Living in More Than One World

Although it’s been over for nearly a week, you can still find lots of material online to vicariously experience the Edinburgh International Book Festival, which is billed as the largest of its type in the world. Edinburgh is a lovely city, and I’m sure it was a great setting for this 17-day celebration of the written and spoken word.  There has been considerable coverage before, during and after the event in the British media; such as this September 1 report on guardian.co.uk and another, Scottish-centric one on the same day from the [Aberdeen] Press and Journal. Among the hundreds of authors featured this year were Garrison Keillor, Margaret Atwood, Neil Gaiman, Karen Armstrong, Alexander McCall Smith, Tracy Chevalier, Margaret Drabble and Richard Dawkins. The media page of the festival’s site has lots of interesting material, including photos, blogs, and audio/video from 2009 and earlier years. I also liked the Staff Tops 10s lists. There are a number of archived stories about the festival from EdinburghGuides.com. Of course, J. K. Rowling is closely associated with Edinburgh and she read from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and answered questions at the 2004 Edinburgh Book Festival. The longtime director of the festival, Catherine Lockerbie, is stepping down this year and the occasion was commemorated in a poem by the poet laureate, Carol Ann Duffy. Read more about it (and the text of the poem) at Magnus Linklater’s August 18 story on timesonline.co.uk, Carol Ann Duffy’s tribute to departing head of Edinburgh book festival. Next year’s festival dates are August 14-30, 2010. My new goal: to not just attend, but to be booked for a future Edinburgh International Book Festival.

I was a bit surprised to see Glenn Close’s byline on BusinessWeek.com. But I found her essay, Glenn Close on Warren Bennis, to be a fascinating read.  It’s an excerpt from a new collection of and about Bennis’ writing, The Essential Bennis. Like most people, I am mainly aware of her as a highly experienced and accomplished actor, not as a writer. Yet what she has written here is compelling. Close explores the similarities and differences between the role of the leader and the actor. Both must be based on truth, authenticity and connection; she observes, yet the actor plays many roles and is usually much different in real life from the person he or she portrays in the theater or onscreen. A leader must be genuine and worthy of trust 24/7; there can be no split between the person who inspires followers and the private self. An audience must care about the character an actor portrays, similar to the way people should care about what a leader believes in and deems important. “An actor has no other agenda,” Close writes, “but to be truthful and that truth is all about finding a point of nonjudgmental common humanity with the character to be portrayed—a common humanity between an imagined character and a very real actor.” Similarly, she writes that a leader “must be authentic in his integrity—in his understanding of, his connection to, and his empathy with the people he leads.” Bennis wrote a back cover endorsement for my new book, Living in More Than One World: How Peter Drucker’s Wisdom Can Inspire and Transform Your Life. Charles Handy, who wrote the foreword to The Essential Bennis, also wrote a guest essay, The Odyssey Experience, for my book, about the class he and his wife Elizabeth taught at the Drucker School in 2007.

Justin Jacobs, in Paste magazine, combines two of my favorite topics in the August 24th article Ten Fantastic Songs Brought To You by Books. Numbers one (“Song for Myla Goldberg”, inspired by the Bee Season author) and nine, “The Tain,” on Jacobs’ list are from a great band, The Decemberists. (I also remember the ‘70s album The Tain by the Irish band Horslips.) The only other female writer to be serenaded in a title is “Sylvia Plath,” #4 by Ryan Adams. Another writer name-checked in a title is “Saul Bellow,” #8 by Sufjan Stevens. The source for #3, Radiohead’s “2+2=5,” says Jacobs, is George Orwell’s 1984. #10 is several Led Zeppelin songs (“Misty Mountain Hop,” “Ramble On,” and “The Battle of Evermore”) which Jacobs says were inspired by J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. “Although his long, blonde locks,” Jacobs writes, “and groupie-baiting ways may have suggested otherwise, Robert Plant was a big nerd.” As a lead-in to his list, Jacobs references Catherine Prewitt’s August 13th Paste interview with Jay Farrar (of Son Volt) and Ben Gibbard (of Death Cab for Cutie) about their upcoming Jack Kerouac-inspired album, One Fast Move or I’m Gone, and a related film of the same name. The Farrar-Gibbard project grew out of a documentary produced by Jim Sampas, Kerouac’s nephew, about the years when Kerouac wrote the autobiographically-based novel Big Sur, published in 1962. Gibbard portrays the book’s Kerouac-like character Jack Duluoz as a cautionary, anti-role model: “After all of the wild nights, he’s become just a fat drunk man at a bar who is now not drinking because he wants to, but drinking because he has to.” The Kerouac theme continues at #2 in the above list, The Hold Steady’s “Stuck Between Stations,” which has a line from On the Road.

Beth Farrell of Library Journal has an extensive survey of self-help audiobooks in Mind, Body & Soul. Although the article is aimed at librarians, anyone interested in this genre will find it useful and informative. Referencing an article from Forbes earlier this year, she notes the billions spent in recent years on these types of books, CDs and related products and services. She also calls attention to LJ’s most recent ranking of most-borrowed audiobooks, in which 15 of 20 were in the self-help category. And not all the audiobooks that libraries offer come only in the traditional CD format; others are available through web-based digital downloads from companies such as Overdrive or Ingram Digital, and in the preloaded digital Playaway format (a new one to me). Farrell writes that her aim is to go beyond the likes of Stephen Covey, Rhonda Byrne and similar big names to worthy titles by lesser-known — but many recognizable — authors with titles worthy of being offered by libraries. And by extension, worthy of our attention as library patrons. She provides bibliographic information and to-the-point thumbnail descriptions for more than 20 titles. I particularly like her description of David Whyte’s 8 CD set The Three Marriages: Reimagining Work, Self and Relationship: “Yorkshire-born poet/business consultant Whyte’s rich, rumbling voice could turn the reading of an auto repair manual into poetry; his erudite, unique take on balancing work, self, and relationships is utterly compelling. Self-help for the literary set.” Other audiobooks worthy of careful listening include This I Believe II: More Personal Philosophies of Remarkable Men and Women, a 5 CD set based on the NPR series and Edward de Bono’s How to Have a Beautiful Mind, also 5 CDs.  Improving yourself for free with these and similar audiobooks at your public library sounds like a great deal.

Guardian.co.uk continues to produce useful, thought-provoking content in easy-to-digest formats. The latest example I’ve discovered is How to Believe. So far, this series of blogs by expert commentators is mainly centered on philosophy, with some religion. Mark Vernon, a multi-talented author, journalist, teacher, broadcaster and former priest in the Church of England is doing a series of eight blogs on Plato; two so far with the next due tomorrow. His next book, Plato’s Podcasts: The Ancients’ Guide to Modern Living, will be published in the UK in October. He does a nice job of setting Plato in context in the two blogs so far, demonstrating his importance in the middle of the linked chain of philosophers between Socrates and Aristotle. In the August 3rd posting, Plato’s dialogues, part 1: Why Plato?, Vernon writes, “We live in an age of religious pluralism, secular innovation and ideological searching. Reading him encourages us to delve deep and refashion a way of life that can speak truth to our own times.” In the August 10th posting, Plato’s Dialogues, part 2: Who was Plato’s Socrates?, Vernon’s interpretations about how we can make uncertainty and the unknown work for us, as we navigate change in our lives, are inspirational. “It might be said that the genius of Plato’s Socrates,” Vernon writes, “was to embrace ordinary human uncertainty and doubt, and fashion it into a flourishing way of life.” This embrace of and desire to reach beyond the unknown can further our creativity, innovation, love and wisdom. The postings have drawn many passionate comments, showing that Vernon has hit a nerve, no matter what you think of his ideas. Kudos to guardian.co.uk for devoting so much thoughtful and impressive coverage to these important areas of life. And to follow more of Vernon’s work, see his own Philosophy and Life blog.

Although her posting ran nearly a month ago, check out Michelle Richmond’s I can’t bear to part with… on sfgate.com, the San Francisco Chronicle’s website. She explains that she is culling her bookshelves, but that some books not only couldn’t go, but “beg to be read again and again.” Some of the ten books on the list are new to me, such as The Palace of Dreams, by Ismail Kadare and The Death of a Beekeeper, by Lars Gustafsson. What initially drew me to her post was the inclusion of one of my all-time favorite books, Ficciones, by Jorge Luis Borges, as well as A Mathematician’s Apology, by G.H. Hardy. I discovered and read the latter in the past year, and possibly if I had read it in high school (which I theoretically could have, since it was published well before), I might have had a better attitude about studying math. Here is her description of Graham Greene’s The End of the Affair: “This perfectly paced novel should be required reading for aspiring writers: a book about narrative, the arbitrariness of fate, and the writer’s subject – wrapped up in a riveting love story.” The whole list is informative, with beautifully written thumbnail descriptions of her keeper books. I then discovered that this shouldn’t be a surprise, as she is a best-selling novelist of such books as No One You Know and The Year of Fog, which is being made into a film. For more, see her website and her own blog, sans serif. She ends her sfgate.com post with the sensible advice that if her readers are cleaning her own shelves, they can donate books to the Friends of the San Francisco Public Library. No matter where you live, your local library friends organization can serve the same function if you are doing similar book culling.

In my previous post I wrote about extending the summer through summer/beach reading lists. Another intriguing one is Michael P. Maslanka’s Summer 2009 Beach Reads for GCs, from law.com/Texas Lawyer. Maslanka is a Dallas-based attorney and writer, and though this is aimed at corporate attorneys, it is thoughtful and broad-based enough to appeal to a wider readership. He includes recent business books, such as Alan Webber’s Rules of Thumb: 52 Truths for Winning at Business Without Losing Your Self, though the list gets particularly interesting when Maslanka goes beyond business. “Books that help us do not need to be self-help books,” he observes. He includes two related to the Stoic philosopher Marcus Aurelius, then moves to Charlotte Higgins’ book on Latin poetry, Latin Love Lessons: Put a Little Ovid in Your Life. To honor the value of brevity, there is Haiku Mind: 108 Poems to Cultivate Awareness and Open Your Heart. The list has many more choices in a variety of categories, including mysteries and thrillers. There is even a brief reminder of why all this is important in the first place: “Books enlighten us. They free us. They uplift us,” he writes. Another angle on summer reading can be found in Some Thoughts on Infinite Jest During the Infinite Summer, Mike Miley’s Huffington Post about an online reading group dedicated to reading David Foster Wallace’s huge novel Infinite Jest by September 22. Wallace, who taught creative writing at Pomona College in Claremont, California, committed suicide last year. I haven’t read his books, but when I heard of his death I wondered if I had ever unknowingly seen him during the times I was in Claremont researching my book. It’s not a big city, and I often walked through the lovely Pomona College campus, which is not far from the Drucker School. Finally, a bestseller this summer is a book reprinting Wallace’s 2005 Kenyon College commencement address, This Is Water: Some Thoughts, Delivered on a Significant Occasion, about Living a Compassionate Life.

The only thing better than reading books during the summer is reading the summer/beach reading lists and articles. And I particularly enjoy the British ones. Genevieve Fox, on Telegraph.co.uk, presents some considerations beyond the strictly literary in her entertaining article It’s the summer holidays, but what on earth should you read? For instance, think about whether the books you’re packing are going to put you over airline weight limits. One of her interviewees says he will take both a hardback and paperback copy of the same Nick Hornby book: the former for his hotel room and the latter for the messier beach. The 50 Best Summer Reads ran on independent.co.uk in June. Their books were chosen by a five person panel including an author, editor, BBC presenter and two buyers from large British booksellers. The list unfolds as a picture gallery of covers, with short descriptions and panelist quotes. To learn what UK newspaper critics are reading this summer, check out the survey Booktrust’s 2009 summer reading roundup, and the related guardian.co.uk article Sarah Waters tops critics’ summer reading chart. On July 5th, the newspaper published Text on the beach – the 50 best summer reads ever.  The Guardian made a number of its own recommendations, but also included entries from luminaries of the British arts world, including the ubiquitous Alain de Botton, who recommends The Death of Ivan Illich, by Leo Tolstoy. Why should you read this on vacation? “Because reminders of mortality tend to accentuate pleasure,” de Botton reasons. I was happy to see that one of my choices for summer reading (just started), The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, by the late Stieg Larsson, was recommended by director Richard Eyre, who writes: “It’s an intelligent thriller that never disappoints: complex plot, inspired sleuthing, social comment, violence, sex and almost credible characters.”

For a highly interesting, in-depth look into the life of a book editor, and some important aspects of the current state of publishing, see An Interview With Johanna Vondeling Editor of Berrett-Koehler Publishing, a new blog post in Ask The Agent: Night Thoughts about Books and Publishing, from literary agent Andy Ross, the former owner of Cody’s Books in Berkeley, Calif. Johanna is Vice President, Editorial and Digital for B-K, which is located in San Francisco. She is also my editor and was the person responsible for bringing my new book, Living in More Than One World: How Peter Drucker’s Wisdom Can Inspire and Transform Your Life, to the company. The book as it exists now would never have happened without her, as I noted in the acknowledgments: “She had the vision and patience to realize there was a strong central idea in my book, but that it was not the one I originally brought to her. She also helped give the book the structure it required.” In the Q&A, Johanna also discusses the unique publishing practices that have made B-K so successful as an independent publisher since its inception in 1992. For instance, each author is invited for an Author Day at headquarters, an entire day based around you and your book, held between deliverery of your first draft and final manuscript. Mine was held last November and was an exhilarating experience. As Johanna describes it, “Authors get to meet their editor in person, they talk to production about the internal design of the book, they strategize with marketing staff about the marketing plan for their book, and they make a presentation about their book over lunch to the whole staff and invited guests–it’s their first chance to pitch their book to the world.” More publishers may try to emulate the B-K model, which would be a positive sign for an industry undergoing a significant transition.

I’ve written about a variety of festivals (music and otherwise) that I would have liked to have attended, but found that following on the web was the next best thing: the Aspen Ideas Festival, Glastonbury and The Guardian Hay Festival. Now there is another British entry, the Latitude Festival, which I had not heard of until now, but is four years old. It’s already over, having run from July 16-19. Check out Mark Savage’s Latitude festival is a class act and other BBC coverage. NME.com and others covered the solo set by Thom Yorke of Radiohead, in which he gave the debut of a new song, “The Present Tense.” (I used to read NME, then in its pre-online, weekly print-only days, as often as possible back in my music days of the ‘70s and ‘80s. Especially at first, it wasn’t easy to find in the States, so it’s a sign of the times how readily available it is on the web.) Check out the complete list of acts appearing on multiple stages; including four music stages, with the Pet Shop Boys, Regina Spektor, the Pretenders, Grace Jones, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds along with many others. There was also literature (including Orwell: A Celebration, billed as “an unprecedented theatrical tribute to the work of George Orwell”; Geoff Dyer, Blake Morrison and many others), plus films, comedy, cabaret and more. For additional media coverage, see The Guardian, The Independent and other UK media outlets.