Nonfiction Book Award Status: Gold Award
Title: Dust Tea, Dingoes & Dragons
Author Name: R.F. Hemphill
Synopsis
Buy the book at Amazon.
Jet lags, boardrooms, and high pressure deals – that’s what doing international business brings to mind. But there’s way more to it than that.
And a lot of it makes us laugh in the process.
Sharing a series of letters sent to his father during his decade of traveling the world building a billion-dollar company, Hemphill illuminates the always practical, sometimes poignant, and often funny ways we must connect if business is to be done.
“If they served you camel hooves for dinner, and you didn’t know it until you asked, what part of the camel did you have for breakfast?”
“In Islamabad hotels, you must sign a form certifying that you are an infidel and will assuredly go to hell, in order to get room service to bring you a drink. Is this form binding if you die outside of Pakistan?”
“Can you really claim to be in the movie industry if you don’t dress all in black, have a small pony tail, wear an earring, have an idea for a screen play, and harbor a desire to meet Meryl Streep?”
“Cinemas in the Czech Republic serve bacon-flavored popcorn. Why can’t we get that in the US? It’s even better than cheese-flavored popcorn. The whole movie theater smells like breakfast.”
Millions of people around the world travel for business. But how many of us take the time to truly appreciate what we observe and experience? Dust tea, dingoes, & dragons is a lesson in the meshing of cultures, the diplomacy of building business relationships, and, ultimately, of living life to the fullest, no matter what they’re feeding you.
And besides, it’s a really funny business book. When was the last time you read one of those?
Author Bio:
R.F. Hemphill has worked in the energy business since the 1973 oil embargo, including stints at the Tennessee Valley Authority, thirty-five years as a senior executive at AES, a global electric power corporation, and as CEO of Silver Ridge Power, a leading solar company. He was educated at Yale and UCLA, and in Vietnam as an infantry platoon leader. He has survived airborne and Special Forces training, and four million miles on United. He lives in southern California without a dog.
It has been my great pleasure over these last few weeks to have just completed narrating this fine journey through the cultural pathways of the world. Feels like I’ve been to all the places he relates in his fine book. Felt all the pains of seeing impossible things and dealing with improbable folks. This is one book to read if you think you know the world and have been bored by it for the last few years. Get out of the house and travel with R.F. Hemphill and me to broaden both your mind and your smile. A few belly laffs couldn’t hurt either.
It has been my great pleasure over these last few weeks to have narrated this fine journey through the cultural pathways of the world. Now that I have just finished it feels like I’ve been to all the places he relates in his fine book. Felt all the pains of seeing impossible things and dealing with improbable folks. This is one book to read if you think you know the world and have been bored by it for the last few years. Here’s a suggestion. Get out of the house and travel with R.F. Hemphill and me to broaden both your mind and your smile! A few belly laffs couldn’t hurt either. Now, for a fresh pot of Dust Tea.