Tag Archives: Books

In My Hands Today,,,

Posted on by
Reply

Burn Book: A Tech Love Story – Kara Swisher

Part memoir, part history, Burn Book is a necessary chronicle of tech’s most powerful players. This is the inside story we’ve all been waiting for about modern Silicon Valley and the biggest boom in wealth creation in the history of the world.

When tech titans crowed that they would “move fast and break things,” Kara Swisher was moving faster and breaking news. While covering the explosion of the digital sector in the early 1990s, she developed a long track record of digging up and reporting the facts about this new world order. Her consistent scoops drove one CEO to accuse her of “listening in the heating ducts” and prompted Facebook’s Sheryl Sandberg to once observe: “It is a constant joke in the Valley when people write memos for them to say, ‘I hope Kara never sees this.’”

While still in college, Swisher got her start at The Washington Post, where she became one of the few people in journalism interested in covering the nascent Internet. She went on to work for The Wall Street Journal, joining with Walt Mossberg to start the groundbreaking D: All Things Digital conference, as well as pioneering tech news sites.

Swisher has interviewed everyone who matters in tech over three decades, right when they presided over an explosion of world-changing innovation that has both helped and hurt our world. Steve Jobs, Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Sheryl Sandberg, Bob Iger, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Meg Whitman, Peter Thiel, Sam Altman, and Mark Zuckerberg are just a few whom Swisher made sweat—figuratively and, in Zuckerberg’s case, literally.

Despite the damage she chronicles, Swisher remains optimistic about tech’s potential to help solve problems and not just create them. She calls upon the industry to make better, more thoughtful choices, even as a new set of powerful AI tools are poised to change the world yet again. At its heart, this book is a love story to, for, and about tech from someone who knows it better than anyone.

World Book and Copyright Day

Posted on by
Reply
Source

Tomorrow is World Book and Copyright Day. Celebrated annually on April 23rd, the day celebrates the joy of books and reading. It serves as a bridge between the past and the future, connecting generations and cultures. On this day, people across the globe come together to appreciate the role of books in shaping our lives and understanding the world around us.

World Book and Copyright Day was first established by UNESCO in 1995 to be celebrated on April 23rd each year. The date was chosen to honour the passing of prominent authors such as William Shakespeare, Miguel de Cervantes, and Inca Garcilaso de la Vega. This day highlights the importance of books as a source of knowledge, creativity, and cultural enrichment, as well as to promote the publishing industry and protect intellectual property through copyright. It is seen as a link between the past and the future, a bridge between generations and across cultures. While UNESCO coordinates the global celebration, some countries observe World Book Day on different dates, such as the UK and Ireland, which celebrate it on March 2nd.

Source

In the 2024 edition, amidst global challenges and technological advancements, the celebration takes on a renewed significance, emphasising the resilience of literature, the promotion of reading, and the preservation of cultural diversity.

The theme for World Book and Copyright Day 2024 is “Read Your Way.”. This theme emphasises the importance of choice and enjoyment in fostering a love of reading. It encourages both children and adults to find ways to engage with books that resonate with them, regardless of format or genre.

Last year marked the start of the International Decade of Indigenous Languages (2022-2032), where UNESCO prioritises the upholding and promoting linguistic diversity and multilingualism. For the 2024 edition, UNESCO will spotlight indigenous languages. Of the nearly 7,000 existing languages, many are spoken by indigenous peoples who represent the world’s cultural diversity. Recognising oral traditions and various forms of literature, UNESCO aims to celebrate and preserve these languages through books. Literary sessions amplify the Sustainable Development Goals. SDG 5, or gender equality, happens when literature amplifies the voices of countless women, and SDG 10, or reduced inequality, can be fought when books serve as tools to fight against inequalities.

Source

The 2024 edition places a special emphasis on the role of digital innovation in democratizing access to literature. With the proliferation of e-books, audiobooks, and online libraries, readers can now engage with literary content in more accessible and interactive ways. This year’s celebration highlights the opportunities presented by digital platforms to reach broader audiences and promote literacy worldwide. Amidst the digital age, protecting copyright remains crucial for sustaining creativity and ensuring fair compensation for authors and creators. World Book and Copyright Day 2024 reaffirms the importance of copyright laws in safeguarding intellectual property rights and fostering a conducive environment for literary production. It encourages dialogue on copyright issues, piracy prevention, and the equitable distribution of royalties in the digital era. Recognizing the enduring value of reading in fostering imagination, critical thinking, and lifelong learning, World Book and Copyright Day 2024 advocates for initiatives that promote reading culture at all levels of society. From literacy programs in schools to community libraries and book clubs, efforts are underway to cultivate a passion for reading and empower individuals with the skills necessary to navigate the complexities of the modern world.

UNESCO, along with international organizations representing publishers, booksellers, and libraries, selects a World Book Capital each year. The chosen city which holds the title for a year, hosts initiatives and events to promote books, literary culture and reading throughout the year. Strasbourg, in France, has been designated as the World Book Capital for 2024. Strasbourg impressed UNESCO and the World Book Capital Advisory Committee with its strong focus on books to address social tensions and climate change. The city’s program “Reading for the Planet” emphasises books’ role in encouraging discussions about environmental concerns and scientific knowledge, particularly among young people. Strasbourg’s literary heritage and its diverse artistic activities, spanning music, theatre, and illustration, were also commendable. As the twenty-fourth city to bear this title since 2001, Strasbourg follows a distinguished lineage of previous World Book Capitals, including Madrid, Alexandria, Buenos Aires, Kuala Lumpur, and Accra.

Source

Many countries and organisations around the world will organise events and activities to promote reading, publishing, and the protection of intellectual property through copyright. These may include book fairs, author talks, reading challenges, and book donation drives. In Spain, the traditional celebration of Diada de Sant Jordi or Saint Jordi’s Day on April 23rd will coincide with World Book and Copyright Day. This involves the gifting of books and roses. The National Literacy Trust in the UK will provide a range of teaching resources, booklists, and activity ideas to help schools and communities celebrate a love of books and reading. World Book Day is working with 20 libraries in high-deprivation areas to create a legacy around reading, including events to inspire local families.

Source

As we commemorate World Book and Copyright Day 2024, let us reaffirm our commitment to literature as a catalyst for positive change. By embracing diversity, promoting equity, and safeguarding intellectual property rights, we can harness the full potential of literature to build a more inclusive and enlightened society. Through reading, writing, and sharing stories, we contribute to a global culture of creativity, empathy, and mutual understanding.

In My Hands Today…

Posted on by
1

Midnight’s Borders: A People’s History of Modern India – Suchitra Vijayan

The first true people’s history of modern India is told through a seven-year, 9,000-mile journey across its many contested borders.

Sharing borders with six countries and spanning a geography that extends from Pakistan to Myanmar, India is the world’s largest democracy and second-most populous country. Yet most of us don’t understand it, or the violent history still playing out there. In fact, India as we know it didn’t exist until the map of the subcontinent was redrawn in the middle of the 20th century, the powerful repercussions of which are still being felt across South Asia.

To tell the story of political borders in the subcontinent, Suchitra Vijayan spent seven years travelling India’s 9,000-mile land border. Now, in this stunning work of narrative reportage, she shares what she learned on that groundbreaking journey. With profound empathy and a novelistic eye for detail, Vijayan shows us the forgotten people and places in the borderlands and brings us face-to-face with the legacy of colonialism and the stain of extreme violence and corruption. The result is the ground-level portrait of modern India we’ve been missing.

In My Hands Today…

Posted on by
Reply

Women Money Power: The Rise and Fall of Economic Equality – Josie Cox

For centuries, women were denied equal access to money and the freedom and power that came with it. They were restricted from owning property or transacting in real estate. Even well into the 20th century, women could not take out their own loans or own bank accounts without their husband’s permission. They could be fired for getting married or pregnant, and if they still had a job, they could be kept from certain roles, restricted from working longer hours, and paid less than men for equal work.

It was a raw deal, and women weren’t happy with it. So they pushed back. In Women Money Power , financial journalist Josie Cox tells the story of women’s fight for financial freedom. This is an inspirational account of brave pioneers who took on social mores and the law, including the “Rosies” who filled industrial jobs vacated by men and helped win WWII, the heiress whose fortune helped create the birth control pill, the brassy investor who broke into the boys’ club of the New York Stock Exchange, and the namesake of landmark equal pay legislation who refused to accept discrimination.

But as any woman can tell you, the battle for equality—for money and power—is far from over. Cox delves deep into the challenges women face today and the culture and systems that hold them back. This is a fascinating narrative account of progress, women’s lives, and the work still to be done.

In My Hands Today,,,

Posted on by
Reply

Slow Productivity: The Lost Art of Accomplishment Without Burnout – Cal Newport

From the New York Times bestselling author of Digital Minimalism and Deep Work , a groundbreaking philosophy for pursuing meaningful accomplishment while avoiding overload

Our current definition of “productivity” is broken. It pushes us to treat busyness as a proxy for useful effort, leading to impossibly lengthy task lists and ceaseless meetings. We’re overwhelmed by all we have to do and on the edge of burnout, left to decide between giving into soul-sapping hustle culture or rejecting ambition altogether. But are these really our only choices?

Long before the arrival of pinging inboxes and clogged schedules, history’s most creative and impactful philosophers, scientists, artists, and writers mastered the art of producing valuable work with staying power. In this timely and provocative book, Cal Newport harnesses the wisdom of these traditional knowledge workers to radically transform our modern jobs. Drawing from deep research on the habits and mindsets of a varied cast of storied thinkers – from Galileo and Isaac Newton, to Jane Austen and Georgia O’Keefe – Newport lays out the key principles of “slow productivity,” a more sustainable alternative to the aimless overwhelm that defines our current moment. Combining cultural criticism with systematic pragmatism, Newport deconstructs the absurdities inherent in standard notions of productivity, and then provides step-by-step advice for workers to replace them with a slower, more humane alternative.

From the aggressive rethinking of workload management, to introducing seasonal variation, to shifting your performance toward long-term quality, Slow Productivity provides a roadmap for escaping overload and arriving instead at a more timeless approach to pursuing meaningful accomplishment. The world of work is due for a new revolution. Slow productivity is exactly what we need.