Well, that's Handy

With a little idle time on my hands, I was browsing second-hand books in Oxford the other weekend and thus combining two things I have learnt to love as an adult. In Oxfam in Summertown I had looked over, with head in permanent tilt, the spines of all the books. The very last one caught my eye. It was "The Empty Raincoat", by Charles Handy.

I'm now a believer that our thoughts focus what we do and do not see, and what we do and do not do. Since words such as complexity, ambiguity and paradox are very much on my mind at the moment, and since this book talks of paradox, I immediately thought it would make an interesting read, despite its age (it was published in 1994).

I haven't yet finished it, and there are passages and sentiments which I don't think have really been borne out by events in the world since then, but his writing is consistently approachable and much of what he is saying - I think - resonates even more soundly today, even if that is only a sounding board for other reflections of my own.

Once I get through it, I will try to sum up the essence of what I am taking away from it here...