Monday, July 8, 2019

Fantasyland: How America Went Haywire: A 500-Year History

by Kurt Andersen
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NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “The single most important explanation, and the fullest explanation, of how Donald Trump became president of the United States . . . nothing less than the most important book that I have read this year.”—Lawrence O’Donnell

How did we get here?

In this sweeping, eloquent history of America, Kurt Andersen shows that what’s happening in our country today—this post-factual, “fake news” moment we’re all living through—is not something new, but rather the ultimate expression of our national character. America was founded by wishful dreamers, magical thinkers, and true believers, by hucksters and their suckers. Fantasy is deeply embedded in our DNA.

Over the course of five centuries—from the Salem witch trials to Scientology to the Satanic Panic of the 1980s, from P. T. Barnum to Hollywood and the anything-goes, wild-and-crazy sixties, from conspiracy theories to our fetish for guns and obsession with extraterrestrials—our love of the fantastic has made America exceptional in a way that we've never fully acknowledged. From the start, our ultra-individualism was attached to epic dreams and epic fantasies—every citizen was free to believe absolutely anything, or to pretend to be absolutely anybody. With the gleeful erudition and tell-it-like-it-is ferocity of a Christopher Hitchens, Andersen explores whether the great American experiment in liberty has gone off the rails.

Fantasyland could not appear at a more perfect moment. If you want to understand Donald Trump and the culture of twenty-first-century America, if you want to know how the lines between reality and illusion have become dangerously blurred, you must read this book.

(Excerpt from amazon.com)

關於跑步,我說的其實是

村上春樹
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寫作滿三十年前夕
村上春樹透過談跑步,道出自己不為人所知的寫作觀。

25年前村上春樹開始他的第一次跑步。那是1982年的秋天,三十三歲那一年,寫完《尋羊冒險記》,村上先生因為戒煙而體重增加,為了減肥,開始了他的第一步。從那以後村上接連不斷地跑,他曾經跑完雅典的全程馬拉松,也參加波士頓馬拉松比賽,平日每天幾乎都跑上十公里,可以說除了寫作,跑步已經是他最在行的事。

村上在這本書《關於跑步,我說的其實是……》中藉著記錄整理自己的經驗與思緒,分享他在跑步中所理解的人生以及寫作觀。至於書名是什麼意思?其實這本書的日文原名就是以外來語思維所寫的(What I Talk About When I Talk About Running),這個名稱明顯是向他喜愛的美國小說家瑞蒙‧卡佛名作之一《當我們討論愛情》(What We Talk About When We Talk About Love)致敬。

村上說如果他可以選擇自己的墓誌銘,猜猜看他想寫上什麼?答案就在書裡。

(摘錄自博客來網路書店)


Monday, July 1, 2019

Stick with It: The Science of Lasting Behaviour

Sean Young
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Learn how to make real, lasting changes in your life

We all have bad habits - whether it's a weakness for junk food, a smartphone addiction or a lack of exercise. But change is hard. Forty percent of dieters quit within a week. Eighty percent of New Year's resolutions don't last beyond January. How can we kick bad habits - and stick with it?

According to psychologist and behaviour researcher Dr Sean Young, the answer is to stop trying to change the person, and instead change the process. In Stick With It, Dr Young draws on his own research and that of other leading experts to explain how the mind often interferes with breaking bad habits, and how we can outsmart it, increasing the likelihood of lasting change by 200%.

Packed with practical exercises and real-life case studies, Stick With It shows that it is possible to control spending, stick to a diet, exercise regularly and overcome problem behaviours - forever.

(Excerpt from amazon.com)

當日出日落同步上演 : 致香港流行文化, 2012-2017

阿果
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對香港人來說,2012至2017年,是無法忘記,甚至影響深遠的五年。

我們送走了曾蔭權,迎來了梁振英,又過渡至林鄭月娥;經歷了幾場龐大的社會運動,一起反國教,要求看電視,喊著特首下台,也曾撐起雨傘──這些記憶我們歷歷在目。

那麼,這段時間的流行文化,你記得幾多?與政局大事相比,流行文化被看為次要──聽一首歌,看一套劇集,究竟有幾重要?這些明星八卦新聞,這些不合情理的節目,為什麼值得一提再提?

「我已經無睇TVB好耐啦!」
「我唔聽廣東歌架啦!」
「我當然要XXX,而唔要XXX!」

這些說話,我們不陌生。然而,打開Facebook研究數據,在茶餐廳做田野考察的時候,你會發現現實的世界不是這樣。

「我已經無睇TVB好耐啦!」(但談論某劇集的時候,個個都能發表幾句,最多聽到的一句是「同其他TVB的劇集好唔同」。)
「我唔聽廣東歌架啦!」(但某歌手登上頒獎禮的台上時,整個Facebook都在share/ comment。)

這是流行文化的厲害之處。

更重要的是,以為流行文化是獨立於整個社會氣候環境而風花雪月嗎?恐怕不是如此。

我們有什麼電視台,看怎樣的電視節目,其實都是(我們很討厭的)政治。是以,被人詬病的大台繼續一台獨大,有著改革野心大量投資的電視台不獲發牌。

看回這幾年的流行文化大事,我們看見的是香港故事。在我們以為最困難的時候,有些人、有些事就悄悄冒起──這幾年,是日出與日落同時上演的時刻,也是我們的轉折點。

(摘錄自cp1897.com.hk)


Monday, June 24, 2019

How to Have a Great Career: Find Your Passion, Achieve Your Goals, Love What You Do

Larry Smith
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Whether you are just starting out or are reinventing yourself, Larry Smith will show you how to turn what you love into what you do

For the past three decades, Professor Larry Smith has become something of a “career whisperer” for his students at the University of Waterloo. His guidance has helped steer more than twenty-five thousand students to careers they love at companies like Facebook, Amazon, Tesla and Google, to name just a few. But most of us are left to figure out one of the biggest decisions of our lives on our own. Each year, millions of talented college and university students graduate with little or no real sense of what their next step will be. And shifting economies and life circumstances often send us down the wrong career path, or down one that isn’t a perfect fit for our skills and personalities—even if we are often unaware of it. But it is possible—even if you already have a foothold in a career—to make changes that will result in renewed passion and success that is greater than anything you’ve ever imagined.

With his straightforward, no-nonsense approach, Smith itemizes and dismisses all the usual excuses, fears and worries that people hide behind when trying to find their true direction. He shows how it is possible to change course and get on the right path. It won’t necessarily be easy, but if you follow Smith’s guidance, your career dreams can come true.

(Excerpt from amazon.com)

情緒陰影──「心靈整合之父」榮格,帶你認識內在原型,享受情緒自由

許皓宜
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如果說格雷有五十道陰影,你有沒有想過,你的心裡有幾道陰影?
你所有的不快樂,怪別人都沒有用。
抓出陰影背後的形象,讓我們一起學習駕馭他。
面對厭世代,我們都可以自我拯救。
陰影,也是一種力量!

當遇上無法真心擁抱的負面時刻──
看到朋友在臉書曬幸福照,你突然覺得心情低落,就把他封鎖了;
最討厭突然插隊超車的駕駛,總想按喇叭來表達不滿;
上台報告後,覺得台風不夠穩健的自己好糟糕,變得好沮喪;
進入一個陌生團體,身旁的人看起來又厲害又迷人,你開始害怕……
這些,都是「情緒陰影」!

「情緒陰影」,就是讓人在情感暴雨來襲時,常常找不到傘的窘境;是阻礙我們身心能量的「情結」所在,也是我們心靈深處的「雜質」。這些無法被自我所意識到的情感經驗,原來背後,暗藏著許多我們還不夠了解自己的地方。

所以,這本書要帶領你——
覺察「情緒陰影」的存在,把它提取到意識層面反覆思考,轉化成正向的力量。

(摘錄自博客來網路書店)