Search this blog
Available Now
About This Blog
Understanding current business and built environment themes is essential for today's organisations and professionals.
Knowing where to start can be confusing, but this blog can provide a no nonsense awareness to what matters today.
If I can help introduce these topics within your organisation or though coaching on an individual basis please do get in touch
Top Posts & Pages
Current CO2 level
Tags
- #sustldrconv
- be2camp
- benchmarking
- bidding
- BIM
- Biomimicry
- biophilia
- blogging
- BREEAM
- built environment
- Bullitt Centre
- carbon
- circular economy
- Climate Change
- co2
- coal
- code level 6
- collaborative working
- connecting with nature
- constructco2
- construction
- Corporate Social Responsibility
- cradle to cradle
- CSR
- cycling
- eco-towns
- Eco Cities
- eco city
- Eco City 2008
- eco homes
- environment
- facilities management
- fairsnape
- FMB
- FutuREstorative
- greenbuild
- greendeal
- Green Deal
- Green Vision
- Guardian Sustainable Business
- Health
- ISO 14001
- John Muir
- JUST
- LCBPC
- leadership
- LEED
- Living Building Challenge
- Living Building Challenge UK Collaborative
- martin brown
- mindfulness
- nature
- Paris
- PAS 2030
- Patagonia
- pecha kucha
- PQQ
- Public Works Island
- restorative sustainability
- Salutogenesis
- second life
- social media
- sustainability
- Sustainability Now
- sustainable construction
- Think 08
- transition towns
- UCLAN
- UKGBC
- waste
- well building standard
- Yvon Chouinard
- zero carbon
Twitter Updates
- RT @ChrisGPackham: Tibshelf Services @CostaCoffee . Young barista asks ‘Do you want a water for a £1’ , I say ‘No thanks - single use plast… 42 minutes ago
- RT @ClimateAalto: Aalto University and VTT will set up a competence center to develop new materials for securing a sustainable future. CERE… 54 minutes ago
- 'Fairsnape Sustainability': paper.li/fairsnape/1310… Today's stories from @ReachScale @ben_derbyshire @55n #construction #earthday 3 hours ago
- RT @WUParks: Celebrating the value of Parks on earth #EarthDay18 @fairsnape @WUParks @WUParks_europe buff.ly/2HmSeeb https://t.co/X… 11 hours ago
- 'Fairsnape Sustainability': paper.li/fairsnape/1310… Today's stories from @randydeutsch @CharlesLaw_SCS @EricDLussier #earthday #cycling 1 day ago
fairsnape iSite
- April 2018
- March 2018
- February 2018
- January 2018
- December 2017
- November 2017
- October 2017
- September 2017
- August 2017
- July 2017
- June 2017
- May 2017
- April 2017
- March 2017
- February 2017
- January 2017
- December 2016
- November 2016
- October 2016
- September 2016
- August 2016
- June 2016
- May 2016
- April 2016
- March 2016
- February 2016
- January 2016
- December 2015
- November 2015
- September 2015
- August 2015
- July 2015
- June 2015
- May 2015
- April 2015
- March 2015
- February 2015
- January 2015
- December 2014
- November 2014
- October 2014
- September 2014
- August 2014
- July 2014
- June 2014
- May 2014
- April 2014
- March 2014
- February 2014
- January 2014
- December 2013
- November 2013
- October 2013
- September 2013
- August 2013
- July 2013
- June 2013
- May 2013
- April 2013
- March 2013
- February 2013
- January 2013
- December 2012
- November 2012
- October 2012
- September 2012
- August 2012
- July 2012
- June 2012
- May 2012
- April 2012
- March 2012
- February 2012
- January 2012
- December 2011
- November 2011
- October 2011
- September 2011
- August 2011
- July 2011
- June 2011
- May 2011
- April 2011
- March 2011
- February 2011
- January 2011
- December 2010
- November 2010
- October 2010
- September 2010
- August 2010
- July 2010
- May 2010
- April 2010
- March 2010
- February 2010
- January 2010
- December 2009
- November 2009
- October 2009
- September 2009
- August 2009
- July 2009
- June 2009
- May 2009
- April 2009
- March 2009
- February 2009
- January 2009
- December 2008
- November 2008
- October 2008
- September 2008
- August 2008
- July 2008
- June 2008
- May 2008
- April 2008
- March 2008
- February 2008
- January 2008
- December 2007
- November 2007
- October 2007
- September 2007
- August 2007
- July 2007
- June 2007
- May 2007
- April 2007
- March 2007
- February 2007
- January 2007
Advertisements
Books that have shaped our thinking … Parts 1 and 2
Driving back from Andrew Platten’s funeral with Anne Parker, conversation was centred on how Andrew had inspired us, and others, in numerous ways; (for me, sustainability, academia/industry collaboration and cycling)
And as is common when discussing inspiration, our conversation picked up on books that have shaped our thinking. As we travelled over the M62, I rattled off a few of my all time favourites:
Linked to travels and expat work postings (India, Trinidad and S America) way back in my 20’s, novels such as Fireflies, V S Naipaul / Midnights Children, Salman Rushdie / Hundred Years of Solitude, Gabriel García Márquez were influential on my choice of reading for quite a while. I did, and still do enjoy reading books, novels or travelogues that are located in the area I happened to be traveling or working. One travelogue in particular In Patagonia Bruce Chatwin, stands out as a brilliant read, highly recognised as a literary classic.
Let My People Go Surfing is on my list as a shining example of how an individual (Yvon Chouinard) and an organisation (Patagonia) rooted in the great outdoors can become environmental, sustainability ‘cool’ and in doing so both shape corporate responsibility thinking and inspire so many.
The final book I mentioned on that journey was Nan Shepherds meditation on the Scottish landscape, The Living Mountain, written during the second world war but only recently published. It is a great autobiographic account of life in the Cairngorms and a celebration of the mountains there that touches on current themes such as mindfulness, biophilia and rewilding. Her descriptions and insights, (going into the mountain, rather ‘up the mountain’) has certainly made me think of mountain and natural landscapes in a whole new light.
Part 2 – Anne’s Books
It feels strange to say that I enjoyed the journey with Martin back from Andrew’s funeral but so it is.‘Death is the great re-organiser’ I read the other day and have reflected on how true this is – how paths then take new turns, how events are changed or adapted or gain new meanings, how people are further drawn together or sent further apart. Even more than that it is astonishing how much you learn about people and yourself from the death of a close friend.
Like many people I knew Andrew Platten firstly in a professional context and then he became a friend. This feels to me like a very joyful process and I personally love the interaction between friendships and professional contacts – why not? Do we need walls around different areas of our lives?
So it was with this conversation about books….My memory is that we discussed our ‘favourite’ books and so I was fascinated to read in Martin’s blog about books that shaped our thinking. I had a wonderful moment of reflection on this – is my list one and the same? Are my favourite books the ones that have most shaped my thinking? Largely, my answer is ‘no’! This amused me. Whilst I love books that give me new angles and new perspectives on things, my most favourite books are ones that somehow feel musical or poetic in some way – feel soulful or even romantic. So again, I learn something about myself!
So here we go Martin, my top 5 ‘favourite’ books and my top 5 ‘books that have shaped my thinking’ list. I can compare and contrast and develop further insights no doubt! Andrew would be amused too – he loved a fun take on working life. This is his most powerful legacy to me and for which I am truly grateful. It is the capacity to love work and have fun with it which paradoxically gives it the most enduring and deepest impact. In my experience all endeavours that are done with love are the most sustainable. Actions driven by fear or grasping of some kind somehow just don’t do it….
Here’s to you Andrew and to Fairsnape and enduring connections!
Top 5 ‘favourite’ Books
1. ‘Dracula’ Bram Stoker
2. ‘About Love and Other Stories’ Anton Chekhov
3. The Poems of Rumi
4. ‘Little House on The Prairie’ Laura Ingalls Wilder
5. ‘True Love’ Thich Nhat Hanh
Top 5 ‘Shaped my Thinking’ Books
1. ‘A New Earth’ Eckhart Tolle
2. ‘A Course in Miracles’
3. ‘Now Discover Your Strengths’ Marcus Buckingham
4. ‘The Way We’re Working isn’t Working’ Tony Schwartz
5. ‘Here Comes Everybody’ Clay Shirky
If you like this please share:
Like this:
Related