The founder of Four Seasons Hotels shares the philosophy and values that have made his legendary brand How did a child of immigrants, starting with no background in the hotel business, create the world's most admired and successful hotel chain? And how has Four Seasons grown dramatically, over nearly a half century, without losing its focus on exceptional quality and unparalleled service? Isadore Sharp answers these questions in his engaging memoir, which doubles as a powerful guide for leaders in any field. He recalls the surprising history of his company, starting with its roots in his father's small construction business, which Sharp joined after getting a degree in architecture. Shifting into hotels wasn't easy, and he learned by trial and error. His breakthrough was a vision for a new kind of hotel, featuring superior design, top-quality amenities, and, above all, a deep commitment to service. Sharp realized that customers would gladly pay extra for a "home away from home" experience. But that would be possible only if everyone-from managers and supervisors to bellmen, servers, and housekeepers-was fully engaged. The front-line staff, who have the most contact with guests, can make or break a five-star reputation. Readers will be fascinated to learn how Four Seasons does it, year after year, in more than thirty countries around the world.

Four Seasons By: Han-Jae Lee This essay collection recounts the modern and contemporary history of Korea through the life of the author. Korea was a poorly developed country that was devastated during the Japanese colonial period in the early 20th century, followed by liberation, and the Korean War. In the process, there was a time when many Korean people gathered their strength to create something out of nothing in order to escape poverty. And now, Korea is standing shoulder to shoulder with developed countries. Korea has achieved not only political democratization and remarkable economic development in a relatively short period of time in recent decades, but also Korean literature is making remarkable progress toward globalization in many ways. The following essays describe various elements of rural life in Korea as a child, life in a large city in Seoul as a youth and living abroad as an adult. Before writing this essay collection, he compiled seven poetry and essay collections in Korean and English, and published them in Korea and the United States. Advance praise for Four Seasons Han-Jae Lee’s, Four Seasons is an engaging collection of essays that recount the author’s experiences as a native Korean coming of age in a poor rural area, going on to lead a prosperous career as a working man for a large corporation, fathering children, traveling around the globe and spending time in the United States. Lee’s observations about both past and present life are touching and astute. A poet at heart, his reflections are tender and poignant, as he covers a wide range of topics, from tending a cow as a young man to his influences in literature and writing, to the old customs in Korea to new information technologies. Relationships, both intimate and professional are examined. Reading Four Seasons cover to cover, you will be entertained throughout. – Magdalena Montagne, poet-teacher The Four Seasons is a distillation of the author’s life. In providing vignettes of his life both in prose and poetry, Han-Jae Lee presents the reader with the thoughts and impressions of a life rich in experience tempered by wisdom. This will not be a book that you only read once, but several times because you will always find something new and instructive in its pages. – Alexander E. Braun, author of The Adventure of the Maiden Voyage

Building on the success of National Geographic's Journeys of a Lifetime series, a sumptuously photographed, detailed tour of hundreds of the world's most alluring locations and activities is seasonally organized to profile everything from the cherry-blossom temples of Kyoto to Rockefeller Center's ice-skating rink.

The James Beard Award–winning author “pairs pasta with seasonal vegetables in a succinct collection of recipes that should become a family standby” (Publishers Weekly). In a world where everyone seems to be trying to eat more healthfully and seasonally, nothing makes more sense for dinner than pasta with vegetables. In Four Seasons Pasta, bestselling author Janet Fletcher follows the harvest to create more than fifty seasonal recipes for this wholesome combination. Inspired by the southern Italian pasta repertoire, Fletcher has unearthed many little-known gems—authentic, unfussy regional recipes that even novice cooks can make. From a spring fava bean stew with fusilli to summer’s spaghetti alla Palermitana (with zucchini, tomatoes, anchovies and capers), peak-season produce paired with pasta makes a totally satisfying meal. Autumn brings radicchio to braise with pancetta and onions—a savory sauce for tagliatelle. Even winter provides produce for the pasta kitchen: beans for hearty bean-and-pasta soups and kale for a winter pesto. With guidelines for choosing dried pasta, making fresh pasta from scratch, and equipping the pasta kitchen, Four Seasons Pasta offers readers a delicious and sensible way to eat for life. “Like a crash course in pasta cooking . . . That’s all before you delve into the more than 50 southern Italian recipes, many gleaned from chefs and home cooks during frequent trips to Italy . . . will definitely change pasta from a standby to a star in your kitchen.” —San Francisco Chronicle

"Elegant representations of nature and the four seasons populate a wide range of Japanese genres and media. In Japan and the Culture of the Four Seasons, Haruo Shirane shows how, when, and why this practice developed and explicates the richly encoded social, religious, and political meanings of this imagery. Shirane discusses textual, cultivated, material, performative, and gastronomic representations of nature. He reveals how this kind of 'secondary nature, ' which flourished in Japan's urban environment, fostered and idealized a sense of harmony with the natural world just at the moment when it began to recede from view. Illuminating the deeper meaning behind Japanese aesthetics and artifacts, Shirane also clarifies the use of natural and seasonal topics as well as the changes in their cultural associations and functions across history, genre, and community over more than a millennium. In this book, the four seasons are revealed to be as much a cultural construction as a reflection of the physical world."--Back cover.

Set against the backdrop of a magnificent apple tree, this book uses poetry to cycle through the changes of the four seasons. Beginning with springtime, rhyming couplets take young readers through seasonal activities such as kite flying in the spring, summertime picnicking, fall trick-or-treating, all the way to building snowmen in the winter, before cycling back to spring again. One verse in each season references a major holiday, including Easter and Christmas.