Reseña - El hombre en busca de sentido por Viktor E. Frankl

He terminado El hombre en busca de sentido por Viktor E. Frankl Mi valoracion - 3/5 (Qualitativa - “Me ha gustado”) Un testigo en primera persona de la experiencia humana que muchos han pasado en los campos de concentración durante la Segunda Guerra Mundial. Frankl (neurocientífico y psiquiatra) describe, de una forma humana (física y psicológica), aquello que ha vivido y que le ha permitido desarrollar una de las principales ramas de la psicología: la logoterapia. Esta se basa en la capacidad de una persona para afrontar sus problemas, traumas y situaciones difíciles mediante la búsqueda de sentido (logos), permitiéndole así reorientar su enfoque para vivir una vida más plena. Me resultó muy difícil, dada la distancia que tengo respecto a esa realidad tan tenebrosa, conceptualizar que lo que estaba leyendo fue una realidad concreta para millones de personas hace 80 años, y todo ello únicamente por profesar una determinada religión y cultura. Es especialmente impactante cómo tantas personas con vidas acomodadas, intelectualmente activas y reconocidas por su comunidad, tanto a nivel nacional como internacional, pasaron de un momento a otro a ser tratadas como una especie subhumana, con todas las consecuencias que eso implicó. Todo ello debido a una ideología y a un hombre (lunático) que logró dominar y someter a una sociedad tan fuerte y libre como la alemana. La capacidad del ser humano para adaptarse a las circunstancias más exigentes y mantener su dignidad y sus estrategias de supervivencia es el hilo conductor del libro. Esto permitió al autor desarrollar su teoría, que se basa en la idea de que el hombre solo será pleno y capaz de vivir una vida completa en la medida en que pueda encontrar y dar sentido a su existencia. Es uno de esos libros que resuenan y seguirán resonando en tu cabeza después de haberlo leído. Lo recomiendo mucho, tanto por la historia y el relato personal como por las enseñanzas que puedes aplicar en las más diversas áreas de la vida. (texto revisado por LLM) https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/7325429590

- Pedro

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Escaping into Books: The Power of Reading and Reflection

It's no big surprise to me, but it turns out books and libraries have a positive impact on readers' lives. I’m always a bit skeptical of such studies, but I couldn’t resist this confirmation bias once I saw it. 🙂 I must admit, I love reading but rarely visit libraries—something I plan to change this year. For me, the main benefits of reading are: - It transports me to different worlds and perspectives. - It helps me escape the present moment and take a long-term view on topics. - It expands my knowledge and broadens my horizons. - It fosters personal growth and self-reflection. - It allows me to engage with my thoughts and enjoy solitude. As for the study, it suggests that libraries: - Help people feel calmer and more at peace. - Prepare individuals for the complexities of the world. - Serve as valuable sources of knowledge. - Support personal growth and development. When was the last time you visited a library or picked up a book? Give it a try—you might just enjoy it. (text revised by a LLM) https://lithub.com/its-official-research-has-found-that-libraries-make-everything-better/

- Pedro

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Review > Value First, Then Price: Building Value-Based Pricing Strategies

Finalized Value First, Then Price: Building Value-Based Pricing Strategies by Andreas Hinterhuber (editor), Todd C Snelgrove (Editor) My Book Rating - 2.5/5 (Qualitative - between "Okay" and "I Liked It”) BOP#3 - Book Club The book explores the relevance and importance of a value-driven organization through multiple lenses: (i) pricing, (ii) procurement, (iii) management, and (iv) change management. It comprises 25 individual pieces—including interviews, essays, use cases, and empirical evidence—written by various authors. These contributions emphasize the importance of understanding value, its relevance, and how to effectively quantify and communicate it both internally and externally. As a whole, the book serves as a solid introduction and refresher on the significance of being a value-driven organization in any industry. It encourages readers to focus on the value they generate for customers and consumers. It also provides a great starting point for deepening your knowledge of value-based approaches and opens multiple pathways for further exploration.A recommended read for professionals in pricing, sales, and procurement, offering insights on how they can apply these principles within their organizations. A word of caution: Avoid the Kindle edition. While it is technically readable on a Kindle, the formatting has not been properly adapted to the platform. As a result, many of the Kindle’s features and readability enhancements are missing, significantly diminishing the overall experience and value. (text revised by a LLM) https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/7110863649

- Pedro

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Books read throughout 2024! not a bad year

Throughout 2021 I’ve read 21 books, 5.745 pages and my average rating was 3.5 on Goodreads. The full list was the following: 1.Disciplina sin lágrimas 2.Até ao fim 3.The BlackSwan 4.A brief history of time 5.Raving Fans 6.Price and peace 7.Obvious Adams 8.Fascim 9.Os Ratoneiros 10.The secret language of competitive intelligence 11.Do dice play God 12.Strategy beyond the hockey stick 13.How to take smart notes 14.How to decide 15.The pyramid principle 16.12 rules for life 17.Deus na escuridao 18.The tipping point 19.Value-Based pricing 20.Win, keep, grow 21.Sobre la brevedad de la vida Hope 2025 i will make it to 25, but the most important is that i pick good ones, learn and enjoy myself in the journey. https://www.goodreads.com/user/year_in_books/2024/71159677

- Pedro

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El Gran Otro: Cómo el Capitalismo de Vigilancia Moldea Nuestros Comportamientos

He terminado La era del capitalismo de la vigilancia: La lucha por un futuro humano frente a las nuevas fronteras del poder por by Shoshana Zuboff, Albino Santos (Translator) Mi valoracion - 3/5 (Qualitativa - “Me ha gustado”) Un extenso libro sobre lo que la autora define como el capitalismo de vigilancia, que representa un nuevo paradigma para la sociedad, en el cual nosotros (los humanos) y nuestros comportamientos somos la fuente principal de materia prima para este proceso. Shoshana nos guía de manera exhaustiva a través de sus orígenes, cómo funciona y la importancia del behavioral surplus (excedente conductual) como base de todo. También aborda quiénes son los ganadores de esta nueva forma de organización social y económica (las "Magnificent 7") y quiénes son los grandes perdedores (nosotros). Se nos presenta todo lo que estamos perdiendo, en la mayoría de los casos sin ser conscientes de ello. Asimismo, se explican los riesgos a los que nos enfrentamos como sociedad: el fin de la privacidad, el libre albedrío individual y la creación de un "Gran Otro" que intenta influir en todos nuestros comportamientos. Es un libro cuya lectura recomiendo encarecidamente. Sin embargo, no es para todos, ya que resulta demasiado extenso. Estoy convencido de que podría reducirse fácilmente en un tercio de sus 861 páginas actuales sin perder su valor. De hecho, creo que esa reducción aportaría mayor claridad y eficacia al mensaje. Como diría Saint-Exupéry: "La perfección no se alcanza cuando no hay nada más que añadir, sino cuando no hay nada más que quitar". (texto revisado por LLM)

- Pedro

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Finalized Win, Keep, Grow: How to Price and Package to Accelerate Your Subscription Business by Mark Stiving - My Book Rating - 4/5

Finalized Win, Keep, Grow: How to Price and Package to Accelerate Your Subscription Business by Mark Stiving My Book Rating - 4 / 5 (Qualitative - “Really Liked it”) BOP#2 - Book Club A concise and highly insightful book on thinking and managing subscription businesses. It offers numerous valuable insights that I’ll carry into my professional life—not only for subscription businesses but also for broader applications, such as Internal Transfer Pricing within Management Performance Systems. These concepts have direct relevance to various organizational areas. I plan to publish a more detailed review in the near future—or at least, I hope to! https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/7061305482

- Pedro

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Review: Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It

Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It by Chris Voss
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Great book on negotiation, very practical and easily implementable on your day-to-day work, and very easy to read. Should be mandatory, among others, on every sales capabilities program!

It's a great (if not mandatory) complement to the hard-skills you should know about negotiation and challenged several beliefs that i had and it made me think on how to approach every negotiation process.

Beside reading it, i will study it and will definitely read my notes every time i will enter a more demanding negotiation process to complement the other negotiation tools that i already have in my negotiation strategy bag-pack.

Concepts like:(i) Labels/Accusation Audit, (ii) Calibrated Questions; (iii) Questions to identify deal killers; (iv) how to diffuse deal-killing issues; (v) how to leverage noncash offers, (vi) identify black swans; (vi) how to set goals to maximize your possible outcome (not settle with one that is in the ZOPA range); (vii) how to be a mirror; (viii) how to master the No and get "That's right" moment, etc...are of great value!

Would be great if you do not read it so i can have leverage on the next negotiation process.



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Review: The Strategy and Tactics of Pricing: A Guide to Growing More Profitably

The Strategy and Tactics of Pricing: A Guide to Growing More Profitably by Thomas T. Nagle
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A good text book on pricing in its strategic and tactical perspective. Decided to read it in order to shore-up my Pricing knowledge and it was of great utility. I do recommend its reading for someone that wants to know more about pricing, to the professionals already working to provide a sound framework to their day-to-day activities and allow better decisions that have implicit a tremendous value to the overall organizations they work for.

It provides pricing theory as deemed needed (and if you want to explore more you have a plethora of references you can explore), but it's practical text book that applies the theory presented to actual cases and guides you through such important strategic process. Even in the field on how to determine the pricing level (value, pricing elasticities, etc...) always have a pragmatic and practical approach that one can use immediately.

Pricing is presented where the push comes to shove. i.e. when every company captures the value it has previously created and you can see a lot of value be siphoned away due to bad practices.

From all the applicable concepts presented, i would like to highlight the following:
- The Value Cascade - great representation on how to manage value and then pricing. An how you spill value in each caption
- How to define the best value to your customer;
- How to estimate the economic value estimation (economic vs. psychological);
- How to create break-even sales curves vs. pure elasticities (difficult to estimate in real markets)
- Ethics and law - also a good chapter that push-back some preconceived ideas and limitations,

Do recommend its reading and have it readily available for every pricing professional.



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Review: Competitor Intelligence: How to Get It; How to Use It

Competitor Intelligence: How to Get It; How to Use It by Leonard M. Fuld
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Read this book based on a recommendation/reference given in another book i was reading, that i liked and do recommend (The Strategy and Tactics of Pricing).

The real classification would be between the 1 and 2 stars, finally i decided to go with a 2 stars due to a couple of good insights and especially to show me that we should always strive to be creative when we do not have readily accessible the intelligence we would find relevant for our own analysis.

It´s a clearly a dated book (1985) and it does not provide sound and practical building blocks to approach the competitor intelligence area of study. It's more a guide where to find data to support such discipline/function, that although most probably relevant for the 1980, it is clearly outdated to a 2020 reader.

The positive, if you take a very positive attitude and try to conceptualize some chapters of the book, you can define your own framework based on the potential difficulties and problems one can find while performing such important task of producing intelligence, mainly by knowing the constraints you have in the public available information on basic sources, and how to find/leverage creative sources of information and even use the some basic sources.

You should strive "mutatis mutandi" to apply some of the tools presented to the reality of 2020 and with that extract the most value of its reading.

In nutshell, if you want to learn something on this subject, this would not be book a i would recommend,

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Review: O Sonho do Celta

O Sonho do Celta by Mario Vargas Llosa
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

O Sonho do Celta apresenta e relata a história de Roger Casement de uma forma vívida, simples e acutilante.

Desconhecia totalmente quem era e a importância que teve na defesa dos direitos humanos no final do século XIX princípios do século XX e o impacto que teve na denuncia dos abusos realizados pelas potências colonizadoras (quer através da ocupação directa e gestão de territórios, quer através do exercício do poder económico)

O livro deu-me a conhecer quem foi e os feitos mais relevantes que realizou durante a sua vida e como lutou pelos seus ideais no Congo, na Amazónia e na Irlanda. Ressalto que este percurso não se deveu a ideias preconcebidas e definidas por uma filosofia estabelecida “ex-ante”, mas como consequência do sentir e viver as injustiças “in loco”, que tendo por base os seu valores morais e éticos o fizerem questionar a realidade em que vivia.

Adicionalmente, o livro também deu-me a conhecer parte da história da independência da Irlanda, que também desconhecia quase na sua totalidade.

O livro é um romance, com tudo o que isso implica, e não é um livro que pretende ser um relato histórico dos acontecimentos, está muito bem escrito e é um romance de leitura fácil e apelativa.


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What to read next? Take a look at this curated list

Business Book of the Year Award 2019 — the longlist

Review: As Veias Abertas da América Latina

As Veias Abertas da América Latina by Eduardo Galeano
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Relato perturbador da evolução da América Latina nos últimos 500 anos em termos económicos e sociais. 

É um livro bastante provocador, bem escrito e fundamentado que nos apresenta a maldição que a riqueza dos recursos naturais da América Latina gerou no seu desenvolvimento. 

É uma critica profunda ao colonialismo histórico (de Espanha, Portugal, Inglaterra e Holanda) e o comportamento actual dos EUA, como potência dominante 

Basta 30% daquilo que foi apresentado, em especial nos últimos 50 anos do livro ser veraz para nos deixar incomodados e a pensar no contexto da geopolítica global actual (e não parece ser algo totalmente irrealista). 

Por vezes senti-me incomodado durante a leitura com as situações descrita pela sua dureza e aderência à realidade e porque as justificações apresentadas têm sentido e não parecem despropositadas e com uma coerência assustadora. 

Dito isto, devemos tratar o apresentado com pensamento critico e buscar versões contrárias para poder formar a nossa opinião de uma forma equilibrada, por exemplo as alternativas apresentadas com "idílicas" também não o são, como podemos ver nos exemplos de Cuba, Venezuela e Bolívia.

Esse enviesamento é notório (até justificável na altura em que foi escrito -qual grito de revolta) e devemos estar conscientes do mesmo para não sermos dogmáticos no nosso pensamento. 

Foi um livro que gostei muito de ler, que recomendo a todos (progressistas e conservadores:-) ) e que me deu uma perspectiva diferente, lúcida e acutilante sobre um problema que viveu e vive a América Latina, África e por vezes e em parte podemos constatar também na Europa. 

ps- a tradução não é a melhor e foi feita em Português-Brasileiro, logo caso o possam ler em Espanhol ou outra versão com uma traduçao melhor seria aconselhável.

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Review: Due Diligence: The Critical Stage in Mergers and Acquisitions

Due Diligence: The Critical Stage in Mergers and Acquisitions by Peter Howson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Read this book to get a quick refresher and also to allow me to structure my knowledge on Due Diligence. I achieved both objectives. Not bad!

The book is a good guidance on the subject and makes you think through different lenses/areas of expertise the basics of this important and more often than not difficult phase of every M&A project.

It provides you practical watch-outs and leads you through the main areas of a Due Diligence and presents the main objectives, activities that should be undertaken & discloses the main risks and concerns.

For the areas where you are not an expert, it brings awareness of what you should expect and allows you to have an educated conversation with the subject matter expert on the required deliverables.

The check lists presented are a good tool, nonetheless the main one on appendix A should have been organized by area and not has it was disclosed (it seems randomly made).

Finally, i think what is called Commercial Due Diligence should have been named Strategic Due Diligence and the area of Risk is clearly lacking inputs and it's significantly below the other chapters of the books.

ps - due to the author nationality, the subjects presented are clearly skewed from an UK perspective, but that does not undermines the quality and insights conveyed.





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Review: Managing Risk and Uncertainty

Managing Risk and Uncertainty by Richard Friberg
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I took a couple of days after reading this book to provide my rating and this review. I did it on purpose so i could mature the idea of what to write and how to rate it. Looking back it was a wise decision as the rating will be higher today if i did it immediately after (in fact would be a 3,5 stars).

I got this book by chance, while looking for books on risk, and the thing that made me read it was its synopsis and coming from MIT press, most probably I'm one of the few that did it (looking at goodreads jhistoric and even the information available on Amazon).

So why did i like it:
- Presented in an operational framework on how to think about risk and uncertainty and how to manage it, through different lenses and specific areas within a company;
- Ran through several areas related with risk & uncertainty (finance, economics, pricing, forecasting, behavioral science) explaining the basics and also disclosing the sources of it synthesis that allows a interested reader to deepen his knowledge in case he finds it appropriate (i will do it myself in a couple of areas);
- Disclosed the how the author thinks and approaches risks and uncertainty and you can use (always adding your critical reasoning and experience) to your day-to-day live. The 4 main strategies are a great starting point, at least how to structure it
- It requires (and can be a severe handicap for the ones not with sufficient literacy) at least a intermediate level of economic and finance knowledge to not get lost in quite a few areas. It made me revisit several concepts that i did not thought and operacionalize for a long time.

What i did not like:
- the books loses when it tries to be also a text book. Gets caught on the midst of a technical book with a specific body of knowledge, and a text book to support specific lectures on risk and uncertainty;
- The online resources are not currently available, that hamper the full resources that should be available;
- The examples that are quite good and insightful but could be complemented with additional examples (fully explained and resolved) and solution on the online resources.

I do think it was time worth spent reading it and for people that would like to broaden their horizons on this topic I do recommend its reading. I know that I will use specific areas of knowledge presented on my daily professional activity.


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Review: Teoria Geral do Esquecimento

Teoria Geral do Esquecimento by José Eduardo Agualusa
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Um livro de fácil leitura e que nos apresenta um conjunto de pequenas histórias que afluem na historia principal de Ludovica Fernandes Mano.

Apresenta uma realidade "metaforizada" da independência de Angola, onde se apresentam temas relevantes e mesmo chocantes da sociedade Angolana de uma forma simples e ao mesmo tempo impactante (em especial por aquilo que fica por dizer),

A história de Ludo, como rio grande que é, incorpora nas suas margens todas as pequenas histórias que enriquecem a narrativa e nos fazem percorrer 30 anos de história contemporânea (bem sei que tem de passar pelos menos 50 anos para assim ser considerada formalmente...) de uma forma simples e bem escrita,

Excelente livro para uma tarde de verão.


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Review: Thinking, Fast and Slow

Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

One of the best books i have read (nonfictional), due to all the knowledge it conveys and also the way it's written -simple, clear and sound - with direct impact on your day-to-day life.

It explains how you make decisions and how you can mitigate your unintended mistakes (cognitive and emotional), by creating barriers/processes, when appropriate, to guide you through (system 1 and system 2). Its also discloses:
- several behavioral cognitive biases (with sound and surprising examples);
- presents the way you make choices (prospect theory, risk aversion and risk seeking and its fundamentals, among others);
-distinguishes the Humans (us) and Econs (the humans as per the in classic economic theory - Rational Economic Man) and finally;
- differentiates between the "experience self" and the "remembering self" and its sound implication on decision making.

A book i will always keep at hand, so i can easily consult/read/study it again and again, because after you read it you become aware of the daily mental flaws, but you will be pushed to continue to persevere on the same mistakes/misbehaviors.

Highly recommend its reading (or even study) for all readers, not only people interested in psychology, finance, economics, etc...


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Review: O Coro dos Defuntos

O Coro dos Defuntos by António Tavares
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Um retrato da vida rural ente 1965-1975 apresentado de uma forma simples, mas ao mesmo tempo complexa, mostrando as fortes diferenças existentes (mundo/cidade vs. aldeia) e como uma comunidade rural as enquadra no seu dia-a-dia.

Gosto como o fio condutor de acontecimentos históricos une a narrativa e nos apresenta a evolução dessa mesma comunidade e de cada um dos seus membros.

Comunidade essa que ainda a vivi e que consigo tão facilmente reencontrar em cada uma das personagens e no seu todo.

Recomendo a leitura deste pequeno e saboroso livro




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Review: Optimismo e Não Desespero

Optimismo e Não Desespero by Noam Chomsky
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Trata-se, apenas, de uma compilação de entrevistas ao Noam que apresentam de uma forma, creio, superficial a sua forma de pensar sobre assuntos mt concretos .

As perguntas são realizadas de uma forma claramente enviesada e por vezes o entrevistador parece mais interessado em demonstrar o seu pensamento e menos em saber a real resposta do entrevistado. Acredito que o próprio nome da publicação onde foram apresentadas diz mt sobre a sua natureza "Truthout".

Concordo com alguns dos pilares enunciados pelo Noam e discordo da maioria, mas parece-me que a sua opinião é fundada no estudo dos factos e conhecimento existentes e que depois são trabalhados através da sua "filosofia" e conhecimento, logo podem ser discutidos e analisados (não é dogmático e radical como o seu entrevistador)

Este livro criou a possibilidade de num futuro estar disposto a ler um livro do Noam, para entender o seu trabalho e o seu pensamento político.

De todo o livro a parte que mais gostei foi a relacionado com o seu trabalho linguístico (da página 207 à 215), sendo que as restantes 200 páginas tornam-se repetitivas (bastaria ler as primeiras 50 para saber o conteúdo das demais 150).

Por fim, o poema do Mário Cesariny "Entre nós e as palavras" que está tb está nesta edição é sem dúvida uma delícia,


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Review: How to Win Friends and Influence People

How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A book that was recommended by several persons (friends, acquaintances & personal influencers), dated from 1930 just met my expectation (no more or less than that). It has interesting principles and advises that one should be aware and follow with a "big" grain of salt and dose of critical thinking.

It's well written, structured and clearly states its objectives. The examples and anecdotes that support the rationale and underlying messages & takeaways are just that and for sure there are plenty that one could mention contrarian to the principles disclosed.

Do admit that this book has to be framed and evaluated under the 1930 management prevailing style (direct and control leadership) and i'm sure it brought to the discussion several new ideas/principles that later became new leadership styles (supporting, delegation and even coaching).

It's a good read, although would not meet my "strongly recommended book" threshold.

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Review: Négocier avec succès : Préparer, piloter et réussir ses négociations

Négocier avec succès : Préparer, piloter et réussir ses négociations by Maurice Hamon
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Cette livre m’a été recommandée pour un ami et il fut une très agréable surprise. Il aborde la thématique de la négociation seulement en 167 pages y m’a enseigné 3/4 concepts pratique y méthodes de facile utilisation pendant tout le procès de négociation.

De touts les concepts présentée je devrais souligner pour su applicabilité et pertinence los suivants:
- La grille de analyse stratégique où en un simple graph nous pouvons définie y délimiter le contexte de une négociation. Néanmoins, je croix que il serait mais visuelle si la dimension Attitudes a été réfléchi en cette grille de la façon inverse (i.e. Combatif, Diplomate, Conciliant), donc le area de négociation augmenterait dans une négociation Conciliant et Convergent, cela me semble plus adapté a la réalité et a los concepts de la géométrie;
- La grille de analyses per se où se identifie pour chacun Objectif las Position Affichée Initiales, les Point de Rupture et son Utilités (la dernière notion en effet trés important) et les graphs que quelqu’un peut dessiner,

Pour moi la principale difficulté a été le français, c'est un idiome que je ne maitrise pas, donc un obstacle tout cette exercice.


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