Silicon Valley Monk

Silicon Valley Monk

Author: J.A. Kempf

Publisher: Dharma Gates Publishing

Published: 2014-11-23

Total Pages: 336

ISBN-13: 0990895106

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

For over 2,000 years, the area of India that is today western Bihar and eastern Uttar Pradesh has served as the destination for devout Buddhist pilgrims from all over Asia. In 2010, James Kempf and his wife Renate undertook a pilgrimage to the Buddhist sacred sites together with 28 other Western pilgrims. Led by the renowned British meditation teacher Stephen Batchelor, the group visited the area where the Buddha walked and taught, an area untouched by the Indian high tech revolution yet rich in cultural treasures. In this frank memoir, Kempf tells the story of that pilgrimage, interwoven with the story of his 40 years of meditation training and his career as a software engineer in Silicon Valley. Follow Kempf as he ordains as a Zen priest and negotiates his way through the maze of the Silicon Valley reality distortion field, trying to find wisdom and compassion in the midst of greed, hatred, and confusion, and experiences the benefits and dangers of a hard core meditation practice. The path of pilgrimage and the path of practice unite in a realization that the Buddha’s teaching wasn’t about mysticism and meditation experiences, but rather about a rational, realistic blueprint for reducing suffering.


The Monk and the Riddle

The Monk and the Riddle

Author: Randy Komisar

Publisher: Harvard Business Press

Published: 2001

Total Pages: 212

ISBN-13: 9781578516445

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

A book about how to make work pay and not just in cash, but in experience, satiafaction, and joy.


Buddha's Diet

Buddha's Diet

Author: Tara Cottrell

Publisher: Running Press Adult

Published: 2016-09-06

Total Pages: 242

ISBN-13: 0762460466

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The pampered prince Siddhartha tried dieting and didn't like it anymore than you do. When he became the Buddha, he found the "middle way" between overindulgence and abstinence. Modern science confirms what Buddha knew all along: it's not what you eat that's important, but when you eat. Sure, he lived before the age of doughnuts and French fried, but his teachings provide a sane, mindful approach to achieving optimum health.


Sophia of Silicon Valley

Sophia of Silicon Valley

Author: Anna Yen

Publisher: HarperCollins

Published: 2018-04-10

Total Pages: 332

ISBN-13: 0062673033

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Sharp, dramatic, and full of insider dish, SOPHIA OF SILICON VALLEY is one woman’s story of a career storming the corridors of geek power and living in the shadow of its outrageous cast of maestros. During the heady years of the tech boom, incorrigibly frank Sophia Young lucks into a job that puts her directly in the path of Scott Kraft, the eccentric CEO of Treehouse, a studio whose animated films are transforming movies forever. Overnight, Sophia becomes an unlikely nerd whisperer. Whether her success is due to dumb luck, savage assertiveness, insightful finesse (learned by dealing with her irrational Chinese immigrant mother), or a combination of all three, in her rarified position she finds she can truly shine. As Scott Kraft’s right-hand woman, whip-smart Sophia is in the eye of the storm, sometimes floundering, sometimes nearly losing relationships and her health, but ultimately learning what it means to take charge of her own future the way the men around her do. But when engineer/inventor Andre Stark hires her to run his company’s investor relations, Sophia discovers that the big paycheck and high-status career she’s created for herself may not be worth living in the toxic environment of a boys-club gone bad.


Mediality on Trial

Mediality on Trial

Author: Ehler Voss

Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG

Published: 2020-09-21

Total Pages: 559

ISBN-13: 3110416468

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This volume addresses controversies connected to the testing of the capacities and potentials of mediums. Today we commonly associate the term "medium" with the technical communication between transmitters and receivers. Yet this term likewise applies to those who cooperate with agencies that exceed the presumed domain of the material world. Insofar as one presumes a division between distinctly opposed categories of religion and the secular, technical media tend to be associated with the secular and human (trance) mediums tend to be associated with religion after 1900. This volume concerns the ways in which the term medium still marks an overlapping of – and thus problematizes – the aforementioned division between religion and the secular, the personal and the technological. The term medium carries with it a seed of doubt that is itself inseparable from investment in the medium's power: insofar as they communicate with an "other" realm, mediums offer the hope and promise of new possibilities and improved efficiency, and thus of a better life; yet they have simultaneously been under suspicion of altering (or even inventing) the messages they communicate. It is due to this combination of promise and suspicion that "mediumism" has tended to evoke scientific, religious, and moral controversies. Thus, we can speak of a "mediumistic trial" – that is, a process in which a medium is put to the test concerning its potentials and trustworthiness. Around 1800, experts were asked if a modern secular institution would be capable of inspiring, domesticating or excluding trance mediumship. This question has stayed with us ever since, and the answers have remained inconclusive. That is why the past and present of mediumship may be asked to elucidate each other.


A Monk's Guide to Happiness

A Monk's Guide to Happiness

Author: Gelong Thubten

Publisher: Macmillan + ORM

Published: 2020-08-11

Total Pages: 159

ISBN-13: 1250266831

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

“Thubten is able to explain meditation using clear language and an approach which really speaks to our modern tech-infused lives.” —Rami Jawhar, Program Manager at Google Arts & Culture In our never-ending search for happiness we often find ourselves looking to external things for fulfillment, thinking that happiness can be unlocked by buying a bigger house, getting the next promotion, or building a perfect family. In this profound and inspiring book, Gelong Thubten shares a practical and sustainable approach to happiness. Thubten, a Buddhist monk and meditation expert who has worked with everyone from school kids to Silicon Valley entrepreneurs and Benedict Cumberbatch, explains how meditation and mindfulness can create a direct path to happiness. A Monk’s Guide to Happiness explores the nature of happiness and helps bust the myth that our lives and minds are too busy for meditation. The book can show you how to: Learn practical methods to help you choose happiness Develop greater compassion for yourself and others Learn to meditate in micro-moments during a busy day Discover that you are naturally ‘hard-wired’ for happiness Reading A Monk’s Guide to Happiness could revolutionize your relationship with your thoughts and emotions, and help you create a life of true happiness and contentment. “His writing is full of inspiration but also the pragmatism needed to form a sustainable practice. His book clearly illustrates why we all need meditation and mindfulness in our lives.” —Benedict Cumberbatch “[A] powerful debut . . . a highly accessible and jargon-free introduction to meditation.” —Publishers Weekly


Wisdom 2.0

Wisdom 2.0

Author: Soren Gordhamer

Publisher: Harper Collins

Published: 2009-04-01

Total Pages: 259

ISBN-13: 0061899259

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Technology is not the answer. It is also not the problem. What matters instead? Awareness, Engagement, and Wisdom. Wisdom 2.0 addresses the challenge of our age:to not only live connected to one another through technology,but to do so in ways that are beneficial, effective, and useful.


Secrets of Silicon Valley

Secrets of Silicon Valley

Author: Deborah Perry Piscione

Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Published: 2013-04-02

Total Pages: 258

ISBN-13: 113732421X

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

While the global economy languishes, one place just keeps growing despite failing banks, uncertain markets, and high unemployment: Silicon Valley. In the last two years, more than 100 incubators have popped up there, and the number of angel investors has skyrocketed. Today, 40 percent of all venture capital investments in the United States come from Silicon Valley firms, compared to 10 percent from New York. In Secrets of Silicon Valley, entrepreneur and media commentator Deborah Perry Piscione takes us inside this vibrant ecosystem where meritocracy rules the day. She explores Silicon Valley's exceptionally risk-tolerant culture, and why it thrives despite the many laws that make California one of the worst states in the union for business. Drawing on interviews with investors, entrepreneurs, and community leaders, as well as a host of case studies from Google to Paypal, Piscione argues that Silicon Valley's unique culture is the best hope for the future of American prosperity and the global business community and offers lessons from the Valley to inspire reform in other communities and industries, from Washington, DC to Wall Street.


Chaos Monkeys

Chaos Monkeys

Author: Antonio Garcia Martinez

Publisher: HarperCollins

Published: 2018-07-24

Total Pages: 720

ISBN-13: 0062884484

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The instant New York Times bestseller, now available in paperback and featuring a new afterword from the author—the insider's guide to the Facebook/Cambridge Analytica scandal, the inner workings of the tech world, and who really runs Silicon Valley “Incisive.... The most fun business book I have read this year.... Clearly there will be people who hate this book — which is probably one of the things that makes it such a great read.” — Andrew Ross Sorkin, New York Times Imagine a chimpanzee rampaging through a datacenter powering everything from Google to Facebook. Infrastructure engineers use a software version of this “chaos monkey” to test online services’ robustness—their ability to survive random failure and correct mistakes before they actually occur. Tech entrepreneurs are society’s chaos monkeys. One of Silicon Valley’s most audacious chaos monkeys is Antonio García Martínez. After stints on Wall Street and as CEO of his own startup, García Martínez joined Facebook’s nascent advertising team. Forced out in the wake of an internal product war over the future of the company’s monetization strategy, García Martínez eventually landed at rival Twitter. In Chaos Monkeys, this gleeful contrarian unravels the chaotic evolution of social media and online marketing and reveals how it is invading our lives and shaping our future.


Silicon Valley Signals: Technological Enthusiasm & the Times

Silicon Valley Signals: Technological Enthusiasm & the Times

Author: Nima Moinpour

Publisher: OrientationSJ.com

Published: 2020-04-12

Total Pages: 206

ISBN-13:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

How might we account for the effectiveness of Silicon Valley during our times? Both as a place and as a cultural icon, Silicon Valley has generated a mystique about its power to produce economic and cultural effects. It speaks loudly in our civilization today and there is an aura of mystery about it. How has Silicon Valley arrived at this point in its development? Companies such as Apple, Google, Hewlett Packard,, and Intel compose part of the legend that Silicon Valley has become but the roots of that legend extend further in time and geography. Others have approached the same questions and have noted its industrial roots but only reached so far back. My contention is the modern economic and cultural phenomenon of Silicon Valley crystallized because of its local geomorphology and the ensuing technological enthusiasm contributed to its historical and material conditions for such techno mediatic unfolding. This work will distinguish itself from others not just by connecting geography to technical developments, but also by exploring the epistemological disposition that Silicon Valley claimed and spilled over into upcoming milieus of technological development and civilizational progress. By addressing the research questions through methods and concepts derived from Media Archeology methodology, a methodology originating in the field of Media Studies, I argue that the manifold inter-involvements of geomorphology and technical enthusiasm account for the force of Silicon Valley in media history, and the book takes you through various intersections of concrete pillars to build you a sound frame of mind about this mysterious region and culture.