Saturday, January 26, 2013

Stories We Need to Know


Author:          Allan G. Hunter
Published:    2008
Publisher:     Findhorn Press
Paperback: 240 pages

There are many people who suffer from soul starvation at some point of time in their lives. Soul starvation is a continuous feeling of boredom, discontentment and a sense of disengagement from the world.  
According to the author the remedy to overcome this malaise lies in reading and benefiting from the wisdom embedded in our literature - folk tales, stories,myths, legends.
 
These literature through their characters,  suggest that as we go through our lives each one of us can expect to come across six distinct stages of personal development, which always occur in the same order. Each stage needs to be well understood to achieve peace of mind. 
 
The six stages along with their main attributes are:
  1. Innocent - defenseless, undefending, trusting, accepting, loving and feeling loved
  2. Orphan - sense of abandonment, looking for someone to take care of us, or someone to identify with
  3. Pilgrim - trying to find out what one's capabilities are
  4. Warrior-Lover - passionate commitments to one's own interests,values, family, etc. and fighting to sustain them.
  5. Monarch Pair (the King and Queen) - serving and protecting something larger than one's immediate turf with a balanced mix of pride and humility; toughness and softness.
  6. Magician - making things happen while seeming not to do anything much at all
 
In this book the author discusses how each one of us can embark on our own journey through these six stages and what are the pitfalls to watch out for as we do so.
To support his discussion, he explains the archetypes of each of these stages drawing examples from three thousand years of Western literature.
 
Just to cite a few of those - 
  • The Odyssey, The Illiad - Homer
  • Oedipus Rex, Oedipus at Colonus - Sophocles
  • Oresrteia - Aeschylus
  • The Bible
  • Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
  • Plays of  William Shakespeare
  • Dr.Faustus - Christopher Marlowe
  • Novels of Charles Dickens
  • Books in the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowlings
The book is structured systematically and  well written in a manner which fairly easy to understand. But it may not appeal to those who are on the lookout for a conventional self-help book or to those who are not much interested in English Literature.

It was an  interesting read for me nevertheless !

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Monday, January 21, 2013

Practices of An Agile Developer

Authors: Venkat Subramaniam and Andy Hunt 
In this book the authors present 45 practices which a software developer need to follow to derive maximum benefit out of the Agile way of working. The book is written in a very elegant, reader friendly manner, peppered with case studies drawn from authors' experience and garnished with ample doses of humor. 
An indispensable book for every developer starting on their agile journey and a sanity check for everyone who claims to be Agile !
Read more details about this book in my business blog.
  (Price : Rs 300/- only) 

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Sunday, January 13, 2013

Game Writing Handbook

Authors:      Rafael Chandler 
Published:  2007 
Publisher:   Charles River Media ;
Paperback: 316 pages.

This book imparts the know-how of game writing for today’s competitive video game market. It provides hands-on techniques for designing storyline, creating characters, writing dialogue, and testing story content.
A well-written book which has resulted in my developing a better appreciation for the Game Design and Writing !
For chapter-wise summary of the contents of this book visit my business blogsite.


 

   
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