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Normally on this day of the week, I post my thoughts and book reviews about “the arts” – design, architecture, movies, music, and media.
But since I have added a number of new visitors since I began the website 5 months ago, I thought it might be nice to list out some of the most popular posts, as well as the ones I think are most important. If you are new to the site, this may help you find your way around and discover things of interest to you.
If you want to see the posts on “the arts” you can go to the archives here: https://hooversworld.com/archives/category/architecture-music-and-movies.
Finding your way around Hooversworld
Hopefully the website is pretty self-explanatory. You can always get back to the home page by clicking on the spinning globe in the upper left corner.
Each day of the week is a different subject, and you can see all the posts on that subject by clicking on “view all” near the top of each column on the home page. The posts are then listed with the newest post at the top and the oldest one at the bottom.
I have focused much of my energy on nonfiction book reviews, especially books I consider basic reference books or classics. I found very little attention is paid to such books on websites for booklovers or anywhere else on the web. I am an “information junkie” so these are my kind of books. I know I am not the only such person out there. You can help support my website by clicking on my Amazon links if you buy one of the books I recommend.
I also include my own thinking in each book review and in “opinion pieces” on a wide range of subjects.
If you want to search on an idea or term, you can use the search box at the top of each page or you can click on the tag cloud (https://hooversworld.com/tag) in the lower right part of each page.
You can also flip backward through previous calendars by clicking on “View Prior Calendars” at the middle bottom of each page. (https://hooversworld.com/prior)
In order to download the files or PDFs, which I occasionally post, you have to register (in the upper right corner). There is no charge for this or any other feature of the website.
If you want to review all of my posts, you can start with the first one https://hooversworld.com/archives/2567?day=Wednesday and then hit the “next button” at the top or bottom of each post, to skip along through them.
Lastly, you can learn about me or see excerpts from my speeches by clicking on “Who is Gary Hoover?” or “Book Gary for a Speech,” respectively. (https://hooversworld.com/gary-hoover and https://hooversworld.com/book-gary-for-a-speech)
Thinking about Business
Every Friday I write about big business, marketing, retailing, economics, etc., including selected book reviews.
My main philosophies about business, and business education, are contained in a letter I wrote to Amber Astolfi, the daughter of an old friend of mine. This letter received broad circulation. You can find it here: https://hooversworld.com/archives/2963.
In order to understand business and where it’s headed, I think you have to understand where it comes from. The world of business as well as many business writers and thinkers are “ahistorical.” That is, they have no sense of history. That is very costly to right thinking and right action. If you aren’t up to speed on business history, here is a great place to start: https://hooversworld.com/archives/2871.
There are many other thoughts about business, and especially about my favorite industry, retailing, in my Friday posts: https://hooversworld.com/archives/category/business-marketing.
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
I have given over 700 talks about thinking like an entrepreneur, which relates to not-for-profit enterprises as much as it does to for-profit companies. The gist of my message is here: https://hooversworld.com/archives/2923. Also see the speech excerpts: https://hooversworld.com/book-gary-for-a-speech.
I also wrote a book, Hoover’s Vision, about founding and building enterprises, in 2001. It is now out of print. I am gradually putting the pieces of my book on the website each Monday. You can start here: https://hooversworld.com/archives/2938. The first part of the book is essentially a course in creativity.
A book about how to think and analyze is one of my faves: https://hooversworld.com/archives/2596?day=Monday.
As is this book for anyone who wants to be creative: https://hooversworld.com/archives/2792?day=Wednesday.
Some other posts which have proven thought-provoking for my entrepreneur friends include the one about the yin and yang of business https://hooversworld.com/archives/2823 and the one about myths and superstitions in business https://hooversworld.com/archives/2883.
Other Popular Posts and Book Reviews
I live in a library of about 50,000 books, covering a vast array of subjects. I continually soak up new information. On average, I spend 15 to 30 minutes on each new book I acquire. People are always asking me how I do this, since I am not a speed reader, so one of my most popular posts was my answer to that question, which can also be downloaded as a PDF: https://hooversworld.com/archives/2579.
I am always preaching that we need to know our context, especially where we stand in time (history and future trends) and space (geography). Tuesday is “history and geography” day.
Since the Middle East is such an important topic in the news, and so little understood by most Americans, I wrote an extensive readers guide to the Middle East: https://hooversworld.com/archives/2695?day=Tuesday.
This spring I visited Russia and Singapore, and wrote up reviews here: https://hooversworld.com/archives/2886 and https://hooversworld.com/archives/2926.
Another popular post was my discussion of Immigrants in America: https://hooversworld.com/archives/2650?day=Tuesday.
To understand the world around us, I recommend keeping this basic geography book near at hand at all times: https://hooversworld.com/archives/2777?day=Tuesday.
To understand America, add this book to your reference shelf: https://hooversworld.com/archives/2836?day=Thursday. A new edition just came out; my comments on the new one are unchanged. I have put a link to the new edition in the column to the right on this page.
To understand cities, try these great books: https://hooversworld.com/archives/2847 and https://hooversworld.com/archives/2943.
You will find many more books about history and geography in my Tuesday posts: https://hooversworld.com/archives/category/history-and-geography.
On Wednesdays and Thursdays I cover “the liberal arts” – everything from design and architecture to science, psychology, and sociology. An excellent way to start broadening your horizons is this book: https://hooversworld.com/archives/2932.
Lastly, two practical tips I offer to every young – or old – person: https://hooversworld.com/archives/2893. If you are not doing these two things, you are missing big opportunities every day!
I hope you enjoy my posts and find them useful. You can always contact me using the contact buttons or by adding comments to my posts. I read all my emails and all comments. It would be great to hear your opinions about which posts you like the most and what you would like to hear or read more of. I appreciate the time and energy you spend with Hooversworld.
May you be ever curious and exploratory,
Gary
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This is the new edition of a book I previously recommended. See the text in the column to the left or see hooversworld.com/archives/2836. |
