I must say that I expected much more from this book from the title. It says a WEEKEND with Warren Buffet. In the end, the contents of that encounter at Berkshire Hathaway AGM is <10% of the book. In this book, it describes the different AGMs that the author has been.
Though the Warren Buffet part was short, it was quite informative as to what happens in a Berkshire Hathaway AGM. If I could, I would definitely fly to Omaha for one of Warren Buffet's famous AGMs. This book basically has about 22 AGMs, ranging from small companies to big companies like Google, Wal Mart, Microsoft and a few others.
One thing i like is the last section of every AGM. The author has a "In a Nutshell" which is a summary of the AGM and he has four factors which he gives ratings from A+ to F. The four factors are a) Educational Value, b) Entertainment Value, c) Freebies and d) Food & Drink.
It's a very easy book to read as each company's AGM is described in about 8-20 pages.
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Monday, May 12, 2008
Next by Michael Crichton
I have read nearly all of Michael Crichton's books except those in his early days, such as Terminal Man and The Great Train Robbery(something like that). Actually, I did got hold of these 2 books but after reading a few pages, I skipped these 2 books as I don't find them as interesting as his later stories.
This is a pretty thick book of >400 pages. As usual, I find Michael Crichton's stories fascinating, yet conceptually realistic.
In this book, he wove his story web around genetic engineering : a genetic company desperate in genetic breakthroughs, a young researcher accidentally gave a "mature" gene to his brother and cured his drug addiction, a talking parrot, a talking orang utan, turtles that glow to keep away their predators. There are many commercially viable use of genetic engineering, though most of them are viewed by many as unethical. One brilliant use is to genetically alter the genes of fishes, such that they have company's advertisement displayed on their bodies. It is something like what they have done to Glo-Fish. The Glo-Fishes were given the luminous genes of jellyfishes.
One thing I did not like was that there are too many parties in the stories and the stories come in and out. Each party usually only occupied 2-5 pages and the scene will switch to another unrelated party. And in the end, somehow or rather, all the parties seemed to know each other or got to know each other. Some scenes were not rational, such as why was the famous Dr Bel... at the theme park and was so coincidentally killed by Brad Gordon.
I must say that the starting of the book was written very well, slowly taking the reader in to the world of genetic engineering. But as you go deeper(mid of book), one might get confused as to how these different people or animals fit in the story. They seemed to be a story by themselves. As the story comes to an end, the "bad" guys were too conveniently jailed, killed or dead by some mysterious illness.
Overall, I think the idea of this story is good. Michael Crichton's books, such as Jurrasic Park, Timeline, Congo and Sphere were terrific and spell-binding. This book, Next, as compared, is a bit rusty. The ending seems like a rush job.
This is a pretty thick book of >400 pages. As usual, I find Michael Crichton's stories fascinating, yet conceptually realistic.
In this book, he wove his story web around genetic engineering : a genetic company desperate in genetic breakthroughs, a young researcher accidentally gave a "mature" gene to his brother and cured his drug addiction, a talking parrot, a talking orang utan, turtles that glow to keep away their predators. There are many commercially viable use of genetic engineering, though most of them are viewed by many as unethical. One brilliant use is to genetically alter the genes of fishes, such that they have company's advertisement displayed on their bodies. It is something like what they have done to Glo-Fish. The Glo-Fishes were given the luminous genes of jellyfishes.
One thing I did not like was that there are too many parties in the stories and the stories come in and out. Each party usually only occupied 2-5 pages and the scene will switch to another unrelated party. And in the end, somehow or rather, all the parties seemed to know each other or got to know each other. Some scenes were not rational, such as why was the famous Dr Bel... at the theme park and was so coincidentally killed by Brad Gordon.
I must say that the starting of the book was written very well, slowly taking the reader in to the world of genetic engineering. But as you go deeper(mid of book), one might get confused as to how these different people or animals fit in the story. They seemed to be a story by themselves. As the story comes to an end, the "bad" guys were too conveniently jailed, killed or dead by some mysterious illness.
Overall, I think the idea of this story is good. Michael Crichton's books, such as Jurrasic Park, Timeline, Congo and Sphere were terrific and spell-binding. This book, Next, as compared, is a bit rusty. The ending seems like a rush job.
Sunday, May 4, 2008
Something to Smile About by Zig Ziglar
This book is about encouragement and inspirations for life's ups and downs. It is very similar to the Chicken Soup series. There are many short stories which are only 2 pages long . Each story has a small quote and at the end, there is usually a small joke which I enjoyed.
There are many powerful and interesting stories and many lessons to learn from. One of the better books I have read. Very inspirational, yet also providing some humour.
There are many powerful and interesting stories and many lessons to learn from. One of the better books I have read. Very inspirational, yet also providing some humour.
A New Religion? H+ by Edward De Bono
Edward de Bono is a well renowned author in the field of creative thinking and is the best selling author of Lateral Thinking and Six Thinking Hats. I have attended a Six Thinking Hats course and found it to be very intriging and interesting. So when I saw this book on sale, I bought it without any hestitation.
In this book, Edward de Bono aims to create a culture in the world to have positive thinking and to do good deeds. H+ stands for Human, Happiness, Humour, Help, Hope and Health. In each section, these 6 elements are elaborated.
It is emphasized that most religions focus on the negative aspects, ie avoiding sins and what we should not do. In H+, the emphasis is entirely on the positive actions. It is a way of life and he termed it as "woligion" to cover "a way of life religion". He also coins the term "pons" which are positive actions.
He has set up a "HQ" on this project and hopes to have similar like-minded people forming groups to help others and have a positive impact to the world. He has also set up helpdesks, recommending fines for those who do not do enough pons, signals which indicate that you are within this H+ community.
This book is one of the easiest book to read. Only 93 pages and each page has only about 100words. Edward de Bono goes straight to the point and his intention is really good for the world. The only minor concern I see is that some people will feel that he is indeed trying to form some sort of a cult globally through this book. Overall, I feel good reading this book.
In this book, Edward de Bono aims to create a culture in the world to have positive thinking and to do good deeds. H+ stands for Human, Happiness, Humour, Help, Hope and Health. In each section, these 6 elements are elaborated.
It is emphasized that most religions focus on the negative aspects, ie avoiding sins and what we should not do. In H+, the emphasis is entirely on the positive actions. It is a way of life and he termed it as "woligion" to cover "a way of life religion". He also coins the term "pons" which are positive actions.
He has set up a "HQ" on this project and hopes to have similar like-minded people forming groups to help others and have a positive impact to the world. He has also set up helpdesks, recommending fines for those who do not do enough pons, signals which indicate that you are within this H+ community.
This book is one of the easiest book to read. Only 93 pages and each page has only about 100words. Edward de Bono goes straight to the point and his intention is really good for the world. The only minor concern I see is that some people will feel that he is indeed trying to form some sort of a cult globally through this book. Overall, I feel good reading this book.
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Improving Your Management Skills by Rodney Overton
The author has many case studies and famous leaders' management styles in this book which makes this book as good as reading the biographies of those leaders. With only 153 pages and easily read fonts, this book is a easy read.
The 3 main skills are Management Skills, Human Resource Skills and Marketing Skills. In management skills, it started off with a good definition of what is a good manager and the leadership qualities of a leader. Today, many businesses have to make radical changes to the way they manage to survive. The steps to implement changes, the risk to manage, the strategies involving human resource, service and lastly on benchmarking are elaborated under management skills chapter.
Human Resource Skills talks about the manager's personality. What personalities are good or bad? Then, it went on about retaining talents, communication and learning, coaching, managing stress and how fitness of staff can increase productivity and morale in the company.
Marketing Skills are the skills needed to market a product or service. The chapter shows the factors influencing the consumer and the marketing basics for a business.
The last chapter is all about case studies, which includes Jack Welch of GE.
This is a good read which is suitable for beginner in the junior management level.
The 3 main skills are Management Skills, Human Resource Skills and Marketing Skills. In management skills, it started off with a good definition of what is a good manager and the leadership qualities of a leader. Today, many businesses have to make radical changes to the way they manage to survive. The steps to implement changes, the risk to manage, the strategies involving human resource, service and lastly on benchmarking are elaborated under management skills chapter.
Human Resource Skills talks about the manager's personality. What personalities are good or bad? Then, it went on about retaining talents, communication and learning, coaching, managing stress and how fitness of staff can increase productivity and morale in the company.
Marketing Skills are the skills needed to market a product or service. The chapter shows the factors influencing the consumer and the marketing basics for a business.
The last chapter is all about case studies, which includes Jack Welch of GE.
This is a good read which is suitable for beginner in the junior management level.
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Managing Quality - Ned Hamson and Amy Zuckerman
As I am tasked to ensure the quality standards in my department are in compliance with the ISO, I have always wanted to read some literature so that I can find ideas on how to improve the department's quality. But never did as the "quality" books are so thick and difficult to read. When i saw this book, I immediate bought it. Primarily, it's a small book and is only 130 pages. Makes it handy to carry and easy to read between travels.
This book is good for one who just started out in the quality field. It explains what is quality, how quality was "borned", how and why the ISO standards started and evloved and the 3 main people who started the quality movement; Philip B. Crosby, W. Edward Deming and Joseph M. Juran. It gives a brief history on ISO 9000 and the adaptation of it by the Americans so as to match the sales of the Japanese automotive industry.
The authors gives some pointers as to evaluate if a company is serious in going for the ISO certification. It ended with some basic steps on starting a ISO quality system. There is a chapter with 4 case studies, which I found more interesting. The 3rd case study which described Solectron was inspiring. As Lucent Technologies, Solectron's customer was not satisfied with the no. of defects, the team used the Kaizen process for a week and the results are 1) 46% productivity improvement, 2) 33% reduction in amount of floor space needed for the activity and 50% reduction in the incident of rejects. All these were acheived in a week!
Overall, this book is good for a beginner in qualtiy.
This book is good for one who just started out in the quality field. It explains what is quality, how quality was "borned", how and why the ISO standards started and evloved and the 3 main people who started the quality movement; Philip B. Crosby, W. Edward Deming and Joseph M. Juran. It gives a brief history on ISO 9000 and the adaptation of it by the Americans so as to match the sales of the Japanese automotive industry.
The authors gives some pointers as to evaluate if a company is serious in going for the ISO certification. It ended with some basic steps on starting a ISO quality system. There is a chapter with 4 case studies, which I found more interesting. The 3rd case study which described Solectron was inspiring. As Lucent Technologies, Solectron's customer was not satisfied with the no. of defects, the team used the Kaizen process for a week and the results are 1) 46% productivity improvement, 2) 33% reduction in amount of floor space needed for the activity and 50% reduction in the incident of rejects. All these were acheived in a week!
Overall, this book is good for a beginner in qualtiy.
Sunday, January 20, 2008
Secrets of the Millionaire Mind - T. Harv Eker
This has to be one of the best self help / investment books I have read. At just about 200 pages, it is structured in a systematic manner in explaining how the rich and poor differ, either in their thinking or their actions.
Everyone has a money blueprint and it determines if you are going to be rich. Your money blueprint was influenced by 1) Verbal Programming, 2) Modeling and 3) Specific Incidents.
The author then went on to spell out the 17 wealth files which are the differences between the rich and the poor.
There are many lessons I have learnt from this book and the 2 most important ones are:
a) Action speaks louder than words and one must act to succeed.
b) Think positively and big
There are many wealth principles in this book that are strike-on on why the poor remains poor and of course why the rich get richer.
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