The Star Online: Lifestyle: Bookshelf
The Star Online: Lifestyle: Bookshelf |
| Posted: 15 Jun 2013 12:38 AM PDT The Hollywood actor is not only easy on the eyes but has a heart of gold. They say good things come to those who wait and, truly, success couldn't have happened to a sweeter guy than Bradley Cooper. He isn't a vain pot even though he's earned the tag Sexiest Man Alive in People magazine's November 2011 issue. He's not that into designer labels and the trappings of fame. He isn't afraid to show his love for his mum; in fact, he even took her in to live with him when his dad passed away. For all these reasons and more, Cooper has made it as the cover guy of Galaxie's June 16-30 issue. In Galaxie's Hollywood correspondent Philip Berk's interview with Cooper, whose latest film is the box-office success The Hangover Part III, the actor said of the franchise: "It really has provided me the opportunity to do all these other films, and it changed my life, it changed my family's life, my friends' lives, it has provided everything for me, for (co-stars) Ed (Helms), for Zach (Galifianakis) and for Ken (Jeong) and Todd (Phillips, the director)." Clearly, Cooper has had the time of his life with the Hangover films. But that does not stop him from pursuing lesser-known films like the crime drama The Place Beyond The Pines, also out this year. In a special interview, Galaxie also gets Lawson's Andy Brown and Adam Pitts to answer readers' questions. Among the questions the readers posed to the British band was: What would they do if it was their last day on Earth? Brown replied: "I would probably eat a lot of unhealthy food. And probably, as a band, we would throw a free concert in London and get everyone down and play one last gig." As the official magazine for the G-Dragon concert in KL, which will be staged on June 22, Galaxie offers a full page spread on the spectacular concert with behind-the-scenes details, for example: there will be 80 people traveling with G-Dragon, made up of the production crew, dancers, wardrobe, hair and make-up stylists, security and management staff, as well as the rest of the Big Bang members. Telly addicts will be glad to know that Bates Motel stars Freddie Highmore and Vera Farmiga talk about the Psycho prequel while Castle's Stana Katic reveals that she digs the Castle-Beckett chemistry. Also get posters of Kelly Clarkson, Candice Glover, Kree Harrison, 30 Seconds To Mars and more, as well as a chance to win World War Z goodies, among other contest prizes. For all these and more, pick up a copy of Galaxie June 16-30. > Galaxie, voted Entertainment Magazine Of The Year for two years straight, is owned by Star Publications (M) Bhd. The magazine also has an online presence at galaxieblog.com.my. Follow Galaxie on Twitter (@galaxiemag) and visit the Facebook page (www.facebook.com/GalaxieMagazine). |
| Posted: 14 Jun 2013 06:31 PM PDT Pulitzer prize-winning reporter Charles Duhigg's book helps readers to analyse bad habit s and how to change them to be a bet ter pers on. A must-read. The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business Author: Charles Duhigg Publisher: Random House IAM in withdrawal. Not from professional-development book-reviewing, which your dutiful correspondent still undertakes almost daily. No, this is tele-visual withdrawal. Last summer was another long hot season of Breaking Bad, a TV series, set in starkly beautiful New Mexico, the United States. The show, as many of you know, is as addictive as Mad Men or The Sopranos. The first of the last few episodes will air on Aug 11. But in the meantime, I've had to forgo my Breaking Bad online viewing habit for now, and the comedown has been excruciating. However, through analysing my addiction to this show about a crystal-meth manufacturer, I've been able to control my passive viewing habits. Friends have told me that that the series Dexter is just as compulsive. But I'm not going there. What I need – what Breaking Bad provided – is both excitement, and vistas of the great outdoors. So I've bought myself a mountain bike. And go riding at dusk, just around Breaking Bad o'clock. The ferocious feral dogs of Hong Kong's New Territories are good adrenaline-pumping stand-ins for trigger-happy methheads in the deserts of the Southwest. By happy coincidence, the author of this week's StarBizWeek featured book review is a New Mexico native, one Charles Duhigg, whose The Power of Habit has been flying off the shelves of the business section in recent months. Duhigg, born 1974 and who hails from Albuquerque, is one of those Gen-X popular-psychology wonderboys whom I've found myself writing about more and more since Malcolm Gladwell unleashed The Tipping Point in 2000. Their time has come, it seems. They have answers where baby-boomer thinkers just left questions hanging in the self-help ether. Duhigg's a Pulitzer prize-winning reporter at The New York Times. And a foreign correspondent who did a stint in war-torn Baghdad. Previously, he was a staff writer of the Los Angeles Times. From where did he graduate? Yale University and Harvard Business School, no less. Some people reach the stratosphere at an early age and just keep cruising. Duhigg's first book, about the science of habit formation, reaches for the sky. But its feet are very much on the ground. Here's one way he applied the lessons which are found in The Power Of Habit. "Since starting work on this book, I've lost about 30 pounds (13 kg), I run every other morning and I'm much more productive. And the reason why is because I've learned to diagnose my habits, and how to change them. "Take, for instance, a bad habit I had of eating a cookie every afternoon. By learning how to analyse my habit, I figured out that the reason I walked to the cafeteria each day wasn't because I was craving a chocolate chip cookie. It was because I was craving socialisation, the company of talking to my colleagues while munching. That was the habit's real reward. And the cue for my behaviour – the trigger that caused me to automatically stand up and wander to the cafeteria – was a certain time of day. "So, I reconstructed the habit: now, at 3:30pm each day, I absentmindedly stand up from my desk, look around for someone to talk with, and then gossip for about 10 minutes. I don't even think about it at this point. It's automatic. It's a habit. I haven't had a cookie in six months." The breadth of this book encompasses far more than personal habits, however. Part One looks at the habits of individuals – and delivers a wealth of insights for professional development, notably the concept of the Habit Loop. Part Two identifies the habits of successful organisations. And part three ambitiously explores the habits of societies. A number of case studies looks at broken individuals hellbent on self-destruction, and draws some key conclusions. One of the most salient is the importance of addressing – and eliminating – your "keynote bad habit". Other bad habits will then fall like dominoes, or so Duhigg posits. Examining successful organisations, he uses a case study from the marketing-masters at Procter & Gamble, when they were trying to rescue a new product called Febreze, on track to be one of the biggest flops in the company's history. Suddenly, they detect an almost imperceptible pattern – a habit – in consumer behaviour, and, duly, with a nuanced shift in advertising, Febreze goes on to become P&G's best-selling products. Other "right habits" case studies here mined for their inspirational ore, are the success of Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps, the Midas Touch of Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, and the unstoppable tenacity of civil-rights hero Martin Luther King, Jr. Duhigg says it's all about "patterns of behaviour", and how success can be brought about by transforming or overriding habits. The Power Of Habit succeeds in its ambition. We are taken to the cusp of scientific discoveries that explain why habits exist and how they can be changed. Indeed, Duhigg takes us to laboratories where neuroscientists examine how habits operate and deduce where, exactly, they reside in our brains. In this penetrating work, Duhigg presents a whole new understanding of human nature. At its core, The Power Of Habit contains an exhilarating premise: The key to personal wellness and becoming more productive, building revolutionary companies and social movements, and achieving outrageous success can be found in one place: understanding how habits work. The author contends that "you have the freedom and responsibility" to remake your habits. He says "the most addicted alcoholics can become sober. The most dysfunctional companies can transform themselves. A high school dropout can become a successful manager." He makes it sound easier than the reality probably is. Here Duhigg - who evidently has never underachieved in his life - sounds a little out of touch. If you believe habits are destiny – or believe in destiny, full-stop – this book isn't for you. But Duhigg does reassure us that habit-changing, while hard initially, does get easier as we progress in our personal journeys to transformational change. I'm sure I'll slip back into my Breaking Bad habit when it starts airing again in a few weeks; I can avoid everything except temptation. But that mountain-biking has done me a power of good. And has revealed my keystone bad habit: slothfulness. So I'll keep mountain-biking. And get a little more organised. And work harder. Then a little TV downtime can function as a reward for daily to-do-lists accomplished. Duhigg has a lot to say about rewards (and their dangers). But according to the key message of his debut book, I'm on the right habitual track. No back-pedaling from here. |
| Posted: 14 Jun 2013 06:28 PM PDT What you're really meant to do: A road map for reaching your unique potential Author: Robert Steven Kaplan Publisher: Harvard Business Review Too often, we charge down a path leading to "success" as defined by those around us. Ultimately, we are left dissatisfied. Each of us are made differently and we have to take charge of what we define as success. Harvard professor identifies specific and actionable approach to defining your own success and reaching your potential. Ctrl Alt Delete: Reboot your business Author: Mitch Joel Publisher: Business Plus Of late, we keep hearing this term "reboot". It used to be applied to computers, and is increasingly being used in the business world to mean change and transformation. What does it mean to "reboot" your business, or to "reboot" yourself? The book is divided into two - how business models should change and how we, as entreprenuers, should surf the wave to be part of that change. Broke: Who killed the middle classes? Author: David Boyle Publisher: Fourth Estate Today's middle classes may struggle to enjoy the same standard of living as their parents' generation. How did they end up in this situation? The author argues that they are not entirely innocent in their downfall. He also writes about the importance of a healthy middle class and how it underpins the economy. They may be broke, but they are not beyond repair. |
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