Five books currently on my desk
As the year slowly winds down, I usually get in a book buying mode acting pretty much like I have been starved and I begin to buy books whose reviews I have read or whose titles I fell in love with. I also return to some books I have read before whose content and messages […]
As the year slowly winds down, I usually get in a book buying mode acting pretty much like I have been starved and I begin to buy books whose reviews I have read or whose titles I fell in love with. I also return to some books I have read before whose content and messages are still relevant and resonate.
With my eye on impacting wherever I am and sharing genuinely with my readers, I wish to share today some of the books I have been reading lately. It is hoped that these books will give you a reason to smile, to believe in yourself and believe in humanity in the face of the many bomb blasts, violence, cases of injustice that seem to clog our attempt to be the best that we can be.
Talk Like Ted by Carmine Gallo is a must read for all particularly CEO’s who are constantly required to be in the public eye and expected to deliver premium speeches wherever they go. As a Tedx speaker myself, I know how important it is to speak within the number of minutes given and still engage. It’s a priceless art to master public speaking and deliver on point each time. As a teacher of the art, I find many people flustered by words and a crowd; brilliant people who before they stood on the podium before a group of people were sharp and articulate. They suddenly turn to mush before my very eyes. It takes years of practice, a love of words and learning from the Masters.
Talk Like Ted gives you the low down on the nine public speaking secrets of the world’s top minds from emotional presentations which touch the heart to novel ones which teach something new and memorable ones that present content in ways we will never forget.
The author of Talk Like Ted, Carmine Gallo is the best selling author of The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs and a former CNN Anchor.
I have always wondered how women in high positions cope with the brazen discrimination, the-come-hither-look of silly men who think they can take advantage and the resistance of subordinates both men and women who think they are in it for the beer. I admire strong brilliant women who have risen to the top in spite of discrimination and who continue to make their mark in a male dominated world where most people often judge them by how beautiful and well dressed they are rather than how brilliant they are. The last time I read an essay by Novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, she was talking about how she did not need to apologize for being a lady, for wearing colour and being fashionable. She said for a long time she wore greys, blacks etcetera and wore very little make-up because colour and high fashion may confer frivolity on her. So now she is all woman, high fashion, colour, brilliance and erudite because it is possible to be brilliant and fashionable and be a woman. I concur. I am also all for balancing family and work life to make a woman wholesome so I am currently reading an incredible book by Hilary Rodham Clinton about her years as America’s 67th Secretary of State and the choices she had to make, an inside account and her challenges. The book is called Hard Choices.
A must read.
Walking the streets of London again two weeks ago gave me the opportunity to do my favourite things. Scour the streets for book adverts, search for books and magazines that catch my fancy. The streets of London never disappoint quite like the streets of Nigeria for different reasons.
For books London has to take the cake, for colour, vibrancy, community and texture, Nigeria leads the world. So I wondered off in the direction of a billboard that advertised a rather curious book “Do no Harm, Stories of Life, Death and Brain Surgery” by Henry Marsh with a blue and white cover that has white smoky spiral art forms that looks like brain matter. I have never been more intrigued by a book and its title and I rushed off to a bookshop to find it. It’s an unstoppable read by a man who has been a Neurosurgeon for over 30 years. It tells the highs and lows of a life dedicated to operating on the human brain in all its complexity.
How does it feel to hold someone’s life in your hands, to cut through the stuff that creates thought, feeling and reason?
How do you live with the consequences when it all goes wrong?
I cried, I laughed, I learnt. A great read described by the observer as “a bloody splendid book” and the Independent on Sunday as “full of humanity, a wonderful book, passionate and frank”.
Because three members of my family are medical personnel including my late mum who was a nurse, I hugged this book hard. I understood the passion of the Neurosurgeon and began to be educated about his profession and the very complex job he does.
Have you recently taken a break from structured work or do you find yourself often working from home? I do this a lot as daytime can be daunting so I work quite late into the night at home. Whether you have retired or you are rebooting yourself for work at home. Here is the book for you. “Working From Home Manual; The Complete Home Office Guide” by Kyle Macrae and Gary Marshall.
“For such a time as this” by Lisa Ryan is my go to book when I wonder about complications of life. Meant for teenagers and leaning on the Book of Esther in the Bible, I love this book which unveils the purpose driven life and how you can be set apart for greatness and rescue your community like Esther in the Bible. This is its second coming in this column.