Teaser Tuesday: Death of an Expert Witness

The rich, loamy smell of the fen autumn night washed over his face, strong, yet fresh. The rain had stopped and the sky was a tumult of gray clouds through which the moon, now almost full, reeled like a pale, demented ghost.

 -- Death of an Expert Witness by P. D. James. 

P. D. James is a favorite of mine. I am reading her Adam Dalgliesh series in order -- this is Number 6. I think I have read all of them with my ears because Penelope Dellaporta does such an amazing job with the audiobooks.

Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by Should Be Reading, where you can find the official rules for this weekly event. 

Mailbox Monday

Thanks for joining me for Mailbox Monday! MM was created by Marcia, who graciously hosted it for a long, long time, before turning it into a touring event (details here).

UPDATE: Kathy from BermudaOnion's Weblog stepped up to the plate to host in November. The link for today is here.

I found a couple of books by favorite authors at a library sale that have me wishing I could hole up for a rainy November week before the holiday rush and just read and relax. What a fantasy!



Glory by Vladimir Nabokov

 

Destinations: Essays from Rolling Stone by Jan Morris

 

Leaving Home by Anita Brookner

 

Earthly Possessions by Anne Tyler

EUROPEAN READING CHALLENGE: WRAP UP POSTS

The European Reading Challenge
January 1, 2012 to January 31, 2013

THIS IS THE PAGE FOR WRAP UP POSTS

TO SIGN UP, GO TO THIS PAGE

TO POST A REVIEW, GO TO THIS PAGE.

The idea of this first-ever European Reading Challenge was to read books by European authors or books set in European countries (no matter where the author comes from). The books could be anything – novels, short stories, memoirs, travel guides, cookbooks, biography, poetry, or any other genre.

Each book had to be by a different author and set in a different country.

If you have finished the challenge at whatever level you signed up for, and if you did a wrap up post, please enter a link to your wrap up post here:



Participants complete the challenge by finishing the number of books they signed up to read. But participants are encouraged to keep reading because there is a Jet Setter prize for the person who reads the most books -- each one from a different country.

I've finished the challenge and this is my wrap up post. I read the following books for this challenge, although I did not review all of them.

• High Stakes by Dick Francis (UK; reviewed here)
• Serenissima by Erica Jong (Italy; reviewed here) 
• People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks (Bosnia; reviewed here)
• Vie De France: Sharing Food, Friendship and a Kitchen in the Loire Valley by James Haller (France; reviewed here)
  
• Out Stealing Horses by Per Petterson (Norway; not reviewed)  

I am just finishing Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak, which will count as an extra book.

Review: Evolutionaries

 

"Whether we like it or not, the new economy demands leaders that are agile, adaptable, innovative and visionary." That idea of how to adapt in today's quickly-changing business world is the impetus behind Evolutionaries: Transformational Leadership: The Missing Link in Your Organizational Chart, by business strategists Randy Harrington and Carmen E Voillequé.

The authors define evolutionaries as leaders that emerge from any part of a company and act as the catalyst for change. Evolutionaries are risk takers willing to proceed before every contingency is worked out perfectly. They will cross-pollinate ideas from across the company and look outside the company for inspiration on how to transform the business.

The book is organized around interviews with half a dozen or so individuals the authors identified as successful evolutionaries within their fields, including Chandra Brown, the President of United Streetcar; Captain Steve Ahlberg, leader of Navy SEALS teams; and Cindy Tortorici, CEO and Founder of the Link for Women. The format works because it puts faces on the ideas. However, the one weak spot in this short book is the lack of concrete examples of evolutionary ideas in practice. It is a short book and has room for a few war stories that could really make the concepts come alive.

One of the biggest strengths in the book, aside from bringing light and terminology to the evolutionary idea, is its honesty in describing the dark side of evolutionaries and their force in some organizations. Evolutionary practices may be invaluable in an organization that needs to innovate to exist. But in a business seeking to grow along established lines or implement a proven business plan, change for change's sake, or innovations that sap resources from successful programs may be more damaging than beneficial.

Evolutionaries is definitely a book that deserves space on any shelf of leadership and business innovation books. It is a quick read – hopefully a little more fleshed out with concrete examples in future editions – and worthwhile just to spark ideas and discussions about where your business is going and when and how to tap into the power of evolutionary thinking.

OTHER REVIEWS

If you would like your review of this book listed here, please leave a comment with a link and I will add it. 

NOTES

This counts as one of my books for the Non-Fiction, Non-Memoirs Challenge, hosted by Julie at My Book Retreat.  I only have one more book to go to complete the challenge.

Book Beginnings: Aurora

Please join me every Friday to share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, along with your initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires. Please remember to include the title of the book and the author's name.

TWITTER: If you are on Twitter, please tweet a link to your post using the has tag #BookBeginnings. My Twitter handle is @GilionDumas.

MR. LINKY: Please leave a link to your post below. If you don't have a blog, but want to participate, please leave a comment with your Book Beginning.



MY BOOK BEGINNING

Papa says my arrival in this mortal world was a new beginning.

-- Aurora, Daughter of the Dawn: A Story of New Beginnings by J. J. Kopp, published by OSU Press.

This short historical novel is based on the life of Aurora Keil, a young pioneer girl whose father founded the Aurora Colony in Oregon in the mid-1800s. The colony was a utopian communal settlement in rural Oregon. The book would make a terrific Christmas gift for young readers interested in real-life stories of pioneers.

The town of Aurora still has several historic buildings, many preserved as antique shops. It makes a wonderful day trip from Portland.