The Rise of the Creative Class, Revisited

Richard Florida
check holdings in CityU LibraryFind

Initially published in 2002, The Rise of the Creative Class quickly achieved classic status for its identification of forces then only beginning to reshape our economy, geography, and workplace. Weaving story-telling with original research, Richard Florida identified a fundamental shift linking a host of seemingly unrelated changes in American society: the growing importance of creativity in people’s work lives and the emergence of a class of people unified by their engagement in creative work. Millions of us were beginning to work and live much as creative types like artists and scientists always had, Florida observed, and this Creative Class was determining how the workplace was organized, what companies would prosper or go bankrupt, and even which cities would thrive.

In The Rise of the Creative Class Revisited, Florida further refines his occupational, demographic, psychological, and economic profile of the Creative Class, incorporates a decade of research, and adds five new chapters covering the global effects of the Creative Class and exploring the factors that shape “quality of place” in our changing cities and suburbs.

(Excerpt from amazon.com)

中國啓蒙運動 : 知識份子與五四遺產 (The Chinese Enlightenment)

舒衡哲 (Vera Schwarcz) 著;劉京建 譯
online access from iRead eBook
check holdings in CityU LibraryFind

舒衡哲女士1979－1980年曾作為首批美國留學生在北京大學中文系學習，她訪問了當時仍在世的“新青年一代的知識分子”：許德珩、俞平伯、葉聖陶、朱光潛、馮友蘭、金岳霖、張申府和梁漱溟，也訪問了諸多“五四”那一輩所教導出來的學生們、當時六十多歲的知識分子。在序言中，她最後說：“我領悟到了我十年來始終未曾真正掌握的‘五四運動’的意義——隻要專制、官僚和教條主義的思想仍然盤踞在政治領導人和民眾的腦袋中，啟蒙運動必將在中國繼續發展下去，無論路途是多麼的曲折，代價是多麼的高昂。”

(摘錄自dangdang.com)

Lead with a Story: A Guide to Crafting Business Narratives That Captivate, Convince, and Inspire

Paul Smith
online access from Ebook Central Academic Complete
check holdings in CityU LibraryFind

Storytelling has come of age in the business world. Today, many of the most successful companies use storytelling as a leadership tool. At Nike, all senior executives are designated "corporate storytellers." 3M banned bullet points years ago and replaced them with a process of writing "strategic narratives." Procter & Gamble hired Hollywood directors to teach its executives storytelling techniques. Some forward-thinking business schools have even added storytelling courses to their management curriculum. The reason for this is simple: stories have the ability to engage an audience the way logic and bullet points alone never could. Whether you are trying to communicate a vision, sell an idea, or inspire commitment, storytelling is a powerful business tool that can mean the difference between mediocre results and phenomenal success. "Lead with a Story" contains both ready-to-use stories and how-to guidance for readers looking to craft their own. Designed for a wide variety of business challenges, the book shows how narrative can help: define culture and values; engender creativity and innovation; foster collaboration and build relationships; provide coaching and feedback; lead change; and more. Whether in a speech or a memo, communicated to one person or a thousand, storytelling is an essential skill for success. Complete with examples from companies like Kellogg's, Merrill-Lynch, Procter & Gamble, National Car Rental, Wal-Mart, Pizza Hut, and more, this practical resource gives readers the guidance they need to deliver stories to stunning effect.

(Excerpt from amazon.com)

如果你是天使:名家筆下的親情世界

劉虹 選編
online access from SuperStar Digital Library
check holdings in CityU LibraryFind

人倫五情中，父母子女之情無疑要列在首位。這種源於血脈相通的親情，最熾熱，最深摯，最持久，最無私。從呱呱墜地到咿呀學語再到長大成人，我們誰不是一直沐浴在父母溫靄如滿月般愛的光輝中？愛給了我們生命，愛又使這生命之芽蓬勃成一棵大樹。而當進入生命的晚境，夕陽將逝，又是兒女的愛撫慰了我們那顆寂寞的心。正是這種一代代延續不已的愛，支撐起了整個人類。《如果你是天使—名家筆下的親情世界》，便蒐集了數十篇這樣的佳構。不論是父母的愛心的傾吐，還是兒女的愛意的表白，無不情真意切，讀來令人動容。朱自清的《背影》，擷取送行途中的一個場面，反覆描寫年邁的父親“蹣跚”、“肥胖”的背影，仿佛電影中的特寫鏡頭，父親的一腔愛意凝注其間，幾十年來曾逗惹出讀者多少滾燙的眼淚。汪曾祺的《多年父子成兄弟》相比之下則寫得從容、平靜、不溫不火，然而那是腴後之枯，濃後之淡，語淺而情深，作者對父親的愛並不因文字的朴質而稍減半分。同是抒寫親子之情，豐子愷《給我的孩子們》直抒胸臆，將對無邪童心的讚美表達得淋漓盡致，也透露出對他們長大後將失卻天真、“不復值得憧憬”的憂慮，拳拳愛心可謂一覽無遺；余光中《我的四個假想敵》則蹊徑獨辟，通過四個正值妙齡的愛女芳心有屬這樣一種假定的情境，展開議論抒情，將為父者既高興又擔心父愛將無所依傍的亦喜亦憂的矛盾心境，寫得躍然紙上，出語風趣幽默，令人忍俊不禁。其他諸作，也莫不姚黃魏紫，各臻其妙，父母辛苦鞠育之恩，兒女湧泉相報之情，字字情真，句句意切，篇篇感人。

(摘錄自書中〈此情綿綿無絕期〉── 《不死鳥》散文系列序)

Family

Installations By Architects: Experiments in Building and Design

Sarah Bonnemaison and Ronit Eisenbach
online access from ProQuest Ebook Central
check holdings in CityU LibraryFind

Over the last few decades, a rich and increasingly diverse practice has emerged in the art world that invites the public to touch, enter, and experience the work, whether it is in a gallery, on city streets, or in the landscape. Like architecture, many of these temporary artworks aspire to alter viewers' experience of the environment. An installation is usually the end product for an artist, but for architects it can also be a preliminary step in an ongoing design process. Like paper projects designed in the absence of "real" architecture, installations offer architects another way to engage in issues critical to their practice. Direct experimentation with architecture's material and social dimensions engages the public around issues in the built environment that concern them and expands the ways that architecture can participate in and impact people's everyday lives.

The first survey of its kind, Installations by Architects features fifty of the most significant projects from the last twenty-five years by today's most exciting architects, including Anderson Anderson, Philip Beesley, Diller + Scofidio, John Hejduk, Dan Hoffman, and Kuth/Ranieri Architects. Projects are grouped in critical areas of discussion under the themes of tectonics, body, nature, memory, and public space. Each project is supplemented by interviews with the project architects and the discussions of critics and theorists situated within a larger intellectual context. There is no doubt that installations will continue to play a critical role in the practice of architecture. Installations by Architects aims to contribute to the role of installations in sharpening our understanding of the built environment.

(Excerpt from amazon.com)

安藤忠雄都市彷徨

安藤忠雄 著
online access from SuperStar Digital Library
check holdings in CityU LibraryFind

「旅行，造就了人。我仍舊探訪著世界上的城市，穿梭漫遊在大大小小的通路與街道，一再地行走、逗留在綿延不絕的巷弄裡而留下我的足跡。緊張與不安當中一個人迷失在不知名的地方，因著孤獨而感到嚴苛、迷惘，甚至不知所措。但總是能在那當中找出一條活路，順利地全身而退，並繼續邁向下一個旅程。……我的人生也可算是一段旅程吧。在沒有接受專門教育的狀況下而志向建築這件事情，就如同獨自在緊張與不安下迷失在一個陌生地方一樣。……然而像現在這樣回過頭來看，我寧可將那視為是因著在那苦難當中以所得的體驗作為食糧，自己才得以一直生存到現在。往往在孤獨與不安、一個人在都市裡彷徨的時候，那樣的感覺便更明顯而具體地流露出來。……旅行，也造就了建築家。」－－安藤忠雄

安藤忠雄從1965年以來直到1992年於世界各地遊歷途中，所留下的思考軌跡與心路歷程記錄的這本《安藤忠雄的都市彷徨》，那種搭著甚至連航班都未能確定的船隻航向各個我們所無法想像的世界角落，探索著什麼、尋找著自己心之所向所具有的勇氣與強韌意志，令人為之由衷嚮往。同時，那似乎可以說是個充滿了生機、經歷了戰後復甦，對於現況的不滿而帶有濃厚批判性色彩、不斷反省並持續追尋著新歷史走向的年代。或許在跨越了2000年之後的21世紀，我們早已慣習於IT(Information Technology)產業發達對於通訊網路器具的依賴，而陷入一種未能自知的懶散狀態。在持續信仰著科技會提供人類更美好未來的這個技術主義至上教條的同時，許多身為一個人所應具備的靈敏度與嗅覺，似乎也在逐漸消失中。會不會我們現在已經逐漸淡忘了怎麼動起來，而忽視了透過五體直觀所能賦予我們的真實觸感？這個cyber world與real world之間的辨證關係似乎已悄悄取代international style與regionalism之間的關係而逐漸熱烈地展開。

在安藤忠雄這本書的字裡行間，透過異文化之間的訊息傳遞反而更能深刻地體會到這份難以言喻的熱情、一種對於真實世界的體驗與實踐的感動。透過旅行，這些和真實世界的接觸，以及同時與內心深刻的自我交往這件事因而得以實現。

因著旅行，而得以脫離容易陷入惰性循環的日常生活，並且在一個新鮮而未知的境界裡得到嶄新的試驗與刺激；也就更因置身在一個前所未見的困頓境遇中，反而更具有「創造性」之產生的可能。這或許也就是安藤忠雄長久以來，把「旅行」這件事情當作人生中最大的導師、並且不斷地在自己的真實生活與內心世界持續著自己的旅程、並且持續著和自己之間之戰鬥狀態的緣故吧。因著旅行得以發掘自己在日常生活中未能察覺的生命與潛力。再怎麼說這都是對於一個人非常重要而難得的價值吧。

(摘錄自博客來網路書店)