database poets, information-wranglers, hypertext dreamers, and glass ceiling-shattering dot com-era entrepreneurs. This inspiring call to action shines a light on the bright minds whom history forgot, and shows us how they will continue to shape our world in ways we can no longer ignore.

(Excerpt from amazon.com)

穿越吧吉祥話:周朝的漢字劇場

黃庭頎, 謝博霖
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史上最有梗的吉祥話,將你的祝福拉近三千年
說好話運動,勇闖吉祥新紀年!


年年歲歲你的祝福老了,梗舊了,心累了,
拋開爛詞聳句,穿越去周朝取經吧,
另類問候語,古字新意。
長輩圖、IG和FB貼圖貼文專屬現代人?
周人刻吉祥話在器物之典雅之新潮,
根本神超越。
三千年書袋,一剎那笑開。
周朝吉祥話的字體原形、出處、涵義、故事、插畫,
還有現代人要怎麼用,一次好心滿足。

◎它它巸巸
睡覺覺,疊字字不是現代人的專利,古人也很愛。「它」像蛇一樣蜿蜒綿長,「巸」是盛大繁榮,合起來就是一路長紅。

◎得眾難老
這句話是期望不僅要逆天凍齡,還要成為萬人迷。太貪了吧?對,吉祥話就是要貪,話出去,錢進來,作夥貪起來。

◎屯魯通祿
屯魯就是大福,啊不是甜點那個大福,是大大的有福。通祿就是發達或升官的意思。升職要人幫,吉祥話用這發。
什麼?你說怎麼又是魯?已經很魯了還魯上加魯?在你拳頭硬起來,先聽我說~
魯,在古代是福氣的意思喔,魯多福就是祝您福上加福!

(摘錄自博客來網路書店)


Monday, February 1, 2021

No Rules Rules: Netflix and the Culture of Reinvention

Reed Hasting, Erin Meyer
online access from ProQuest Ebook Central
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Netflix cofounder Reed Hastings reveals for the first time the unorthodox culture behind one of the world's most innovative, imaginative, and successful companies.

There has never before been a company like Netflix. It has led nothing short of a revolution in the entertainment industries, generating billions of dollars in annual revenue while capturing the imaginations of hundreds of millions of people in more than 190 countries. But to reach these great heights, Netflix, which launched in 1998 as an online DVD rental service, has had to reinvent itself over and over again.

This type of unprecedented flexibility would have been impossible without the counterintuitive and radical management principles that cofounder Reed Hastings established from the very beginning. Hastings rejected the conventional wisdom under which other companies operate and defied tradition to instead build a culture focused on freedom and responsibility, one that has allowed Netflix to adapt and innovate as the needs of its members and the world have simultaneously transformed. Hastings set new standards, valuing people over process, emphasizing innovation over efficiency, and giving employees context, not controls. At Netflix, there are no vacation or expense policies. At Netflix, adequate performance gets a generous severance, and hard work is irrelevant. At Netflix, you don’t try to please your boss, you give candid feedback instead. At Netflix, employees don’t need approval, and the company pays top of market. When Hastings and his team first devised these unorthodox principles, the implications were unknown and untested. But in just a short period, their methods led to unparalleled speed and boldness, as Netflix quickly became one of the most loved brands in the world.

Here for the first time, Hastings and Erin Meyer, best-selling author of The Culture Map and one of the world’s most influential business thinkers, dive deep into the controversial ideologies at the heart of the Netflix psyche, which have generated results that are the envy of the business world. Drawing on hundreds of interviews with current and past Netflix employees from around the globe and never-before-told stories of trial and error from Hastings’s own career, No Rules Rules is the fascinating and untold account of the philosophy behind one of the world’s most innovative, imaginative, and successful companies.

(Excerpt from amazon.com)

一流的人讀書, 都在哪裡畫線?

土井英司
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日本Amazon五顆星評價,好評滿載!

讀書,是從數千行字裡,
畫出專屬於自己,能夠拓展未來、翻轉人生的一條線

讓股神巴菲特翻轉思考的一句話。
蘊藏著上億商機的線索……
讀書,就是在上千行文句中,找出能開啟你全新未來的一行字。
這一條線,就可能翻轉你的人生。

土井英司是日本亞馬遜網路書店的創立元老、王牌採購,一手打造全球銷量超過六百萬冊的《怦然心動的人生整理魔法》等多本暢銷書,擅長培育作家、挖掘暢銷書,被譽為日本第一書評家。他每年讀超過一千本書,每天持續發行超過五萬人訂閱的書評電子報《商業書馬拉松》,至今已超過十三年。他是愛書人、更是專業讀書人。

土井強調,閱讀商業類書籍的重點不在享樂,而在於投資。一流的讀者,能夠從上千行文句中挖掘能為己所用的精華,畫上專屬於自己的一條線,為自己的職涯或事業創造新的契機。

本書引導讀者學會畫出那翻轉人生的一條線,從「選書」開始傳授獨門訣竅,緊接著是分門別類的「部分閱讀」,勇敢挑戰自己不熟悉、不擅長的領域,由淺入深擴充自己的商業知識,接著才能抓對重點、讀出門道。

不論是輕薄近人的暢銷書、還是艱澀厚重的磚頭教科書,每個優秀的讀書人,都能從中抓住有助提升自己的靈感。

書末更親自示範作者自己如何「畫線」,精選四十四本商業好書,畫出土井英司獲益匪淺的文句,與讀者分享他獨特的深思考技術。

你也可以從中選一本書,拿起紅筆想一想,如果整本書只能選一個重點,能夠改變你人生的文字,是哪一句?

(摘錄自博客來網路書店)