Since the Democratic convention in 2000, when his accreditation 'barely granted him access to the men's room', Barack Obama has proved himself one of the great political orators, seamlessly combining complex argument with poignant personal reflection. As the world awaits today's inaugural address, Simon Schama introduces highlights of the new president's finest speeches. I can't wait for columns of hyperbole to come. For your instant linguistic fix of today: Read the extracts from Obama's speeches:
2002-2006| 2006-Feb 2008 | Feb 2008-election night
Pages
Read & Marvel
W. Chan Kim: Blue Ocean Strategy:
How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make Competition Irrelevant. Think Google, Cisco, i-pod, Swatch...Jonah Lehrer: How We Decide
A must read for all good people trying to market to savvy consumers...Adam Smith: The Wealth of Nations (Bantam Classics)
Adam Smith and the Origins of American Enterprise: How the Founding Fathers Turned to a Great Economist's Writings and Created the American Economy and we know what happened to it. Benchmarking extraordinaire. As a good reminder of the philosphy of economics, read it on the train...Karl Marx: Das Kapital
"The wealth of those societies in which the capitalist mode of production prevails, presents itself as "an immense accumulation of commodities"... Sometimes there is no better place than to go back to the basic principles and compare notes with where we all ended it up and how the triggers to a post credit-crunch economy may develop...a must on once bedside tableRichard Stutely: The Definitive Business Plan: The fast track to intelligent business planning for executives and entrepreneurs (2nd Edition) (Financial Times Series)
Essential tool for any business leader in planning mode! Brilliantly written by Richard Stutely having gained experience as an investment banker, general manager, managing director for a technology company and his experience at the Treasury provides a robust and rounded insight to business planning on the grandest of scales. I could not do business without it!Lewis Grassic Gibbon: Sunset Song (Penguin Classics)
I read this book when we had just moved to Edinburgh. It captured my heart and made Scottish literature something awe inspiring I'd never felt before. We moved to Aberdeenshire near to Angus and Grassic Gibbon's country. I felt that I had already seen it all through his eyes even before I came there. And he didn't let me down, au contraire, I saw the mountains and the big sky and the sea and it was just as majestic as the book described. Romance and nature of highest calibre possible. I love.Jennie Erdal: Ghosting: A Memoir
Beautifully written this sad and funny story about a relationship that was never entirely fully disclosed but essential for two people's career in the world of writing. Jennie Erdal deserves standing ovation for this novel. I love!William Boyd: Any Human Heart
A page turner perfect for dark midwinter subzero evenings by the fire. Robust prose, great characters and a yarn that spins around half the globe. William Boyd is one of THE authors of modern English litterature. I think!Annie Leibovitz: Annie Leibovitz at Work
An illuminating and revealing insight into how these photographs came to be, with text written by Leibovitz herself.
Photos & Art
- My collection of photography is forever growing and of varied style and content ranging from holiday snaps in my life to some of the most epic photographs of modern history. Here is a sample of my favourite ones...
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Posts from January 2009
January 22, 2009
January 19, 2009
Almost President Obama
Expect Obama-mania in the media over the next couple of days as Inauguration Day approaches – ‘the nearest America will come to a coronation,’ as one wag has put it. In tomorrow’s GuardianG2 section will feature excerpts from a selection of speeches by Almost President Obama.
I don't know about you but I can't wait! In the meantime we can look at the pictures...
January 15, 2009
Green of envy
The hard facts are staring us in the face. Planet Earth is struggling despite its amazingly clever and resilient eco survival mechanisms. One of the biggest is in the South Amercia basin which encompasses seven million square kilometers of which five and a half million square kilometers (1.4 billion acres) are covered by the rainforest. An area equivalent of the size of the of Australia. The tropical rainforest provides 28% of the world's oxygen processing it through photosynthesis from caron dioxid. How cool is that? Through this dense vegetaion runs the biggest river on the planet (but no the longest) the Amazon. Once upon a time I sailed up this river all the way up to Manaus and encountered native tribes, alligators, pink dolphins and too many tree snakes to count. My travel around South America during a gap year some twenty years ago changed how I viewed nature resources forever.
Suddenly it has become a fashion and trendy to be green. Bag designers cash in, celebrities endorse recycable carrier bags (I bought one designed by Sheryl Crow for goodness sake, yesterday for my lunch sandwich) Designers, creative agencies and marketing people are cashing in on creating green messages and sustainable business commercials which makes me think - is this a good or a bad thing? Is the Carbon Neutral Company actually making a difference to anyone other than their own bottom line? Are we really offestting all the extra airmiles low-cost airlines are making us use for yet another break? I wonder but I'd like to hope so. Because green is the new black (never yellow even if that would be fun to see a UK nation sporting mimosa - see blog 13 December) Green isn't a fashion or at least is shouldn't be, it is here to
January 10, 2009
Bubble Gum For Your Mind
Who said that bubble gum for your brain was daytime TV? I did a lot of this over the festive season. And didn't miss my coaching sessions one iota. I think it was my dear friend Cathrina C when she justified using the TV as a babysitter for her daughter to steal some time to make a phone call. I think that was a marvellous thing to do. Everyone benefits. Our brains DO NEED a break frankly. Especially our poor children being brought up in this noisy information age. Let them chew gum! Well, if I am to believe the Organic tree hugging beauty brand Origins - there ARE real stress-releving chiclets for mums that you can BUY at an astronomical price! So here's one for you Mr Wrigley: "Tasty tension-tamers" for whenever the need arises. I have put my name down on the waiting list pronto as this batch was currently out of stock. And no wonder with Christmas just gone, credit crunch and all. Peace of Mind Gumballs (65 in acookie jar). £ 9.95 from Origins
January 09, 2009
Give me a lecture
So it is the new year and as I emerge from the festive period, safely knowing that my BMI (Body Mass Index) has increased by a fair few points but hopefully still slightly left of 25 I reflect on what things I want this year to bring to me and my dearest. Health is clearly top of the list and it is easy to think that staying fit is the only key to a longer life, however, I am convinced that ultimate fitness is not just toning muscle and burning fat to look good, ultimately I need to keep both my body and my brains fit. And then there is of course the soul, which I cover later, when we move to the subject of music. So, I was comforted by the recent findings in research done by a professor at Harvard University; that the unsurpassed brain training is reading a good book. As a devotee to books, magazines and all printed matter this is a huge relief to me as I was beginning to think that the only possible way my grey matter would stay fit and agile was counting stick people moving in and out of a house on a small titchy games console belonging to my 8 year old son. Which he was really good at and I wasn't. Following items I plan to add to my list of desirabilia in 2009 to keep my intellect on its toes without going near a pair of Nike's.
Intelligence Squared London, New York & Sydney. Lectures and forums on current affairs & hot topics lectured by the hottest media, academic or political property. Lecture tickets from £15.
Royal Academy Members Club London. £66 buys a year's free entry offers members previews, introductory tours, free subscription to RA's magisterial magazine and access to Friends Room.
Guggenheim New York & worldwide. Memberships from $75 gives free access to all the other Guggenheim's in Venice, Berlin, Bilbao, Las Vegas and its recently opened and biggest outpost in Abu Dhabi.
Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufacturers & Commerce (RSA) are enjoying a well-deserved boom attracting a wide audience on Dr Who's Tardis
If above list is not ton truc and you crave cultural stimulation music lovers must consider The Album Club or for the cineaste you can absorb mini reviews from British Film Institute. As a self confessed book worm I am tempted to be self-gifting a year's subscription of Paris Review America's most renowned quarterly magazine of writing and the writing life.
