Bicycle as a vehicle of urban revolution

Today I participated in a great community-driven social experiment under name Tipp d'Und. Hundreds of cyclists were riding alongside the cars in Tallinn city centre in a rush hour - in pre-agreed time and area. There were clear rules and cyclists greeted each other. After that all of these people (along with their bicycles) gathered in a single place for a short moment to celebrate it.

In these 30-40 minutes that I was riding along with hundreds of other people, Tallinn streets felt much more like some people-friendly Swedish/Swiss town. Slowly but steadily, I see Tallinn becoming more and more pleasant urban space to live (and move around) in.

Review: Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World

Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World by Jack Weatherford

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This has been a very enjoyable reading. On one hand, the biographical details of Genghis Khan and his successors which are interesting to follow. On the other hand, description of broad implications of Mongols' conquest for the Eurasian history.

There are definitely plenty of things most of the readers would find enlightening, when reading this book. Novel warfare tactics and good leadership lessons, importance of commerce and cultural/religious tolerance, family intrigues and fight for power.

The only thing I did not find necessary were numerous didactic reminders of how little appreciated the true Mongols' history has been and how great was Mongol empire compared to Middle Age Europe.

And well... the book describes destruction of many historical relics from the Great Mongol Empire by Communist Soviets - why am I not surprised?..

Review: Apples Are from Kazakhstan: The Land that Disappeared

Apples Are from Kazakhstan: The Land that Disappeared by Christopher Robbins

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

As a person who lived and travelled around Kazakhstan for a year, I found this book highly familiar, educating and hillarious. Robbins has a great talent of going from small but significant details he had observed to the broad perspective on the history, economics and societal development of the country. I particulalrly enjoyed biographical accounts of people related to Kazakhstan, such as Trotsky, Solzhenitsyn, Nazarbayev, even Gorbachev and Yeltsin. Robbins manages to bring out controversies related to both all these individuals as well as the country as a whole.

Review: Let's Get Real or Let's Not Play: The Demise of 20th Century Selling & the Advent of Helping Clients Succeed

Let's Get Real or Let's Not Play: The Demise of 20th Century Selling & the Advent of Helping Clients Succeed by Mahan Khalsa

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

A book on consultative sales for services. The main messages of the book are good: start with the intent of selling, leave your ego behind, focus on relationships, don't be afraid to go for "No".

However, as most of U.S. books of such kind, it builds up a fancy methodology and attaches a catchy title (I think the title of the book is quite unfortunate) to some essentially simple truths.

Review: First, Break All the Rules: What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently

First, Break All the Rules: What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently by Marcus Buckingham

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Probably the best management book I have read. Its message is quite simple but powerful: treat everyone individually. Great managers find individual talents and focus on giving an opportunity to develop these talents - they don't waste time on trying to fix weaknesses. Great managers "let people be more of what they are".

The fact that the book is based on many years of research data add to the credibility of this powerful message - and distinguishes it from many other self-help business books with catchy titles.

Impressions from Copenhagen and East England

I have recently had a chance to visit Copenhagen (Denmark) and three cities in the East England (Norwich, Cambridge and Hatfield).

Copenhagen: as the last time I was there, I was most impressed by how much of a paradise for cyclists this city is. Bicycles and cars co-exist very well. Thanks to the fact that so many people ride bicycles every day, there is less digestion, less noise pollution and less traffic jams in the city - a true win-win situation (also for the car drivers who get quicker to where they have to).

Copenhagen | CC Deniss R. Ojastu 2013

With its vast park areas, interesting modern architecture, appealing culture and well functioning business environment, Copenhagen is definitely one of the cities I could imagine myself living for a longer period.

Copenhagen | CC Deniss R. Ojastu 2013

East England: as could be expected from the UK, the weather was mostly cloudy with the light rain showers time-to-time. Nevertheless, it was great to visit three different smaller towns in the UK. Not a big fan of large cities like London, I was enjoying walking down the medieval streets of Norwich and Cambridge.

Norwich | CC Deniss R. Ojastu 2013

Extremely polite Englishmen, beautiful English language, centuries-old buildings of the University of Cambridge - as well as some interesting professional insights I've got from this trip - those are perhaps the highlights of my second visit to England.

Part of the main building of the University of Cambridge  | CC Deniss R. Ojastu 2013

Some day, I would like to visit more of the historical English towns - travelling around the country and staying in the different classical hotels like this time.

Review: Smashing UX Design: Foundations for Designing Online User Experiences

Smashing UX Design: Foundations for Designing Online User Experiences by Andrew Maier

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It is a well-structured book which goes step-by-step through all the major techniques for designing a good user experience for the Web sites. I picked up several interesting methods on working with clients and on designing different parts of the Web experience (navigation, forms, search etc). I very much agree with the general philosophy the book is conveying as well.

On the other hand, it could have been shorter - many things seem rather trivial and, at times, repetitive. The chapters have too many sub-chapters with the same structure. In addition, the book focuses pretty much on solely designing Web shops - there could have been more variety in the examples and (a lot to wish from UX book perhaps) anything on designing Web experience for professional users (corporate interfaces).

Participating in "Teeme ära 2013"

I am...

...a proud participant of the country-wide day "Teeme ära 2013" ("Let's Do It" 2013) which took place yesterday. I was one of around 32.000 people all around Estonia who contributed on a voluntary basis to cleaning their communities from garbage and litter.

My wife and me have helped to clean up  the small beach (Kalarand) next to the community we live in Tallinn. The sunny day and the emotional support of dozens of other volunteers (including many kids) - that helped to make us feel really good about what we did :)

Cleaning Kalarand 04/05/2013 | Courtesy of http://telliskiviselts.info