給母親的短柬

李碧華 主編
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這是李碧華小姐在博客上的一個徵文比賽作品結集。意念源於她一次在日本看到一些掌中書的內容，短柬書寫對母親的愛或懷念，言簡意賅但情意濃厚。

把不敢、不忍、不好竟思、從沒想過、難以開口向母親說的話，寫出來。一切要“及時”。用字純樸，發自真心。

小思、王安憶、陸川、陳果、小克、陳顧方、田沁鑫、侯小強、李碧華等擔任評審、分別在香港及中國大陸出版，版稅捐助中國的孤兒院，讓失去母愛的小孩受惠。

(摘錄自cp1897.com.hk)

Thank You for Being Late: An Optimist's Guide to Thriving in the Age of Accelerations

Thomas L. Friedman
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A New York Times Bestseller

A field guide to the twenty-first century, written by one of its most celebrated observers

We all sense it―something big is going on. You feel it in your workplace. You feel it when you talk to your kids. You can’t miss it when you read the newspapers or watch the news. Our lives are being transformed in so many realms all at once―and it is dizzying.

In Thank You for Being Late, a work unlike anything he has attempted before, Thomas L. Friedman exposes the tectonic movements that are reshaping the world today and explains how to get the most out of them and cushion their worst impacts. You will never look at the world the same way again after you read this book: how you understand the news, the work you do, the education your kids need, the investments your employer has to make, and the moral and geopolitical choices our country has to navigate will all be refashioned by Friedman’s original analysis...

Thank You for Being Late is a work of contemporary history that serves as a field manual for how to write and think about this era of accelerations. It’s also an argument for “being late”―for pausing to appreciate this amazing historical epoch we’re passing through and to reflect on its possibilities and dangers. To amplify this point, Friedman revisits his Minnesota hometown in his moving concluding chapters; there, he explores how communities can create a “topsoil of trust” to anchor their increasingly diverse and digital populations.

With his trademark vitality, wit, and optimism, Friedman shows that we can overcome the multiple stresses of an age of accelerations―if we slow down, if we dare to be late and use the time to reimagine work, politics, and community. Thank You for Being Late is Friedman’s most ambitious book―and an essential guide to the present and the future.

(Excerpt from amazon.com)

責任與判斷 (Responsibility and Judgment)

漢娜.鄂蘭 (Hannah Arendt)
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本書集結鄂蘭生前最後十年未出版的文章與演講稿，她在其中針對道德哲學提出幾個問題，尤其是關於「惡的本質」與「道德抉擇」。

沒有人比鄂蘭更了解二十世紀的政治危機可以從道德崩潰的角度視之。勢如瓦解，顯而易見。鄂蘭看到那具爭議性、挑戰性以及困難的核心，不是由於人的無知或邪惡，未能辨識道德的「真相」，而是由於道德的「真相」竟不足以作為標準，去對人已經可能做到的事情下判斷。鄂蘭允許自己提出的唯一的概括結論，反諷地指向一種大幅變革的無所不括，即西方思想傳統原本引以為神聖之事全盤改變了。道德思想的傳統斷了，不只由於政治觀念，也由於二十世紀的政治事實，傳統斷裂，再也無法復原。

鄂蘭既非虛無主義者，也非道學家；而是思想家，追隨其思考的指引。然而要跟上她，卻是讀者的艱鉅任務——主要並不是對於讀者的智力或知識的挑戰，而是對思考能力的挑戰。她提出的並非理論的解決，而是豐富的刺激，刺激你自己去思考。她覺得托克維爾（Alexis de Tocqueville）的洞見無比深刻，亦即，危機時刻或在真正的轉戾點，「過往無法給未來帶來啟示，人心徘徊在晦暗之中。」她認為在這種時刻（此時對她正是），心靈的晦暗就是最清明的指示，指示我們需要重新思考人類責任的意義，以及人類判斷的力量。

(摘錄自博客來網路書店)

Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance

Angela Duckworth
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In this instant New York Times bestseller, pioneering psychologist Angela Duckworth shows anyone striving to succeed—be it parents, students, educators, athletes, or business people—that the secret to outstanding achievement is not talent but a special blend of passion and persistence she calls “grit.”

Drawing on her own powerful story as the daughter of a scientist who frequently noted her lack of “genius,” Duckworth, now a celebrated researcher and professor, describes her early eye-opening stints in teaching, business consulting, and neuroscience, which led to the hypothesis that what really drives success is not “genius” but a unique combination of passion and long-term perseverance.

In Grit, she takes readers into the field to visit cadets struggling through their first days at West Point, teachers working in some of the toughest schools, and young finalists in the National Spelling Bee. She also mines fascinating insights from history and shows what can be gleaned from modern experiments in peak performance. Finally, she shares what she’s learned from interviewing dozens of high achievers—from JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon to New Yorker cartoon editor Bob Mankoff to Seattle Seahawks Coach Pete Carroll.

Among Grit’s most valuable insights:
*Why any effort you make ultimately counts twice toward your goal
*How grit can be learned, regardless of I.Q. or circumstances
*How lifelong interest is triggered
*How much of optimal practice is suffering and how much ecstasy
*Which is better for your child—a warm embrace or high standards
*The magic of the Hard Thing Rule

Winningly personal, insightful, and even life-changing, Grit is a book about what goes through your head when you fall down, and how that—not talent or luck—makes all the difference.

(Excerpt from amazon.com)

當呼吸化為空氣 : 一位天才神經外科醫師最後的生命洞察 (When Breath Becomes Air)

保羅.卡拉尼提 (Paul Kalanithi) 著
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這本書會像一個紙鎮，令我們想起生命的重量。 ~~蔡康永

2016年全球最受矚目的書
＊Amazon暢銷總榜第1名(超過3000名讀者5顆星評價)
＊《紐約時報》非文學類暢銷書排行榜第1名
＊ Goodreads Choice Award for Memoir & Autobiography

2014年，36歲的保羅醫師即將完成十年之久的神經外科醫師訓練，科學研究並獲得美國神經外科學會最高研究獎，即將獲得史丹福醫學院外科教授職位並主持自己的研究室。他的人生正邁向生命的高峰，卻被診斷出患有第四期肺癌。頭一天他是醫生，還在治療瀕死的病人，第二天他是病人，掙扎求生。他跟妻子原先設想的未來，就此完全蒸發。

保羅醫生原本醉心文學，取得史丹福文學碩士，因想探索生命本質，轉而學醫，念完耶魯醫學院後，他選擇成為神經外科醫生，在人類身分、意義認同的最關鍵部位－－大腦從事手術。

在確診自己罹患末期疾病後，這位才華洋溢的年輕神經外科醫師從醫師、病人、兒子、伴侶、父親等不同身分，審視自己37年的生命歷程，思索生命與死亡的意義。面對未知與隨時可能降臨的人生終點，保羅醫師寫著：

＊我逐漸了解，面對我終將死亡的事實，就某種意義上來說，什麼也沒有改變，也改變了一切。作家貝克特所寫的七個字，開始不斷縈繞於我的腦中：｢我沒有辦法繼續下去。我會繼續下去。｣（I can’t go on, I’ll go on.）

＊死亡永遠是贏家。不過你仍然可以繼續奮鬥，你永遠無法觸及完美，但是你可以相信那條漸近線，永不止息地朝它努力。

＊如果我不知道自己想要什麼，我起碼已經學到一件事，一件希波克拉底、奧斯勒都沒提到的事情：醫師的職責不是峻拒死亡，也不是使病人回復舊有生命，而是敞開雙臂擁抱生命已經分崩離析的病人及家屬，而且努力使他們重新站起去面對、去弄清楚他們本身存在的意義。

即便最後身體極度不適，保羅醫師仍奮力寫作，最後他於2015年3月過世，留下這本深刻且令人感動的書。《當呼吸化為空氣》飽含文學、醫學、哲學的省思，將引領我們思考自己的價值與有限的生命。

(摘錄自博客來網路書店) 

All the Light We Cannot See : A Novel

Anthony Doerr
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Winner of the Pulitzer Prize, a New York Times Book Review Top Ten Book, National Book Award finalist, more than two and a half years on the New York Times bestseller list

From the highly acclaimed, multiple award-winning Anthony Doerr, the stunningly beautiful instant New York Times bestseller about a blind French girl and a German boy whose paths collide in occupied France as both try to survive the devastation of World War II.

Marie-Laure lives in Paris near the Museum of Natural History, where her father works. When she is twelve, the Nazis occupy Paris and father and daughter flee to the walled citadel of Saint-Malo, where Marie-Laure’s reclusive great uncle lives in a tall house by the sea. With them they carry what might be the museum’s most valuable and dangerous jewel.

In a mining town in Germany, Werner Pfennig, an orphan, grows up with his younger sister, enchanted by a crude radio they find that brings them news and stories from places they have never seen or imagined. Werner becomes an expert at building and fixing these crucial new instruments and is enlisted to use his talent to track down the resistance. Deftly interweaving the lives of Marie-Laure and Werner, Doerr illuminates the ways, against all odds, people try to be good to one another.

Doerr’s “stunning sense of physical detail and gorgeous metaphors” (San Francisco Chronicle) are dazzling. Ten years in the writing, a National Book Award finalist, All the Light We Cannot See is a magnificent, deeply moving novel from a writer “whose sentences never fail to thrill” (Los Angeles Times).

(Excerpt from amazon.com)