Marco Polo Didn't Go There: Stories and Revelations from One Decade as a Postmodern Travel Writer

Rolf Potts
online access from ProQuest Ebook Central
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“Potts encourages us to think about travel in a way that has been almost lost.” —Tim Cahill

For the past ten years, Rolf Potts has taken his keen postmodern travel sensibility into the far reaches of five continents for such publications as National Geographic Traveler, Salon.com, and The New York Times Magazine. This book documents his boldest, funniest, and most revealing journeys—from getting stranded without water in the Libyan Desert, to crashing the set of a Leonardo DiCaprio movie in Thailand, to learning the secrets of Tantric sex in a dubious Indian ashram.

Marco Polo Didn’t Go There is more than just an entertaining journey into fascinating corners of the world. The book is a unique window into travel writing, with each chapter containing a “commentary track”—endnotes that reveal the ragged edges behind the experience and creation of each tale. Offbeat and insightful, this book is an engrossing read for students of travel writing as well as armchair wanderers.

(Excerpt from travelerstales.com)

二十世紀中國文化名人散文精品：名人遊記

範橋、張明高、章真 選編
online access from SuperStar Digital Library
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遊記是文學中的一個重要門類，古今中外作者眾多，例多不朽的傑作。就大要而言，遊記所記一為流連光景，一為社會風土人情。中國是遊記文學發達最早的國家。山水詩文勃興於六朝，晉宋之際謝靈運傑出一時；北魏酈道元《水經注》是傳世不朽的偉大名作。柳宗元、蘇東坡、袁宏道至徐宏祖是唐宋至明遊記文學中的佼佼者；新文學中酷愛寫遊記的作者，實繁有徒，可見傳統之深遠。以遊記體寫小說的《鏡花緣》、《老殘遊記》是中國的名篇，《格列佛遊記》是外國的傑作，這都是中國人熟知的 ……

本書選錄了60餘名作者90餘篇遊記，謳歌山川之美，描述異域情調，優美而甜的作品居多，讀之可當卧遊；專寫世相或間寫世相的，或苦或澀，涉筆成趣，讀了也不會乏味。

(摘錄自書中前言)

Numbers Rule Your World: The Hidden Influence of Probability and Statistics on Everything You Do

Kaiser Fung
online access from ProQuest Ebook Central
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… How long will your kids wait in line at Disney World? Who decides that “standardized tests” are fair? Why do highway engineers build slow-moving ramps? What does it mean, statistically, to be an “Average Joe”?

… this fascinating book from renowned statistician and blogger Kaiser Fung takes you inside the hidden world of facts and figures that affect you every day, in every way.

These are the statistics that rule your life, your job, your commute, your vacation, your food, your health, your money, and your success. This is how engineers calculate your quality of living, how corporations determine your needs, and how politicians estimate your opinions. These are the numbers you never think about even though they play a crucial role in every single aspect of your life …

(Excerpt from amazon.com)

哈哈笑過苦日子

何權峰 著
online access from SuperStar Digital Library
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日子就像芥菜入口的滋味，有淡淡的苦味，如果拌上好的調味料，就會是一道美味的菜餚。這樣的日子雖然清淡，但如果不忘每天一笑，不僅可以延年益壽，還可以返老還童哩！來！笑一個吧！

人雖然正值壯年，頭髮卻已白了一大半，他的朋友好奇地問：「你的頭髮怎麼都白了？」「因為我常擔憂一件事。」「什麼事？」「擔憂頭髮白！」你是否莞爾一笑，認為擔憂頭髮白的他是傻子呢？其實，每個人都脫不了傻，總是在為自己找苦吃。從今起，訓練自己遇著一件麻煩事大笑一聲，相信用不了多久，沒啥事能再讓你愁眉苦臉的。不信嗎？敢跟你打賭喔！

(摘錄自博客來網路書店)

Honest Signals: How They Shape Our World

Alex (Sandy) Pentland; with Tracy Heibeck
online access from ProQuest Ebook Central
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How can you know when someone is bluffing? Paying attention? Genuinely interested? The answer, writes Sandy Pentland in Honest Signals, is that subtle patterns in how we interact with other people reveal our attitudes toward them. These unconscious social signals are not just a back channel or a complement to our conscious language; they form a separate communication network. Biologically based "honest signaling," evolved from ancient primate signaling mechanisms, offers an unmatched window into our intentions, goals, and values. If we understand this ancient channel of communication, Pentland claims, we can accurately predict the outcomes of situations ranging from job interviews to first dates.

Pentland, an MIT professor, has used a specially designed digital sensor worn like an ID badge--a "sociometer"--to monitor and analyze the back-and-forth patterns of signaling among groups of people. He and his researchers found that this second channel of communication, revolving not around words but around social relations, profoundly influences major decisions in our lives--even though we are largely unaware of it. Pentland presents the scientific background necessary for understanding this form of communication, applies it to examples of group behavior in real organizations, and shows how by "reading" our social networks we can become more successful at pitching an idea, getting a job, or closing a deal. Using this "network intelligence" theory of social signaling, Pentland describes how we can harness the intelligence of our social network to become better managers, workers, and communicators.

(Excerpt from amazon.co.uk)

談判技巧：利益，選擇與標準 (Getting to Yes)

羅傑.費希爾 (Roger Fisher) , 威廉.尤瑞 (William Ury)
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你很可能成為一名談判者，因為談判是生活中經常發生的事情。也許你與你的老板討論自己的提薪問題；也許你要與一個陌生人談價購買他的房子；兩位律師在一起試圖解決一樁因交通事故而引起的法律糾紛……所有這些都是談判。

人人似乎每天都在為某些事情進行談判。人們即使在自己不認為談判時也在談判。一個人跟他愛人談論去哪裡吃飯，跟他的孩子談論何時關燈，這也是談判。談判是從別人那裡取得你所需要的東西的基本手段 ……

本書系統地闡述了原則性談判的方法。第一部分討論在要求上討價還價的談判方法所引起的問題，接着的四部分提出談判方法的四項原則，最後三部分回答使用這些方法最常見的問題。

(摘錄自書中「導言」)