[비즈한국] Although the short Lunar New Year holiday feels too brief, why not take a moment to set aside the busy mind you've been pushing since January 1st? Here are some new books to refresh your spirit and mind.
To the heart enduring while pretending to be okay
: Mindfulness exercises to let go of anxiety and regret and recover oneself
By Yoo Jung-eun, Hanbit Life
364 pages, 21,000 KRW
The author is the CEO of Mabo, a mindfulness meditation app, and was the first to introduce the 'Search Inside Yourself' meditation program by Google’s Chade-Meng Tan to Korea. While working as an HR consultant for various multinational corporations, she realized that for organizations to change, people's minds must change before structures, leading her to discover meditation through Chade-Meng Tan's book.
This book explores the principles of mindfulness in a simple and clear way, crossing between neuroscience and Buddhist psychology. It shares heartfelt stories from various people and introduces concrete mindfulness exercises such as 'Chocolate Meditation' and 'RAIN Meditation'.
The author suggests that when you feel lost and shaken at major turning points in life, such as burnout, resignation, or relationship changes, mindfulness can be a starting point to view the problems that have bothered you for so long in a different way. You can actually follow the mindfulness exercises introduced in each chapter using the QR codes included in the book.
AI Sapiens, What shall we live for?
By Baek Wan-gi, Giverny
300 pages, 22,000 KRW
In an era where AI replaces human labor and intelligence, what should we aim for in life? The author, a former educational administrator, examines human history through the lens of human labor—from the origins of civilization in Egypt and Greece to the Renaissance, the Industrial Revolution, and Japan—and asks what labor means in the AI era we currently face.
The author emphasizes that technology is inherently value-neutral and that the philosophy of the community determines its direction. Since the essence of the AI era is not an end but a 'redesign,' he argues that the dynamism of Korea, which achieved both industrialization and democratization in a single generation, could become a new model of civilization for the AI era.
“Labor builds civilization, and civilization redefines labor. And the labor defined in that way determines our lives.” This is a book worth reading for those contemplating human labor, jobs, and education.
First Love - My head is ticklish
: KOFA Film Criticism Series 6
By Kim So-hee, Alpy
138 pages, 15,000 KRW
This is the sixth volume of the Korean Film Archive (KOFA) Film Criticism Series, which critically explores representative works of Korean film history from the perspectives of archives and history. Film critic Kim So-hee reviews director Lee Myung-se's 'First Love,' which failed at the box office upon its release in 1993 but is rediscovered today as a 'cursed masterpiece.' She examines the layers of time surrounding the work, including anecdotes related to the director's stress, hair, and hat.
Chapter 1 surveys the director's cinematic world within his affinity for silent films, Chapter 2 re-reads 'First Love' using time as a keyword, and Chapter 3 interprets the latent images of the film through the concept of 'cinema of the head.' It examines both the position this work occupied in the landscape of 1990s Korean cinema, when realism was the mainstream, and its current significance as it is re-read following digital restoration and Blu-ray release.
'First Love' is remembered as a melodrama by director Lee Myung-se, who is now better known for 'Duelist' and 'Nowhere to Hide,' and as a work featuring the impressive, fresh appearance of top star Kim Hye-soo.
The KOFA Film Criticism Series has previously covered director Lee Man-hee's 'Holiday,' director Bong Joon-ho's 'Memories of Murder,' director Kim Ki-young's 'The Housemaid,' director Lee Doo-yong's 'The Last Witness,' and director Yu Hyun-mok's 'Aimless Bullet' in volumes 1–5.