viaDigita

Money Sense for Kids!

This is a really fun book, not only for kids either. Even as a parent, I learned quite a bit I’d never known. Comprised of four sections, this guide covers the basics of exactly what money is, how to obtain it, how to grow it, and finally a few ways to have fun with it.

Money Sense for Kids! is an excellent introduction to one of life’s most important systems in present-day America. Many adults were never taught about much that this book covers, and we only learn about these things as we go through life, which is not necessarily the most effective way to become acquainted with such an important aspect of our own society.

If you have, or know, a child who hasn’t learned about the American monetary system, this book is a must-read!

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Lord Emsworth Acts for the Best

The world of Blandings Castle and the characters who inhabit and enliven that world no longer exist. The world has changed irrevocably since then. However, it was real from the late 1800s through the first several decades of the 20th century, and through these pleasant and carefree stories Wodehouse masterfully and mischievously takes the reader back to those innocent, halcyon days.

This is escapism at its best: a world where dark treachery lurks in the form of Lords in neighboring English country estates snatching each others’ pig-men in order to triumph in agricultural fair competitions; a world where n’er do well aristocratic sons rise to the occasion to find their lives’ purposes by selling dog biscuits (Donaldson’s Dog-Joy, “Get Your Dog Thinking The Donaldson Way!”); a world in which even a solid staid butler cannot fight the temptation to fire an airgun into the unsuspecting back end of a nasty, and fully deserving, wayward character.

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Like Shaking Hands with God

On Thursday, October 1, 1998, a crowd listened eagerly in a Manhattan bookstore to American authors Kurt Vonnegut and Lee Stringer discuss the art of writing. Like Shaking Hands with God: A Conversation About Writing is the result of that “magical evening” (as Vonnegut would later call it).

Published by Washington Square Press, this delightful 80-page paperback contains a transcript of that evening’s conversation, complete with author readings, notations of audience applause, and photographs of the occasion. You almost feel as if you are there. A beautiful book.

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AUTHOR MINI-PROFILE:  Walter de la Mare

British author Walter de la Mare (1873-1956) worked in the statistics department of Standard Oil in London. Although he stayed there for 18 years in order to support his family, he managed to find time to write; indeed, he was quite prolific. In 1908 he received a Civil List pension from the British government, which allowed him to concentrate solely on his writing.

De la Mare is perhaps best known for his colorful, almost magical, poetry, much of it written expressly for children; however, he also wrote many novels, short stories, plays, and nonfiction works, and also edited a number of anthologies.

If you’re interested in learning about a “new” author with a truly unique voice, consider trying out Walter de la Mare.

Sailing Alone Around the World

First published in 1900, Sailing Alone Around the World has been considered a classic sea story ever since. This is the true story of Captain Joshua Slocum, a New England sea captain with a keen sense of adventure and a talent for the tall tale.

Slocum tells of his 3-year solo voyage around the world, undertaken virtually on a dare. Although the captain’s self-confidence and obvious pride in his abilities sometimes spill over a bit much in his colorful prose, his log is nevertheless enchanting in its own way and surprisingly gripping. Accounts of storms at sea are always thrilling when the hero escapes in one piece. Exciting too are Slocum’s descriptions of pirates chasing him off Gibraltar, a narrow escape from a fleet of natives in canoes, and a meeting with Black Pedro, “the worst murderer in Tierra del Fuego.”

I heartily recommend this fine adventure story. It reads quickly, with a brisk pace and vivid language. Not “great literature,” but certainly great fun!

The First Man

The French author Albert Camus was born in Algeria in 1913, and spent his youth there in a family of modest means. The First Man is Camus’ autobiographical novel, discovered in the wreckage of the car in which he lost his life in an accident. This exemplary book tells the story of his childhood days and his search for an absent father.

The first Camus I read was his famous essay The Myth of Sisyphus, followed by The Stranger, The Fall, Exile and the Kingdom, and The Plague. From the first word I ever read, I was taken by Camus…with his phenomenal ability, in simple language, to paint a picture so rich, so vibrant and alive, yet devoid of gushing emotionalism.

Camus writes with unmatched power, but it is The First Man that truly opens the heart of Camus. This is a deeply heartwarming book, but entirely unsentimental. You can smell the scent of the sea wafting across the boiling sands of the Algierian beaches, you feel the love and bittersweet tenderness of family. This is a very special book, unpolished by Camus as it was discovered in manuscript and only transcribed by his daughter many years later…raw and fresh, pure. The First Man is one of those very few books I will return to again and again.

Harvard Business Review on Managing Yourself

Harvard Business Review on Managing Yourself is a collection of 8 outstanding essays on learning about and developing your talents, applying those talents to career, and contributing meaningfully to both employer and society, among other things. One in a series of more than 60 books published by the Harvard Business School Press, this fantastic book is stuffed with sage advice and real life wisdom that will come back repeatedly to haunt your thoughts (these are good ghosts). Essays included in this series’ books are reprinted from the pages of the Harvard Business Review.

How to Play to Your Strengths, Why Smart People Underperform, and Do Your Commitments Match Your Convictions? are several of the titles included in this volume. However, as inspiring and useful as the other essays in this collection are, my two favorites are Managing Your Boss (by John J. Gabarro and John P. Kotter) and Managing Oneself (by Peter F. Drucker). The former takes a surprising and refreshing attitude towards the manager-employee relationship — actually seeing it as a personal relationship — which I have found in my experience to ring remarkably true. The latter is a powerful missive that can guide you to meaningful service to others and personal satisfaction in life, no small gifts.