终于把这本书完成了，这是2020年的第一个Personal Project，也是续上一本书《字己》后的续集，许多没来得及畅谈的话题，延伸讨论等都会聚集在这一本书里。这也许也是现在的我唯一可以完成的吧，毕竟现在大家都只能窝在家里，努力抗疫。
看过这本书后，不知道你是否会更了解我，还是会更不懂我了呢？无论如何，大家还是好好照顾自己，希望可以早日再见吧！
想看书的请按这里。谢谢。
Tag: Book
Best Read of 2019
I have read quite a lot of books this year, be it fiction, non-fiction, biography, self-help and so on. And here are my top 3 picks for the year, and I highly recommend everyone to read them too. Hope you will enjoy them as much as I do.
The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck by Mark Manson
Don’t be fooled by the title of this book. It certainly isn’t some fucking nonsense book that talks about nothing. The author discussed about why people felt entitled, how we can make a better decision to make our lives better, what we should be giving a fuck and not giving a fuck on, how we should embrace problems and difficulties for growth and so on.
To put it simply, this fucking book gives you some mind fuck and hopefully you will be able to unfuck yourself after reading it. To get a taste of what is being covered in this book, take a look at Mark’s website here.
Factfulness by Hans Rosling
This is another epic book that will surely gives you enough mind fuck. Facts are everywhere, readily available, literally been taught and stuffed into our head, but yet people can still get things so wrong, be so out of touch with reality, and keep believing in the falsehood that they believe in. I myself am guilty of this, and this book gave some guidance on how to be a little more mindful and factual in life, which hopefully lead to better decision making, less complaining and more optimistic.
Here’s a video of Hans in action:
When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi
This is a memoir of Paul, a neurosurgeon who was diagnosed with cancer. It’s about the story of him fighting his life between work, family, life and illness. It’s not just an ordinary fiction or Korean drama where the main character get sick and died just for the sake of making you cry. This book is much more than that. It makes you think about life, about choices, about death, and the meaning behind those. All in all, a very nice read that will make you think and re-think about everything.
Make it stick
Been reading quite a lot of books lately, I’m on book no. 35 as of writing to be exact. That brings me to the thought of… for so much books that I read, information that I absorbed, things that I learned, how much of it I am actually able to recall and make use of in the days to come?
The challenge has always been this. Just like how you see supposedly “educated” people graduated from famous university, but still performing uneducated act like littering everywhere. Ultimately, all that matters is not how much input you received, is how much output you produce out of it.
The same goes to photography. You can talk all day about “how to take a good photo”, but if you didn’t deliver a good photo in the end… what’s the point, right?
Of course my argument here is based upon a “result-based” approach, by ignoring the fact on the process. One may argue that this is part of the process, where failing to achieve what you have learned is also a learning point for you, making you aware and hence be more cautious in the future. Well, I kinda agree with that, but still, many may not even realized that in the end, and that’s a problem.
So, for so much I have read for the past years, did I made any changes and put any meaningful learning into practice? Well… yes and no. Conservatively, I would estimate only like 20% of what I learned has been put into good use. That’s quite little indeed. That’s something I’m aware of and trying to fix.
Of course not everything can be of good use immediately, some takes time to materialize, some require additional skills beforehand, some I just can’t… make it stick. It’s a long way to go and to change. Let’s see if things will turn better in the future. Till then.
A Brand Story
Recently I have read a couple of books on some of the famous brands in the world, about the story behind their creation and success, about the vision, mission and values that formed a part of their identity. There were two books which I found to be particularly enjoyable and insightful to read:
“The Starbucks Story, How the brand changed the world” by John Simmons
The story of Starbucks has always been a fascinating one. A company that was founded by a few gentlemen who were obsessed over high quality coffee beans, which was then bought over by Howard Schultz, a man who was obsessed with the coffee culture and experience which he immersed in Italy. The whole brand was then transformed, from selling beans and brewing equipment to serving coffees and pastries, creating “The Third Place” that everyone will go besides office and home.
“Shoe Dog, a memoir by the creator of Nike” by Phil Knight
This is actually the first time I got to know the Nike brand in detail. I was surprised that the whole story was started off with Phil importing Onitsuka Tiger’s shoes, how it all went south in the end and ultimately led to the creation of their own shoe brand: Nike. The struggles of Phil and his fellowships was so real and raw, and it made me continued to read and read in order to find out what they did to get over all the hurdles. The story brought up the spirits behind Nike, on hindsight, you can really see where those spirits and rebellion came from.
Both books offered insight and behind-the-scene of how a brand was created, how their identity was defined. For Starbucks it’s always about customer experiences, for Nike it’s all about winning. Both books were easy to read and digest, and I learnt a couple of things about business management along the way as well. Even if you are not a business person, these books were entertaining enough for you to read and get to know the brand better, that is if you are a fan of these brands.
《风格是一种商机》增田宗昭
蔦屋，如果你不知道，它是一间生活时尚店，有卖书本，文具，一些生活时尚用品等。可能你会联想到马来西亚和新加坡的大众书局，但是两者完全是不一样的档次的。蔦屋始于日本，在台湾有它们的分店，所以到台北时难得可以走入几家蔦屋，走走看看，然后买了几本书。而这一本书就当然是在蔦屋买的。
这本书是蔦屋的创办人所写，里面包含了一些蔦屋的历史，背后的商业动机与抉择，还有就是从书店转型成为融入社会的生活时尚店的一些点滴。书本当中有许多增田先生对于行商的经历与教诲，读着从中也获益不浅。
另外，由于之前读了《书店不死》一书有提到像蔦屋这样的书店并不能称得上是书店一说，读了这本书之后，也许我找到了我的答案。蔦屋和其他书店追求的目标，可以说是彻底的不一样。“书店”想把店长的思想与心意，透过书本传达出去。但是蔦屋由始至终的目标就只是创造出一个融入当地社会的店面，让人们在这里感到舒服，让人们会想要再次光临。所以书店卖的是书的温暖，但是蔦屋卖的却是空间的温暖。
在台北走访了几间蔦屋，它们有许多相似的地方，但却也巧妙的有各自不一样的地方。这跟其他连锁书店（像是紀伊国屋之类的）相比则多了一份特色。这也许与蔦屋那“融入当地社会”的执着有关系吧！
Anyway，这是一本不错的书。喜欢逛书店（尤其是蔦屋）的人就不要错过啦！
