Recent books

Thrive: The Third Metric to Redefining Success and Creating a Life of Well-Being, Wisdom, Wonder and Giving

Arianna Huffington; Gimmyoung Publishers; Translated by Kang Joo-hun: 384 pp., 15,000 won

Arianna Huffington, president and editor-in-chief of the online media group Huffington Post, published her 14th book where she redefines success through her personal experience.

The Korean edition of the book, which was released on March 3, is the first global edition to be published ahead of the U.S. release on March 25.

In “Thrive: The Third Metric to Redefining Success and Creating a Life of Well-Being, Wisdom, Wonder and Giving,” she questions the current definition of success in this world powered by the drive for money and power. She says they are just two legs of a three-legged stool.

Instead, she expresses the need for redefining success through the “third metric,” the third leg which is comprised of four pillars ― well-being, wisdom, wonder and giving. Without these values that hold up the third leg, success will have no meaning, she says. The book is consequently divided into four sections.

Her motivation to write the book came from a personal experience which had her hospitalized for exhaustion. She collapsed in 2007 from exhaustion from work and subsequently started thinking about what success really meant to her and what kind of life she wanted to live.

She concluded that living a healthy and meaningful life which gave her happiness was more important than working 18 hours a day. She criticizes the workplace culture which induces stress, sleep-deprivation and burnout and expresses the need to sleep, meditate, walk and unplug from technology.

She backs up her views through constant references to research and scientific findings in the fields of psychology, sleep, neuroscience, sociology and physiology.

Yun Suh-young

I Photograph, with Smart Phones

Han Chang-min; Open House Books; 383 pp., 16,000 won

There’s a growing interest in photography these days which is fueling amateurs to buy their own cameras with which to experiment.

The author of this book, Han Chang-min, who is not a professional photographer but an ordinary office worker, shuns the idea of buying a good camera to become a good photographer. He experiments with the camera on his smart phone and produces awe-inspiring photos which were also up for display at his private exhibition last year.

It was a revolutionary attempt in the field of photography for an amateur photographer to hold an exhibition with works produced by a smart phone camera. When his exhibition was held, he received overwhelming attention from the press. Over 1,000 people visited the exhibition and most of his works were sold.

Triggered by the enthusiasm of visitors, Han decided to write a book about his works and introduce the basics of filming with a smart phone camera. He recollects the year he spent photographing and explains how he felt at a particular moment he held the camera toward an object. He says snapping the moment at the right time is more important than intentionally trying to find a beautiful scene. The instant instinct to capture the moment is what makes his photos vivid and inspiring.

Han started taking photos on his smart phone in early 2012 and took over 10,000 shots. He uploaded most of his photos on Instagram, which received enthusiastic responses from people.

The book contains 200 photos with catchy titles and explanations on how each was taken and what he thought while taking each photo.