Certified Bookworm

I had been on a blogging hiatus for the past 3 months since I had the privilege of being a part of a project team involved in defining and creating a global services solution. The project had very tight schedules, numerous deliverables and I need to be outside the country several times for more than a week. Now that the critical phase of the project has been completed, I can go back to my regular blogging schedules. 

I love books. I can stay in a bookstore the whole day wondering through the shelves and perusing all the books that interest me. I cannot help but be amazed sometimes because all these knowledge, experiences, lessons learned, best practices are right there, immediately available, and the only thing you have to do is open a book. Likewise, I find reading books as the most cost-effective, bang-for-the-buck way of not stagnating in your current job and further expanding your career horizons. How good is that!

As part of my weekly routine, I visit Powerbooks to browse its latest collections just in case the books from Amazon are already available locally. I also frequently visit Booksale, a local used books store. Through this store, I was able to find gems such as Code Complete by Steve McConnell, Managing by Harold Geneen and Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig to name a few.

Image from 800ceoread

The latest business book to graze my radar is The 100 Best Business Books of All Time by Jack Covert and Todd Sattersten. I learned about this book through Slacker Manager who gave it an excellent review. Quoting him, listed below are the 5 reasons why you need to buy the book.

1. It has reviews of 100 books so you know which books you should add to your library (or you can feel smart knowing which of the best books are already in your library).
   
2. It’s only $25.95 (or Php 1,795 from Powerbooks), which means you’re investing less than $.26 per book review.
   
3. It’s got a wonderful leadership section, so you’ll be able to talk to your manager a little bit more about what her/his favorite book is.
   
4. It’s got a management section, so you can be a better manager.
   
5. It’s easy to understand even if you haven’t read any other business/management books.

Twitter Visual Guide

Image by Applicant.com

If you are still wading through the thick muck of figuring out how to use Twitter, here is a great visual guide (from the folks at applicant.com) on how to use Twitter as a business management tool, a way to improve customer service or even as content trafficker between social media websites. Kudos to the folks at applicant.com! Click the image to view its original size.

Big Bad Beetle Mecha!

I think Gundams is well on its way to become a reality in Japan. They currently have the popular humanoid robot, Asimo, and it is constantly being improved and now this, a real mecha beetle developed by a Japanese engineer over the course of 11 years. Its design is based on a rhinocerous beetle and dubbed the Kabutom RX-03, an obvious tribute to the Gundam mobile suit RX-78. It has no practical use right now since it is still a prototype but its development can serve as small steps in ultimately building mobile suits in the future. I will be more than glad to see it have a fusion reactor and huge laser cannons on its back. LOL!

Check out the video above and click here for more details about the "Mushi Mecha."