Advice: if you study more efficiently it means extra time for doing more interesting things
I'm sure you can think of something
Better scroll down now if you are not interested in what I have done and only want the freebies!
1. LATEST BOOK! Going to University: the Secrets of Success,
Kewei Press, UK, ISBN 978-0-9561823-1-9
NEW REVISED AND EXPANDED EDITION, including a Kindle version
“When I was given this book, I thought that it would be another boring book; but how wrong I
was! This book is not a book that provides you with details about university life. It is an
interactive book that acts as a guide to every student covering aspects like studies, finances;
night life and accommodation, just to name a few. In fact, the title of this book pretty much says
it all; it portrays a student’s life (with lots of introspection from the author) and how to make the
most out of university life...." (Nandini Indiran, student) For the full review click here.
"Five Stars....invaluable for anyone thinking about going to uni, enrolling in uni, or already at
uni. I highly recommend it" (Michael Bower, student) For the full review, click here.
I ADMIT TO HAVING WRITTEN THESE ALSO:
2. How to Succeed as a Student - a FREE BOOK - true value there!
Improve your learning and writing skill, study efficiently, save time for a better social life, improve your results in exams and score higher grades in college and university. Help for the university student doing a degree and those in grades 11-12. It is 140 pages long. I wrote this for my Uni students and we sold it at cost. Now free online for everybody, it is an early version of list item 9 below, and is the work that in the end led to item 1, above. Go the site to get your free download.
3. Japan: Doing Business in a Unique Culture, Boson Books, 2006, ISBN 1-932482-32-6
"An excellent source for people doing business in Japan." Jim Breen's Japanese page, Monash University
"5 Stars - Very informative and well written....it is clear the author has a real and deep understanding of his subject and I would recommend anyone entering in business Relationships with Japan to read this book carefully." Johnny Zeven, Belgium
The book deals with Japanese culture and the approach focuses on getting along with the Japanese, with emphasis on negotiation. In more formal terms, it covers cross-cultural issues and the use of proper business etiquette. The book was published in electronic format in January 2005 and is available online from several book sellers, including Amazon.com. It is most suitable for business people in the Asian market, government officials, students taking Asian studies, Grad students undertaking cross-cultural communication or management courses or going for a straight MBA degree. Chambers of Commerce and resident expats could benefit, as might tourists, as they would understand more of what is going on about them. It is now being translated into Italian. ISBN 9781932482324
4. Chinese Business Etiquette and Culture. Boson Books, 2002, ISBN 0917990447.
"5 Stars. This is an excellent book for those who want to do business with China" Charles Brennan
"I have no hesitation in recommending this book. It is a must read for anyone planning to do business in China. (Brian N. Cox, Canada)
"Invaluable!! If you ever need to do business in China then don't start anything until you've read this book. It will save you time, money and your sanity! After reading this book we took advice from it and saved a valuable business deal..." Shanghai Expat
This book could have the title "Doing Business with China". Valuable for business people trading with China or investing there, as well as public servants dealing with economic issues, and students studying cross-cultural issues or Asian management, perhaps for the MBA. 267 pages. Second edition 2002.
5. FREE! - An Introduction to Economics: Economic Notes for the GCE A-Level in the UK (and look to the left for more economics material)
I was going to publish these notes as a book, but decided that I would probably never get around to finishing it. The book covers an entire course, both microeconomics and macroeconomics. The notes would be useful for those preparing to go to university or maybe first year college work or business economics if you (or your students) are starting from scratch. You can take the entire book or just the parts of the course that interest you. Go the site to get your free download.
6. FREE! Tips for the Graduate Student. Help for all those starting research, students doing independent study courses, or those in their final year of university. 8 pages. Go the site to get your free download..
7. FREE! Microeconomics Notes. Revision notes - strictly for beginners. 14 pages.Go the site to get your free download.
8. China and the Open Door Policy. Allen & Unwin, 1989. 169 pages. Out of print. This will shortly be republished by Boson Books, North Carolina, as an E-book: the latest news is it will be out in February 2012.
9. FREE! Studying at University: how to make a success of your academic course. How-To Books, 1996, 136 pages. Out of print in English but it may still be available in Chinese (China Youth Publishing, Beijing, 2001 as Zou Jin Da Xue) ; trust me, it takes quite a while to learn to read the language, but this version will at least fit into your pocket. Now available all over the Internet for free - just Google my name and the title and it's yours to download.
10. The New Cambridge Handbook of Contemporary China, CUP, 2001.
I wrote Chapter 6, "China's economy" although the editor altered it a bit. Naturally I thought it did not improve it!
11. The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, OUP, 2004. I did the entry on Derek Bentley who was hanged in 1953 for a murder that he did not commit and which occurred while Bentley was actually in police custody, a fact known to the court. Bentley was feeble-minded with an IQ of only 66. Lord Chief Justice Goddard is now officially blamed for running a grossly unfair trial and misdirecting the jury, causing Bentley to be hanged. The case is one of the more infamous miscarriages of justice in the UK. Bentley was finally given a posthumous pardon in 1998 and Goddard was heavily criticised. Posthumous pardons may be nice but they do not bring people back to life.
12. FREE! "A List of Words Commonly Used in Exam Questions and What They Mean."
Words and phrases like "account for", "evaluate", or "trace" in exam questions can suggest your best approach to the question. Go the site to get your free download. It may improve your answer and gain you better marks.
13. FREE! "Mature Students - University certainly is for You"
An article that reveals your strengths, shows you what adjustments you may have to make, and encourages you to go to college; and it's free. Go the site to get your free download.
14. FREE! "The Most Important Elements in Japanese Culture"
An article that was originally written for business people working with or in Japan, and public servants working in the sphere of negotiating across cultures, it would be relevant for an MBA student studying Asian business management. It is also of general interest. Go the site to get your free download.
15. FREE! "How to Increase Your Motivation and Tackle Procrastination: A Practical Guide for Students"
Tips and advice to help you do better at university or high school. Many of the suggestions could help you, even if you are not a student. Go the site to get your free download.
16. Kevin B. Bucknall's Cultural Guide to Doing Business in China, Butterworth Heinemann, Oxford, England, July 1994.
Their marketing people insisted on having my name in the title; I thought they were wrong then, and I still think so! It is well out of print now anyway. Now out of print.
Less than fascinating personal information
Who am I?
An ancient academic, born in Yorkshire, England, but spent most of my adult life in Australia and Asia (Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand). After a stint in the army I trained in economics, then worked for the UN and for various universities. I speak Chinese - but am slowly forgetting it (sadly!) and know enough French to survive without actually starving to death. Now retired to Primrose Hill in London, an area of actors, artists, drunkards, musicians, writers and similar sundry bohemians. Oscar winner 2000 Sam Mendes lives locally, as does Jamie Oliver, Jude Law, Sadie Frost, Alan Bennett, Ewan McGregor, Robert Plant, Joan Bakewell.... Fay Weldon lived here for many years but eventually moved out.
I was at university with Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones, was invited to go and hear him play in a pub on the Thames in 1961 when he was totally unknown, but felt I was too busy. What an idiot I was; a google curses. I could have drunk beer with Sir Mick! Still, I drank with young Frank Dobson, now our local MP, on many an occasion in Passfield Hall's bar in Bloomsbury.
Finally sold my old car: public transport for me from now on. Recent reading: Terry Prachet, Snuff; Edmund de Wall, The Hare with the Amber Eyes. I like on TV: "The Wire" (I find watching with subtitles helps my English brain follow American street dialogue); "House" (Go Hugh Laurie!); and (don't wince) "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" (funny script, nice martial arts and acting, although my friend John Pocklington suggests that Freud would have something to say about my interest in Buffy. Actually, I have not told him but Spike is actually my favourite). And I enjoy "The West Wing" the American President in the White House series - great script Aaron! Most enjoyable recent TV sit-com? Psychoville - funny, dark and weird!
I was the Press Officer for a book Primrose Hill Remembered, a history of the area in which I live, based on peoples reminiscences. It came out in 2001 and sold out in 9 months. I was one of a gang of four who put together In Primrose Hill (a "What's Where" booklet) in 2003. Back in Feb.- Mar. 2006, I appeared in an exhibition by Tino Sehgal at the Institute of Contemporary Art in London; he designs situations that are based on movement and the spoken word - you're right, I moved about and spoke. Never again! My legs certainly ached after going up and down all those stairs.
Happily married to Sieska for twenty-three years now, but who wouldn't be?
Now retired - eyes left!
Why are many of the books and files free? Why not? One should contribute something to the world, to mark one's passage through it. I prefer to leave some trace of myself, however insignificant. But I think that Woody Allen had a point when he said he preferred to achieve immortality by living for ever, rather than through his works.
My Greatest Contribution? The invention of Simulcast, you know, that way of watching TV and listening to stereo sound on FM radio. I came up with the concept in the 1960s and gave it to the BBC in London who ran radio & TV separately until then. They developed the idea and now it is in use round the world. Honest I did! (They never paid me anything for it either, curse them). I thought of it as a way of solving the problem of subtitled foreign films when the white words appear over snow and thus disappear - but the Beeb did not pick up on that element. It would have involved paying actors - the Beeb no doubt felt lunches for the top brass were more important than keeping actors from starving. Actually, it is hard to say where the Beeb spends its money.....do you know that even Parliament cannot examine the BBC's financial accounts despite it being funded by tax payers? At last they are talking about eventually allowing this, which I guess is a start.
My Family
Two lovely daughters, Carolyne and Fiona, both now adult and living in Brisbane, Australia, and a splendid grandson, James, who is both intelligent and good at sports. This is a very desirable and potent mixture, one that I have always lacked. Somehow, when I was a child and the kids were choosing who would be on their team for a quick game of something or other, I generally seemed to be the last but one selected. Well, it could have been one worse I suppose.... Keep on playing that trumpet, James!
A Very Potted Resume
I was a high school drop-out and left at fifteen; this was normal for that period for a member of the working class. I had to leave school to contribute to the family income and get a job. After spending time as a rent collector and office junior, I worked briefly on a market garden, then in a record shop, before going into the army. Ah, National Service, those were the days. Horrible days.
I managed to get into the band of the King's Dragoon Guards and worked my way up the clarinet line from third to first clarinet, via ripieno, a word that you do not come across every day. Then I was suddenly switched (it was the army - what did my views matter?) to first alto sax. During this time, whenever possible I drank too much, always ate too little (have you tried army food?) and was as bored as a piece of juicy soft wood poked into a termites nest and left to fend for itself. I was a hopeless soldier and as a natural rebel, did not fit in. The only attribute that I possessed of any value was when they discovered I was a natural good shot with a rifle. Surprisingly, it turned out that I was in the top one percent and if I had had more than two hours sleep the night before the trial and had not been hung-over at the time, I think I would have made the top half of one percent and then been in the Regimental Shooting Team. Ah me, what I may have missed. Serves me right for playing in the a Chinese band in an out-of-bounds night-club until four in the morning of course (see photo). The army might have warned me about the forthcoming test, but no! I picked up some Cantonese from my fellow musicians and developed a taste for Chinese food, especially the Malaysian variety. I stayed with the C.N. Lim's family in Ipoh at every chance I could get, played in Tony Lim's band, and began to learn about the brilliant Chinese culture. Playing sax in a Chinese strip club in Singapore's New World entertainment park for a time probably influenced me too - well, when one is twenty years old........ And that was "sax" by the way.
Demobbed in the middle of a Yorkshire winter with a suitcase full of tropical clothes, I learned that teeth really DO chatter when cold enough; it is not just a phrase in a book. My only other possession was an alto saxophone and the lacquer was peeling off that. It was then, at the less than tender age of twenty-one, that I decided this was ridiculous, I had to do something with my life. So I began to study, passed my exams, and went off to the London School of Economics, a college of London University. Finally stopped gigging around in bands after two car crashes made me realise that the winter Yorkshire fog and ice do not mix well with (cough! cough!) the tired and emotional musician who is driving.
At LSE, I studied politics, philosophy, history and economics, and finally specialised in the last-named. After gaining a B.Sc. I went on to study Chinese for a year before going off to live in Hong Kong for a couple of years. I then joined the staff at London Uni (the School of Oriental and African Studies) and taught for two years before joining the UN in Thailand. I had started work on a Ph.D. thesis by then but had little time in Bangkok to continue it, so after two interesting years I went to Australia (the Australian National University) and finished it there.
After two years working for the Australian government in Canberra, I moved to Griffith University, which was just starting up, and stayed for 24 years. Too long really: at one time I was approached to accept a full Chair (Professorship) at the University of New South Wales, Sydney, but turned it down as I did not like the terms they offered. Not many academics do that kind of thing! I blame my rebellious upbringing; but maybe the poet Philip Larkin was right about the effects of parents on oneself. It is well worth Googling his poem This Be the Verse by the way - I could quote him here but this is a family home-page. He's right mind you.
I set up all the early economics courses in the School of Modern Asian Studies at Griffith and later became the first Head of the School of International Business Relations. I became interested in cross-cultural issues and business etiquette, then designed and taught courses on doing business and trading with Asia. Went to China on quite a few occasions, had great time in charge of a bunch of students living in Chengdu (where are you now, guys?), and got involved in negotiations. Then Japan attracted me and I started working on that fascinating country.
As the millennium staggered to a close, the amount of administration that was forced upon academics grew and grew. Much of this was the fault of government but quite a lot must be attributed to what I regard as the university's own poor administrative practices. That, coupled with a new Vice-Chancellor who was in my opinion rather weak, led to a bureaucratic nightmare. Filling in forms just about replaced teaching and research as the favourite pastime of the staff. The traditional university battle between the central administration and the faculty was resolved in favour of the former, one hopes temporarily. As a result of all this, early retirement began to seem a very good option to me. It would also allow me time to finish writing the book about Japan that I had been working on for too long already.
I thought long and hard about early retirement and reader, I embraced it. (Yes, I admit I was influenced in the use of these words by Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre).
Since I retired I keep up my interest in cross-cultural issues, especially business etiquette, and studying/learning techniques.
In 2011 I made my first videos about Japanese culture and put them on the Internet:
"Japan and its culture: an illustrated talk (Part 1)" and "Japan and its culture: an illustrated talk (Part 2)"
These make up the first part of a series of educational videos about Japanese culture that I am making and each lasts around 15 minutes
You can watch them now if you want. Note: please click on one only - if you click on both, your browser will play them both at the same time. The result? Sheeer gobbledegook! And if you cannot see the videos below it is probably because your browser is is preventing the running of Active X; to see the video you can either tell your browser to allow Active X or else click on the two links below to open them directly in YouTube
Part 1 Part 2
To watch a larger version directly in YouTube, for Part 1 please click here; for Part 2 please click here
As someone once said, that's all folks!
