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An interview with Shaun Tan

Shaun Tan’s illustrated books – The Rabbits, The Red Tree, The Lost Thing, The Arrival and, most recently, Tales from Outer Suburbia – are loved and recognised by readers all over the world. Shaun has also worked as a concept artist for films such as Horton Hears a Who and Pixar’s WALL-E, and has just finished directing a short film version of The Lost Thing with Andrew Ruhemann. Spike sat down with him over the digital divide to find out about the problem of gravity, Lorenzo Mattotti and the beauty of emotional understatement in illustration

Read more ...

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“The tremendous power of books”

Recently, book publishers got some good news. Researchers gave 852 disadvantaged students 12 books (of their own choosing) to take home at the end of the school year. They did this for three successive years.

Then the researchers, led by Richard Allington of the University of Tennessee, looked at those students’ test scores. They found that the students who brought the books home had significantly higher reading scores than other students. These students were less affected by the “summer slide” — the decline that especially afflicts lower-income students during the vacation months. In fact, just having those 12 books seemed to have as much positive effect as attending summer school.

Read more ...

Mindset: the New Psychology of Success

Mindset: The New Psychology of Success

by Carol Dweck

World-renowned Stanford University psychologist Carol Dweck, in decades of research on achievement and success, has discovered a truly groundbreaking idea-the power of our mindset.

Dweck explains why it's not just our abilities and talent that bring us success-but whether we approach them with a fixed or growth mindset. She makes clear why praising intelligence and ability doesn't foster self-esteem and lead to accomplishment, but may actually jeopardize success. With the right mindset, we can motivate our kids and help them to raise their grades, as well as reach our own goals-personal and professional. Dweck reveals what all great parents, teachers, CEOs, and athletes already know: how a simple idea about the brain can create a love of learning and a resilience that is the basis of great accomplishment in every area.

“A good book is one whose advice you believe. A great book is one whose advice you follow. I have found Carol Dweck’s work on mindsets invaluable in my own life, and even life-changing in my attitudes toward the challenges that, over the years, become more demanding rather than less. This is a book that can change your life, as its ideas have changed mine.”

From Publishers Weekly
Mindset is "an established set of attitudes held by someone," says the Oxford American Dictionary. It turns out, however, that a set of attitudes needn't be so set, according to Dweck, professor of psychology at Stanford. Dweck proposes that everyone has either a fixed mindset or a growth mindset. A fixed mindset is one in which you view your talents and abilities as... well, fixed. In other words, you are who you are, your intelligence and talents are fixed, and your fate is to go through life avoiding challenge and failure. A growth mindset, on the other hand, is one in which you see yourself as fluid, a work in progress. Your fate is one of growth and opportunity. Which mindset do you possess? Dweck provides a checklist to assess yourself and shows how a particular mindset can affect all areas of your life, from business to sports and love. The good news, says Dweck, is that mindsets are not set: at any time, you can learn to use a growth mindset to achieve success and happiness. This is a serious, practical book. Dweck's overall assertion that rigid thinking benefits no one, least of all yourself, and that a change of mind is always possible, is welcome

The book is available in the latest edition at Amazon

and yes that's an affiliate link. I will earn a few cents if you buy through it.  Thank you!

Writing a speech? Use visualisation

While writing a speech, you would think, would involve a pen and paper, or maybe a word processor. But one very vital aspect of writing a speech his visualisation. Visualisation is an incredibly useful tool. You can visualise the feelings you have as you present. Visualise your surroundings and how they work for you. Visualise the audience – who they are, what they are thinking, how they are responding. Visualise them as they stand to leave. What are they thinking now? What will they do in response to you presentation?

All of those things will provide the criteria you need when you are choosing the words to say, the structure of your speech, the language you use and the stories you tell.

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To read: another amazing Dale Carnegie book on public speaking


How to Develop Self-Confidence And
Influence people with public speaking

Dale Carnegie


"this book contains brilliant depth."


"This book pulled my experiences together, and showed me how to make better use of preparation and presentation techniques. Carnegie addresses the whole person, and radiates an interest in people and their goals."


"I am sure the book can be of help to the novice as for the expert speaker alike."

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Public speaking is really a one to one communication

Ermest writes ...

Public speaking and fear have something in common. For many, one thought of having to go up on stage and speak in front of a crowd of people is enough to bring out the critters of fear – butterflies in the stomach, faster heart rate, unwelcome physiological changes etc.. We have this scary picture inside our head of standing in front of a crowd of strangers, frozen. What we fail to realise is that public speaking is really a one to one communication. Just like when you speak with your friend or family member. The only exception is that you have more ears & eyes to connect with.

What follows in his article, Speak like a pro – what I learnt at a public speaking boot camp, is gold. There are several incredibly useful techniques. The two I enjoyed most were Raise your hand up to engage the crowd and Anchor objects associated to your story, but there is so much more.

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Warning: You won’t forget this movie!

Here's a warning: Once you watch this 3 minute movie, it'll be hard to forget!

I've probably watched it a hundred times but you know what...it still works. Whenever I need a little "nudge" to remind me about the difference between good and great, I'll watch it...again.

Just click here to watch.

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Warning: You won't forget this movie!

Here's a warning: Once you watch this 3 minute movie, it'll be hard to forget!

I've probably watched it a hundred times but you know what...it still works. Whenever I need a little "nudge" to remind me about the difference between good and great, I'll watch it...again.

Just click here to watch.

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Some weird fitness contest results

I just heard about some really 'weird' results that occurred during a recent body transformation contest...

Get this...

Some of the contestants actually lost fat while building muscle at the SAME TIME!

In fact, one of the winners of this contest actually GAINED weight!

If you know anything about before and after fitness contests or the reality TV shows like the biggest loser, then you know that those types of results are unheard of.

Usually the goal is to cut as many pounds on the scale as humanly possible, right?

But what those shows never talk about is "body composition" and the possibility of "body RE-composition", or gaining lean body mass as you burn the fat.

The thing is, most people, even a lot of veteran trainers, believe that it's impossible to gain muscle and lose fat at the same time.

You might have heard all the debates and arguments about this subject yourself on forums and blogs, etc. etc.

Even though the experts disagree, if there's any consensus at all, it's that simultaneously gaining muscle while losing fat is the most difficult fitness goal to achieve...

That's why people call it the "holy grail"; because it's so elusive.

BUT MAKE NO MISTAKE: IT IS POSSIBLE.
("difficult" and "impossible" are not the same thing)

And that's also why I'm sending you this message:
I wanted to give you an early 'heads up' on this:

"THE HOLY GRAIL BODY TRANSFORMATION SYSTEM:
How to gain muscle and lose fat at the same time"

It's a new program that actually teaches specific nutrition and training techniques for gaining muscle and losing fat at the same time.

It explains these methods in a simple and practical manner, but also gives the scientific proof and reasons
why they work (this is backed-up with peer-reviewed studies.)

This "holy grail" system was created by trainer / natural bodybuilder Tom Venuto, who is best known for his e-book, Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle (BFFM) which has become a sort of "fat loss bible" to thousands of people all over the world
(site: http://bit.ly/bAEO7H)

But BFFM was designed specifically for fat loss.
what if you want to lose fat AND gain muscle but
you could never achieve it before (or you just didn't
believe it was possible, so you didn't try)?

That's precisely why Tom created this new program.

It's the first course of it's kind that builds on the basic fat burning techniques and teaches a new system for gaining muscle and burning fat simultaneously, and explains the process scientifically.

If you're skeptical, I don't blame you.

But when you see BOTH real-world case studies AND you see the scientific proof, it makes you want to
stop and take a look at this.

Right now the 1st edition of Tom's HOLY GRAIL ebook is available for a short time in limited release at
a special introductory price here:

http://bit.ly/bEAifI

At some point in the very near future Tom is going to take the holy grail course off the market for a while,
to collect feedback and case studies to incorporate into the 2nd edition.

Then Tom will officially re-release the Holy grail ebook separately later this year and sell it at full price.

If you'd like to be in this first wave of people to try this new combined muscle-building and fat
burning technology and get it at a bargain price, here is the ONLY way to order at the moment:

http://bit.ly/bEAifI

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“Never limit yourself because of others' limited imagination; never limit others because of your own limited imagination.”

- Mae Jemison