ZOSO » Books

The Art of Presentation

zoso — Tue, 11 May 2010 03:52:48 +0000

Presentation Zen by Garr Reynolds is a wonderful guide for making more beautiful and less cluttered presentations.

The author uses many of the Japanese concepts like Kanso (Simplicity), Shizen(Naturalness), Shibumi ( Elegance), Wabi-Sabi ( Simplicity), Pecha Kucha and of course the philosophy of Zen . A must read if you are in Marketing/MarComm and frequently present.

There are also other methods such as the Takahashi method one or two words per slide) and the Lessig method (slides transitioning quickly). Another deck called “Death By Powerpoint” can be used as a checklist while finishing your powerpoint slides :

Death by PowerPoint

View more presentations from www.kapterev.com.

Can you have a ‘Code’ to Culture?

zoso — Mon, 03 May 2010 04:12:22 +0000

Apparently Yes. The author Clotaire Rapaille provides historic,socio economic and other factors to analyze the buying & spending patterns of various cultures with a focus on the American Culture. A goodread if you are interested in understanding consumer behavior.

Few excerpts :

“Americans champion entrepreneurs because they are our most aggressive identity seekers”

“America has never produced a world class classical composer, but has successfully exported rock,hip-hop and R & B – the music of adolescence-to every corner of the globe”

Image Credit.

Reworking

zoso — Mon, 03 May 2010 03:56:33 +0000

On the face of it Rework authored by Jason Fried and David Heinmeier is a typical business book – lots of how to’s and what to’s. Companies at the extremities are given as examples and most of solutions offered are uncommon but not necessarily practical.

If you read their wonderful blog or watched Jason’s

Update : Flipkart has a lower priced paperback .

Image Credit .

Literature on Google Earth

sridharo — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 19:10:00 +0000

Here’s a new mashup for Google Earth called “Google Literature Trips“. Its a cool way to see all the places and take road trips mentioned in a book.

So if you’ve read Kite Runner and want to follow the path taken by Amir,download the kmz (Keyhole Markup Language) file and open it in Google Earth. There are a number of titles already and you could contribute too!

For sample kmz’s click here.

For latest version of Google Earth,click here.

Check the tags for this post.Art & Tech !

Book Catalogue

sridharo — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 15:21:00 +0000

Considering that Shelfari has started prominently displaying ads(flashing ads of matrimonial sites & flat stomachs in 5 days) on its site,I have decided to move to GoodReads for cataloguing my books.

Though UI of GoodReads is simple,it repeatedly failed to import my list of books from my shelfari profile.I wonder whether this is for a reason….

Bugs can be tolerated but no unrelated ads please!

‘No Smoking’ first in Germany

sridharo — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 04:29:00 +0000

I read Business & Mgmt books mainly to learn from other’s experiences and also the interesting trivia’s these books sometimes mention.I am reading the book “Hitler and Churchill” by Andrew Roberts.

In this book the famed author compares the leadership styles of Hitler and Churchill,one being charismatic and the other inspirational.I would post a brief soon on this blog.For starters,Germany was the first nation to ban smoking publicly.Also German scientists then were the first to prove that lung cancer is linked to smoking.

Essays in Idleness

sridharo — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 04:15:00 +0000

Here’s a simple yet insightful quote by Yoshida Kenko in his book,Essays in Idleness.

“The pleasantest of all diversions is to sit alone under the lamp, a book spread out before you, and to make friends with people of a distant past you have never known.”

If you want to read some more of his essays,click here.

World is Flat and now its free

sridharo — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 14:28:00 +0000

Mind Maps

sridharo — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 04:55:00 +0000

How do you plan before starting a relatively unknown task/activity?

Typically most of us either have a mental checklist(like me) or a better organized person would make a checklist using notepads.Though which of these is more efficient is debatable,being organized and planned definitely has its share of additional benefits.
Here comes in the concept of mind maps. Tony Buzan actively advocates the use of these techniques.He’s also famous for many books on improving memory,GQ etc of which I found “The Speed Reading Book” very useful.
Though there are many tools both commercial & open source to start Mind Maps, Freemind is a very useful app.Its a free,open source app which can open mindmaps from most of the other popular mind mapping softwares.Click here to download your copy.
Also check out bubbl.us if you want to create/share mind maps online.More than the utility of the site ,I like the site because of its design and simplicity.The UI is terrific!
So guys(who are the more disorganized) and gals do check out this concept.I’ve started making these maps.
Happy Mind mapping,
Sridhar Oruganti

The Source

sridharo — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 05:25:00 +0000

I started reading this book last weekend after having it on my shelf for almost a year. Its a rocker if you are interested in History.The author, “James A Michener” famous for writing exhaustive novels about historical facts. “The Source” deals with the history of Judaism and the land of present day Israel from prehistoric ages.

I’ll update this blog when I am done reading the book,which would be soon enough…as the book is a page turner.

Thanks Rishi for suggesting this read.

—Happily reading,

Sridhar Oruganti