Foot and Fire

  The Ethical Executive (Becoming aware of the root causes of unethical behavior: 45 Psychological traps every one of us falls prey to) 2008, Stanford University Press By Robert Hoyk and Paul Hersey I believe, all leaders and decision-makers of a country should read this book. I have read this book years ago and sometimes after I became a public servant. This has been in my mind for a long time already given our social and political realities these days. One lingering question I could not get off my mind after I read this book was when it asked and answered: Why many good people became instruments of the holocaust? This book offered the root causes of unethical behaviors so we can recognize and avoid traps leading to them.      This book has scientific approach, not just some philosophical, religious or business sense to ethics. One has to read the thin book of 118 pages only to understand, but let me run down the 45 traps so you can have a bird's ey...

The Book Thief Markus Zusak 2005, Fiction for Young Readers I finished the book because I loved the title, and was so interested with anything about holocaust although it was a plain pain on my ass. Congratulations to me! I find the short title intro at the start of the chapter of the author so distracting and unnecessary, and irritating. I have not seen the movie but I guess the movie (2013) will be a joy to watch. But don’t blame the book. It just made way to me when I am already into nonfiction, and after reading everything I can reach about the holocaust. Minus that short title part, this book is a highly recommended read to young readers as introduction to the infamous era in the history of our civilization. Films like Life is beautiful (1999) Italian film, Schindler’s List, and Left Luggage (1997) Dutch film and books, The Diary of Anne Frank and It happened in Italy come flooding to mind. N.B. Watched the film later and I decided that I loved the book ...

Under the Tuscan Sun is set in Cortona, Italy where the American author Frances Mayes bought a house and narrated her experiences in settling in an Italian Village where Etruscan civilization once flourished. She shuttled back and forth in US and Italy and made homes in two continents. Please see my book review here. It happened in Italy is a storytelling by an Italian-American author Elizabeth Bettina who learned that her grandmother's hometown in Italy called Campagna had been an internment camp of a number of Jews during the holocaust. No one seems to perpetuate stories on Jews in Italy because they have a happy story of survival unlike those that happened in camps where dancing with death were told over and over. Please see my review here. *** I had said my piece for the two books and authors in my respective review of the books but a desire to bring both of them under one review is strong that I have to write it down and blow it away from my consciou...

It happened in Italy by Elizabeth Bettina Softbound, 331 pages (appendices not included) 2009, Non-fiction/History I once posted in my status message that I almost gave up on this book after two chapters. Actually, I read the preface and the Introduction which are five pages only. I said so because the preface and the introduction did not set the mood of the book but only spoiled it because I felt the exultation to goodness was overrated.  So, I recommend that one should go to Chapter I right away. From Chapter 1 up to 53 plus the epilogue and afterword as well as some appendices, I was swayed by the book. I could not believe myself being hooked in the storytelling which does not involve conflict and so much suspense. The story teller is alive in every page. Author Bettina has the vitality in her story telling. Her otherwise boring and simple topic became alive in every page. She made the reader part of the journey on how she first discovered the fact that her gr...