Women In The Business World

In Knowing Your Value: Women, Money and Getting What You’re Worth, Mika Brzezinski borrows from her experiences as co-host of a morning talk show and interviews a wide range of professional women such as director Nora Ephron, Facebook’s Sheryl Sandberg, and broadcaster Joy Behar about their experiences in moving up in their careers. Knowing Your Value also blends personal stories with the latest research about women in the workplace. The end result is a brutally honest and witty exploration of the roadblocks and pitfalls that are unique to women. Brzezinsky provides an in-depth look at how professional women achieve recognition and financial success in an unbalanced workforce that often overlooks their worth.

Humanitarian Greg Mortenson chronicles his attempt to use education to combat terrorism in the Taliban’s backyard in an astonishing and uplifting story, Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace… One School at a Time. Mortenson, a homeless mountaineer, completed a treacherous climb of Pakistan’s K2 and became inspired when he encountered impoverished mountain villagers. He promised to build them a school and over the course of the next ten years he stood by his promise and built fifty-five schools, providing balanced education especially for girls in one of the most dangerous and isolated regions in the world. Read the rest of this entry »

, , , ,

No Comments

Watching the Detectives on Europe Train Holidays

Europe train holidays have long been associated with the glamour of the classical age of rail travel; an era which coincided with the days of the great fictional detectives. Since Agatha Christie’s seminal murder mystery ‘Murder on the Orient Express’, glamorous European rail travel has been a hallmark of detectives across the ages. There have been several fictional detectives aside from Christie’s Poirot who have been associated with the intrigue and glamour of Europe, and you would be forgiven for imagining you might bump into one of these mysterious and dynamic figures at any moment on your Europe train holidays.

Sherlock Holmes

The most famous literary detective to have ever picked up a magnifying glass and worn a deerstalker (except for the fact that he does neither in Arthur Conan Doyle’s short stories and novels!), Sherlock Holmes will forever be associated with the fog and clip-clopping carriages of Victorian London. However, the Great Detective’s cases often included a strong hint of the glamour of Europe train holidays, such as the first short story, A Scandal in Bohemia, featuring a visit from the King of Bohemia. Another famous story, ‘The Final Problem’, featured a pseudo-train holiday as Holmes and his stalwart companion flee across Europe by train to evade the clutches of villainous Professor Moriarty. Read the rest of this entry »

, , , ,

No Comments

4 Top Reads for a Holiday in Crete

If you’re taking a holiday walking in Crete you’re likely to be in need of some rest and relaxation in the evenings; why not take one of the many books set in Crete with you and immerse yourself even more deeply into the Cretan way of life?

Zorba the Greek, by Nikos Kazantzakis

Perhaps the most famous Crete-based book of all, Zorba the Greek has become a classic of Greek literature. Published in 1946, the novel was adapted into a film in 1964, leading to even greater success. Zorba the Greek is the tale of a young intellectual from mainland Greece who is pushed into action after a friend leaves to help ethnic Greeks who are being persecuted in the Caucasus. The book is the ideal first book choice for those walking in Crete to gain an insight into the fascinating history of the island and its surrounds.

The intellectual narrator plans to set off for Crete with dreams of re-opening a coal mine and involving himself in the world of the working class. Before leaving for the island he meets the mysterious, lascivious and passionate Alexis Zorba, and quickly becomes convinced to employ him as a foreman. On the island they follow different passions – the narrator reading Dante and Zorba indulging in his more animal passions. Once the mine opens their different approaches to life clash and the narrator begins to reassess his philosophies on life. Read the rest of this entry »

, , , ,

No Comments