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
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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
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《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)
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 HyRead ebook
online access from Ebook Central Academic Complete
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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)