11月＝回顧過去，展望未來的月份,因為Nov與英文Know有同樣的發音。
It is that time of the year again for us to shop around for calendars. Yes! “Know-mber” (November) is the month to look back at 2015, with thoughts and flashbacks on what we did well and what we could have done for a better 2016.
又到了一年一度準備上網或是逛書店買手帳的時候了。沒錯！11月＝再次認識自己的月份，回顧2015，給自己做得好的地方大力鼓鼓掌，也分析一下那裡可以在2016年做得比今年更好。
This month, I would like to recommend a book, titled “How To Change The World”, for anybody who would like to try something more than just a better year for themselves, but also for the world.
在這個月份，我想要推薦「如何改變世界」這本書給不單單只是想要自己更好，也想盡一點心力讓這個世界更好的你們。
Don’t judge the book by its title, it is not as serious as it sounds. Instead, it reads more like a collection of letters from good-old friends, with humor, encouraging words and insightful pointers to challenge the way we think and act. “On the twentieth anniversary of the Berlin Wall coming down, ‘world leaders’ flew to Germany to deliver speeches to the listening masses. It was striking that they came to take credit for the particular historical event, because world leaders had had very little to do with the Wall’s collapse. In reality, the barrier between East and West Berlin was pulled down BECAUSE MANY ORDINARY BERLINERS DID SOMETHING VERY SMALL.” (p.8-p.9）
不要被這本書的名字給嚇到了，這本書沒有那麼地嚴肅。事實上，這本書讀起來像是與認識很久，可以談天說地的老朋友的紙上對談。這本書充滿著幽默，鼓勵的話語，但也不時提供有數據及實際案例支持的建議來挑戰我們的想法及做事的方法。書中的第8及第9頁提到，「在20世紀 [柏林圍牆]被拆除的時候，“世界各地的領導者們”都飛到德國去發表和平演講。很令人驚訝的是，這些領導者們怎麼可以就這樣把這具有歷史性及和平意義的功勞全部攬到自己身上呢？為什麼我這麼說呢？因為，事實上，這些“世界各地的領導者們”真的對於柏林圍牆被拆除這件事沒有盡到什麼力。更貼近真實層面來說，是許多看似普通的柏林人們，每天做了許多小事情累積起來，讓這片阻擋在東德及西德的圍牆被和平拆除。」
The book encourages us to believe that we can make this world a better place by small but consistent daily actions. At the end of this book, “Homework” is provided for us to ponder and act. Detailed citations are provided as a great resource for future reading and expand our “did you know” knowledge base. “198 ways to act” for example, is a practical and fun list to try. “A very large number of books, articles, films and conversations contributed toward the ideas in this book. The following were very useful, not only in the chapters where they are first cited - and are all highly recommended.”（ p.129）
這本書同時讓我們真實地相信，透過每天、持續地小努力，這個世界真的會變得更好。在書的結尾，作者還特別安排了「回家作業」，讓讀者們看完書後再去思考、去執行。這本書詳細地記載了每個支持論點的出處，讓有興趣再理解更多細節的我們可以做下一步的研究。附錄中的「198種行動的方法」也提供了許多實用的方法，讓我們可以開始一點一滴來讓這個世界更好。「我參考了許多書、文章、電影及訪談來完成這本書，以下我提供資料來源們的詳細出處，不單單只是因為我在書中使用了他們的資料，我強力推薦你們去閱讀，去體驗。」﹣來自書中的第129頁。
We all want this world to become a better place to live, and we all can contribute in different ways to hasten the process.
我們都希望這個世界變得更好，我們每一個人也都可以在各自擅長的領域盡一點心力，讓這個轉變的速度稍稍加快腳步。
Highly Recommended - [ How To Change The World ] by John-Paul Flintoff.
強力推薦這本 ﹣ 「如何改變這個世界」作者約翰─保羅．弗林托夫。
I got the Know-mber idea from one of my favorite Picture Book Authors --- Amy Krouse Rosenthal.
Know-mber這個英文字的諧音玩法，我是從我喜愛的繪本作家﹣艾美.羅森黛爾學來的。
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