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SAP Executives Share Their Vision and Strategy with the SAP Community.
These blogs are a platform that facilitate learning and the sharing of best practices. Occasionally, Shai Agassi, Léo Apotheker, Claus E. Heinrich, Peter Zencke and Peter J. Kirschbauer post new entries on topics of interest. And they encourage you to submit comments -- so you and other members can share thoughts. An e-mail subscription service can notify you that a new topic has been posted. These blogs are only available to SAP Community members.http://www.sap.com/community/pub/blogs.epx
Oracle Book club's Website
Check this out http://152.69.198.210/BookClub/welcome.asp
More than Spinning a yarn
Scientists have come up with a fantastic invention for looking through solid walls. It's called a window. .....Richard FeynmanBlog is a window enabling us to showcase the bookworld to others. Decoration on the borders make it look pretty. But painting the whole glass window defeats the purpose of having a window. Lets spin yarn, fine. Can we avoid cluttering the blog with yarn carton boxes with few grams of yarn in each box. I mean can we use comments instead of creating a new posts...? Some of the best blogsI have come across:http://forrester.typepad.com/charleneli/ http://www.businessweek.com/the_thread/blogspotting/Please add to this list of good blogs.Happy Blogging!
Let's Spin a Yarn (Cont)
following
the Da Vinci codeDo I need to specify the author :)Angels and Demons flocked his
Dan Brown again!!
Let's spin a yarn (contd)
using the philosopher's stone and...
By J. K. Rowling
Let's spin a yarn (contd)
and produced gold, as usual...
Lets spin a yarn!
Hey junta!
Thought this might be an interesting idea to get the blog going....lets start with a very simple exercise first. The objective of this game is to spin a story with each person adding just five words per post, no more, no less. The posts should make grammatical and logical sense with the previous posts.
We can have a kind of a contest with points awarded for each post. Five bonus points if your post has a book's name in it. Sentences like shes reading "The Alchemist" etc. are not allowed! Plus you would have to point out the book's name with the author (cmon Google for it!). If someone else spots the book in your post, he/she gets 10 points....
Yeah and whatever comments u want to add in ur post, please put it in italics for the sake of clarity!
What say? Ill start....
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The Alchemist began his experiment
By Paulo Coelho.
Hello People,What are you reading these days ? Please share your personal reading lists, with comments if possible.I will start with mine; For the last month or so, I have been in re-reading some of my old favorites. Primarily the following authors:- Isaac Asimov: I started with Asimov's "Currents of Space". A small novel and one of Asimov's earlier works. It reflects his sence of right and wrong. Remember that Asimov moved to the United States in his childhood from the erstwhile USSR. He brings some of his own baggage to his books, particularly the earlier ones. Currents of Space has Asimov written all over it. The twists in the tale, intermingled with his distinct brand of science fiction is very refreshing, even if the book is a bit immature and does not hold a candle to his later works. Particularly the Foundation series and his Robot related works. After this book, I also read his "The Stars Like Dust". Another science fiction tale of inter-stellar politics set in the distant future of our galaxy. A future which sees man colonizing large tracts of the galaxy. Surprisingly (or maybe not so surprisingly) political systems seem to have regressed to a feudal model and this forms the basis of the novel. Asimov's infatuation with his adopted country and his deep belief that the US brand of democracy is the ultimate invention of socio-politics is the basis of this novel. A good read for all fans of SF.
- Alistair Maclean: The father of all thrillers is a good read even after all these years. I remember reading my first Maclean in class 4 or so. Anyway, I was feeling a bit nostalgic and picked up a few of his books. I re-read "The Golden Gate", "The Guns of Navarone" and "Where Eagles Dare". As usual, I loved them all.
- Arthur C. Clarke: I started with Clarke's "Fountains of Paradise". One of my favorites from an author who was the doyen of science fiction in the previous century. Fountains of Paradise is set in Clarke's adopted country, Sri Lanka. It is pure Clarke. A rich intermingling of science, politics, society, religion, history and culture. While on the topic of Clarke, I must mention another of my favorites; "The Deep Range". Set in the oceans of Earth in an age where man has conquered the Solar System and has flourishing colonies on the Moon, Mars and Mercury, The Deep Range is a fascinating work. I don't want to give away too much here but this too is pure Clarke. Sci-Fi lovers will love it. I will start on "Childhood's End" next week. I read this novel in school and look forward to reading it again. I will report back after I have finished it.
- Ashok Banker: Reread the first two books of his 7 part retelling of the Ramayana. "Prince of Ayodhya" & "Seige of Mithila". Check out Ashok's web site at http://www.epicindia.com/. As I mentioned in an earlier post I have recently bought the 3rd book, "Demons of Chitrakoot" but I am saving that for the train when I go to my home town later this month.
After Banker, I have lost some of my feeling for Tolkien but his LOTR remains one of my favorites. My grandmother borrowed (stole!!!) my copy of the first book of LOTR and hasn't returned it yet! This time when I meet her in May I am going to make her cough it up. But most probably I will end up having to bribe her with a new book that she hasn't read . Maybe she will be happy with Demons of Chitrakoot. Lets see. I want to reread LOTR in May.
For Asimov fans - Does anybody have copies of his Black Widower series?
Indian Authors
Some of my favorite Indian authors are:- Ashok K. Banker
- Amitava Ghosh
- Vikram Seth
- Satyajit Ray
- Sunil Gangopadhya
- etc
I recently bought Ashok's 3rd book in the Ramayana series, "Demons of Chitrakoot". Am saving it for the train later this month (I have a 22 hr train journey to my home town). Has anybody else read any of Ashok's stuff ? What about other Indian Authors (those who write in English, that is) ?
I loved Satyajit Ray's Feluda. The best part of Feluda was being able to follow his adventures in different parts of Calcutta and elsewhere in the country from a first person perspective. I know where Park Circus is! I have been there!!! Very different from Paddington or Surrey in Sherlock Holmes for example.
Amitava Ghosh does not need any introduction. He is great! Try some of his stuff (The Glass Palace, The Hungry Tide, The Calcutta Chromosome to name a few).
I have not read much of Sunil Gangopadhya. Only his translations from Bengali. The one I liked best was "First Light" which was about Rabindranath Tagore's life. A good tale and well written.
Vikram Seth is another author I love to read. I remember buying a paper back edition of his "Suitable Boy" for Rs. 400/- from a small shop in Chowrangee, Calcutta. Those days my book budget was rather restricted and 400 was a princely sum for a single book :-) My TCS colleagues and flat mates of that time were aghast at this purchase of mine and rather put off with my disappearance behind the book every evening for about a week.
Any other authors? Mistry of course. And a few others...
What about you guys? Have you read and enjoyed any other Indian (English) authors? Do write about your favorites.
The Shifted Librarian
An intresting blog on the fallout of the information age.
Shifted Librarian is all about how we've shifted our information usage from gathering it ourselves to expecting it 'to come to us' .
This also seems in line with what
Marco Garcia (the man who redesinged the format of The Hindu) says "ironically, although we are the best informed group of readers in the history of print journalism, we crave for editors to steer us in the right direction as we seek more knowledge."
Life...and how to make the most out of it
Here is the list of few books that convey powerful ideas that can stir our conscience and steer our thougths and actions. Worth Reading.1. How I Raised Myself from Failure to Success - Frank Bettger
2. My Utmost for His Highest - Oswald Chambers
3. As a Man Thinketh - James Allen
4. One Minute Manager - Kenneth Blanchard
5. Who Moved My Cheese - Spencer Johnson & Kenneth Blanchard
6. Life is Tremendous - Charlie "Tremendous" Jones
7. Seeds of Greatness - Denis Waitley
8. Seasons of Life - Jim Rohn 9. Mahabaratha and Ramayana
10. The Game of Life and How to Play It - Florence Scovel-Shinn
11. How to Read a Book - Mortimer J. Adler
12. The Pursuit of God - A.W. Tozer
13. Think and Grow Rich - Napoleon Hill
14. Leading an Inspired Life - Jim Rohn
15. Rich Dad, Poor Dad - Robert Kiyosaki
16. Power of Focus - Jack Canfield
17. Power of Positive Thinking - Norman Vincent Peale
18. Magic of Thinking Big - David Schwartz
19. Maximum Achievement - Brian Tracy
20. Richest Man in Babylon - George Clason
21. Laws of Success - Napoleon Hill
22. Greatest Salesman that Ever Lived - Og Mandino
23. How to Win Friends and Influence People - Dale Carnegie
24. Greatest Networker in the World - John Milton Fogg
25. You Were Born Rich - Bob Proctor
26. Winning Without Intimidation - Bob Burg
27. Atlas Shrugged - Ann Rand
28. Man's Search for Meaning - Victor Frankl
29. Acres of Diamonds - Russell H. Conwell
30. See You at the Top - Zig Ziglar
31. 7 Habits of Highly Successful People - Steven Covey
32. Lincoln on Leadership - Donald T. Phillips
33. Johathan Livingston Seagul - Richard Bach
34. Autobiography of an Yogi - Paramhansa Yogananda
35. Zen and the art of Motorcycle Maintenance - Robert M. Pirsig
36. Fountain Head - Ann Rand
37. Book of Five Rings - Miyamoto Musashi
List has books arranged in random order and not by any ranking.Please feel free to add to this list as comments. (Language is not a limitation)
What a Book !
Have you read a book lately and want to share your comments?
Some books really would have made an indelible impression in your mind. Want to share those thoughts with the world?
This idea of book review has been proposed by many, I'm sure there will be a good response! Happy blogging!
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