You know how sometimes you find a book that makes you feel all pumped and inspired all the while that you are reading it? Yes? This isn't one of those books. Personally I didn't really enjoy it and I only reached the end because it's so short. You can finish it within a couple of hours.

This book has been heralded a classic and must-read for any business leader but I find its principles to be the polar opposite to what I believe is good and fair. It condones leadership with absolute control over one's "troops". I feel Sun Tzu's text is designed to 'groom' a thick skinned, heartless leader who's only focus is winning regardless of the tactics used. I'm a 'let's make love not war' type of girl so amongst the lines that I didn't like are:

• "All warfare is based on deception." Personally, I think any business based on "deception" is not a good business and certainly not one to which I would want to give my good custom.
  
• Of five dangerous faults which may affect a general Tzu includes "Over-solicitude for his men, which exposes him to worry and trouble." That to me says, think of your men as resources nothing more, don't think about the fact that they have children and families, too much concern will lead to poor decision making. Really?
  
• "Bestow rewards without regard to rule, issue orders without regard to previous arrangements; and you will be able to handle a whole army as though you had to do with but a single man." Tyrannical much?
  

However, there were a couple lines that I thought of as good:

• "Ponder and deliberate before you make a move." Fair enough.
  
• "He who exercises no forethought but makes light of his opponents is sure to be captured by them." A fair warning against complacency.
  
• "Fight not unless the position is critical." Agreed but I personally think we still fight willy nilly.
  

If you feel like reading it anyway, it's very cheap on kindle. p.s. you know you can read kindle books via your PC or your phone, right? I have been reading books via my iPhone since 2009 and I love it. I still buy non-fiction books though. And if the book is really good I want both digital and physical copies - greedy!

I think this is what they call a “modern day classic”. 100% original and remarkably perceptive of people’s motivations and behaviors. It’s extremely reminiscent of Orwell’s “1984” but is different enough to make it trés original. Thoroughly refreshing and I strongly recommend it as a must-read.

In the book a 'professional' thief goes into a coma and when he wakes up four years later the whole legal system has changed. Prisons no longer exist and in their place is a relearning/reeducation system designed to teach people the error of their ways. The protagonist Michael O'Connor is a guy with great intentions but each time he is out to help someone he uses the only skill he has: breaking and entering. He finds the whole reeducation system painful and wants a way out of it. I won't tell you how the story ends you can find that out for yourself but it will definitely get you thinking.

The book got me thinking about a lot of issues. For instance, the focus away from imprisonment to relearning civil skills; the difficulty of reeducating people that have gone too far down the wrong path; the importance of a good upbringing with two loving parents; the difficulty of catching white-collar crime; the inevitability of governmental control over us - with so many transactions recorded on loyalty cards, credit cards and on the internet the Government can more effectively control all of us - there no point in not conforming e.g. by avoiding taxes as you will almost certainly get caught.

The last book I read (Private London by James Patterson) took me a month because I kept finding something else to do, it didn't grab my attention. This one took two days although it was slightly longer and I work full-time! 

A very insightful book that I would encourage everyone to read whether you are currently feeling happy or not. I enjoyed reading Bertrand Russell’s take on happiness more especially because it was written in the 1930s and allowed me to draw parallels between then and now.

I would say not very much has changed, however it is very clear that women had a certain ‘place’ in society at the time e.g. if they got married they were expected to leave work and bear children. Bertrand is rather forward thinking for the time as he expresses the view that he doesn’t think that is at all necessary. He states that a child of nine months can very easily be passed on to someone that specializes in child care allowing the mother to pursue her career and other hobbies.

I will probably write a few blogs this year related to this book but in advance of that below are a few of my favorite Bertrand thoughts, I paraphrase in most cases:

• Animals are happy provided they are healthy and have enough to eat and human beings Russell feels ought to be but generally are not. You can’t argue with that.
• With reference to material wellbeing Bertrand Russell states: “…but what is the use of making everybody rich if the rich themselves are miserable?”
• I personally have always felt a certain pity for people that are not only born into excessive wealth but have the unfortunate situation of having parents that give them everything that they ask such that they never have to strive to achieve anything themselves. On this, Mr Russell states that 

“The human animal, like others, is adapted to a certain amount of struggle for life, and when by means of great wealth homo sapiens can gratify all his whims without effort, the mere absence of effort from his life removes an essential ingredient of happiness.” Seldom has a truer word been said. The most intense joys I have ever felt come after I have worked hard for something and then, after much effort, achieve it.

If something comes so easily the pleasure, I find, is less intense and fleets by quite rapidly. “To be without some of the things you want is an indispensable part of happiness.” It gives you something to work towards, it gives you a reason to wake up in the morning.

Please note that the kindle versions below are a "modern-day interpretation". The actual book is not currently available on the kindle store. 

• “A businessman who has been ruined is better off so far as material comforts are concerned than a man who has never been rich enough to have the chance of being ruined.” 

    I agree with this although nowadays credit is so easy to come by that even people who have not amassed any sort of wealth can be ruined by debt. I assume in the 1930s credit was available only to the privileged few.

That said, this statement can be applied quite effectively to less developed countries where credit does remain scarce and hard to come by.

• Mr Russell and I are also on the same page in terms of our reasons for desiring wealth: “For my part, the thing that I would wish to obtain from money would be leisure with security. But what the typical modern man desires to get with it is more money, with a view to ostentation, splendor, and the outshining of those who have hither to been his equals.” Word, word and word! I dare someone to argue against this point.

All the above wisdom was relayed within the first 30 pages of the book. See future Random Thoughts for more blogs.

The only annoying thing about this book is that it is only available as a paper copy and as all my friends will know, I read all my books on my phone nowadays. It’s much more convenient because it’s portable, it’s quick and easy to find definitions or to highlight interesting words and phrases. In summary: buy.

I think this is one of the best poems ever written on what breeds happiness in life. Here's Martial:

Of what does the happy life consist,
My dear friend Julius? Here's a list:
Inherited wealth no need to earn,
Fires that continually burn,
And fields that give a fair return,
No lawsuits, formal togas worn
Seldom, a calm mind, the freeborn
Gentleman's health and good physique,
Tact with the readiness to speak
Openly, friends of your own mind,
Guests of an easy-going kind,
Plain food, a table simply set,
Nights sober but wine-freed from fret,
A wife who's true to you and yet
No prude in bed, and sleep so sound
It makes the day come quickly round.
Be pleased with what you are, keep hope
Within that self-appointed scope:
Neither uneasily apprehend
Nor morbidly desire the end.

An enjoyable read.

The book may be a little slow for some. It's about a middle aged man who discovers that he wants more out of life than just money and beating the stock market. He wants to develop a relationship with his son who he's never got to know since his divorce when the child was about four years old. He wants to interact with people. It takes a near heart attack to make him realize these things.

He goes on to form new friendships with interesting characters: an Indian donut shop owner, an actor, an author, a woman that he meets in the grocery store. In the same vein, he becomes more altruistic. Sometimes it is good to read a book that reminds us that life is basically about other people and how we interact with them, it's not just about one's own world!

Overall, I think the book was not appropriately titled, because the book won't save your life but it is still worth a read. If you just want to relax and see life from another person's perspective, try this.

Definitely worth a read, I felt very hyped as I was reading this book. I much prefer to a read a book written by someone with tonnes of experience rather than reading a multitude of theoretical mumbo jumbo. Richard Branson also has the benefit of multi-sector experience. Personally, the fondness with which he speaks of Africa is endearing, however, some of the awful scenes he described were experienced in a rich African country. I wonder what he would make of the really poor countries like my own dear Malawi. It would be totally radical if he visited. I was encouraged that he didn’t portray his business experiences as plain sailing and explicitly talked about the hard times. Personally, I am not all that interested in space travel so I skimmed over those pages rather rapidly and although I am pro-environment, that section got a little technical and I skipped a little.
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Here are some of my favourite quotes. I won’t write every single one because that would pretty much have me typing the whole morning and that’s just not practical:

“Never mind Dragons’ Den: if you want to meet entrepreneurs, come to Africa.” True dat!

“business has to give people, rewarding lives, or it’s simply not worth doing”

“I’ve sat drinking with people who have abused their gifts – and others who have made absolutely the most of some pretty dubious talent.”

“I’d advise every owner of a company to keep a notebook and jot down the things that need doing.” I do this for every interesting thought that I have, if I don’t have notebook to hand I email myself a one liner and put the thought into my notebook later!

“Success one day does not give you a free lunch every day thereafter.”

“You can spot negative people and stultifying institutions a mile off. Have the courage of your convictions, and ignore them.”

“If I was a happening band on the cusp of success today, I wouldn’t go through a conventional record company. I’d...release it myself.” I would say the same of books. Publishers and record companies eat most of your profit AND you lose control over the final product – they probably mean well but there’s a lot to be said for autonomy in artistic output.

“One business mantra remains embedded in my brain – protect the downside.” So many ignore this one rule. When the London riots happened a couple of weeks ago in August 2011, so many shopkeepers were revealed to be uninsured. Insurance isn’t all that expensive. This also applies to hedging liabilities with simple derivatives like interest rate caps and swaps. People often forget that choosing not to hedge is a hedging decision in itself. Think about it.

“You’ll need stamina and patience to deliver well – especially when everybody is out to kill you.”

There was plenty of good stuff about keeping on the right side of the law which is something my dad always tells me. I also laughed at the business idea that Virgin received of three-legged women’s tights, one that you tuck away and use when you get a ladder. Virgin turned that idea away but you know what – I would buy those!! 

His definition of success is the best I have seen yet and it will totally help me to explain a little venture I am working on. He said for him money and celebrity are a poor guide to success. "Success for me is whether you have created something you can be proud of" he surmised - this is the perfect definition, some friends have questioned the point of the project I am working on because they can't see how I will make money from it and I haven't been able to  answer their queries to my satisfaction. I say it's not about the money, because it isn't, however, I would be happy if I did make some money doing it because that would be one gauge of success. That said, ultimately it is something I will be proud to have done and that's what matters. Importantly, I cannot expect someone else to visualize my visions. It's best to just execute.

Finally, he reminded me that “in business, as in life, you can’t afford to be afraid of doing the wrong thing.” If you’ve got an idea, go for it.

Read it.

Mary Ann Shaffer very effectively manages to use an epistolary format (a series of letters) to tell her story of the time Germany occupied Guernsey island. The experience of Todt workers saddened me the most, these young boys were worked and starved to death - the strategy was to extract as much labour from them using minimal food resources.  The Todt boys were allowed to forage for food on their own at night so that the German soldiers didn't have to waste too much of their own (again, limited) food on them. The islanders guarded their highly limited foodstocks against theft but one night as a Todt worker is stealing food he falls over and is too weak to get up again so two islanders harbour him and nurse him towards health leading to their imprisonment and worse...there was only one line I hated in the book, "Naturally curly is a curse, and don't ever let anyone tell you different." Ugly opinions like this have got a lot of women thinking they have to straighten their hair to look acceptable. I dislike all anti-curl propaganda, I love my Afro curls, they look cool, they feel great and they have far more character than boring straight hair and I'm not gonna let anyone tell me otherwise!

The writing of this book is ultra-English but written by an American. She portrays the German occupation of Guernsey through the Islanders' eyes and unlike most novels where the enemy is the enemy and you hate them, she also brings out the softer side of the Germans. In the last twelve months I have read several books on do with war or a restrictive political regime: Birdsong, The Book Thief and to some extent The Moment and I think this was the best, closely followed by The Book Thief.

The bad news is that the main author died shortly before or after the novel was published so we will not see anymore written by her; when she took ill her niece Annie Barrows, herself an author, took on the task of completing the piece. The good news? This is an excellent read both for the style and the content. Although it is fiction, it's based on real events and it comes off as being well researched and written in an easy to absorb format. ​