Sunday 23 December 2007

Bibliographic resources for further studying

In my quest for information to enhance the new editions of my book, I often come across books which I think could be of interest to candidates of EU competitions.

However, potentials readers before dipping into further bibliographic research should remember: Candidates should go through these extra resources only after having study their basic texts.

The latest list of books I have read are:

  • How to get a job you'll love by John Lees from McGraw-Hill
  • Ethics Matters by Paolo Giusta from European Court of Auditors
  • Body language at work by Adrian Furnham from Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development

I hereby invite all readers of this blog to share their own bibliographic discoveries, especially if it concerns specialised competitions.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

I read this book "Ethics Matters by Paolo Giusta" a few months ago and I was amazed by the confidentiality and secrecy in EU insitutions. The same bureaucracy as in "Life of a European Mandarin Inside the Commission" by Derk-Jan Eppink. I recommend it to you, too.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnaTwjCnXfA

The Author said...

Dear Anonymous (Derk-Jan is that you?) reader,

I have recently finished reading this book, which I found it an interesting piece of an autobiographic novel. In my personal opinion, it presents an one-sided top-down approach of the issues at stake in the corridors of power of the princess from a person that has only cabinet experience (as well as being an assistant of an MEP).

To this extend, unfortunately I cannot recommend this book as a reading aid for candidates wishing to succeed in the EU examinations.

The Author said...

A very interesting book, entitled "Essential EC Law in Charts", especially for people inclined to "visual reading" is written by Tobler & Beglinger and available by HVG-ORAC Publishing House.

Of particular interest is an electronic chapter on the Lisbon Treaty that is accesible in the website www.eur-charts.eu

The Author said...

An interesting book, especially for fans of conspiracy theories in the EU, is the book "Europe Inc. by Balanyá et al.".

It is interesting to read how Trans-National Corporations influence EU politics.

Please note that this book should not be considered as a reading aid for candidates of open competitions.

Anonymous said...

Dear Christo,

I have bought and used, successfully :), your book. I really believe that without it I would probably had failed during the interview process, as it was my first one, at that time.

What I would like to ask you is probably a little bit outside your field of expertise, but maybe you could help me.

I will be having my second written phase exam in a few days for the following competition: EPSO/AD/100/07-OP 2 Linguistic Administrators (AD5) having EN as main language. In principle we will have to translate two different texts from French and Greek to English.

My question is whether you know any good books for translation, methodology or any other sources that may be useful for this particular competition. If yes, I would love to hear about them.

Feal free to contact me at my personal e-mail mchamnta@socadm.duth.gr

I thank you in advance.
Michalis

The Author said...

Dear Michalis,

Thank you for your feedback on your book. May be a good idea would be to post a comments also on the specific issues of interest of the oral examination for Linguistic Administrations.

For translators, I would recommend reading the book "Translating for the European Union institutions" by Emma Wagner, Svend Bech and Jesús M. Martínez available from St. Jerome Publishing.

Good luck for the next stage of your competition.

Anonymous said...

Dear Christo,

Thanks alot for your advice and your wishes. I have already located this book and I will give it a look.

Keep up the good work, and again thank you.

The Author said...

I have recently discovered the very interesting book on the external EU relations. Unfortunately the book is currently available only in Greek.

"Θεωρήσεις και Δράσεις των Εξωτερικών Σχέσεων της ΕΕ Ταξεδεύοντας με οδηγό τον Μικρό Πρίγκιπα" του Κυριάκου Κεντρωτή από τις Εκδόσεις Παπαζήση. A recommendation to people wanting to learn more on the issue.

NB: Although the book was written in the pre-Ireland referendum era, its' discussions are still valid.

The Author said...

Another interesting book, in particular for translators, is "English for EU law" by Geetha Ganapathy-Dore, Patrick Griffin and Michel Perdu, edited by Ellipses.

The Author said...

"Acing the Interview" by Tony Beshara, edited by AMACOM, is a very good book on how to ask and answer the questions that will get you the job.

Although it's approach is American, notably for the profit-sector of companies and with a sometimes agressive marketing spin, it still has a lot (~450) of questions that are also valid for the EU.